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I have a couple of friends who are sci fi fans and I would like to introduce them to the 40K setting.  I am just not sure what would be the best first book for them to read.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance,

 

Darrian

Storm of Iron was good for straight up Chaos vs. Imperium carnage. That'd probably be my recommendation, but I haven't read too many of the novels.

Well although I havent read them, I think that very good books to start people on are the Horus Heresy books.

I think that Execution Hour would also be pretty good for Imperial vs Chaos setting, its about the Blackstone Fortresses and Abaddon.

I read Storm of Iron and I read the Horus Heresy books and I think they are great but I worry that they do not give enough basic info to the new reader about the 40K universe.

Darrian

I haven't read one of those books you're talking about (altough Horus rising lies on my table, but George Martin's first) but I liked the first Gaunt Novel "first and only" very much.

i wouuld say a generic book with short stories such as
Bringers of death
Eye of terror
Deathwing
Words of Blood
Status deadzone
into the maelstrom
crusible of war to name but a few. they have a mix of space marine, choas marine, IG, eldar etc short stories.
Also i would recomend the Graphic novels such as Bloodquest and Flames of damnation as they have pictures so the new guy can see what the things he is reading about look like.

Deathwing or Crucible of War all the way here.

Space Marine.

What? Someone had to suggest it, especially considering it's the 40k book by excellence.

I chose Deathwing. I realized that I actually had the book and it is perfect to introduce readers to 40K.

Mission complete.

Darrian

Eisenhorn trilogy, the inner workings of the IoM in bite-size morsels

Plus daemonhosts rock

Short stories are the way to go, none of the novels even try to capture the scope of the 40k universe. The Draco books some close but Ian Watson's prose is... an aquired taste shall we say.

So I vote Deathwing.

Warriors of Ultramar.

No really. It's a very focused book with good unity. It stays on target, and still manages to give the reader a look at the Imperial Guard, the Imperial Navy, the space marines (ane the fact that chapters can differ wildly), and a small but sharp taste of the Inquisition.

The only reason I wouldn't pick First and Only is because I feel it's less useful as a primer in the Imperial apparatus and way of war, than Warriors of Ultramar.

Navin

First one I read was the 3rd book in the Soul Drinkers series. Proble not the best unless you know a bit of background on Space Marines though.

My vote would have to be for Warriors of Ultramar though.

15 Hours, IG vs Orks, and it shows how expendable each trooper/ork actually is.

The best book would be dark angel by gav.. Cause you know its a great book and 100% accurate.

Pah. Of course the bulk of the recommendaitons are books about Space Marines.

I agree with the Eisenhorn Trilogy, though. It is a good picture of the 40k Universe, and shows how....broad it is.

I agree with the Gaunt's Ghosts books probably not being a good introduction, since they're very combat-centric. Even though the Ghosts rock. However, I am a large fan of the Ciaphas Cain books, because they're funny, great reads, and don't go too deep into crazy stuff.

Let the Galaxy Burn is a good collection as well. I'm particularly fond of The Tower, by C.S. Goto, which is an awesome look at the day to day activities of the Administratum and the Officio Assassinorum. As a collection, it really touches on all the aspects of the 40k universe.

Ezz

Anything by Dan Abnett.

@ zzeran, the reason for most books being about marines is that they are the iconic image of GW, its what most people collect and play.

Posted By Blank on 07/03/2006 10:27 AM
15 Hours, IG vs Orks, and it shows how expendable each trooper/ork actually is.

I agree.  It was the first 40k novel I ever read and loved it.  It was a quick read but made me feel bad for having my berzerkers charge IG... just kidding.  I love slaughtering IG and this showed me what it was like for those little conscripts and what goes through their heads *before* the chain axe does.

Id go with the first book in the Space Wolf series. Shows the transformation from a feral worlder to a space marine.

Then Id go wiht the Gaunt's Ghost books cause there are like what 11 of them now and that is alot of goodness right there

well if you go to the first SW novel you will end up reading the rest before you do anythiing else. you wont really want to raed about some crappy IG after you have read about the emporers finest.

Posted By beef on 12/27/2006 5:37 PM
well if you go to the first SW novel you will end up reading the rest before you do anythiing else. you wont really want to raed about some crappy IG after you have read about the emporers finest.

Why bother reading about some power-armored freak when you can read about the True Defenders of the Imperium of Man, the Imperial Guard?

K, that was flamey. In any case, isn't there a book about an Arbite somewhere? How is that?

It was ok, but by far the best IG books are Gaunts Ghosts or Eisenhorn Trilogy, which happen to be written by the same man

Abnett is good. I liked the Horus Heresy book he wrote.

That said, I reiterate my belief that Eisenhorn is better for 40k n00bs than Gaunt's Ghosts, and that the Ciaphus Cain books are also better choices for 40k n00bs than the Ghosts.

Actually, the Ravenor books are pretty good, too.....

Abnett is good, just read a bit of Ciaphus Cain and its not bad. But I like my heros to be real tough, rather than lucky

Caves of Ice and the whole Commisar Cain Series. Funniest 40K books on the market and done in a really cool style.

Double post sorry.

Also, Firewarriors alright but for more of an advanced reader because it's not centered on the Imperium - it's pretty much Tau only and makes the Space marines look like chumps.

Kais kills a Raven Libraian with a shot from a pistol then manages to manouver so that two of the Libraian's bodyguard blow the heads off of two more marines by running around them in circles and making them fire on each other. Then - I think - he tricks a Space marine and yanks out the pins on their grenades by diving under them.

Sure it's cool to see a Tau fight back but only if his opponents look compitant - not some noobs wearing power armour.

how can that be? I know SM are big but I never thought they were dumb and slow. they are supposed to be so much faster than humna/tau. Fluff wise only eldar could be faster and maybe some Nids.

Oh yeah Squats are faster than anybody els they used to have Inititive 10 back in the day lol

Posted By beef on 01/01/2007 3:25 AM
how can that be? I know SM are big but I never thought they were dumb and slow. they are supposed to be so much faster than humna/tau. Fluff wise only eldar could be faster and maybe some Nids.

Oh yeah Squats are faster than anybody els they used to have Inititive 10 back in the day lol

This is why I rarely trust Black Library books when it comes to fluff. Anybody who writes a story has a good guy and a bad guy, and they'll try to make the good guy as cool as possible.

Hence, you get books about like 4 Space Marines holding off an ork horde and similar ludicrous tales. Even when it comes to people who do write fluff, such as Abnett or Thorpe, I question them, and only reluctantly accept them as canon.