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I read the first three Horus Heresy novels some time ago. I liked reading about the story of the heresy unfolding, cared less for reading about Space Marines shooting at stuff. I'm looking at continuing with the series now, but I do not have the time and desire to read all 36 novels (given that I hear that many are not very good and add nothing to the overall storyline). From reading a number of reviews/blog and this thread and this thread, I came to a list of Horus Heresy books to read. But most things I could find were quite old, so I would like to get some up to date views on the list.

The lists shows 'essential' (being necessary for following the larger story, as defined in more detail in this thread) and 'recommended' (being very good books to read even if they are not necessarily essential). What do you think of this list? Anything else that definitely should be on there, or anything that not should be on there?

Horus Rising (1st novel) - essential
False Gods (2nd novel) - essential
Galaxy in Flames (3rd novel) - essential
Flight of the Eisenstein (4th novel) - essential
Fulgrim (5th novel) - essential
Legion (7th novel) - recommend
A Thousand Sons (12th novel) - recommended
The First Heretic (14th novel) - essential

Know No Fear (19th novel) - essential
Fear to Tread (21st novel) - recommended
Angel Exterminatus (23rd novel) - recommended
Betrayer (24th novel) - recommended
The Unremembered Empire (27th novel) - essential
Scars (28th novel) - recommended

Considering to add these:
Mechanicum (9th novel) - recommended?
Vengeful Spirit (29th novel) - recommended?
Pharos (34th novel) - essential?

Edit: List updated

"Scars" is a must. The White Scars had quite a great introduction to the series. I also may be in the minority but I would also recommend several of the anthologies, especially the later ones. "Legacies of Betrayal" and the newly released "War Without End" collect up a huge number of stories that really help to fill in a lot of gaps. Also if you're reading "Unremembered Empire", then you need the direct follow-up in "Pharos".

Not really a fan of the Horus heresy books myself. That being said:
I'd suggest you put in Prospero Burns (15th novel) as recommended since it follows the events of a thousand sons (12th novel).

I've heard good things about Mechanicum (9th novel).

Though not essential I would highly recommend Tales of Heresy (10th novel). It's a collection of short stories with two that stand out. One is the story of a Custodian. The other is "the last church" which quite frankly is one of the best 40k stories I have ever read and one that, like it or not, sparks much debate around the Emperor and the foundations of the Imperium. It adds so much context to the Horus Heresy and the Imperium as a whole.

Horus Rising (1st novel) - essential
False Gods (2nd novel) - essential
Galaxy in Flames (3rd novel) - essential
Flight of the Eisenstein (4th novel) - essential
Fulgrim (5th novel) - essential
Legion (7th novel) - recommend
A Thousand Sons (12th novel) - recommended
The First Heretic (14th novel) - essential
Betrayer (24th novel) - recommended


Edited your list.

Mechanicum (9th novel) - Tells what happened in Mars and very good book. At least recommended.

Thanks for the list!

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
Horus Rising (1st novel) - essential
False Gods (2nd novel) - essential
Galaxy in Flames (3rd novel) - essential
Flight of the Eisenstein (4th novel) - essential
Fulgrim (5th novel) - essential
Legion (7th novel) - recommend
A Thousand Sons (12th novel) - recommended
The First Heretic (14th novel) - essential
Betrayer (24th novel) - recommended


Edited your list.

So, no progression of the storyline since book 14? That saves a lot of reading!

I read that it is expected that the next novels will move the story forward again. I wonder whether those new novels will change views on all the novels in between 14 and 35 and to what extent they are to be considered 'essential'.

Krumwish wrote:

 FeindusMaximus wrote:
Horus Rising (1st novel) - essential
False Gods (2nd novel) - essential
Galaxy in Flames (3rd novel) - essential
Flight of the Eisenstein (4th novel) - essential
Fulgrim (5th novel) - essential
Legion (7th novel) - recommend
A Thousand Sons (12th novel) - recommended
The First Heretic (14th novel) - essential
Betrayer (24th novel) - recommended


Edited your list.

So, no progression of the storyline since book 14? That saves a lot of reading!

I read that it is expected that the next novels will move the story forward again. I wonder whether those new novels will change views on all the novels in between 14 and 35 and to what extent they are to be considered 'essential'.

