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So I have been reading the Horus Heresy series (Read the first 6, have 7 and 8) and it's pretty good, but I want to move on and read some 40k lore, but the sheer number of books there are is intimidating so I just stuck to the Horus Heresy series, however now I want to change but I don't want to leave the character arcs [SPOILER ALERT] While Saul, Garro and Loken are dead [SPOILER ALERT OVER] I don't know if their stories continue somehow, and I am really interested to see what happens to Zarherial, so how many more should I read to tie up the stories?

ShadowPug wrote:
So I have been reading the Horus Heresy series (Read the first 6, have 7 and 8) and it's pretty good, but I want to move on and read some 40k lore, but the sheer number of books there are is intimidating so I just stuck to the Horus Heresy series, however now I want to change but I don't want to leave the character arcs [SPOILER ALERT] While Saul, Garro and Loken are dead [SPOILER ALERT OVER] I don't know if their stories continue somehow, and I am really interested to see what happens to Zarherial, so how many more should I read to tie up the stories?

Saul, Garro and Loken are dead, not quite true (spolier). I read Betrayer, Garro, T-sons, all are good reads.

There's plenty of 40k books that don't follow a series. I know HH is more than a Gaunt's Ghosts or Ciaphas Cain series, but I just throw in a random book when I'm in the middle of a series if I fancy reading something different. There's also quite a few books that are a series of short stories, so you could try them and just do one or two shorts between HH reading.

One advantage the standard 40k line has over the Horus Heresy is the lack of an over arching meta plot in ALL the novels, so you can, with a few notable exceptions, pick up just about any novel and read it just fine.

as for where to start, do you have a favorite faction in 40k? cause they proably have a book associated with them. If you're an Ultramarines fan moving in from the Horus Heresy books I'd go with Dark Imperium.

It's simple - I stopped reading when the book stopped being enjoyable (Nemesis, in my case). There's too many good books out there to waste my time on mediocre or bad ones. If I want to know "just the facts", then that's what Lexicanum's for.

The HH series can be stale after a lil while, they spit out the same gak and drag it out way too long imo. Only part that is interesting are the ones with Curze.

Gaunt’s ghost can be quite touching, the character build is superb that when one is in danger/killed; you feel it. You’re more connected because they are human.

Cain series is great too, comedic commissar tries to run away from danger, but instead run into the thick of it.

Eisenhorn series is awesome too, short compare to the others, but great writing.

I think I have like 22 of the HH books so far, I just finished Damnation of Pythos about a month ago, which was the last book in the series I bought. That was several years ago. Anyone know how far the series has gone by now?

You complain about the HH series being repetitive, then in the same breath recommend Ciaphas Cain? Sandy Mitchell doesn't just repeat plot points, setups and themes, he repeats LITERALLY LINE FOR LINE the exact same words in his books.

The Eisenhorn series are my favourite books of all time. I love the characters, development, storyline... everything! I highly recommend it.

Also I've found some of the short story compilations to be good when you're looking for a quick read. Some are a bit cheesy because it's hard to develop storytelling aspects over a few pages vs a whole novel, but still entertaining.

... but the Eisenhorn books... read them!

 BaconCatBug wrote:
You complain about the HH series being repetitive, then in the same breath recommend Ciaphas Cain? Sandy Mitchell doesn't just repeat plot points, setups and themes, he repeats LITERALLY LINE FOR LINE the exact same words in his books.

Cain series gives me a good laugh, the books aren't meant to be serious; whereas the HH series are written in a serious tone, after how many long books will Horus finally arrive at Terra? the series is written from every single perspective but in the same set timeline. I listened to 'wolfsbane' recently on tube while painting/modeling, it was like 10 hrs long, but you can summarize in a paragraph without losing any real substance. That's where the HH series has come down to, I compare to some good TV show, first few seasons are great, then the producers/writters ran out of things to captivate our attention.

Isn't the Cain series very much based on Flashman? If so I'm sure the author is purposefully trying to emulate George MacDonald Frasiers style throughout his series. Never read Cain but as a huge Flashman fan have always been curious. Just need more hours!

