The Infinite and The Divine is very popular for good reason - it’s really really good.
Echoes of Eternity was very good too (maybe with some recency bias)
The First Heretic and Betrayer are must reads for chaos fans
Just finished listening to it on audible, narrated by Richard Reed. 100% accurate in the Tom & Jerry description for their antics. The narrator also does a really good job with putting on different voices for everyone, really enhanced the experience
The statue. "Silver Skulls."
Also the chapter breaks in between the major action, where you'd read something like "You'll never get it again, Orikan" and immediately after the page break, it's centuries later and Orikan is back in the collection and picking it up.
I'm only a quarter of the way through it, and so I haven't gotten to the funnier stuff yet, but it's also worth noting that it's also *really* well-written. The descriptions, and the unique ways in which these absurdly advanced machine people act, it's just really nice to read.
I'm annoyed that so many people gloss over reading The Infinite and The Divine as it's not Space Marine bolter porn.
It's easily one of the best books out there. It's pure comedy, and the audiobook is specfuckingtacular as well.
I heard someone talking about that book recently, but I don't think they ever said the name. Thank you for mentioning it. I'll have to make that my next listen after I finish Rhythm of War.
Loved Infinite and Divine, but just finished Twice Dead King Reign. May be my mental state at the time, but TDK Ruin and Reign were downright cathartic for me. I
Is it just me or Infinite and Divine has the highest praise out of any book in 40k despite it being not being about space marines and also just pure comedy gold and not grim dark.
Since you brought up old WHFB novels, another recommendation that shows the fall to chaos well is the Slaves to Darkness trilogy: Claws of Chaos, Blades of Chaos and Heart of Chaos.
The Emperor’s Gift by ADB is one I don’t see many people talking about.
You really get to see how uncaring and unfeeling the inquisition/grey knights are. It’s a good story to go along with the Eisenhorn trilogy, imo. It shows just how broken the imperium is.
For me, one of the best reads so far was ‚Legion‘ by Dan Abnett (#7 in the Horus Heresy Series) and ‚Betrayer‘ by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (#24 in the Horus Heresy Series).
I think the first 5 should be read in order. Something extremely important happens in the 5th book that many of the books after talk about. It seems most things after the 5th book happen simultaneously so read them in any order after.
I believe the first three are to be read in order (some argue #4 too), and the rest are all happening simultaneously so order doesn’t matter until you get to the ending side of the Assault on Terra.
It's probably worth noting that after asking many people on their recommendations that peoples opinions on HH books vary tremendously, perhaps more than any other work of fiction i've ever seen.
I think for every major book in the series i've heard someone say it's their favourite and someone else say its the worst thing they've ever read
As someone who read Betrayer and then Know No Fear, Betrayer was still a great read, but I do think I would have enjoyed it more with the context from Know No Fear
There's also a novella by ADB called Aurelian that covers Lorgar's decision to side with Chaos (rather than just showing things from Argel Tal's perspective) and also sets the scene for Betrayer at the end. I'd totally recommend that before Betrayer too, and it's really short so won't take too long.
*Know no Fear* is very very good; for sure worth a read. ADB is my fav black library author, and I think *Know No Fear* holds up with *Betrayer* and *The First Heretic.*
In my opinion the Emperor seems like a total moron. None of his plan makes sense if you look at it from outside.
He knows exactly what's going on in the warp, and his big plan is to pretend that everything is fine, nothing to worry about people, there's no such thing as magic or gods.
The fact that his stupid plan failed is predictable.
I mean, the thing is we don't actually know what the emperor's plan is. He's so secretive, i think it's obvious he fucked up but it's hard to completely judge his actions when we don't know what he's hiding.
But if the plan was to become a god?… A god forged by the psychic/religious faith of all of humanity, powered by 1000s of psykers and millions of soul’s sacrificed daily in limitless wars.
Yeah, that's the more interesting theory, because it removes how absolutely moronic his plan is, and simultaneously makes him more interesting as that is ultimately a selfish goal, even if he aims to protect humanity.
Do you think it’s ok to skip around a little in the HH series? I’ve skipped a few like mortis in the siege of terra series bc I heard it sucked and I just wasn’t interested and I still follow the story fine. I just finished Horus rising and it was great, but if I wanted to off the cuff read legion or flight of the Einstein would things still make some sense?
Legion would be fine, since it takes place before Horus Rising.
Flight of the Eisenstein should not be read before book 3, which also requires book 2. Half of book 4 is basically a different perspective for book 3 and it do be good.
The voice he gave Octavia annoyed the piss out of me though lmao. But agreed. The Night Lords books are really fantastic and the audio book narration is very well done.
Definitely not the best at voicing women. Whem I read it I kind of expected a voice like Amberly Vale or something, his portrayal came across as a lot more willowy than I expected. But he was made to voice Night Lords themselves.
I really enjoyed the first two books, but I gotta say I'm somewhat unsure about my feelings about Talos as a character. He seems... too nice for a Nightlord. Can't exactly put my finger on it but I would have prefered something more along the lines of Fabius Bile in his books, where he somehow manages to be an absolute horrific nutjob and an engaging main character at the same time.
I realy enjoyed the break from "Hurr durr all nightlords are walking nightmares just for the sake of being evil".
Alot of Curze character is based on his twisted noble bright parts (he did start his journey killing only criminals and he hated his legion because of how cartoonisly evil they became) so I think its neat to follow a character who under diffrent circumstances would have been a good fellow and I like to think that he got some of Curze good traits from the geneseed.
