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Just getting into 40k as a whole. I have read a smattering of books through the years, but not many. If you were going to recommend a 40k book to someone what would it be?

I am enjoying the Ultramarines, and more specifically the Novamarines, so bonus points if they are in the book... But, that is not a requirement for a good book.

Thanks.

The Novamarines have their own book alongside the Blood Drinkers, called Death of Integrity, which is really good. In general when it comes to 40k novels, author is everything. Don't be lulled in by a book on a subject you like if it's by a crummy author.

My picks for authors I enjoy are as follows:
Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Dan Abnett
Chris Wright
Guy Haley
John French
Andy Chambers
Rob Sanders
Steve Parker
Sandy Michell and Graham McNeil (bottom of the list for me because I find both of them too hit or miss, but when they're good they're quite good)

Thank you for the feedback, any specific titles of any of these you would recommend first? When it comes to 40k, a shortage of material is not the problem

Death of Integrity is a pretty good story, probably the best you'll get on the subject of Space Hulk exploration. The Novamarines and Blood Drinkers work together with the mechanicus and inquisition. It does a good job of illustrating the differences between the two primary perspective chapters and how dealing with the mechanicus chafes with both of them.

Deathwatch by Steve Parker also gives a lot of attention to how multiple chapters contrast in their politics.

I like the Ciaphas Cain books. If I were to pick one of them it would be Death or Glory as it has a very Mad Max sort of feel to it.

Thanks! I will look into these as well. I need to give my wife something to get me as birthday and xmas are nearing. These suggestions are helping

The first three books of the Horus Heresy series are also really good; arguably the best in the series. They cover the rise and fall [to Chaos] of Horus. They were very well written, and remain my favorite novels in the series. They are Horus Rising, False Gods, and Galaxy in Flames.

I think the The First Heretic is best one in the series for me. The Ultramarines only appear briefly in that novel but they play a prominent role as they are the ones who destroy everything the Word Bearers have built and send them into the spiral of madness.

You could follow that up with Know No Fear, which is Word Bearers vs Ultramarines (with The First Heretic setting the stage for why the Word Bearers hate them and want revenge). Or you could check out the full colour graphic novel Macragge's Honour, which features the Ultarmarines prominently and is set around the same events.

This is 30k though. I don't know much about BL books featuring the Ultramarines in 40k. The Ultramarines series didn't click for me and I stopped with book one.

40k: Titanicus, Pariah, Storm of Iron, Yarrick: The Pyres of Armageddon, Khârn: Eater of Worlds, War of the Fang, Evil Sun Rising, Dead Men Walking and graphic novel Deff Skwadron.
HH: Horus Rising, Legion, Mechanicum, A Thousand Sons, The First Heretic, Know No Fear. Aurelian, Prince of Crows

40k:
Gaunt's Ghosts
Titanicus
Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium
Space Wolves Omnibus
Cadian Blood

Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

 dusara217 wrote:
Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

Sorry about that. Read it several years ago when I was younger. I had remembered enjoying it so I put it on there. I really do recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series though.

 War Kitten wrote:

 dusara217 wrote:
Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

Sorry about that. Read it several years ago when I was younger. I had remembered enjoying it so I put it on there. I really do recommend the Gaunt's Ghosts series though.

It's definitely a fun read, but you end up with things like Blood Claws having Krak Grenades blowing up at their feet and somehow getting away with nary a scratch. It's definitely a great way to learn about life on Fenris, though (the first book in the Omnibus is a good read, but, after that, it's all downhill).

 dusara217 wrote:
Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

The Space Wolves omnibus, by William King, is a relic of an entirely different kind of 40k.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 dusara217 wrote:
Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

The Space Wolves omnibus, by William King, is a relic of an entirely different kind of 40k.

How so?

 dusara217 wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 dusara217 wrote:
Uh, don't remind of the horrible trainwreck that was the Space Wolves Omnibus. So awfully written.

The Space Wolves omnibus, by William King, is a relic of an entirely different kind of 40k.

How so?

Basically, it's still very much in line with 3rd edition where there was still a bit of silliness in 40k. To add to it, the book is well over a decade old at this point and Space Wolves themselves have undergone a rather significant shift in tone.

As an entirely unrelated note, Ian Watson(author of Draco, Harlequin, Chaos Child, and the ever popular Space Marine novels) apparently went on to write a series of erotica novels that are (to quote) "immensely popular".

I need to go scrub my brain with bleach now.

You could read the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeil. Nightbringer is weak, so is The Killing Grounds. The latter is insufferable. Warriors of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun are my two favorites. The other two are decent, and there are a number of shorts in between them that are worth reading.

The Plagues of Orath novellas are decent as well, Ultramarines and allies (or vise versa depending on how you look at it) take on Nurgle opponents on a farming backwater.

Now that I think about it there aren't any GREAT Ultramarine books yet. Damn. I've enjoyed Tau/Cain/IG stuff more than my main army's books.

lol, I love how we consider a book a success if it doesn't suck. Never mind whether or not it's actually good, so long as it isn't bad XD.

The Eisenhorn and Ravenor series both have pretty good writing.

For something non Marine related, Guy Haley's Baneblade was a fine book, especially when you consider the marketing concept was probably 'write a cool story about this so we can sell more models'. I didn't buy a Baneblade or start a Guard army, but it was a very good book.

