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Been out of the 40K loop for a bit, but I've got a lot of free time on my hands at the moment, so I'm wondering if anything published by BL in the past six or eight months is worth reading? I'm an ADB/Abnett sort of guy, for what it's worth.

Read the Latest Gaunts Ghosts Saga, _The Lost -Ominbus, Sabbat worlds, Blood Pact and Salvations Reach. I hear He is ending the series soon.


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I know I'm stepping out of your 6-8 month Tome frame, but Henry Zou has put out some decent litereture with his Bastion War stuff. I'm a huge Abnett fan, and Zou is good follow up.

I second the Zou reccomendation. He floats in the same spectrum of grim-dark as Abnett.

Frank Herbert, Dune.

"Know no fear" was also well written in my opinion though I think he should have made it longer. Probably got edited down to size.

Ravenor is also a terrrific omnibus to read. I keep seeing it as an excellent movie in my head. They need a Patience Kys model dag nabit.

The Ravenor books are excellent.

Well the Word Bearers and Iron Warriors Omnibus are coming out. It's a good chance to read some good Chaos stories.

If you haven't read the Eisenhorn omnnibus (I know its outside your timeframe) then do. Please. Its great.

But in actual answer to your question, I can't think of any brilliant ones which have come out recently, but 'know no fear' was kind of fun to read. Really, for good books go read the eisenhorn omnibus, ravenor omnibus, and the gaunts books.Haven't read the cain books, but I imagine him to be Flashman in 40k basically, so I can't wait to get my hands on one.

I actually laughed out loud when reading Cain novels. I think I scared some people on the bus <_<

sudojoe wrote:I actually laughed out loud when reading Cain novels. I think I scared some people on the bus <_<

Well it depends on the type of laughing. Was it maniacal?

blazinpsycho&typhooni wrote:

sudojoe wrote:I actually laughed out loud when reading Cain novels. I think I scared some people on the bus <_<

Well it depends on the type of laughing. Was it maniacal?

more like a chortle me thinks ...

I liked all the Gaunt's Ghosts books. Two other good ones, especially if you like Titans, are Titanicus, and Helsreach. Helsreach has Black Templars, as well. A good short story for a guard fan is 17 Hours.

I very much enjoyed the Cain and Word Bearers books.

Yeah, all read up on Ravenor, Eisenhorn, Gaunt, Helsreach, Cadian Blood, etc. Good to hear that Know No Fear is decent; I skipped the most recent McNeill Horus Heresy one. Outcast Dead or whatever.

My favorite Cain book is "The Traitor's Hand". The characters are memorable, and the writing is the wittiest in the series.

Stuff like, hearing one side of a comm-bead conversation, where the person on the other end is fighting Khorne cultists, so you just hear one side of the conversation, but know what he is responding to-

"Well, he can't have mine."

Or one of the Tallarn troops rephrasing what Cain said to a demon, in a particularly Tallarn fashion:

"Then the prophet spake: saying "Frak this, for my faith is a shield proof against your blandishments". - Alem Mahat, The Book of Cain, Chapter IV, Verse XXI

I'm reading Jim Swallow's "Hammer & Anvil" right now, which is basically Sororitas vs Mechanicus vs Necrons and... it's not very good at all. Most of the characters are extremely one-note, the addition of some huma-Sister-necron-intelligent-hybrid-thing wielding a blade of pure darkness that slices through necrodermis like tissue raises some serious questions about the adherence to established norms and... yeah... so far, not impressed.

Yes, Ciaphas Cain is a great series.

Havent dipped into them yet so help me out a little here. Which is the first Cain novel in the series or does it not matter?

It really doesnt matter. Even If you read them in order; theyre still out of order in timeline.
Youre pretty much reading his memoirs, being subtexted by an inquisiror.

I would read the HH series, the authors have taken a leaf from Dan Abnett and really upped the ante. The whole series is being co-ordinated so authors get a storyline they are interested in and this really shows (The Dark Angels books are the weakest but passable, the rest are superb).

It will get you back into the hobby, it did for me. Oh and Dan Abnett has written a few of them and they are stand outs.

Also if you like Dan Abnett then Aaron Dembski-Bowden is another very good writer.

If you haven't read the Night lord books "Soul Hunter" "Blood Reaver" then I highly recommend those.
And in the book "Fear the alien" there is a short story with the same characters from the Night Lord books.

Then I recommend the book "Dead men walking" = Necrons (the old cold ones not the new fluffy ones) vs Death Korps of Krieg which ImhO is a great match up xD

Some of the Space marine battles books are pretty decent, and the Last Chancers series, if you haven't read them ImhO

I'll Nth the Cain recommendations - nabbing the Omnibuses at this stage would be a solid win and, for my money, they're the best 40k books out there.

I actually am starting to rather dislike Abnett, but will admit I appear to be in a minority in that regard (but, seriously, he's the Stephan King of 40k - amazing character work, fascinating detail and a decent hand at making real world societies in space to add flavor...but a total inability to put together a decent ending). So *I'd* advise avoid him, but judging by overall reactions anything written by him is a safe bet.

Most of the Heresy stuff is pretty solid and fun, and there's some flavor of win for everyone almost regardless of what type of book you like (also, some of their collected stories entries are a VERY good way to get a taste of the various 40k authors and maybe find one you like and wish to pursue)..

I'm a fan of the Ragnar Blackmane stuff, it's crude but just nice mindless space stomping fun.