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I've always had a bit of a tertiary interest in the Fantasy setting, but after pouring hours into Vermintide my interest had risen. I have zero intention of ever giving GW money for their overpriced models, but I'm curious to know if there are any decent BL series to get into to learn a bit more about WHFB lore.

Any recommendations?

Gotrek and Felix novels are a excellent starting point for a fantasy reader.

After that it might depend on what your favorite faction is and what's written about them. The Storm and Bolter short stories are good all around.

If you're a Empire fan I'd recommend "Runefang" for your reading pleasure.

Hit up the End Times novels. They were fun reads.

Urika the Vampire, it's a spinnoff of Gortek and Felix I believe but I didn't read that (though I should) and didn't miss anything. Great character and the three books are sort of set up as her coming into her own as a vampire, being the newly turned 'child' for book one, the rebellious 'teenager' for book two then maturing as a vampire for book 3 as she tries to find a place in the world.

The sundering series was a great telling of how the dark elves and high elves split, showing Malekiths fall very well (totally better than Horus' imo). I especially loved the second book of the series with the shadow king.

Brunner was a really good omnibus too as a series of short stories and a novella or two about a bounty hunter. That was great for just showing off the world and exploring as well as he himself being a pretty badass character.

as a fanboy I would recommend the entire nagash trilogy plus neferata, pretty much any dwarf novel. the legends are great,. Drachenfels and konrad are good too. thats in addition to all the other books others here mentioned.

 BlaxicanX wrote:
I've always had a bit of a tertiary interest in the Fantasy setting, but after pouring hours into Vermintide my interest had risen. I have zero intention of ever giving GW money for their overpriced models, but I'm curious to know if there are any decent BL series to get into to learn a bit more about WHFB lore.

Any recommendations?

Check out my ebay page in my signature!

I've read 99% of what I have up for auction, so check it out and I can tell you what I enjoyed. Steven Savile's vampire books were pretty great.

Jack Yeovil (pen name for Kim Newman) is my favorite Warhammer Fantasy writer of all time.

His Vampire Genevieve omnibus is a great read especially Drachenfels.

In Drachenfels a mixmatched band of heroes go on a quest to kill the most evil sorcerer in the world.

And are slaughtered.

In the first chapter.

Then jump to 25 years later when the handsome prince who led them is commissioning a play to memorialize his victory.

It manages to hit all sorts of fantasy tropes/cliches and subvert all of them.

Vampire Genevieve is a bit of a Mary Sue (OK a complete Mary Sue) but Yeovil/Newman is so good you can overlook it.

If you like orcs and goblins (mostly goblins)...if you want to know more about how their societies work, how they interact with each other and other races, what their everyday life is like and how a Warboss rises to power...

Skarsnik. Skarsnik Skarsnik Skarsnik.

It's my favorite Black Library book ever. It expands the background, touches on an important faction that frequently appears but almost never gets an in-depth look, and it comes with a healthy dose of vicious, sociopathic humor. If you ever read the Redwall books back in the day, it's, like...page after page of the villain point of view scenes, only with goblins and dwarfs and skaven. Absolutely glorious.

If you want Dark Elves, I can really suggest The Chronicles of Malus Darkblade. Really fun books about a backstabbing Dark Elf.

As a Vampire Counts fan, what are people's take on the Von Carstein trilogy? They're gathered into an omnibus, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying.

 Pojko wrote:
As a Vampire Counts fan, what are people's take on the Von Carstein trilogy? They're gathered into an omnibus, and I'm wondering if it's worth buying.

I liked them. It really brought to life the "behind the scenes" of the Vampire Wars, answered some questions that the Army Book histories never got into, and was very well written. Vampire Count fans should read them.