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I just finished "Galaxy in flames", and the opening trilogy is pretty riveting- well crafted, well written, suspenseful enough that I can look past the foregone conclusion. As befits a 40k (or 30k in this case, I guess) novel, it's as tragic as it is awesome.

But it got me thinking. The entire novel series is predicated on the reader already knowing everything that will happen. It's a tie-in novel adaptation for a niche community that's already pretty dedicated and bound to know at least the broad strokes. But how would it look to somebody who'd never learned a thing about 40k before? It would obviously be an extremely different reading experience. The books have all sorts of call forwards and references that anyone in the know will easily understand. Some things, like the emperor, who he is, where he's from and what happened before 30k in mankind's history, is barely even mentioned.

I guess what I wonder is, how readable would the story be to somebody not in the know? Do you know anyone who read it without knowing the foregone conclusions?

I am one of those people. I always played fantasy, and during the End Times, my buddy and I went halfsies on the books and read them all. During this time I fell in love with reading, and after Archaon dropped, there were several months of anxious downtime before the release of what would be AoS. I began looking at 40k for more reading material during that time, but didn't know where to start. I hopped around lexicanum, not knowing any of the legions. "Thousand Sons? Who are they? Word Bearers... never heard of those guys. 18 legions? Holy cow." I thought I'd never play 40k, I thought space marines were just different colours of the same models. But there I was, holding a huge beastmen army, wishing I could repaint some a different color and have a new army if I wanted. Anyway, I didn't know where to start learning about 40k, so I bought an old orks codex and new space marines codex and read them. Within an hour I realised there was more backstory to 40k than anything I'd ever seen before. Once I finished the codexes, I knew more about 40k than I ever had about fantasy. I needed to know more! I wanted to start at the beginning, so naturally I bought the first few HH novels. I tore through them like a beast! Trips to the bookstore became common, and I am still just as passionate about the lore. At first I always had my phone handy to use as a reference. "Rogal Dorn? I better look him up to see who he is. What's the difference between a titan and a warhound?" As I've continued the series I've needed to do less and less of these side missions. Things started coming together. Admittedly, I have read very little 40k fluff. I have read the Night Lords Omnibus, the Lords of the Night book, and the quick and easy DEFF SKWADRON comic. Most of my knowledge is 30k, but it's applicable all the same! When people ask me what my hobby is, or what I'm reading, the subject is so vast I can't really explain it very well. It's too big. It's not wrapped around a single character. The first six Star Wars movies are about the life of Darth Vader. You can't boil down 40k like that. You can only explain it if someone is curious enough to ask questions

Well, since you read the books without forehand knowledge, I want to ask what the experience was like. Did you see Horus' betrayal coming? Where did the books seem to go? How did it hold up as a sci fi story?

 SevenSeasOfRhye wrote:

Well, since you read the books without forehand knowledge, I want to ask what the experience was like. Did you see Horus' betrayal coming? Where did the books seem to go? How did it hold up as a sci fi story?

I knew it was coming because of my dabbling on lexicanum. What I enjoyed was watching his descent. In retrospect, it was hurried a bit, but i still liked it. I remember during his corruption I thought the one-eyed wolf was Russ. I didn't know who Magnus was yet, lol. Like I said earlier, all I knew about space marines I read in the SM Codex. After I read that I was sold on the whole thing. I knew I was going to read the entire HH series from the beginning to end. So far I've kept my end of the bargain, I'm on Angel Exterminatus now. Some were better than others but I didn't skip any. And as a sci fi story it is AMAZING. They borrowed things from everything cool and wrapped them up in one universe. There's Star Wars, Terminator, Alien, Starship Troopers, it's got it all. I am fascinated by all of it. I'll probably read Black Library for the rest of my life!

If I read those first books I would probably get a lot more out of them though. If the series ever ends, and I read all of them, I might revisit the beginning and get more out of them

I read the HH books 1-3 very early on, they were fine. The only bad bit was that rambling about the false Emperor at the start of book one.
I knew there was an Emperor of mankind, which made that whole start of the book so confusing.

 Rippy wrote:
I read the HH books 1-3 very early on, they were fine. The only bad bit was that rambling about the false Emperor at the start of book one.
I knew there was an Emperor of mankind, which made that whole start of the book so confusing.

I think that was intended that way though

it sets up nicely for Loken to say, I was there, the day the Emperor slew Horus

I had next to no experience with the lore at the time of reading. I had read some fluff that came with a rules packet and that was it before I borrowed the book. I had a vague Idea that this series was called the Horus Heresy so Horus probably wasn't the good guy, but everything else was going into the series blind. I think the first book sets it up nicely as a fairly character focused story that drops concepts and names that you can choose to explore on your own. Some of the later ones were a bit more out there and required me to learn the setting before I could take them in.

 Pilau Rice wrote:
it sets up nicely for Loken to say, I was there, the day the Emperor slew Horus

The problem with that being the opening to the series is that to a person that had no or minimal acquaintance with the lore and characters is being dropped into a confusing fight sequence to set up a mysterious phrase involving several characters of whom they have no knowledge or connection. I appeals to people that already know 40K, but is not putting their best foot forwards for new readers.

 the Signless wrote:

The problem with that being the opening to the series is that to a person that had no or minimal acquaintance with the lore and characters is being dropped into a confusing fight sequence to set up a mysterious phrase involving several characters of whom they have no knowledge or connection. I appeals to people that already know 40K, but is not putting their best foot forwards for new readers.

Isn't that why you read on though, to find out who they are and what is happening. I'd never heard of Loken, or Hastur or Tarik or Little Horus Aximand etc and it's why I am reading, although not as many of the series, still today.

I was referring to the part that Rippy and BrianDavion was referring to. It sets it up for Loken to tell his story of the day that the Emperor killed Horus, not the day that Horus slew the Emperor like what happens in the opening book.

 Rippy wrote:
I read the HH books 1-3 very early on, they were fine. The only bad bit was that rambling about the false Emperor at the start of book one.
I knew there was an Emperor of mankind, which made that whole start of the book so confusing.

That's because Tarik Trollgaddon, bro-est of bro marines, is the astartes equivalent of a memeing gak poster.

 Rippy wrote:
I read the HH books 1-3 very early on, they were fine. The only bad bit was that rambling about the false Emperor at the start of book one.
I knew there was an Emperor of mankind, which made that whole start of the book so confusing.

Yeah that bit confused the hell out of me. Definitely a head scratching intro for a novice

That's why I liked it