Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I really like the HH series published by Black Library. I haven't read all of them, I'm up to book 7 "Legion."

So far my favorite book has been "Fulgrim" for its detailed look into the plunge to darkness and excess the Legion of the Emperor's Children took.

But I have noticed the series drag quite a lot. There's a lot of books to go for me. I kinda just wish BL would simply put the series to an end soon, its not like we don't already know what happens. But, alas, the cash cow needs milking, so I can see why they would drag on.

What's your opinion on this? Favorite book of the series?

I'm the opposite, I hope it keeps going.

Some books are wayward for want of a better word, but for me personally it was a White Dwarf with the huge games day siege of the emperors palace that got me into gaming in the first place.

There are twenty legions worth of history and character to explore and seeing the tragedy and scheming of things when we all know what happens is just great to read.

Thousand Sons, Prospero Burns and Angel Exterminatus are really good.

The series was promising, but over the last year due to the degrading of BL, its basically stalled to a halt and what does come out are small, limited edition overpriced novellas. Real shame what GW did to the series, considering at a time they were bestsellers.

I'm kind of the in the middle between an amazing series and it should end...

it happens to best of series...or shows..for instance we'll take Deal or No Deal which was a top rated show..everyone loved it..something new and shiny
the First few books delved into a history we only knew snippets about for the most part...myth and legends

but now like Deal or no Deal we're getting a glut of books...every day we see the show...(every month we see a new book) so it's becoming less shiny and more watery so to speak

which is a shame..and I agree..Fulgrim..best book..and the reason I love Slaanesh so much is that I find Slaanesh is the most complex of the four chaos gods...there's a fine line between love, hate and madness
and Fulgrim and Sigvald have done Slaanesh and their respective characters a great justice in that regard in my humble opinion

After the opening trilogy, I made the mistake of just reading whatever book I wanted to next, it was okay at first, but I started to realise I was missing parts, so I've started to go back to ones I've missed. Just finished Flight of the Eisenstein and I'm gutted I never read it earlier, but now I'm on Fulgrim and I just can't get into it.

My two favourites so far though are Know no Fear and Betrayer, with Fear to Tread coming up a close third. A Thousand Sons is good too, but I think it's a little overrated.

They need to quit with all the UM WE SW DA BA books.
Add Salamanders, Iron Hands, and White scars

in the name of the Emporer, retcon Dorns death, keep the series even, stop killing all the loyalist primarchs half the fun in their existence is speculating what would happen if they came out of hiding.

Show the less known legions some, the great crusade still has yet to really be fleshed out.

I really hope it keeps going. The first few books were great, then it stalled a bit with the 2 dark angels books, but it has picked right up again now.

Overall, my top five books would be Angel Exterminatus, then Fear to Tread, A thousand sons, prospero burns and then legion. All of those book were simply excellent.

I love the series.. Though yes,.. at times the pace seems to slow down..

The pro's far outweight the cons nowadays..

you get to experience first hand how those involved experienced the heresy.. Not all chaos turned legions did so willingly, some were tricked etc. Besides getting to
know the primarchs you get to experience the feel of the legions. Which are so much alike yet so different..

The biggest con in my opinion is that you get pulled forwards and backwards in to time,.. a novel 10 books away could take place before Horus rising and such... might be confusing from time to time.

Also the books that pretty much have very little astartes action in them seem to interest me less,.. like the civil war on mars for example..

I also miss the mass SM vs Orky goodness,.. though that is to be expected, since it focusess around Loyalist vs Traitors..

I am currently reading Fallen Angels,.. which i like very much since i like the ideals and customs of the Dark Angels.

Descent of Angles
Horus Rising
Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Legion

My top 5 thus far of the Horus heresy Novels.

I loved the DA novels, but I would have to say that i preferred the first 4 novels. Galaxy in Flames remains one of my favorite books ever.

The first four, and out of them it's a close one between galaxy in flames and flight of einstien. That's ok thought as they intermingle and add to each other any how. Plus fulgrim, but only for the drop site mass-ik-ker and when fulgrim and like 5 or 6 guys holds back an entire craft world. Awesome.

God, the Dark Angel novels were terrible. They read like bad fan fiction, and put me off 40k for a half-decade.

They were that bad.

From what I understand, you're better off reading the Horus Heresy by author, because it's really a mixed bag. Most anything by Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Dan Abnett, Sandy Mitchell, and the ones who are known for putting out a good story are bound to be a good read.

Beyond that, I've been told that the books surrounding the Nightlords and the Fall of Prospero are particularly good.

Sandy Mitchell hasn't written any HH books, last I checked.

Graham McNeill is generally pretty on the ball, with a few slip-ups, but frankly I prefer him to Abnett or ADB.

 Void__Dragon wrote:
Sandy Mitchell hasn't written any HH books, last I checked.

Graham McNeill is generally pretty on the ball, with a few slip-ups, but frankly I prefer him to Abnett or ADB.

HH isn't my usual kick, I was just throwing out names to look for. As for Graham, I do love his Iron Warriors stuff, but the vast majority of Abnett's work that I've read is damn wonderful, and ADB did a stellar job with Helsreach.

