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So I want to keep up to date with the Horus Heresy so I can get around to reading Old Earth along with the various other new books,
and as we all know the HH books have numerous storylines. I only want to get down to the core plotlines and nitty-gritty. So books like Outcast Dead and Mechanicum would be prime examples that
are skipworthy material.

I don't have the time to read all the novels and short stories so my question is:

Are there any books that could be recommended for skipping?

I'm about 10 books in, I'll share my two cents, in book order:

First 3 are good. In fact, they're not only good, they are basically required, as it is the seminal trilogy describing horus' corruption and rebellion.

The first half of flight of the Eisenstein is basically book 3 from a different point of view. No joke. The latter half is an actual new and interesting story, but it honestly only serves to set up the Nathaniel garro (essentially the founder of the grey knights) storyline. It's alright, but I would generally say skip.

I didn't really like fulgrim. If you like a bunch of sissy marys mincing around space, you may, but I could say skip, unless you want to read about fulgrim having a picnic with eldrad.
In some fairness, it's not that bad (though fulgrim does actually go on a space picnic with eldrad), and does a decent job of describing fulgrim's gradual decent to demon possession, which is mirrored by his flagship. But I just don't really like emperor's children.

I actually liked decent of angels. The dark angel books were pretty good.

Legion was pretty good, it actually presents the alpha legions reasons for 'betraying' the emperor, though the alpha legions sneakiness does beggar belief at times.

battle for abyss is a good space battle book.

mechanicum was pretty boring, skip.

Tales of heresy wasn't great, as it is a short story collection, except for the 'last church' short story. I really liked that one.

Fallen angels is the sequel to decent of angels, good book.

Thousand sons starts a little slow, and it's a bit long, but it's well worth the read. It's very good.

And I'm reading nemesis now. I'm inclined to give it a 'skip' rating. It's ok, but as it's the story of how the first execution force was assembled to assassinate horus. I think I know how it's going to end.

i'd say the first three to learn about the basic setting and differences with 40k.

beyond that I'd say pick a legion/ storyline you like follow it. If you read every book/short story to catch up you're going to burn out/ run into a lot of repitition.

Another caveat is that from book 30 or so forward. The characters from Shorts/ audio drama's make debuts into the novels and you can get lost in them. It's a feeling off "I should know this character or noodle-incident they are discussing."

Imperial Fisting. An introduction to warrior lodges and male bonding.

Earth127 wrote:

beyond that I'd say pick a legion/ storyline you like follow it. If you read every book/short story to catch up you're going to burn out/ run into a lot of repitition."

Do you know which books follow the Sons of Horus storyline? That is, after the first three novels.

The only books I thoroughly enjoyed were Flight of the Eisenstein, and Fulgrim.

I can say that I didn't enjoy the Alpha Legion stuff, or the Dark Angels, despite kinda liking their legions. And I cant really get into the Thousand Sons storyline.

Scars had some good moments.

I actually enjoy the shorts and novellas more. You can see a glimpse into the Lion combating Typhus, or Night Haunter and it doesn't take 2 books. You can see Corax pull his invisible-when-noone-is-looking trick. You can hear what drives Angron to anger and obedience. You get a taste for all the major plot threads.They're like literary easter eggs.

First 3 novels are essential.

The Imperius Secondus story arc is also a good read.

Anything by Graham McNeil I'd recommend to skip without question.

Yeah, going to echo the above. The first three really set the Heresy up. Why, where and when.

I totally follow it up with Fulgrim as Istvaan 5 dropsite massacre gives you a sense of the scale of the heresy.

First three for sure. After that there's a long period of books going back over the Dropsite Massacre from multiple perspectives, which gets annoying fast.

I thought Legion was good, as were the Thousand Sons books. Beyond that, it's not exactly like the writing or stories are so good they're unmissable masterpieces and there's now such a tendency to draw things out forever thata lot of the newer books lack weight because the plots are ultimately inconsequential. I'd say pick a legion you like and read their books.

Personally, I'm just waiting for them to finally get tired of the whole thing and start moving towards the conclusion so I can start reading again.

Slipspace wrote:
First three for sure. After that there's a long period of books going back over the Dropsite Massacre from multiple perspectives, which gets annoying fast.

I thought Legion was good, as were the Thousand Sons books. Beyond that, it's not exactly like the writing or stories are so good they're unmissable masterpieces and there's now such a tendency to draw things out forever thata lot of the newer books lack weight because the plots are ultimately inconsequential. I'd say pick a legion you like and read their books.

Personally, I'm just waiting for them to finally get tired of the whole thing and start moving towards the conclusion so I can start reading again.

They recently had the last HH meeting to write the book on the Siege of Terra

 AaronWilson wrote:

Slipspace wrote:
First three for sure. After that there's a long period of books going back over the Dropsite Massacre from multiple perspectives, which gets annoying fast.

I thought Legion was good, as were the Thousand Sons books. Beyond that, it's not exactly like the writing or stories are so good they're unmissable masterpieces and there's now such a tendency to draw things out forever thata lot of the newer books lack weight because the plots are ultimately inconsequential. I'd say pick a legion you like and read their books.

Personally, I'm just waiting for them to finally get tired of the whole thing and start moving towards the conclusion so I can start reading again.

They recently had the last HH meeting to write the book on the Siege of Terra

That's good news, hope it's true. As long as the end isn't "50 books dealing with the slow march towards Terra" I should be able to start picking up some of the books again.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2017/09/20/the-siege-of-terra-dawns/

Can confirm I'm not BSing you.

