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If they are good do you have to read them in order? There are some that look "meh" to me. Is there any y'all particularly suggest?

They're largely just fine but with some stand-out moments or character POVs.

I really liked Wolftime for it's portrayal of the Unnumbered Sons of Russ hoping to find their kin and the tensions between both the Chapter command and the individual Wolves themselves.

Throne of Light portrays the Black Templars really well.

Iron Kingdom I think is probably the best one so far. Knight combat, void warfare, Red Corsairs, and everyone's favourite evil bastards, the Marines Malevolent.

Expect good, not great.

EDIT: Elaborating on this, I enjoyed what I've read of Gate of Bones. It feels like it's in the universe, and stuff like Mordian scouts are always interesting to see, as a Guard player. However, would I say that it's truly world-shaking or edifying? No. But it doesn't have to be.

I've found them to be a very disjointed mess of themes and points. Mainly, that nothing really matters, everything sucks, and don't get attached to anything, because aside from a few dropped names, there are not really any connected threads in the stories. Like, they mention characters from other books, and Bobby G shows up directly in several books, but other than that they are basically independent books. And they lean heavily on bad tropes. "The man behind the curtain" of BBEG. I find myself exceedingly frustrated at the sheer stupidity of the people who are supposed to be likeable, and begging for the bad guys to just win. Case and Point, BT Blade Champion in the book about the Saint World.

I sincerely dislike one-dimensional heroes.

 Gert wrote:
They're largely just fine but with some stand-out moments or character POVs.

I really liked Wolftime for it's portrayal of the Unnumbered Sons of Russ hoping to find their kin and the tensions between both the Chapter command and the individual Wolves themselves.

Throne of Light portrays the Black Templars really well.

Iron Kingdom I think is probably the best one so far. Knight combat, void warfare, Red Corsairs, and everyone's favourite evil bastards, the Marines Malevolent.

intreastingly most space wolf fans I know didn't like Wolftime because they felt it protrayed a complete lack of nuance among the wolves

Wolftime was basically "We're the angry space marines, but for LITERALLY NO REASON. A PRimarch literally bends the knee to our Chapter Master, and it pisses him off MORE. Then a primaris does a quest for self reflection, and the orcs attack. The End.

Can you guys recommend any good books then? I have read a lot. I just finished Devastation of Baal which was okay, and Leviathan which was great IMO. I also read Volopone Glory, Krieg, and Spears of the Emperor which I really enjoyed. I liked most of the crime books and the spooky books. Some of the Siege of Terra books were good but some dragged on so much that when I finished I took a break from the series.... I was thinking maybe Ascension? Is that good? I am kinda picky I guess.

If you liked the crime series, I recommend Rites of Passage. It's more of a (sometimes) street-level view of the planet it's set on, and I personally found the characters a lot more enjoyable than what we tend to get in the bolter porn books. You might also look for the Shira Calpurnia series (which are form the PoV of the arbites). The Ciaphas Caine books are a fun, comical read, and I pretty much always recommend Lukas the Trickster to anyone who has a passing interest in Space Wolves or dark eldar.

Aside from that, know that there are really only three space marine novels:
* Grr. Honor honor angst honor! Let's all be irritable jerks who make things way harder than they have to be!
* Gosh, this special mission sure was easy. Thanks Gary Stu main character!
* Maybe just a little chaos as a treat? Oops. All heretics.

So once you've read one of each of those, you can pretty much skip all other loyalist marine books.

If you want books featuring xenos, there are only a few for each xenos faction, so just read all of them. And then maybe pick up Fear the Alien if you can.

For chaos stuff, I liked the Talon of Horus (the sequel was just okay), the first three Ahriman novels (I'm having trouble getting through Ahriman Eternal), and the Fabius Bile books (mostly for the quick little acknowledgements of all the neat science projects these characters are capable of.)

 Wyldhunt wrote:
If you liked the crime series, I recommend Rites of Passage. It's more of a (sometimes) street-level view of the planet it's set on, and I personally found the characters a lot more enjoyable than what we tend to get in the bolter porn books. You might also look for the Shira Calpurnia series (which are form the PoV of the arbites). The Ciaphas Caine books are a fun, comical read, and I pretty much always recommend Lukas the Trickster to anyone who has a passing interest in Space Wolves or dark eldar.