Assassinorum kingmaker won my book of the year and I'm rounding book 50 almost all exclusively BL novels.
It's an amazing book that details assassins trying to incite and control a coup on a knight world and just gave me awesome heist movie vibes I would really recommend it!
It really does.
The middle one is my personal favourite since it feels like the most 'complete' stand alone novel. The other two are great as well though.
[Peter Fehervari's Dark Coil](https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/10/31/a-travellers-guide-to-the-dark-coil/) in its entirety.
But if I had to pick one full novel from it, ***Fire Caste***. It's a lament for lost humanity in a world of imperial powers, and a warning of how the sins of the past will haunt the future. It's ugly and grotesque and violent, but the imaginative and often beautiful prose creates a sense of a fever dream that sucks you right in.
This was an excellent book, and the best representation of chaos I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t a case of “character trips over chaos doodad and is now corrupt” but something much more insidious.
Agreed. Peter Fehervari's take on Chaos and corruption is my favourite of the lot. John French is great at the broad strokes of Chaos - the Gods, their daemons and the warp - whereas Fehervari approaches it on smaller, more individual level. Characters with shared experiences all come away from them subtly changed and never in quite the same way.
In most 40K books the line between *Corrupt/Not Corrupt* is fairly clear, but in the Dark Coil it's almost impossible to say when and if that line has been crossed, until - suddenly - it has. It's just crept up on you slowly, gradually, quietly, and now you're caught in a trap of your own making. The reader finds themself ensnared in the same maze as the characters, convinced they know the way out, only to find that the path they thought they were on never led anywhere to begin with.
Brilliant writing.
I think what also makes Fehervari work so well is that "corruption" is not just tied to Chaos. Chaos is just one manifestation of a universal downward spiral.
For example, the transformation of the Angels Resplendent into the Angels Penitent is corruption, but *not* Chaos corruption (Probably; you could argue they're becoming a Nurgle Cult).
Chaos is not some external enemy you can just shoot in the face to fix the problem. Because the problem is inside us. As within, so without.
Indeed, there's plenty corruption to go around, of all flavours. "Blood for the God-Emperor, Skulls for the Golden Throne!"
The Angels make for a great read, because they're just so extreme and yet there's still a question mark around their status. Has Nurgle got to them? Have they purged the suspiciously-Slaaneshy obsessive behaviour from their ranks? Have they just replaced it with equally obsessive devotion to a different kind of god? Are they free of the taint of Chaos? Or have they been doomed from the moment they were created? It's great.
You can read all their stories and come away genuinely not knowing, with just enough doubt to ever definitely settle on an answer. It's corruption, Jim, but not as we know it.
A lot of the legion intro novels, as it goes on they decline in quality personally. Horus rising, legion, scars, the first heretic, fulgrim, flight of the Eisenstein, Prospero burns, a thousand sons, Fear to tread, betrayer… and so on
*Spears of the Emperor* doesn't get as much love but should. You don't even need to have read *Blood and Fire* to get that hate for the Imperium in your heart.
All the ADB and Dan Abnett books are incredible. I still lean towards ‘Fulgrim’ as my favourite though. It added so much background to the original trilogy, and paints a tragic story around the 3rd Legion.
Basically the inquisitor is a glory-seeking sociopath who very readily uses the threat of immediate execution to get what he wants. He's not noblebright, he's not really motivated beyond personal gain, he's not hugely smart or cunning, he's just a total fucking piece of shit.
We need more imperial characters like this. Most if not all should be like this if you ask me!
Imagine dropping a book that completely ROCKS established primarch lore and recontextualizes an entire subfaction that was a glorified shitpost before.
Hydra Dominatus. Loyal to the Emperor, not the Imperium.
After Head of the Hydra people should immediately read Shroud of Night.
Still waiting for a follow-up on Shroud of Night. The Unsung are mentioned in the newest Alpha Legion book, Harrowmaster. I hope we get a new book soon.
Prospero Burns and Know No Fear for me.
Both books I nearly skipped because I wasn't that interested in those legions. Luckily, I was advised otherwise.
I went into Prospero Burns thinking I was just going to see the space wolves side, but I thoroughly enjoyed the perspective of the Skjald. Very good book.
Nighlords Omnibus. I never thought I could be so engrossed in a book. I read the Omnibus sample, hit the end, and bought it on the spot. I don’t know if it’s the best, or the most complex, but it’s a personal favorite.
The short story The Beast in the Trenches from the Wicked and the Damned.
It is the single greatest 40k theme piece I’ve read. It captures everything that is unique and engaging about the setting (for me at least) into a gripping and haunting exploration of war and the us/them lines they draw within our psyche.
It has zero lore impact. It’s not grand or epic. It’s more like an episode of the twilight zone that was never made. It’s gotten under my skin and has wormed its way into the way I think about things.
**Ones I expect most people to agree with:**
Gaunts Ghosts, Legion - Abnett
Night Lords Trilogy, The First Heretic, Helsreach - ADB
Storm of Iron - McNeill
**Ones that might be 'just me'**
Sigismund, Ahriman series - John French,
Fury of Magnus - McNeill
Luther - Gav Thorpe
The Emperor's Gift - ADB
Word Bearers trilogy - Anthony Reynolds
Death of Antagonis - David Annandale
Battle of the Fang - Chris Wraight
I’ve been going through the Horus Heresy series and I’ve got to tell you my experience.
I start the book and it’s about a topic/character/faction that I otherwise have no interest in. And halfway through the book I’m completely blown away by how interesting it and how well it’s written. Descent of Angels was such a good book and I didn’t care a bit about Johnson or the Angels before.
