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Dunno if this is the right place to post this in, but are the Horus Heresy books connected? I´m gonna read them all, but I really want to read Fulgrim and want to know if I can start with it or if I have to read the four books before it...

 Luusormi wrote:
Dunno if this is the right place to post this in, but are the Horus Heresy books connected? I´m gonna read them all, but I really want to read Fulgrim and want to know if I can start with it or if I have to read the four books before it...

They are all one big narrative, but some are directly connected more than others.

I'm fairly sure Fulgrim has no desperately mandatory context that you won't already be more or less aware of as someone with a base knowledge of the 40k setting. Read it first if hes your guy, and then go back and read the stuff that precedes it after. If there's one thing i would recommend it's Fulgrim's primarch novel, it does precede it, and its expands upon pre-heresey Fulgrim's character and flair and motivations really well, its my favorite of the Primarch novels and sets the stage really well for his story.

thanks guys!

The original triology ties in directly to Fulgrim. A certain scene where Fulgrim and Horus are talking appear in two books. If you wanna keep reading after Fulgrim then I’d reccomend Horus rising, False gods and Galaxy in flames in that order. Those, Fulgrim and Eisenstein set the stage for most (but definetly not all) of the Horus Heresy books.

Edit: as others have confirmed it’s perfectly fine to start reading with Fulgrim. You don’t really need any other context before that book.

Here you can look spoiler free reading order, do not contains newer books.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/English_Horus_heresy_spoiler_free_tree.jpg

You really don't want to read them all there are some truly pointless books just there to pad.

Battle for the abyss is one, the one about the assassins another, that one with the astropath, burning of prospero.

Do some research first and save yourself some money.

Yeah find a few story arcs you like and read the ones connected to those.

I’d say read the first three books about Horus’ fall first (Horus Rising, Galaxy in Flames, forgot the third), then any order/books you want after that.

Burning of Prospero just to pad?
Not sure any of the Heresy novels are there just to pad. They may not involve/relate to the key events of the Heresy, but they serve a purpose. All the BL authors and many of the FW staff have alwayse taken pains to point out that while the main protagonists of the Heresy may be the marines, there are many different battlefields and billions of 'normal' people involved too.
Some of them are, without a doubt, marmite books. Nemesis (the assassain one) is loved by some. It certainly has great characters in it, and even though you ultimately know the end of the story, i still enjoyed it.

To the orginal poster, its not a simple answer. Some of the Heresy books are connected (first 3, Thousand sons/Prospero Buns, The Imperium Secundus arc etc.) but they don't all have the same characters/ongoing story arc throughout all the books.
Fulgrim is probably best read after the first 3, but I'm not sure 'Flight of the Eisenstien' has anything relevant for Fulgrim (but its been a while since I read it!)

Prospero burns has zero connection to thousand sons, hell the battle the books named after is only featured in the very end of the book.

Thousand sons does a far better job of giving the rout character because dan Arnett decided to make burning of prospero about his self insertion character.

I say this as a vlka frenryka player.

Prospero is a wasted opportunity.

Ben Counter's Daemon World is a great view point as well if your into Slaanesh reads. It's not HH related though.