Aside from that, know that there are really only three space marine novels:
* Grr. Honor honor angst honor! Let's all be irritable jerks who make things way harder than they have to be!
* Gosh, this special mission sure was easy. Thanks Gary Stu main character!
* Maybe just a little chaos as a treat? Oops. All heretics.

So once you've read one of each of those, you can pretty much skip all other loyalist marine books.

If you want books featuring xenos, there are only a few for each xenos faction, so just read all of them. And then maybe pick up Fear the Alien if you can.

For chaos stuff, I liked the Talon of Horus (the sequel was just okay), the first three Ahriman novels (I'm having trouble getting through Ahriman Eternal), and the Fabius Bile books (mostly for the quick little acknowledgements of all the neat science projects these characters are capable of.)

Ciaphas Cain Duty Calls or Ascension I think. I read Shira Calpurnia and they were okay. Not great but okay, I loved Grim Repast and Bloodlines.

usmcmidn wrote:
Can you guys recommend any good books then?

Adrian Tchaikovsky's Day of Ascension was pretty good.

Catachan Devil, Assassinorum: Kingmaker, The Infinite and the Divine, Warboss, Brutal Kunnin, the Fabius Bile series.

My only problem with the Cain books, is if you read one, you've basically read them all. They follow such a strict narrative that they re-use tropes constantly. "If I'd have known what awaited me......I'd have run in the opposite direction!" And how many times do we have to read the word Halitosis? We get it, Jergen stinks. Find a new word.

I really enjoyed Both of the Custodes books, and the BT book where Grimaldus holds off a WAAAAH with just a few titans and a really old nova gun.

The BT book is Helsreach. By "Grimaldus and a few titans plus an old gun" you mean Grimaldus, his attendent Helsreach Crusade of BT Marines, a full third of the Legio Invigilatus incl. an Emperor class, an Ordinatus Majoris, an Imperial Navy strike wing, and dozens of Imperial Guard and PDF regiments including stormtrooper companies

It was a big battle in a huge war.

The Infinite and the Divine was fantastic, easily my favorite 40k novel. The portrayal and descriptions of how different Necrons have adapted to being what they are is very well done, as is the sheer magnitudes of time involved. And of course Trazyn being Trazyn.

usmcmidn wrote:
If they are good do you have to read them in order? There are some that look "meh" to me. Is there any y'all particularly suggest?

Personally no. I preferred the Beast Arises and the Horus Heresy is much better.

Few glaring issues -

- I am burnt out on Chaos. Id like to see Guilliman deal with Tyranids and Necrons. So more of the same but worse.
- People know too much about the Horus Heresy. Not interested in writing their own lore or filling in the gap. Retreading old ground.
- Disjointed. There isn’t a core narrative thread to follow. Each is self contained and whilst there’s a very vague overarching thing it’s not going anywhere.
- Overuse of certain factions. We’ve had multiple Black Templar and Sisters characters be introduced instead of just having a single POV.
- It leans into Sisters of Battle being evil and grimdark. IMO that’s not why people like the faction. There’s a reason Sabbat or Celestine saving people is memorable and Morvhen Vahls book is forgotten. Again, they should be using Admech or the wider Ecclesiarchy or the Administratum for that if they want it in the book. Kind of links with the overuse of certain factions.
- They change authors and one of the books has then abruptly kill a POV character for shock value.
- They’re introducing lots of new characters every book instead of using recurring characters more to anchor each story in a wider narrative. Sure you have Messenius who is meant to be our Loken and an Iterator who is meant to be our Sinderman. But they really aren’t that important and show up less than you would expect.
- Also they implied the big threat was going to be one thing in a book and seem to have completely forgot about this super weapon and are now making it about something totally different.

It’s the sort of series where I’ll use up an audible credit it’s not a good story. Like I got the most recent one and haven’t listened to it at all.