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I know that the majority of people feel that the heresy series has been stretched out, but I'm interested in putting a percentage to this fact. If you think it should have been shorter, perhaps suggest the format they should have followed? E.g First 3 books deal with horus' fall, istavaan 3 and istaavan 5. Book 4,5,6,7 betrayal at calth, burning of prospero, thramas crusade and signus prime respectively. Worryingly, I can actually see them managing to drag it out for 56+ books quite easily

Less than one book would have been fine by me. The Heresy is supposed to be legend in 40K, why do we need to get "the truth" about it?

Spetulhu wrote:
Less than one book would have been fine by me. The Heresy is supposed to be legend in 40K, why do we need to get "the truth" about it?

Where I have enjoyed most of the Heresy books I do agree with Spethulhu. I think a lot of the awesomeness has been lost. It was better when it was a time of mystery and legend. Giving us the Primarchs has made them seem less rather than more. I enjoyed the Vision series, but had some parts that disappointed me, more because it wasn't so complete and still left fairly vague. Same with the RoC books and the IA articles. An overview was provided that left you guessing more than knowing. The EC of this period are my favourite Legion but I loathed Fulgrim from the HH series.

I think, what I would really like is like an encyclopaedia of the HH. We have Lexicanum for that I guess.

I've been more impressed with the FW stuff by Mr Bligh and I think he's done an amazing job.

Spetulhu wrote:
Less than one book would have been fine by me. The Heresy is supposed to be legend in 40K, why do we need to get "the truth" about it?

Yeah agreed. Part of the allure of 40k is so much of it is a mystery. Start explaining too much stuff and it loses its mythic feel.

Saying that, I do like some of the nuances they've given to some of the characters. Angron being loyal and smart (and betrayed by Big E) rather than just full-on RAAAGE 24/7 is a nice touch. Guilliman coming across as thoroughly competent, but with a poor grasp of people politics is masterful as well.

Honestly I was perfectly fine with the short story of the HH that is found in the CSM codeces: the gory betrayal at the dropsite masacre and the final battle upon terror. This was great, it gave you an overview of the 'start' and end of the Heresy and it was up to other codex entries and supplements to give hints of things like who really started the Heresy and show you glimpses into the anguish that the imperium suffered at such a destructive treachery.

I love the fluff of things like the Badab war, Siege of Vraks and Storm of Iron but the HH stuff doesn't come close to this because in all the forementioned stories they are the focus, there is no need to rush a head to the next battle or even build up to this one from a previous book.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
Less than one book would have been fine by me. The Heresy is supposed to be legend in 40K, why do we need to get "the truth" about it?

Yeah agreed. Part of the allure of 40k is so much of it is a mystery. Start explaining too much stuff and it loses its mythic feel.

Saying that, I do like some of the nuances they've given to some of the characters. Angron being loyal and smart (and betrayed by Big E) rather than just full-on RAAAGE 24/7 is a nice touch. Guilliman coming across as thoroughly competent, but with a poor grasp of people politics is masterful as well.

I think the main problem is that when you have a disparate group of writers trying to tie in all the threads of the Heresy together there's lot of hits and misses when it comes to character portrayal, with the good authors trying to do damage control on the inconsistent aspects of the story while the bad ones just poop out the filler. Case in point, Fulgrim's fall from grace could have just ended with the book Fulgrim but then they get him suddenly going full evil when he swaps out with the daemon. Some authors basically own some of the primarchs as their writing territory (Lorgar and Angron for ADB, Corax for Gav Thorpe) while others have to work around what others have already done.

I have actually really enjoyed the HH series, the problem is that their are 18 primarchs and all of the people who love those primarchs want the focus of the books to be on their primarch. However, I think there were many books that were just unnecessecary to the story. E.g Nemesis, Prospero Burns, Outcast Dead and damnation of pythos. I think if they had trimmed down some of these books and possibly managed to incorporate some of the books together it would have been much more succinct and enjoyable.

The only actual option that needs to be up there, is, As many as they need.

I think 20ish would have been good. But ditch the chronological approach. Each book would follow one chapter from start to finish. Each from that chapter’s POV. Critical events (Istavvan, Siege of Terra) could also be covered in their own book. Maybe a prequil book about the emperor, and a post HH endcap.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
Less than one book would have been fine by me. The Heresy is supposed to be legend in 40K, why do we need to get "the truth" about it?

Yeah agreed. Part of the allure of 40k is so much of it is a mystery. Start explaining too much stuff and it loses its mythic feel.

Saying that, I do like some of the nuances they've given to some of the characters. Angron being loyal and smart (and betrayed by Big E) rather than just full-on RAAAGE 24/7 is a nice touch. Guilliman coming across as thoroughly competent, but with a poor grasp of people politics is masterful as well.

I have only read the first 3 books and Fulgrim for the moment, and Angron do appears "RAAAAAAGE" in it
Does he is really better portrayed after that ?

I would have preferred a shorter series. From Ullanor to Horus' Battleship. I then would've brought into novels detailing significant events and 'dramatis personae' spanning the heresey

You still end with the same amount of books (possibly) but you keep readers eager. The heresy is then the entry point with novels detailing Lorgars motivations, Fulgrims damnation, Corax desperation and Magnus hubris coming later.

As it is I am pretty worn out by the stream of novellas, short stories, and side books. I don't buy these and my appetite for the battle final battle for terra is waning with every 'twist' GW/BL come out with.

Definitely. The sooner they finish it, the sooner they can start focusing on something else instead and there are potential series that I'd find far more interesting than the Heresy.

I agree with the majority so far. HH discussions usually just ends up being primarch hype, and the books reflecting that.
I did very much enjoy the original triology and the two spinn offs, Eisenstein and Fulfilled. However they where certainly not neccesary. I don't really care about the legions endevours bit I do care about the main events.

Unification of Earth
Council of Nikea
Istvaan massacre
Burning of Prospero/Magnus message
Destruction of Caliban/betrayal of the Dark Angels
Battle for Terra
Aftermath/re organized Imperium

I'd say 10-15books to cover this. If there's two characters I really care about it's the Emperor and Malcador. These two are thankfully largely kept in the shadows and their motives and actions often lead to debate. The one story I'm really happy we got is the last church of Terra. It really put a puzzle piece in place on the workings of the Imperium and the Emperors plan.