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Is it important, in the opinions of my fellow Dakkanauts, to read these novels in order, I only ask because I am about to undertake the reading of the series, after buying Prospero Burns at my FLGS.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus_Heresy_%28novels%29

That shows the order of the novels, just as a reference.

To your question some novels depend on you reading their predecessors, and others don't. Prospero Burns comes later than a Thousand Suns, so it might refer to that novel at least somewhat.

What is the order of Horus Heresy's anyway? I am new to the universe of 40k and heard HH was the place to start.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks Viper, I shall get started on the first novel.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Thanks Viper, I shall get started on the first novel.

Dang... now I want to get started on the series... *rushes of to find his copy of Horus Rising*

Just pointing out the list shown in the wiki article is the order of publication, not the order of events/chronological order.

For example, the events of Horus Rising (the first book) occur at the midway point of A Thousand Sons (the twelfth book) while (IIRC) the events of the third book are actually set after A Thousand Sons. I only mention this because there wasn't a specified order in the first post (although I suppose it doesn't matter since reading them in chronological order is technically impossible at this point due to ongoing publication).

Anyway, I haven't really read them in order or anything, nor have I read all of them. My first book was Mechanicum, I've read most of the books that have come since then but the only book published prior to Mechanicum I have read is Legion.

Chronologically speaking Descent of Angels goes back the farthest, time line wise. It is the only full novel to feature a Primarch on the world of his isolation prior to the Emperor reuniting with him.

As far as the furthest back chronologically, Tales of Heresy's last story, "The Last Church(?)" is set at the very end of the Emperor's unification wars, prior to the Astarted. In fact you catch a glimpse of the proto astartes.

So no, you can't really read them in "chronological" order as far as the 30k timeline goes but I suggest reading them in the order they were published.

I'd read them in any old order. I love BL/GW stuff.

I read them in order, and I feel that does help for some of them, for example, the first 3 books do follow on from each other (as does the next 1 I think).

Others then start to jump around a bit, looking at different legions and other goings-on in the confusion of the post-Istvaan events.

Im presuming you know the basic development of the heresy being:

Great crusade -> Istvaan -> Seige of Terra -> Oh bugger!!!!

It's very difficult to place each of the series in a chronological order as most have events that happened before the heresy began, Fulgrim has the encounter with the Laer, Prospero Burns has lots of life of Fenris way before the heresy. But a rough order of books with events happening at or during the same time would be:

Pre Heresy:
The Last Church (Tales of Heresy)
After Desh’ea (Tales of Heresy)
Descent of Angels
Call of the Lion (Tales of Heresy) + Wolf at the Door (Tales of Heresy) + Legion + Promethean Sun
The Dark King
Horus Rising
Scions of the Storm (Tales of Heresy) + The Voice (Tales of Heresy)

Heresy begins:
False Gods
A Thousand Sons + Prospero Burns + Battle for the Abyss
Fallen Angels

Battle of Istvaan III
Mechanicum + Galaxy in Flames + Flight of the Eisenstein

Battle of Istvaan V
The First Heretic + Fulgrim
Ravens Flight (Audio)
The Face of Treachery (Age of Darkness)

After Istvaan V
Aurelian
Garro: Oath of Moment (Audio)
Garro: Legion of One (Audio)
Nemesis + The Lightening Tower + Blood Games (Tales of Heresy) + Rules of Engagement (Age of Darkness) + Liar's Due (Age of Darkness) + Rebirth (Age of Darkness) + Little Horus (Age of Darkness) + Forgotten Sons (Age of Darkness) The Last Remembrancer (Age of Darkness) + The Iron Within (Age of Darkness) + Savage Weapons (Age of Darkness)


I think

I'm pretty sure all of the Age of Darkness short stories take place after Istvaan.

Moved Forgotten Sons but kept The Face of Treachery as the Raven Guard are still on Istvaan.

Read all the books in the right order and you can't go wrong. The quality does dip a little at times but overall it's an amazing series so far. IMO

Pilau Rice wrote:It's very difficult to place each of the series in a chronological order as most have events that happened before the heresy began, Fulgrim has the encounter with the Laer, Prospero Burns has lots of life of Fenris way before the heresy. But a rough order of books with events happening at or during the same time would be:

Pre Heresy:
The Last Church (Tales of Heresy)
After Desh’ea (Tales of Heresy)
Descent of Angels
Call of the Lion (Tales of Heresy) + Wolf at the Door (Tales of Heresy) + Legion + Promethean Sun
The Dark King
Horus Rising
Scions of the Storm (Tales of Heresy) + The Voice (Tales of Heresy)

Heresy begins:
False Gods
A Thousand Sons + Prospero Burns + Battle for the Abyss
Fallen Angels

Battle of Istvaan III
Mechanicum + Galaxy in Flames + Flight of the Eisenstein

Battle of Istvaan V
The First Heretic + Fulgrim
Ravens Flight (Audio)
The Face of Treachery (Age of Darkness)

After Istvaan V
Aurelian
Garro: Oath of Moment (Audio)
Garro: Legion of One (Audio)
Nemesis + The Lightening Tower + Blood Games (Tales of Heresy) + Rules of Engagement (Age of Darkness) + Liar's Due (Age of Darkness) + Rebirth (Age of Darkness) + Little Horus (Age of Darkness) + Forgotten Sons (Age of Darkness) The Last Remembrancer (Age of Darkness) + The Iron Within (Age of Darkness) + Savage Weapons (Age of Darkness)


I think

Great breakdown. Maybe I'll follow this.