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so i just had a coworker tell me he's interested in 40k, he stumbled on to some youtube videos and liked it.
any suggestions on the best book or series to jump into 40k lore with?

no race/army preferred but of course what he saw was marine centric haha.

Do they want fiction? Or to learn more generally about the setting?

Just reading the lore/background section of a main rulebook, even an old one, give a good overview of the setting.

I always recommend the first three Eisenhorn books as a good intro to the lore. It plays out like a police detective novel, explains the Imperium and the various problems they face. It's also fairly "grounded" (by which I mean the action rather than the themes) and it's fairly contained.

It would be my main pick for them doing whatever the plan is with a 40k TV show on Prime.

Dawn of Fire series, Dark Imperium series, Gaunts Ghosts.

All are easily accessible and give a good basis to work from.

Alternatively, Arbitor Ian's videos are good for beginners.

I agree about Gaunt's Ghosts. I personally really love the first book in the series even though it's structurally a bit wonky, it's very charming and fun.

Another option would be Spears of the Emperor which does a good job of showing the current status quo in the Imperium and is just a very nicely written novel. Helsreach is also a good choice there. But I'd probably start with Gaunt's Ghosts.

Spear of the Emperor.

3rd and 4th edition rulebook

Nothing else sets the tone that well

Ah if you're gonna do old rulebooks then I say 2e Codex Imperialis.

IMO the novels aren't great at providing 40k lore, because they're inevitably set around a snowflake special character or a one in a million event that never happens, or a dark age macguffin that is status quoed into oblivion by the end of the book.

And they're usually a very constrained image of a particular part (often super special to justify the story in the first place) of 40k.

The rulebook background and codex backgrounds are the best way to start with 40k lore, because they provide a good overview of everything from an external perspective rather than following a protagonist's exceptionally unusual encounter with 40k.


I will always point to the 2nd ed books because it's where modern 40k was codified in cohesive bookform for the first time, but the 4th and 5th ed rulebooks do a good job as well.


Novels as 'lore' is misleading. It's like telling someone to watch Die Hard to learn about New York Cops...

 Da Boss wrote:
Ah if you're gonna do old rulebooks then I say 2e Codex Imperialis.

That's a really good one. Lots of other factions were introduced later, but as a foundation that book would be great.

Likewise, honestly the Wargear book from 2nd ed too. It's really just a description of various in-universe combat technologies and does a lot of world building.

I guess it depends what initially attracted them to the setting.

I greatly enjoy reading and re-reading the Realm of Chaos books. Whilst largely focussed on WHFB, and much of its 40K stuff has been…shall we say modernised and rationalised since then? It goes into thoughts upon the nature of the Chaos Gods, the motivations of its champions etc.

As someone with a layman’s interest philosophy and that, I find those books thought provoking.

Waaaargh! The Orks is a rarity these days, but a belter of a read. And unlike much of the Rogue Trader era, mostly survives untouched to this day (only stuff like Ork reproduction and getting bigger the more fights they survive is “new”).

In more modern terms? I forget which edition it was, but the one where the main rules were three books in a slipcase. One was rules. One was background. The other was…erm….something else. There, with the background separated out? You’ve a nice, manageable volume of introductory lore.

I think something relatively generic like that, and so not tied to making any one army or aspect The Main Thing is probably your best bet. After all. One might find the aesthetic of say, Tau models really attractive, but then fall in love with the lore for Genestealer Cults.

If their interest is in the Imperium? The various Necromunda sourcebooks and background is so zoomed in, it’s fantastic. It covers all the nitty gritty of what passes for humdrum everyday life in the living hell that is a Hive City. It’s also been highly influential in my understanding of just how surprisingly Hands Off the Imperium is, despite its oppressive, repressive nature. Which does make sense when you consider just how vast and yet scattered its constituent worlds are.

all great suggestions and questions, thanks guys.
he has only really been exposed to marines via youtube. i need to open him up to the greater universe haha

the rulebooks seem like a really good starting point... a little bit of everyone in those.

Rulebooks are solid as not only do you get a little bit of every faction; but you also get a good chunk of art and such which is always a great spark for the imagination and getting drawn further into the setting.

You're better off with one of the old short story anthologies.
Nobody wants to be stuck with a thousand pages of the Abnettverse after seeing some cool Marines in a YouTube video.

The newer Inferno Novellas did really good for that, and they get a smattering of stories from Age of Sigmar and Necromunda as well!

Certainly less of an investment than a full novel and more of a story than the faction summaries that you get in the Big Rulebooks or Codex.

If you like Guard stuff like 15 hours is good.

If you want to more nuts side of 40k Peter Fehervari books are excellent, though prob best to start with his earlier stuff.

I started with the Last Chancers novels, they are a great "everyman" introduction to the universe... and the big bads feel weighty too.

Go big or go home. Start with Rogue Trader like the universe has always intended!

So you can understand the book that launched a hundred memes, you need to read C.S. Goto's Blood Ravens Omnibus .

Then you will be truly one of us.


Plus, all the other books you read later will seem better!

Fire and Faith
Day of Ascension
For the Emperor
Nightbringer
Eisenhorn


I advise against Horus Heresy books - marine on marine bolter porn is as boring and unimaginative as a 40k book can be.

Also, unfortunately, the literary value of a huge majority of these books is negative and even the best ones have questionable quality compared to acyually good books you might have read. It's easy to be put off by crappy by-the-numbers graphomaniacal writing in this space.

I’m also tempted to suggest the Ciaphas Cain and Ufthak novels.

However. Both work best when you’ve some existing knowledge of the setting and who’s what.

Cain is of course a sort of satire on wider 40K. Ufthak is excellent for understanding the Orky point of view, and just how alien they are despite speaking what we might call pigeon English.

So neither are necessarily solid jumping off points. But they are all excellent and enjoyable books.

I disagree that Cain is a satire on wider 40k.

Rather, I think Cain is one of the few things in 40k that actually remembers that 40K is meant to be satire, and so comes off as a satire of 40K only because the rest of 40K is now just playing everything straight.

Hence a sort of satire.

He’s not a coward. He’s just human. And I’ve long argued it’s his indoctrination that leads him to believe he’s a coward.

When we examine his actions and motivation? He never puts those in his charge in any more peril than is absolutely necessary. He husbands his resources carefully, and in doing so prevents unnecessary expenditure of lives and material.

To us? That’s a damned fine leader. Even though he’s looking out for number one? It’s never really at the cost of anyone else on his side.

But from a young age, the schola Progenium has taught the myth of sacrifice and glory and that. That’s is what he struggles with.

This is writ most large when he seemingly inevitably stumbles across the big bad. Sure, he has entirely understandable thoughts of just running away. But he never actually does. He takes them on, and wins.

And so he does stand as a satire upon the satire. He’s possibly the only sane man in an insane galaxy.