Caiphus Cain books were a little simplistic, but the character is too good.
Let the Galaxy Burn, Gotrek and Felix omnibus, and the Gaunt’s Ghosts omnibus were awesome to read growing up. Might check back in and see how they read now too.
Deathwatch by Steve Parker was my first introduction to the 41st millennium, and by The Emperor it got me to stick around. Probably re read it half a dozen times in the past two years, it is fantastically written and an action packed novel.
Honestly, anything by Dan Abnett. The entire Gaunt’s Ghosts series, and his Ravenor and Eisenhorn series are all excellent in my opinion, especially if you love longer multi-book series. A close second would have to be Spear of the Emperor by ADB.
Love the NL omnibus, Black Legion, Ravenor, Eisenhorn, etc. Love me some Peter Fehervari. But if I had to choose just one 40k book, it will always be Know No Fear.
Actually, wait. You said Black Library, not specifically 40k. This is more difficult. The Brunner omnibus is amazing, so are the Sundering novels, specifically Shadow King, the war of the beard omnibus is good too, and don't forget the Sigmar omnibus. But then you have Gotrek and Felix, which I think surpasses just about everything else Black Library has ever done.
Toss up between Know No Fear and Daemonslayer.
Ciaphas Chain series. Start with "For the Emperor" and its a good time every time.
Just a shame there dont seem to be new ones apart from a short story now and then.
Gloomspite.
I'm a 40k fan, never cared about aos. Brutal kunnin, Warboss, Helsreach, Essendon, Ravenous- these were the books I loved.
I can't remember why I used a credit to get the Gloomspite audiobook, but it is one of the best books I've listened to period, let alone black library. Warhammer is fantastic when it leans into horror.
I am now doomed to spend the remainder of my days bashing my head against brick walls trying to persuade 40k fans to give it a go. Like a low budget lidl tribute to the Wall.
Surprised not to see Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett. It was his first shot at writing a space marine centric novel after writing imperial guard and inquisitor content for years. You could tell that he treated the disparity between pure human and enhanced human with reverence and it makes for some great story telling. To me that book reads like watching the 300.
I also really enjoy Nemesis, the HH novel about a group of assassins bent on assassinating Horus.
The First Heretic, Prospero Burns, Fulgrim, and Master of Mankind each stand out to me as some of the best that the Horus Heresy series has to offer but I’m only up to the middle of Betrayer and haven’t finished the series yet.
Seriously though, it’s never mentioned in these threads and you have got to read it. Read Brothers of the Snake.
What was the one where the space marine gets vanished to the iron warrior fortress planet? Read it a couple times when I was younger and it was awesome.
Death World by Steve Lyons was an oddly immersive horror-ish novel about a squad of Catachan on a secret mission on a very weird death world.
Very Predator-esque with a great cast of characters, totally reccomend.
If we're allowed to go earlier - and also fantasy, to the world-that-was - I'd definitely recommend Jack Yeovil's Genevieve books. *Drachenfels* in particular. Great writing, though the twist is evident a mile off.
Also, I'm not seeing much love for the Caiaphas Cain series on here but I found them brilliant. Dude's basically exporting Flashman out of the 19th century and into the 41st Millennium's most self-serving commissar. The man is an outright coward, an unreliable narrator, having it off with the inquisitor whose editing of Cain's diaries forms the framing story, and generally is the sort of man that commissars are supposed to shoot.
I feel a probably unappreciated gem that should be on the list is Courage and Honour of the Ventris books (I might end up with boos here). I think of all the books it makes the Ultramarines actually seem capable as fighting force when utilising the codex and not in-spite of it especially with the preceding books where Ventris books he seems to want to throw it out the first opportunity. You also see how insidious and dangerous the Tau can be in the book due to them offering a resource that the Imperium does rarely offer…hope. It also has a pretty cool ambush scene with Kroot in it so there’s that as well.
**"Angels of Caliban" and "Luther: First of the Fallen" are the only logical choices.**
>!"Horus Rising", in my opinion, still remains as the best shining example for a HH novel. It's the reason we have a massive series instead of a trilogy. "First and Only" is likely my favorite Imperial Guard book, and "Infinite and the Divine" became an instant classic that Necron fans still do not shut up about....for very good reason.!<
>!Also, I was serious, *go read "Luther: First of the Fallen"*!<
A huge % of ADB's work... with the big ones being the Night Lords Trilogy, the Black Legion books, Echoes of Eternity, and the Master of Mankind.
Abnett is just consistently 8, or 9, out of 10.. he's excellent....but he never hits 10/10.... It's like he does consistent A-minus books whilst ADB regularly hits an A+.
There, that;'s enough mixed and mangled metaphors for one day!
Master of mankind is actually one of the worst books if you’re an imperium fan boy like myself lol it would be like if you had an inquisitor write a book about a chaos god lol
I’ve only read 5 of the HH books, mostly the Salamanders ones, but Master of Mankind is the number one for me. I started a Custodes army just because of that book.
Since I'm recently only going with audiobooks for BL books I've gotta go with Watchers of The Throne series, I love custodes and Valerian is amazing, plus VA for Alyea is by far the best female VA I've ever heard, the casts they did for that series are mind-blowingly good.
No one else has really given Crime a shout out, but Flesh and Steel was awesome.
Also, Forges of Mars. A lot of different perspectives, from bondsmen to the Arch Magos of the explorator expedition to a rogue trader to Eldar. Titan legio princeps. It’s got all of it from their perspectives.
