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Hi, all!
I am a casual player of Warhammer 40k games but I haven't gotten into the lore that much until now. Which novels would you recommend to a beginner?
Then, which novels would you recommend for added reading?

There are so many novels, it's overwhelming.

Thanks for the help.

What faction are you into?

Fifteen Hours is by far the best way to get introduced to 40k books. It's a story of an Imperial Guardsman's first fifteen hours in combat. His first exposure to the whole 'There is only war' tagline that is the center of 40k.

After that, you pick what faction you like or what authors you like. Dan Abnett is the popular choice for good reason and his Gaunt's Ghosts series is pretty much the hallmark. Aaron Dembski-Bowden is another quality writer and his Night Lords series sparked a lot of fans very quickly, but most of the popular factions have a series that is centered around them. Quality is all over the place as is common in every multi-author universe but nearly all of them have their own merits.

I like Space Marines the best but that could be only because I don't know any better.

They were also easy to pick up and play in the RTS games because of how versatile they are, and also because Dreadnoughts. I love them.

I remember reading this huge compendium that I never finished. It contained a number of stories.

But what I'm looking for is general background story first, like how the imperium came into being, the horus heresy, etc.

I was very surprised by the Garro audio book collection.

I play them in my car when I drive to work and they're really, really good. They're not just books read out loud, they were written to be audio books and are packed with ambient sounds. When someone (the narrator) shouts: "Open fire!", the narrating stops for a second and you hear gunfire instead of a description of how the gunfire sounds.

I would also recommend listening to them before reading the HH. The events take place just after the start of the Heresy and there's a emphasis on the shock that went through the legiones astartes as they try to make sense of who is ally and who is not.

if your a space marine fine I'd suggest choosing a chapter and finding a book about them, the Space Wolf series is getting a bit old but is a good read. likewise the Ultramarines series.

and if you enjoy a good mystery, and want a look at the under belly of the IoM read the Eisenhorn trilogy.

catosicarius47 wrote:
Hi, all!
I am a casual player of Warhammer 40k games but I haven't gotten into the lore that much until now. Which novels would you recommend to a beginner?
Then, which novels would you recommend for added reading?

There are so many novels, it's overwhelming.

Thanks for the help.

Don´t sully your mind with bolter porn. Grab the Night Lord Trilogy and you´ll be happy.

Helsreach it's about the 3rd war for Armageddon, it's pretty epic and it's what got me into the game.

Highly rated and well written.

It focuses on Black Templars fighting alongside IG's Steel Legion, Titans, Sisters of Battle and other Chapters.

 Gendo wrote:
Helsreach it's about the 3rd war for Armageddon, it's pretty epic and it's what got me into the game.

Highly rated and well written.

It focuses on Black Templars fighting alongside IG's Steel Legion, Titans, Sisters of Battle and other Chapters.

Agreed - great variety of characters and plenty of action.

Good intro to the 40 universe.