Titanicus for some good old Titan action.

The Ultramarine Omnubus is a decent vanilla marine romp.

Space Wolf Omnibus is good, has some good insight into the Space Wolves, Navigators, and some Terran politics.

The Ravenor and Eisinhorn Omnibuses are perhaps the best 40k books ever. And they're cool because they give a look at some of the non-combat/more civilian things which occur. Closest you'd get to seeing everyday life in the Imperium.

The first Ciaphas Cain omnibus (Hero of the Imperium) is pretty dang solid. The characters are enjoyable, all the stories are pretty good, and some of them actually work better in the combined format than they would separately. It's also a nice resource because, while it doesn't show the non-Imperium factions (or even non-guard factions) in a lot of detail, it does give a nice guy-on-the-street view of a good variety of factions (Orks, Tyranids, Tau, Kroot, Necrons, Chaos). It's not overbearing on the grimdark either. It's just a fun set of action novels with a dry sense of humor.

Basically, it's a great "starter pack" for getting into the 40k universe.

Helpfully enough, Xenos, the first book in the Eisenhorn Trilogy, was recently re-released. I suggest you start there.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
You could read the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeil.

You could, but you shouldn't.

They're terrible. The main character argues with his superior officer over whether or not it would be okay to use an improvised explosive device to destroy a bridge to stop an advancing enemy. And that's just in the prologue. It doesn't get any better from there. Graham McNeill doesn't understand how to write military fiction, which makes him perhaps the worst possible author to write about the Ultramarines, who are supposed to be among the universe's most skilled warfighters.

If you want Ultramarines, I'd say the best representation of them is in Know No Fear by Dan Abnett. The Mark of Calth anthology is decent. Those are both set in the Heresy era though.

Edited by Manchu

Odd choice of signature given your behaviour.

 Beaviz81 wrote:

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
You could read the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeil.

You could, but you shouldn't.

They're terrible. The main character argues with his superior officer over whether or not it would be okay to use an improvised explosive device to destroy a bridge to stop an advancing enemy. And that's just in the prologue. It doesn't get any better from there. Graham McNeill doesn't understand how to write military fiction, which makes him perhaps the worst possible author to write about the Ultramarines, who are supposed to be among the universe's most skilled warfighters.

If you want Ultramarines, I'd say the best representation of them is in Know No Fear by Dan Abnett. The Mark of Calth anthology is decent. Those are both set in the Heresy era though.

I would not let the resident neo-nazi recommend anything to me. Graham McNeil is a superior author and this person needs a long term ban from this forum.

Resident neo-nazi? Maybe there's a story here I don't know about, but either way you probably shouldn't bring it into a non-political thread. If it's something truly ban-worthy, I trust the mods will be able to deal with it.

On topic: I think we've all learned that the Ultramarines omnibus is... divisive. I've never read it, so I can't weigh in.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
The Eisenhorn and Ravenor series both have pretty good writing.

Absolutely, even moreso than the Gaunt's Ghosts novels. Ravenor's books come after The Eisenhorn books, and he is such a cool take on a sci-fi "group leader" character.

The William King Space Wolves books are very "2nd edition" in my eyes, and in that light are enjoyable for me, in the same vein as the Gotrek and Felox Warhammer Fantasy novels (though those are better)

Well sadly 40k will never produce any great works of fiction, but anyhow I still enjoyed The first heretic and Helsreach

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
You could read the Ultramarines series by Graham McNeil.

You could, but you shouldn't.

They're terrible. The main character argues with his superior officer over whether or not it would be okay to use an improvised explosive device to destroy a bridge to stop an advancing enemy. And that's just in the prologue. It doesn't get any better from there. Graham McNeill doesn't understand how to write military fiction, which makes him perhaps the worst possible author to write about the Ultramarines, who are supposed to be among the universe's most skilled warfighters.

If you want Ultramarines, I'd say the best representation of them is in Know No Fear by Dan Abnett. The Mark of Calth anthology is decent. Those are both set in the Heresy era though.

And he completely ignores the IG fluff in order to put the Marines on a pedestal

A couple of people have mentioned the Horus Heresy books. I would extend these recommendations to at least encompass the first five Horus Heresy novels (Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames, The Flight of the Eisenstein, Fulgrim) as well as Mechanicum, A Thousand Sons, and Prospero Burns. My recommendation for these would be to read the first five in order, read Mechanicum and then Read the 'A Thousand Sons'/'Prospero Burns' combo. The order in which you read A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns may depend on who you ask by similar logic to watching the Star Wars movies in the Machete Order versus going in the episodes' numerical order, but this is up to you.

As for Dan Abnett, he is a very good writer, but the Gaunt's Ghosts series (at least in the first two novels) illustrates a number of the characters as seemingly unkillable from time to time which gets annoying. But never-the-less, he writes well and his stories are very enjoyable.

As for other recommendations which I've been given:

-- The Armageddon Omnibus (I'm a bit biased because I love and collect Black Templars haha)
-- The Shield of Baal Novellas.
-- 'Angels of Darkness' by Gav Thorpe

I've also heard nothing but good things about Gav Thorpe from everyone I've talked to, so his novels in general are to be recommended.