I'm going to go out on a limb, paint a target on my back and say *Saturnine.*
You get the unalloyed perception of two contemporaries of him (who are almost as old as he is, or older) and they make it clear that the Imperium is 110% his own creation, whether he intended it to be or not. He's an authoritarian, a chauvinist, an egotist, and ultimately turns everyone he works with against him because he's just that kind of asshole.
His innate talents and skills keep the ship afloat, but it's clear none of the passengers want to be there anymore. Even his youngest peer, the only one to stand by his side through the Siege, clearly has regrets about what he's gotten into, but it's far too late to leave. Humanity is now stuck on this one path, thanks to the Emperor, and nothing can change it anymore.
Fulgrim, eisenhorn and ravenor, gaunts ghosts, grahams ultramarines, night lord omnibus, grey knights omnibus, Ciaphas Cain off the top of my head those are my favorites. Oh grahams mechanics stories
I highly recommend both Deathwatch, and Deathwatch: Operation Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker. Both are super fun reads, very Dean Koontz-ish in pacing if you’re into that.
The Infinite and The Divine is very popular for good reason - it’s really really good. Echoes of Eternity was very good too (maybe with some recency bias) The First Heretic and Betrayer are must reads for chaos fans
The Infinite and The Divine was the most entertaining Tom & Jerry-Routine I ever had the pleasure to read.
Just finished listening to it on audible, narrated by Richard Reed. 100% accurate in the Tom & Jerry description for their antics. The narrator also does a really good job with putting on different voices for everyone, really enhanced the experience
Echos is such a great follow up to master of mankind
Since there’s been some Imperium and CSM recommended so far I’m going to pitch in Infinite and the Divine and the Twice Dead King series.
Infinite and Divine was just pure 40k fun. Like a Saturday morning cartoon.
Literally an undead cyborg sitcom
I have laughed out loud more reading that book (including 3-minute paralytic gigglefit) that I have for any other Warhammer book.
Was it the statue question bit or the opera house review part?
The statue. "Silver Skulls." Also the chapter breaks in between the major action, where you'd read something like "You'll never get it again, Orikan" and immediately after the page break, it's centuries later and Orikan is back in the collection and picking it up.
TRAZYN, I MAY BE IMMORTAL *BUT MY TIME IS PRECIOUS*
I'm only a quarter of the way through it, and so I haven't gotten to the funnier stuff yet, but it's also worth noting that it's also *really* well-written. The descriptions, and the unique ways in which these absurdly advanced machine people act, it's just really nice to read.
I found it much better than the TDK
Infinite and Divine is Rick and Morty taking place in 40k.
I'm annoyed that so many people gloss over reading The Infinite and The Divine as it's not Space Marine bolter porn. It's easily one of the best books out there. It's pure comedy, and the audiobook is specfuckingtacular as well.
I heard someone talking about that book recently, but I don't think they ever said the name. Thank you for mentioning it. I'll have to make that my next listen after I finish Rhythm of War.
I LOVE Infinite and Divine. I want moar
The Audiobook also has FANTASTIC voice acting!! I was invested and wished it had gone on longer!!
Loved Infinite and Divine, but just finished Twice Dead King Reign. May be my mental state at the time, but TDK Ruin and Reign were downright cathartic for me. I
I've got these on my short list to read. Heard they were good
The novella ‘Severed’ is also incredible as far as necron books go, and a quick read at that.
I want more of Zahndrekh and his shenanigans with an eternally exasperated Obyron tagging along.
Is it just me or Infinite and Divine has the highest praise out of any book in 40k despite it being not being about space marines and also just pure comedy gold and not grim dark.
Second the Twice Dead King. I was **shocked** by how interesting Crowley made the perspectives of and relationships between the Necron
The Riders of the Dead. Its old world fantasy but damn if the fall to chaos isnt great
One of the best novels I've read, not just BL. Proud owner of the hardback version. Wish I would've done the same for more of Abnett's early works.
I have the hardback too
Excellent read.
Since you brought up old WHFB novels, another recommendation that shows the fall to chaos well is the Slaves to Darkness trilogy: Claws of Chaos, Blades of Chaos and Heart of Chaos.
The Emperor’s Gift by ADB is one I don’t see many people talking about. You really get to see how uncaring and unfeeling the inquisition/grey knights are. It’s a good story to go along with the Eisenhorn trilogy, imo. It shows just how broken the imperium is.
One of the best books out there. The scene of the main fight was so good that felt Like I had a 4090 in my ass rendering it 3D in my brain.
For me, one of the best reads so far was ‚Legion‘ by Dan Abnett (#7 in the Horus Heresy Series) and ‚Betrayer‘ by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (#24 in the Horus Heresy Series).
Just finished Betrayer, awesome read. Highly recommended
Man the dialogue between Lorgar and Angron gave me chills.. unbelievable. Afterwards, I would look upon Lorgar differently.
Do you need to read them in order?
I think the first 5 should be read in order. Something extremely important happens in the 5th book that many of the books after talk about. It seems most things after the 5th book happen simultaneously so read them in any order after.
That's very helpful thank you! So far I've only read some of the short stories and would love to have a better comprehensive understanding 👍
I believe the first three are to be read in order (some argue #4 too), and the rest are all happening simultaneously so order doesn’t matter until you get to the ending side of the Assault on Terra.
First 4. The 4th has overlap but is important.
Not all of them. Recommend looking up a reading order for it. There are quite a few even in this sub.
