HORUS HERESY - Where do I start reading?

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**BrookM**

kronk wrote:
BrookM wrote:

I will also defend the first Dark Angels novel to the death for doing something the nay-sayers refuse to see: Giving us a good, strong look at a world before discovery by the Imperium and how deep the seeds of heresy can be sown sometimes.

I'll give them credit for that, but found the world they picked to be boring. I'd have rather read all about Mortarion's world or Horus'.

True, but Caliban was a world overrun by Chaos spawn and it is one of those loyalist chapters with an interesting background that I feel needs to be further explored. But yeah, Mortarian and especially Typhus, that would've been interesting to read about as well.

**Pilau Rice**

Alpharius wrote:
dienekes96 wrote:
I would have recommended the Bill King bits from the original Realm of Chaos: The Lost and the Damned, also used in WD articles and the Horus Heresy boardgame(s). Two short stories, one addressing the Siege on Terra:

"On the thirteenth of Secundus, 30,014, the barrage bombardment began..."

And the other discussing the final battle aboard Horus' battle barge:

"Even through the shields impact makes the Imperial Palace shake. With a screech of tortured stone an angel topples from its alcove high on the throne room wall and crashes to the marble floor a kilometre below. It shatters into a million pieces. Splinters of stone flash across the hall like shrapnel..."

I enjoy the novels quite a bit, but I recommend starting where the story did.

This is incredibly awesome advice that I second!

By all mans start there - it is fantastic stuff.

And it is a bit depressing to realize that we're still 20 to 30 BOOKS away from getting there...

Indeed!

So why not start here http://members.tripod.com/orcrist_game/40k/id3.html

**jah-joshua**

yeah, i was gonna say start with Wikipedia...
a brief overview of everything helps put the series into context, and keeps you from going in blind and wondering what the hell is going on for the next fourty novels...

the thing i like about the novels is that we are finally getting into the specifics, often in minute detail...
before we just had a lot of broad background, and some small flavor text bits from a mass of sources...

welcome to the rollercoaster ride

...

cheers
jah

**DIDM**

as they say

at the beginning

Horus Rising

**InquisitorMack**

I've read the entire series up to Brotherhood of the Storm (just arrived yesterday) and enjoyed the entire series. I'm a bookworm so if I'm looking for quality writing, I don't expect 40k to be fantastic. But if I want some fun bolterdeathexplodingface and the occasional great book (Go Aaron D-B!), then the entire Horus Heresy is great.

**12thRonin**

I've been working my way through Fear to Tread and I've found it to be very onerous and pretty boring. Not to mention the giant retcon of the Blood Angels.

**welshhoppo**

I've read most of them and I found them pretty damn good. I've just waiting for GW to change the ending around.

'And as Horus struck the Emperor down, the end was in sight. Horus collapsed from the strain and his body was taken and interred on the Golden Throne because they thought he was the Emperor and not the other way around.'

**mattyrm**

I still reckon the first three were among the best, so start at the beginning.

Those aside, I liked Legion and Know no fear.

Abnett is my favourite, by a long way.

**kronk**

I thought the First Heretic by ADB was a first rate contribution to the HH. The first 2 are the best, though. The 3rd was a little weak, which is disappointing considering the subject matter.

**Yojiro**

A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns are pretty good too.

**Kiarn**

Start at the beginning and don't look back at the epic story you are setting out on!

I've enjoyed all the books so far with my personal fav being nemesis as I've read it twice, i like the stories that fill out the Imperium more.

You'll have you own personal favorites too, the fun it is finding out which ones they are!!

Death to the false emperor!

**CrazyBones**

Sadly, the writing is subpar but most people ignore it because they are writing about a subject we know and love. If you read a lot of other fiction, it may take you a bit to stomach the downgrade in writing skills.

Outside of Dan Abnett, I have a hard time believing any of the authors could be successful if they had to write something outside of Warhammer(40k).

**narked**

Aside from the fact that several of them already write outside of Warhammer/40k...

**CrazyBones**

narked wrote:
Aside from the fact that several of them already write outside of Warhammer/40k...

Writing and being successful are two different things in my opinion...