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Hi, I was wondering if I have to read any books before I read the Ravenor series, I'm half way though the first book and there are references to eisenhorn.

Do any books lead up to the Ravenor series?

Eisenhorn can be thought of almost as a prequel to Ravenor...

At least the second book of Eisenhorn anyway. You also get a better feel for some of his henchmen. Kara Swole and Harlon Nayl are both introduced in Eisenhorn.

I'd recommend the Eisenhorn trilogy - you will get a lot better feel for Ravenor, pre chair. It also makes things a lot more poignant...

They are all INCREDIBLE books.

Think of it as like watching star wars episodes 1,2 and 3 without watching the original series. You won't be "missing out" on any information, as such, but you'll know where you stand.
"Prequal" is a bit strong, IIRC there's no actual plot continuity between the two books.

You should read Eisenhorn first but it doesn't really matter.

Dan Abnett said he wants to make a third trilogy to tie the two books into one another and thus make a trilogy of trilogies!

Ravenor was Eisenhorn's Interrogator before becoming an Inquisitor himself, so it can be said that Ravenor owes a lot to Eisenhorn.

Both series are terrific, though I am, unabashedly, a Dan Abnett fan-boy. Whenever a friend asks what book he should read to get into 40K, I hand him one of Abnett's collections, whether that's Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn or Ravenor.

On the issue of a third trilogy in the inquisitor saga i can add some info. i mailed dan a few months back asking him about the "bequin" trilogy and he wrote this back:

/quote:
I start work on the first volume right after I've finished the next Horus Heresy novel, which is in work now.

best

Dan
/unquote

so... pretty soon

I read Ravenor before I read Eisinhorn and it really didn't make much difference. Ravenor is actually a fairly minor character in the Eisinhorn trilogy, he isn't around for much of it.

I actually found it nice to read up on the backstory of some of the characters after-the -fact.


They really are stand-alone trilogies with some common characters and themes.

Eisenhorn Trilogy is easily my favorite omnibus in the BL

A MUST read for BL fans

Thamor wrote:Hi, I was wondering if I have to read any books before I read the Ravenor series, I'm half way though the first book and there are references to eisenhorn.

Do any books lead up to the Ravenor series?

I don't think you have to read Eisenhorn to appreciate Ravenor, but you should read Eisenhorn anyway. It was great. One of BL's best, that I've read anyway.

The posters that have gone before me are damn right: Ravenor is in no way a direct sequel to Eisenhorn, but in many ways Eisenhorn is seen by some as the better of the two trilogies (I'm favoring neither one over the other as I love both and appreciate the differences between the two).

Really the best way that I can put it is that you don't need to read Eisenhorn, but then you don't "need" to read any really good book, you're just cheating yourself out of a truly great read if you don't.

For me, reading Eisenhorn was the indication that the BL had finally found writers who were once again able to turn out works that had the standing of the Kim Newman penned titles that carried the original wave of BL novels back in the late 80's and early 90's.

It was a sign that BL was able to produce titles that were good enough to make you want to read about the characters that Abnett brings to life even if you had no interest in the IG or Inquisition as far as the actual playing of 40k was concerned.

In a time when the fluff for the actual codexes is being hammered for its poor nature and lack of quality, BL seems to be forging a new path with writers like Abnett, McNeill and Zhou that takes it away from the main GW cannon.

The fact that GW have stated that they don't consider the BL material cannon as far as 40k is concerned is actually a compliment for the writers.