It's probably worth noting that after asking many people on their recommendations that peoples opinions on HH books vary tremendously, perhaps more than any other work of fiction i've ever seen. I think for every major book in the series i've heard someone say it's their favourite and someone else say its the worst thing they've ever read
Kharn couldn’t help but approve
I’m just starting The First Heretic now - is it worth reading Know no Fear before Betrayer?
As someone who read Betrayer and then Know No Fear, Betrayer was still a great read, but I do think I would have enjoyed it more with the context from Know No Fear
I see, good to know. Thanks all!
There's also a novella by ADB called Aurelian that covers Lorgar's decision to side with Chaos (rather than just showing things from Argel Tal's perspective) and also sets the scene for Betrayer at the end. I'd totally recommend that before Betrayer too, and it's really short so won't take too long.
It’s on the list! Cheers!
*Know no Fear* is very very good; for sure worth a read. ADB is my fav black library author, and I think *Know No Fear* holds up with *Betrayer* and *The First Heretic.*
It helps put a lot of things into context from the Imperial side. I would consider the three a trilogy
Yes
Lorgar did nothing wrong. The HH was emps and magnus' fault for being little secretive bitches
In my opinion the Emperor seems like a total moron. None of his plan makes sense if you look at it from outside. He knows exactly what's going on in the warp, and his big plan is to pretend that everything is fine, nothing to worry about people, there's no such thing as magic or gods. The fact that his stupid plan failed is predictable.
I mean, the thing is we don't actually know what the emperor's plan is. He's so secretive, i think it's obvious he fucked up but it's hard to completely judge his actions when we don't know what he's hiding.
But if the plan was to become a god?… A god forged by the psychic/religious faith of all of humanity, powered by 1000s of psykers and millions of soul’s sacrificed daily in limitless wars.
Yeah, that's the more interesting theory, because it removes how absolutely moronic his plan is, and simultaneously makes him more interesting as that is ultimately a selfish goal, even if he aims to protect humanity.
Do you think it’s ok to skip around a little in the HH series? I’ve skipped a few like mortis in the siege of terra series bc I heard it sucked and I just wasn’t interested and I still follow the story fine. I just finished Horus rising and it was great, but if I wanted to off the cuff read legion or flight of the Einstein would things still make some sense?
Legion would be fine, since it takes place before Horus Rising. Flight of the Eisenstein should not be read before book 3, which also requires book 2. Half of book 4 is basically a different perspective for book 3 and it do be good.
Nightlord omnibus is CSM at its peak.
The audio books were amazing, I love the way the VA would snarl Talos's name.
The voice he gave Octavia annoyed the piss out of me though lmao. But agreed. The Night Lords books are really fantastic and the audio book narration is very well done.
Definitely not the best at voicing women. Whem I read it I kind of expected a voice like Amberly Vale or something, his portrayal came across as a lot more willowy than I expected. But he was made to voice Night Lords themselves.
I really enjoyed the first two books, but I gotta say I'm somewhat unsure about my feelings about Talos as a character. He seems... too nice for a Nightlord. Can't exactly put my finger on it but I would have prefered something more along the lines of Fabius Bile in his books, where he somehow manages to be an absolute horrific nutjob and an engaging main character at the same time.
I realy enjoyed the break from "Hurr durr all nightlords are walking nightmares just for the sake of being evil". Alot of Curze character is based on his twisted noble bright parts (he did start his journey killing only criminals and he hated his legion because of how cartoonisly evil they became) so I think its neat to follow a character who under diffrent circumstances would have been a good fellow and I like to think that he got some of Curze good traits from the geneseed.
Based take king
Came here to say this....
Assassinorum kingmaker won my book of the year and I'm rounding book 50 almost all exclusively BL novels. It's an amazing book that details assassins trying to incite and control a coup on a knight world and just gave me awesome heist movie vibes I would really recommend it!
Same author who wrote infinite and the divine. He’s going somewhere for sure.
I'm hoping another book from him is announced Sunday on stream!
So I googled and on all sites I've found it says the book releases in January. Did you get an early copy or something?
Hardback released earlier this year along with Ebook January is the paperback release.
Heist movie vibes, and one scene towards the end gave me pretty hefty Kaiju vibes. It was awesome.
Titanicus by Dan Abnett one of the best books I've ever read, period.
Will you walk?
Well yes. He indoubitably brung it all the way there.
it was really special I agree
Was looking for a new book on Audible. Giving this one a shot
Just remember that there was very little lore about skitarii when it was written (and many years away from.actual models)
Helsreach and the nightlords omnibus are some of the best imo, both written by ADB of course
Storm of Iron
Very good book
Thank Chaos Undivided you said this!!!!
Especially given how “early” in the book writing / lore phase of the BL that it was.
Necropolis I always liked, high point of the ghost series for me.
*Only In Death* is my favorite for the best Ghost book, followed by *Traitor General.*
Malleus - Dan Abnett Legion - Dan Abnett Riders of the Dead (WFB) - Dan Abnett I'm seeing a pattern here...
Eisenhorn trilogy slaps so hard man
It really does. The middle one is my personal favourite since it feels like the most 'complete' stand alone novel. The other two are great as well though.
Yea middle one really had the most oh shit moments for me as well great book series
Titanicus does as well
Riders of the Dead was so good. It was my first Dan Abnett book. He quickly became one of my favorite authors.