Abnett can't write an ending to save his fething life IMHO, has made some blunders in the past, and as for ADB, I'd rather not get into it.

I think it's a horrible series.
The first few books were OK (Fulgrim is my favorite, so far), but as the series drifted further and further apart from established background, I've become more and more disenfranchised with it to the point where I now actively loathe it.

My personal favourites are A Thousand Sons, Legion and The First Heretic.

The original trilogy and Fulgrim were good too though.

I haven't read the Dark Angel ones and Prospero Burns was so-so imo.

I also enjoyed Flight of the Eisenstein and Nemesis, but they aren't the best ones in the series.

Those books have had pretty solid reveiws and i will give you my honest opinion when im done with them.

It's a hit-or-miss series, but I think there are currently more hits than misses. Some of them have surprised me as well. I thought I'd hate Battle for the Abyss, but ended up liking it a great deal.

I tend to agree that they need to get moving on it, though. As much as I liked Abyss, and even Outcast Dead, they add nothing at all to the story and seem like filler. We've also got a few legions that have had almost no face-time whatsoever, whereas others are already up to three full books.

 Waaghboss Grobnub wrote:
I love the series.. Though yes,.. at times the pace seems to slow down..

The pro's far outweight the cons nowadays..

you get to experience first hand how those involved experienced the heresy.. Not all chaos turned legions did so willingly, some were tricked etc. Besides getting to
know the primarchs you get to experience the feel of the legions. Which are so much alike yet so different..

The biggest con in my opinion is that you get pulled forwards and backwards in to time,.. a novel 10 books away could take place before Horus rising and such... might be confusing from time to time.

Also the books that pretty much have very little astartes action in them seem to interest me less,.. like the civil war on mars for example..

I also miss the mass SM vs Orky goodness,.. though that is to be expected, since it focusess around Loyalist vs Traitors..

I am currently reading Fallen Angels,.. which i like very much since i like the ideals and customs of the Dark Angels.

Descent of Angles
Horus Rising
Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Legion

My top 5 thus far of the Horus heresy Novels.

I'm the opposite myself, I want more non-Astartes stuff. I don't even see why the Marines get the big billing to be honest, if the Army, Mechanicum, and Titan Legions hadn't joined in the Heresy as well, the Traitor Legions would have been squashed like bugs. Sure, in stories which feature the Primarchs the Marines should be the primary supporting cast, but the best Heresy books are the ones largely written from the perspective of ordinary humans; Mechanicum and Legion.

Im currently reading Betrayer, but my favourite book has to be A Thousand Sons and my favourite short story was Savage Weapons its just awesome. I love the Horus Heresy series I wish we could see a new Dark Angels book because since Fallen Angels all DA have had is short stories. I would also like to see a book where The Emperor is one of the major characters in it, I get excited when i read a bit where The Emperor involved he is just so cool!!!

 Yodhrin wrote:

 Waaghboss Grobnub wrote:
I love the series.. Though yes,.. at times the pace seems to slow down..

The pro's far outweight the cons nowadays..

you get to experience first hand how those involved experienced the heresy.. Not all chaos turned legions did so willingly, some were tricked etc. Besides getting to
know the primarchs you get to experience the feel of the legions. Which are so much alike yet so different..

The biggest con in my opinion is that you get pulled forwards and backwards in to time,.. a novel 10 books away could take place before Horus rising and such... might be confusing from time to time.

Also the books that pretty much have very little astartes action in them seem to interest me less,.. like the civil war on mars for example..

I also miss the mass SM vs Orky goodness,.. though that is to be expected, since it focusess around Loyalist vs Traitors..

I am currently reading Fallen Angels,.. which i like very much since i like the ideals and customs of the Dark Angels.

Descent of Angles
Horus Rising
Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Legion

My top 5 thus far of the Horus heresy Novels.

I'm the opposite myself, I want more non-Astartes stuff. I don't even see why the Marines get the big billing to be honest, if the Army, Mechanicum, and Titan Legions hadn't joined in the Heresy as well, the Traitor Legions would have been squashed like bugs. Sure, in stories which feature the Primarchs the Marines should be the primary supporting cast, but the best Heresy books are the ones largely written from the perspective of ordinary humans; Mechanicum and Legion.

I can see definately see your point! Everything looks so much more scary and threathening from ordinary humans perspective! Though a Space marine trashing up the place is so much more fun to read Normal humans generaly dont do that much of amazing stuff When they do im like, wtfomgnoes!

 BattleCapIronblood wrote:


So far my favorite book has been "Fulgrim" for its detailed look into the plunge to darkness and excess the Legion of the Emperor's Children took.

But I have noticed the series drag quite a lot. There's a lot of books to go for me. I kinda just wish BL would simply put the series to an end soon, its not like we don't already know what happens. But, alas, the cash cow needs milking, so I can see why they would drag on.

This is like, so true, that I would by you a barrel of ale for this comment...
I call it "watering down the story, and milking the money (insert *primarch fights attract fanboys*).....

Mcneil is fething genius with "a Thousand sons", but he has a way of writing (or a pattern) which repeats constantly....Dan is great - if you dig Abnettverse, ADB WAS great with the NL triolgy, but sheer number of fanboism around him is getting on my nerves....

