Warhammer 40,000 Novels

Just started the Horus Heresy (and warhammer 40k in general) two months ago. I'm going in the order on the warhammer Wiki and I just finished Battle for the Abyss. It was alright. I'm really digging the brutality of the books. Really glad I found this thread.

I just finished Prospero Burns.

Trying to decide if it's the best Heresy novel yet.

I'm bouncing between the HH and the "current" novels. I'm still getting the hang of the terminology used in the books. I'm really enjoying them though. I haven't read this much in years.

It will be a sad day when I'm caught up on my HH novels.

I just finished William King's last Maccharian crusade novel as well as Chris Wraight's newest Space Wolves novel. King's series is good, he is one of the more reliable of the games workshop writers, though it does have a rather unfufilling ending. Wraight's novel is the more interesting as it expands and breaks the typical 40k canon rules. It should be interesting to see where it goes.

Really looking forward to that one

Prospero Burns was terrible and forgettable. The First Heretic is a strong contender for the best book of the series.

Who are some of the best authors to look for? HH and after?

Hi. I usually read fantasy books and I'm pretty picky about what I read. Honestly I thought 40k books would be a step above fanfiction. However, I listen to the Independent Characters podcast and they recommended a couple of books in the last year so I thought I'd give it a try. I read Guy Haley's Baneblade and Aaron Demsky-Bowden's the Talon of Horus. I enjoyed them both, although I had a hard time rooting for the bad guys in the latter. They're interesting characters, driven and not without honor, however they are still out to destroy/enslave humanity... Is there a series of books out that's pushing the 40k narrative from the Imperium's side? Most times books I see that are recommended are the Horus Heresy books and that's 30k, right?

Dan Abnett is my favorite, Graham is good too. I liked the big trilogy books (Space Marine Chapters and IG like Gaunts etc) a good place to start as well as the books of short stories (Victories of the Space Marines etc) as well as Eisenhorn for sure. The Horus Heresy series is so fucking good but probably not the best to start with (learn more of the universe lore first) I also liked a lot of the early battle series (I think they are called?) the best one imo was the one about the Templar chaplain on Armageddon, Helsreach.

I also really like reading the ones from the Chaos SM view, I think they are almost always interesting.

Thanks guys. I'll get started on Eisenhorn.

Awesome. Thanks for the suggestions.

Keep in mind that Eisenhorn-Pariah/Emperor's Gift is not "current" either so it can conflict with current events in some ways but it is by far the best introduction. Gaunts's Ghosts is another great series although I started to like them less after the Sabbat Arc. Some of the older hard to find stuff is fun to read but crazy out there like Inquisition War or Last Chancers. The best overall introduction to the setting is the lore overviews in the various rule books and army codexs. Partial to 2nd edition of that stuff myself but the current editions are obviously closer to current cannon. The lexicanum wiki is just as easy to lose a day in as most wiki's for the more obscure stuff that gets referenced in some books. I'm ashamed of how much useless 40k lore and info I have floating in my head but even I learn new stuff every time I fuck around there.

Another great resource on everything 40k is :Warhammer 40,000 - 1d4chan

The section aboutAngron, the Primarch of the World Eatersis particularly awesome.

Not mentioning the caiphis Cain series for someone getting in to the universe is blasphemy.

Commander Vimeseh_sl said:

Not mentioning the caiphis Cain series for someone getting in to the universe is blasphemy.

Click to expand...

While the Cain books are awesome, they are an aberration (purge the unclean!) in the 40k universe because of their humor.

Off-topic, has anyone read Fall of Altdorf yet? I like Wraight and am wondering what the master plan is with this arc.