ShadowPug wrote:
So I have been reading the Horus Heresy series (Read the first 6, have 7 and 8) and it's pretty good, but I want to move on and read some 40k lore, but the sheer number of books there are is intimidating so I just stuck to the Horus Heresy series, however now I want to change but I don't want to leave the character arcs [SPOILER ALERT] While Saul, Garro and Loken are dead [SPOILER ALERT OVER] I don't know if their stories continue somehow, and I am really interested to see what happens to Zarherial, so how many more should I read to tie up the stories?

Just read what you want to read. I read a HH novel when I'am in the mood and I read 40k books when I'm in the mood to read them. I'd get bored just reading HH. You can never be up to date with all the books now with the sheer output GW put out, but read because its entertaining, not to become some oracle of warhammer lore. None of us have read 'everything'. Once yoy read about 20-30 HH novels you know so much at that point that you can always normally join in a debate with any subject in the lore and by that point you've forgotten more than you know, so just read for entertainment, don't worry about it. My advice is to read a HH novel you want to, it really doesn't matter what order you read them in as the fundamental story of HH is already told, there are no major spoilers really.

 Delvarus Centurion wrote:
Just read what you want to read. I read a HH novel when I'am in the mood and I read 40k books when I'm in the mood to read them. I'd get bored just reading HH. You can never be up to date with all the books now with the sheer output GW put out, but read because its entertaining, not to become some oracle of warhammer lore. None of us have read 'everything'. Once yoy read about 20-30 HH novels you know so much at that point that you can always normally join in a debate with any subject in the lore and by that point you've forgotten more than you know, so just read for entertainment, don't worry about it. My advice is to read a HH novel you want to, it really doesn't matter what order you read them in as the fundamental story of HH is already told, there are no major spoilers really.

The devil is in the details.

The books vary wildly in quality, and I have skipped a few along the way (certain authors I feel are pretty subpar).

I can thoroughly recommend Praetorian of Dorn, and Master of Mankind as standouts (after Damnation of Pythos).

To be honest, French, Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, and to a lesser extent McNeill are stronger writers. Many of the others seem pretty poor (although I did really enjoy Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow).

zerosignal wrote:
The books vary wildly in quality, and I have skipped a few along the way (certain authors I feel are pretty subpar).

I can thoroughly recommend Praetorian of Dorn, and Master of Mankind as standouts (after Damnation of Pythos).

To be honest, French, Abnett, Dembski-Bowden, and to a lesser extent McNeill are stronger writers. Many of the others seem pretty poor (although I did really enjoy Flight of the Eisenstein by James Swallow).

To be fair, maybe it's because I'm not really an expert in literature, but I can't really tell a difference between all the author's writing.

 LumenPraebeo wrote:
I think I have like 22 of the HH books so far, I just finished Damnation of Pythos about a month ago, which was the last book in the series I bought. That was several years ago. Anyone know how far the series has gone by now?

It's gone long way (down hill) since then:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Horus_Heresy_(novels)

Looks like 17 more books available in paperback now, with 2 more by the end of the year-ish.

Also, brace for impact!

@ OP: when you are no longer enjoying them.

You really can't catch up at this point. I'd advice the first 3 for eveyone and after that pick a legion/ primarch you like and follow that thread.

A word of warning that 30k and 40k are fundamrntally different settings. Many readers that either start out with 30k or 40k find it a bit bothersome that one setting matters very little to the other, with a few exceptions (such as chaos, Guilliman or Bjorn). 10.000years is a long time. As for the actual question I’d say there’s no point in ever stopping. Put the HH down, try out a 40k one and if that doesn’t hook you go back to HH. You never really have to stop, just read what suits your fancy at any given time.

@Mysterio Exalted, but would you kindly put a picture like that in spoilers tabs? My phone had to reload the page a few times in order to write this reply.

I started reading/ collecting the books when book 1 (Horus Rising) was released and I collected up to book 17 before I got really behind and just couldn't see myself spending my limited reading time for and unknown amount of time trying to get caught up. There was no end in sight and I'm not not a fast reader and don't have a lot of free time. I read up to book 12, but didn't finish it.

Just recently decided to sell them all and got $60 on ebay, so I was pleased to get something back from them other than guilt about not keeping up with the series.