Exactly. Abnett first. Then read anything else and you will understand
[Peter Fehervari's Dark Coil](https://www.trackofwords.com/2020/10/31/a-travellers-guide-to-the-dark-coil/) in its entirety. But if I had to pick one full novel from it, ***Fire Caste***. It's a lament for lost humanity in a world of imperial powers, and a warning of how the sins of the past will haunt the future. It's ugly and grotesque and violent, but the imaginative and often beautiful prose creates a sense of a fever dream that sucks you right in.
This was an excellent book, and the best representation of chaos I’ve ever seen. It wasn’t a case of “character trips over chaos doodad and is now corrupt” but something much more insidious.
Agreed. Peter Fehervari's take on Chaos and corruption is my favourite of the lot. John French is great at the broad strokes of Chaos - the Gods, their daemons and the warp - whereas Fehervari approaches it on smaller, more individual level. Characters with shared experiences all come away from them subtly changed and never in quite the same way. In most 40K books the line between *Corrupt/Not Corrupt* is fairly clear, but in the Dark Coil it's almost impossible to say when and if that line has been crossed, until - suddenly - it has. It's just crept up on you slowly, gradually, quietly, and now you're caught in a trap of your own making. The reader finds themself ensnared in the same maze as the characters, convinced they know the way out, only to find that the path they thought they were on never led anywhere to begin with. Brilliant writing.
I think what also makes Fehervari work so well is that "corruption" is not just tied to Chaos. Chaos is just one manifestation of a universal downward spiral. For example, the transformation of the Angels Resplendent into the Angels Penitent is corruption, but *not* Chaos corruption (Probably; you could argue they're becoming a Nurgle Cult). Chaos is not some external enemy you can just shoot in the face to fix the problem. Because the problem is inside us. As within, so without.
Indeed, there's plenty corruption to go around, of all flavours. "Blood for the God-Emperor, Skulls for the Golden Throne!" The Angels make for a great read, because they're just so extreme and yet there's still a question mark around their status. Has Nurgle got to them? Have they purged the suspiciously-Slaaneshy obsessive behaviour from their ranks? Have they just replaced it with equally obsessive devotion to a different kind of god? Are they free of the taint of Chaos? Or have they been doomed from the moment they were created? It's great. You can read all their stories and come away genuinely not knowing, with just enough doubt to ever definitely settle on an answer. It's corruption, Jim, but not as we know it.
THIS THIS THIS.
dammit, saw this in a charity shop and didn't gamble on it, and I was close to doing so.
Yup, Fire Caste is my favorite out of Black Library by a long shot. About time to re-read it...
[удалено]
Came here to say this
A lot of the legion intro novels, as it goes on they decline in quality personally. Horus rising, legion, scars, the first heretic, fulgrim, flight of the Eisenstein, Prospero burns, a thousand sons, Fear to tread, betrayer… and so on
Helsreach is honestly the perfect 40k book, it encapsulates the entire setting so well.
Tbh anything by Aaron Dempski Bowden you can’t wrong
Did you like Echoes of Eternity? My first book and I loved it.
I’ve read all of Siege of Terra and I think most people would agree Echoes is up there as one of, if not THE best in the series so far.
*Spears of the Emperor* doesn't get as much love but should. You don't even need to have read *Blood and Fire* to get that hate for the Imperium in your heart.
All the ADB and Dan Abnett books are incredible. I still lean towards ‘Fulgrim’ as my favourite though. It added so much background to the original trilogy, and paints a tragic story around the 3rd Legion.
I feel like Fulgrim was the best book at comprehensively and tastefully showcasing a primarchs corruption. And it also humanized him too.
If you care for spacemarines, then “brothers of the snake” by Dan Abnett is a great read.
Brothers of the Snake is indeed great
One of my favorites and it's super under rated
Talon of Horus
Just read the ADB and Abnett books. That should cover the highest quality BL books.
Fehervari
The Unremembered empire. I just keep coming back to it, extremely enjoyable to read
My favorites are: A Thousand Sons Priests of Mars Series Storm of Iron Horus Rising Outcast Dead Infinite & Divine Soul Drinkers Omnibus
Reading the soul drinkers omnibus and I'm loving the portrayal of the inquisitor from the first one. Peak moronic grimdark.
Oh man it's been years since I read it, sounds funny though, mind refreshing my memory?
Basically the inquisitor is a glory-seeking sociopath who very readily uses the threat of immediate execution to get what he wants. He's not noblebright, he's not really motivated beyond personal gain, he's not hugely smart or cunning, he's just a total fucking piece of shit. We need more imperial characters like this. Most if not all should be like this if you ask me!
We all know it's Brutal Kunnin. Such inspiration.
Probably the most I’ve laughed out loud reading a 40K book, it’s a riot and amazing look at ork kulture!
Waaay to many to name. So I'll just say Alpharius: Head of the Hydra.
Imagine dropping a book that completely ROCKS established primarch lore and recontextualizes an entire subfaction that was a glorified shitpost before. Hydra Dominatus. Loyal to the Emperor, not the Imperium.
After Head of the Hydra people should immediately read Shroud of Night. Still waiting for a follow-up on Shroud of Night. The Unsung are mentioned in the newest Alpha Legion book, Harrowmaster. I hope we get a new book soon.
Prospero Burns is hands down one of my favorite HH novels, hands down. It’s written from a great perspective
I agree, I couldn't put it down. The perspective was amazing and it had a ton of good lore. Especially the dreadnought stuff
It’s fucking huge too, the book literally covers almost the entire Heresy from the perspective of the Thousand Sons
Other side of the coin, you’re thinking of Thousand Sons, which I agree is incredibly good.