I'd say that's a bit of a misunderstanding of what this list is and what you consider essential. If you don't care about the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Raven Guard, Salamanders, Iron Hands, Iron Warriors, Imperial Fists, or White Scars, then sure, this is the essential list. If you believe the Horus Heresy is nothing but Isstvan III -> Isstvan V -> Terra, with a side-trip to Prospero thrown in, then sure, this is the essential list. But the Heresy, as its presented, is a war fought on hundreds of different fronts, with forces from both sides (and neither side) going in a dozen different directions. The idea of a "main" storyline is like saying that only events in Italy, France, Germany, and Japan tell the "main" storyline of World War 2.

jareddm wrote:
I'd say that's a bit of a misunderstanding of what this list is and what you consider essential. If you don't care about the Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Raven Guard, Salamanders, Iron Hands, Iron Warriors, Imperial Fists, or White Scars, then sure, this is the essential list. If you believe the Horus Heresy is nothing but Isstvan III -> Isstvan V -> Terra, with a side-trip to Prospero thrown in, then sure, this is the essential list. But the Heresy, as its presented, is a war fought on hundreds of different fronts, with forces from both sides (and neither side) going in a dozen different directions. The idea of a "main" storyline is like saying that only events in Italy, France, Germany, and Japan tell the "main" storyline of World War 2.

To use your World War 2 analogy, to understand the story of that war you would need to read about: The Nazi rise to power in Germany and annexation of Austria, the Nazi invasion of Poland and Western Europe causing Europe to declare war, the invasion of Russia breaking the truce with Russians, USA despite their reluctance being drawn into the conflict by Pearl Harbour, Stalingrad as turning point on the eastern front, failed Italian excursion into Northern Africa and Germany coming to their aid, British success in Northern Africa turning the flow on that front, landings in Italy and Normandy taking the battle to Western Europe mainland and ultimately the defeat of the Germans on German soil.

When I refer to 'essential' in my question, I mean which stories you would need to read to understand the bigger picture, like knowing about the above WW2 events for the bigger picture of that war. 'Recommended' would be anything you would not necessarily need, but is well written and/or interesting and worth to read on that account. In the analogy, for example if someone had written a really good book on the Dunkirk invasion, or Romania's role in the war, or the heroic feats of the US Army Rangers, those may very well be worth a read and would broaden your understanding of the conflict, but they would not be necessary to understand the bigger picture. You would of course read those particular books in any case if Dunkirk, Romania or the Rangers are of particular interest to you.

So, for my Horus Heresy question I am looking to understand: which ones are 'essential' for following the bigger picture of the Heresy and which ones are 'recommended' on account of being awesomely written books.

In which case I'd say your original list, plus Scars is still the best option.

jareddm wrote:
In which case I'd say your original list, plus Scars is still the best option.

Thanks for the input, I've added Scars to the list as recommended.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Draco wrote:
Mechanicum (9th novel) - Tells what happened in Mars and very good book. At least recommended.

Any more votes for Mechanicum? I had not seen it on many 'must read' lists before, but reviews appear to be very positive.

Well I say that the first three (and maybe the fourth) are essential. As for the rest, I'm of the opinion that it's hard to say simply because the series isn't finished yet. There are approximately thirty novels and plenty of short stories and anthologies released as part of The Horus Heresy series, so without knowing how many books are yet to be published and what exactly these yet-to-be-published books will contain, it's hard to know what is essential.

With all that in mind. here's my recommendation:

Read the first four books and/or listen to the audio-book versions of the first four novels, then do one of three things.

(1) Read every single one of 'The Horus Heresy' novels in order.

(2) Find out which books people consider the best. Here (DakkaDakka) may not be the best place to do this because by the time you've collated everyone's opinions into a cohesive list, you might as well read the whole series. My recommendation as far as this is concerned is to talk to friends and people at your FLGS and get a list of 5 - 10 books (this is what I did).

(3) There was a White Dwarf issue not too long ago that had a few different story arcs (The Ultramarines, The Raven Guard, etc) listed. In each listing they had an overall list of Books and Audio-books that followed those arcs to the most recent relevant publication. IMO this is probably the best option because it's very easy to spread out your expenditure as well as focus on different aspects of the heresy individually. The only problem is that the publications haven't finished, so this will need constant updating by WD or by you.

I'm sorry this is broad, generic and rather less specific that you might have hoped, but I think these are among the best options and I hope it helps.