The first 3 books are must reads. Rise and fall of a diva Horus and all.

After that, it's up to personal taste. I enjoyed reading the two sides of the same story in Thousand Sons (Russ is an ass!) and Prospero Burns (Wait, Magnus is an ass!). First Heretic is a favorite of mine. Vengeful Spirit was a fun read, as was Nemesis.

The 2 Dark Angels books I read were bland books about an even blander legion. Legion has a picture of a space marine on the front cover; that, and a few paragraphs are all you get (I exaggerate hyperbolically, but not by much)! Most of the compilation short story books are ho-hum, but there are a few standout stories like The Last Church. The back and forth between the 2 major daemons in Fear to Tread is about as savage as I imagine my cat and dog say to each other. "Don't hit me, cat!" "Die in a fire, stoopid doggie!"


But, to each his/her own!

I think what you should read is:

Book 1 - 5 as its basically the preview and the core of the conflict up to Istvann V. I say read everything.

Book 6 - you can skip unless you really like Dark Angels.

Book 7 - its about Alpha Legion. Good book and introduces perpetuals. I say read.

Book 8 - you can skip

Book 9 - conflict on Mars. You can skip unless you like Mechanicum.

Book 10 - story compliation.

Book 11 - same as 6

Book 12 - Thousand sons. Very good book. Prospero is the core conflict. Read.

Book 13 - skip

Book 14 - Word Bearers. Very good book. Read.

Book 15 - Space Wolves and conflict on Prospero though this battle is the last 60 pages or so. Book is tricky. You either love it (as its actually a good read) or say its boring. Unless you really like Space Wolves i say skip.

Book 16 - story compilation

Book 17 - skip

Book 18 - Raven Guard. Its ok and tells their side of the conlfict. You can skip it.

Book 19 - Ultramarines vs Word Bearers on Calth. Core conflict. Must read.

Book 20 - story compilation

Book 21 - Blood Angels. Its ok but you can skip it unless you like them.

Book 22 - Story compilation

Book 23 - Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors. Its ok but you can skip it. Has some important character progression of Fulgrim though.

Book 24 - Word Bearers and World Eaters and some Ultramarines. Very good read. Read.

Book 25 - story compilatons. Has a very good shortstory from ADB.

Book 26 - focuses on Vulcan and Curze. Weird book. If you like either primarch read it. If not skip it.

Book 27 - Imperium Secundus. I say read.

Book 28 - White Scars. I liked the book but you can skip it.

Book 29 - Sons of Horus, Death Guard. Very good read. Go read.

Book 30 - Boring. Skip.

Book 31 - story compilations

Book 32 - Salamanders, some Ultramarines. You can skip.

Book 33 - story compilation

Book 34 - Ultramarines, Night Lords. You can skip.

Book 35 - story compilation

Book 36 - White Scars, some Death Guard. If you read 28 then go read this one. Its ok read.

Book 37 - story compilation

Book 38 - Imperium Secundus. I say skip.

Book 39 - Imperial Fists, Alpha Legion. Conflict reaches slowly Terra. I say read.

Book 40 - Raven Guard. Same as 19. I say skip.

Book 41 - Emperor. Read!!!

Thats all i have read up to this point. So basically its 1-5, 7, 12, 14, 19, 24, 27, 29, 39, 41. You can read or skip story compilations.

I've read up to the 23rd book.

First 3, as others have said, are a must

Book 4 is for DG lovers, as also the beginning of the Inquisition

Book 5 is weird as f***. Some passages were genuinely disgusting and revolting

As I like DA, book 6 was quite interesting. It has a very medieval feel

Book 7 is so-so. Alpha Legion being Alpha Legion.

Book 8 is more cliché than the others, but I liked the interaction between the loyalists. Also, there is a TS character, so I couldn't skip it!

Book 9 tells us how things started in Mars. Interesting read

Book 10 is a compilations of short histories. The Last Church has the Emperor

Book 11 wasn't as fun as Book 6, but if you already read that one, why not this one too?

Book 12 is the best book of the Heresy line, in my opinion

Book 13 was interesting but it is skippable - unless you really like Assassins and Malcador doing shadowy stuff

Book 14 is... meh. Can't bring myself to like the Word Bearers

Book 15 is the other side of Book 12. If you're into the TS-SW rivalry, read this one too

Book 16 is another bunch of short histories. Nothing really appealing

Book 17 isn't very good and has a lot of conflicting issues with other books, but again has a TS character

Book 18 was quite cool. Corax is quite a guy

Book 19 is about WBxUM. It has some nice writing

Book 20 is another compilation of short histories. Nothing much to add

Book 21 tells us the plight of the BA. Eh

Book 22 - another compilation. This one, IIRC, has one story about Curze being imprisioned by Dorn. Taht storey alone is worth the book

Book 23: Perturabo and Fulgrim team-up to get some Eldar weapon in the warp. A RG and a IH infiltrators try to stop that. I didn't finish this one and I don't think I will...
In this book you discover Perturabo plays miniatures games!

Tl;Dr

First 3, fulgrim flight of the eisenstine, mechanicum. Then what ever you want from there. Fair warning though, nemisis is rough for the fist half, and decent of angels is a slong of a read.

So many glossing over book 7.
It's the book that explains the point of WH40k.
It tells you exactly why the Gods are doing what they're doing.
It explains what the purpose of mankind is in the grand scene of the universe.
I think it's critically important to the entire series.

The Calth book of Ultra vs Wordbearers is the best of the series in my opinion.