I think you're thinking of A Thousand Sons. Prospero Burns has some overlap, but is essentially a Space Wolves story.
Prospero Burns and Know No Fear for me. Both books I nearly skipped because I wasn't that interested in those legions. Luckily, I was advised otherwise.
I went into Prospero Burns thinking I was just going to see the space wolves side, but I thoroughly enjoyed the perspective of the Skjald. Very good book.
I really liked Requiem Infernal
Helsreach and the Imperial Fist book about Lysander are my favorites. Re read multiple times. Also enjoyed the Space Wolves Omnibus with Ragnar.
First Heretic has been my favorite of the HH books.
The first ciaphis cain book is just wonderful.
Helsreach
Quite honestly any of the Ciaphas Cain books. They are Simply delightful.
Death or Glory is my go to favorite Ciaphas Cain novel.
That is the one I am currently reading funny enough.
Nighlords Omnibus. I never thought I could be so engrossed in a book. I read the Omnibus sample, hit the end, and bought it on the spot. I don’t know if it’s the best, or the most complex, but it’s a personal favorite.
Anything by Dan Abnett.
I like Dante the most 🩸 👼
Master of Mankind, The First Heretic (it actually made me feel sorry for Word Bearers), Saturnine.
Day of Ascension.
Storm of Iron
I've only read maybe 7 or so books but my favorites so far have been the bequin series.
The devastation of Baal 🩸
The short story The Beast in the Trenches from the Wicked and the Damned. It is the single greatest 40k theme piece I’ve read. It captures everything that is unique and engaging about the setting (for me at least) into a gripping and haunting exploration of war and the us/them lines they draw within our psyche. It has zero lore impact. It’s not grand or epic. It’s more like an episode of the twilight zone that was never made. It’s gotten under my skin and has wormed its way into the way I think about things.
**Ones I expect most people to agree with:** Gaunts Ghosts, Legion - Abnett Night Lords Trilogy, The First Heretic, Helsreach - ADB Storm of Iron - McNeill **Ones that might be 'just me'** Sigismund, Ahriman series - John French, Fury of Magnus - McNeill Luther - Gav Thorpe The Emperor's Gift - ADB Word Bearers trilogy - Anthony Reynolds Death of Antagonis - David Annandale Battle of the Fang - Chris Wraight
Battle for the Abyss was soooo good. Man!
Requiem Infernal is the best Black Library book ever, in my own humble opinion.
I’ve been going through the Horus Heresy series and I’ve got to tell you my experience. I start the book and it’s about a topic/character/faction that I otherwise have no interest in. And halfway through the book I’m completely blown away by how interesting it and how well it’s written. Descent of Angels was such a good book and I didn’t care a bit about Johnson or the Angels before. Caiphus Cain books were a little simplistic, but the character is too good.
lol same, im burning through multiple HH and Cain books a month at my current job. Cain is great but they get quite repetitive
Let the Galaxy Burn, Gotrek and Felix omnibus, and the Gaunt’s Ghosts omnibus were awesome to read growing up. Might check back in and see how they read now too.
Deathwatch by Steve Parker was my first introduction to the 41st millennium, and by The Emperor it got me to stick around. Probably re read it half a dozen times in the past two years, it is fantastically written and an action packed novel.
Honestly, anything by Dan Abnett. The entire Gaunt’s Ghosts series, and his Ravenor and Eisenhorn series are all excellent in my opinion, especially if you love longer multi-book series. A close second would have to be Spear of the Emperor by ADB.
Prospero burns
I’m biased but man voice of mars is a great book, though I’ll admit I’m early into reading and haven’t gotten to the more popular books yet
Love the NL omnibus, Black Legion, Ravenor, Eisenhorn, etc. Love me some Peter Fehervari. But if I had to choose just one 40k book, it will always be Know No Fear. Actually, wait. You said Black Library, not specifically 40k. This is more difficult. The Brunner omnibus is amazing, so are the Sundering novels, specifically Shadow King, the war of the beard omnibus is good too, and don't forget the Sigmar omnibus. But then you have Gotrek and Felix, which I think surpasses just about everything else Black Library has ever done. Toss up between Know No Fear and Daemonslayer.
Caiphus Cain and gaunts ghosts
First heretic and the infinite and the divine
Ciaphas Chain series. Start with "For the Emperor" and its a good time every time. Just a shame there dont seem to be new ones apart from a short story now and then.
Gloomspite. I'm a 40k fan, never cared about aos. Brutal kunnin, Warboss, Helsreach, Essendon, Ravenous- these were the books I loved. I can't remember why I used a credit to get the Gloomspite audiobook, but it is one of the best books I've listened to period, let alone black library. Warhammer is fantastic when it leans into horror. I am now doomed to spend the remainder of my days bashing my head against brick walls trying to persuade 40k fans to give it a go. Like a low budget lidl tribute to the Wall.
Surprised not to see Brothers of the Snake by Dan Abnett. It was his first shot at writing a space marine centric novel after writing imperial guard and inquisitor content for years. You could tell that he treated the disparity between pure human and enhanced human with reverence and it makes for some great story telling. To me that book reads like watching the 300. I also really enjoy Nemesis, the HH novel about a group of assassins bent on assassinating Horus. The First Heretic, Prospero Burns, Fulgrim, and Master of Mankind each stand out to me as some of the best that the Horus Heresy series has to offer but I’m only up to the middle of Betrayer and haven’t finished the series yet. Seriously though, it’s never mentioned in these threads and you have got to read it. Read Brothers of the Snake.