There have been some real turkeys in the HH series and some decent but not great science fiction. The quality of the best HH books can be measured against the usual 40k fare or against really good science fiction. Some of the HH books are miles better than the usual 40k stuff but none of it is going to ever be considered among the top science fiction books.

Now this is not to say the books arent really enjoyable for 40k fans, far from it. However the series has been dragged out too long. For one thing they have really expanded the time it took Horus to get to Earth after the drop site massacre in comparison to the original background material.

 DarthMarko wrote:

 BattleCapIronblood wrote:


So far my favorite book has been "Fulgrim" for its detailed look into the plunge to darkness and excess the Legion of the Emperor's Children took.

But I have noticed the series drag quite a lot. There's a lot of books to go for me. I kinda just wish BL would simply put the series to an end soon, its not like we don't already know what happens. But, alas, the cash cow needs milking, so I can see why they would drag on.

This is like, so true, that I would by you a barrel of ale for this comment...
I call it "watering down the story, and milking the money (insert *primarch fights attract fanboys*).....

Mcneil is fething genius with "a Thousand sons", but he has a way of writing (or a pattern) which repeats constantly....Dan is great - if you dig Abnettverse, ADB WAS great with the NL triolgy, but sheer number of fanboism around him is getting on my nerves....

I'll take you up on that offer, mate lol to the pub we go!
Yes, I do agree that McNeil has a superb talent, and Dan is like the father of BL.

 DarthMarko wrote:
This is like, so true, that I would by you a barrel of ale for this comment...
I call it "watering down the story, and milking the money (insert *primarch fights attract fanboys*).....

Mcneil is fething genius with "a Thousand sons", but he has a way of writing (or a pattern) which repeats constantly....Dan is great - if you dig Abnettverse, ADB WAS great with the NL triolgy, but sheer number of fanboism around him is getting on my nerves....

Fanboyism?

ADB pisses me off because he doesn't seem to care about keeping established characters consistent with their former portrayals, such as the Lion or Magnus the Red.

That Magnus whining about not being sure if he should join the Heresy is still a plot point is ridiculous, the entire point of the end of A Thousand Sons is that he has become resigned to the fate laid out for him by the Changer of Ways.

 Void__Dragon wrote:

 DarthMarko wrote:
This is like, so true, that I would by you a barrel of ale for this comment...
I call it "watering down the story, and milking the money (insert *primarch fights attract fanboys*).....

Mcneil is fething genius with "a Thousand sons", but he has a way of writing (or a pattern) which repeats constantly....Dan is great - if you dig Abnettverse, ADB WAS great with the NL triolgy, but sheer number of fanboism around him is getting on my nerves....

Fanboyism?

ADB pisses me off because he doesn't seem to care about keeping established characters consistent with their former portrayals, such as the Lion or Magnus the Red.

That Magnus whining about not being sure if he should join the Heresy is still a plot point is ridiculous, the entire point of the end of A Thousand Sons is that he has become resigned to the fate laid out for him by the Changer of Ways.

If you take a closer look at his writing (analytically) lately, it always contains a lot of primarchs brawls (fanboys dig that), and a grimdark pattern.....

O don't get me started with this heresy about Magnus - I was also whaaaaat, isn't Magnus cornered ? I was gonna tease you about this:-), because all your posts about TS are based on Mcneills ending.....:-)

Also don't get me started about Russ :-) Him teaching Angron somekind of lesson (which he still doesn't understands) and quoting the book of Lorgar?

I only read the first 4 hh novels, and the first heretic.
And for some reason I wasn't to fond of the 1st 3 books, Loken never really "clicked" with me as a character.

However, I thought The Flight of Eisenstein and The First Heretic were great, especially the First Heretic.

Oh yah, now about if I think they should end, well I guess i can't really say anything now because I haven't read any of the newer books and so don't know if their quality has gone down, but if they are still good, they should keep going.

However, I wouldn't want them to constantly put off the end of the heresy. Maybe they could write a book about the final battle, and then still go back to previous events.

Remulus wrote:
I only read the first 4 hh novels, and the first heretic.
And for some reason I wasn't to fond of the 1st 3 books, Loken never really "clicked" with me as a character.

However, I thought The Flight of Eisenhorn and The First Heretic were great, especially the First Heretic.

Oh yah, now about if I think they should end, well I guess i can't really say anything now because I haven't read any of the newer books and so don't know if their quality has gone down, but if they are still good, they should keep going.

However, I wouldn't want them to constantly put off the end of the heresy. Maybe they could write a book about the final battle, and then still go back to previous events.

Flight of the EISENSTEIN, my dear friend, though no harm done, just wanted to point it out. And yes, Loken did feel a little lacking in comparison to some of the other characters in the series, yet he is an essential mention and piece of the series, especially regarding Garro and the future of the Imperium.

I really find this talk about Abnettverse stupid. For all intents and purposes it is a part of official 40k fluff and shows events that happen in the 40k galaxy. Inconsistencies can simply be chalked up to it being a large galaxy and thus things are not the same everywhere.