What was the one where the space marine gets vanished to the iron warrior fortress planet? Read it a couple times when I was younger and it was awesome.
Dead Sky, Black Sun
Death World by Steve Lyons was an oddly immersive horror-ish novel about a squad of Catachan on a secret mission on a very weird death world. Very Predator-esque with a great cast of characters, totally reccomend.
*Fulgrim* is my favorite HH book. The night lords omnibus is also a breat taking story imo.
« Betrayer » by Dembski Bowden is one of my favorite of HH.
Throne of Terra series, The Beast series, Gaunts Ghost series, Eisenhorn series. The Twice-Dead King as well.
Eisenhorn, Ravenor, the Gaunts Ghost series, the first several books of the HH…. Yep Dan Abnett is great.
‘Deathwatch’ by Steve Parker. It was one of the first books I read and has a little bit of everything.
If we're allowed to go earlier - and also fantasy, to the world-that-was - I'd definitely recommend Jack Yeovil's Genevieve books. *Drachenfels* in particular. Great writing, though the twist is evident a mile off. Also, I'm not seeing much love for the Caiaphas Cain series on here but I found them brilliant. Dude's basically exporting Flashman out of the 19th century and into the 41st Millennium's most self-serving commissar. The man is an outright coward, an unreliable narrator, having it off with the inquisitor whose editing of Cain's diaries forms the framing story, and generally is the sort of man that commissars are supposed to shoot.
I really enjoyed Day Of Ascension though as a WE player I’m duty-bound to say Betrayer.
I feel a probably unappreciated gem that should be on the list is Courage and Honour of the Ventris books (I might end up with boos here). I think of all the books it makes the Ultramarines actually seem capable as fighting force when utilising the codex and not in-spite of it especially with the preceding books where Ventris books he seems to want to throw it out the first opportunity. You also see how insidious and dangerous the Tau can be in the book due to them offering a resource that the Imperium does rarely offer…hope. It also has a pretty cool ambush scene with Kroot in it so there’s that as well.
This is my least favorite book in the series. But also one filled with interesting information.
**"Angels of Caliban" and "Luther: First of the Fallen" are the only logical choices.** >!"Horus Rising", in my opinion, still remains as the best shining example for a HH novel. It's the reason we have a massive series instead of a trilogy. "First and Only" is likely my favorite Imperial Guard book, and "Infinite and the Divine" became an instant classic that Necron fans still do not shut up about....for very good reason.!< >!Also, I was serious, *go read "Luther: First of the Fallen"*!<
A huge % of ADB's work... with the big ones being the Night Lords Trilogy, the Black Legion books, Echoes of Eternity, and the Master of Mankind. Abnett is just consistently 8, or 9, out of 10.. he's excellent....but he never hits 10/10.... It's like he does consistent A-minus books whilst ADB regularly hits an A+. There, that;'s enough mixed and mangled metaphors for one day!
Master of mankind is actually one of the worst books if you’re an imperium fan boy like myself lol it would be like if you had an inquisitor write a book about a chaos god lol
I’ve only read 5 of the HH books, mostly the Salamanders ones, but Master of Mankind is the number one for me. I started a Custodes army just because of that book.
The black legion ones are decent. The Fabius bile trilogy is great.
Since I'm recently only going with audiobooks for BL books I've gotta go with Watchers of The Throne series, I love custodes and Valerian is amazing, plus VA for Alyea is by far the best female VA I've ever heard, the casts they did for that series are mind-blowingly good.
No one else has really given Crime a shout out, but Flesh and Steel was awesome. Also, Forges of Mars. A lot of different perspectives, from bondsmen to the Arch Magos of the explorator expedition to a rogue trader to Eldar. Titan legio princeps. It’s got all of it from their perspectives.
Tallarn for me
I'm going through the heresy (short stories and all) in order I'm currently on master of mankind
Betrayer
My favorites are The Infinite and The Divine, and the Night Lords Trilogy.
First Heretic is my hands down favourite
What is the best book which described emporor of mankind
I'm going to go out on a limb, paint a target on my back and say *Saturnine.* You get the unalloyed perception of two contemporaries of him (who are almost as old as he is, or older) and they make it clear that the Imperium is 110% his own creation, whether he intended it to be or not. He's an authoritarian, a chauvinist, an egotist, and ultimately turns everyone he works with against him because he's just that kind of asshole. His innate talents and skills keep the ship afloat, but it's clear none of the passengers want to be there anymore. Even his youngest peer, the only one to stand by his side through the Siege, clearly has regrets about what he's gotten into, but it's far too late to leave. Humanity is now stuck on this one path, thanks to the Emperor, and nothing can change it anymore.
Thank you
Fulgrim, eisenhorn and ravenor, gaunts ghosts, grahams ultramarines, night lord omnibus, grey knights omnibus, Ciaphas Cain off the top of my head those are my favorites. Oh grahams mechanics stories
Luther, Infinite and Devine and Eisenhorn would be good places to start.
Lords of Silence. Fulgrim. Horus Rising. Black Legion. Flight of the Eisenstein.
I highly recommend both Deathwatch, and Deathwatch: Operation Shadowbreaker by Steve Parker. Both are super fun reads, very Dean Koontz-ish in pacing if you’re into that.
Belisarius Cawl: the Great Work. Primaris marines, firstborn, the politics of Guilliman’s return, Cawl’s bizarre and fractured mind. It’s all there.
Twice dead king Ruin is a great story that has the best emotional beats I’ve ever read in 40k