[Fluff] Best 40k Books I.

[Cailet]

Please note that Best 40k Books II (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?t=136306) is currently active over in Fluff. Best 40k Books I will remain here for archive purposes.

FerociousBeast has created an index for this thread, which details where reviews/commentary on specific books/series can be found within the thread itself. It can be found in this (http://forums.relicnews.com/showthread.php?p=2109615#post2109615) post.

OK guy's, this is the last (I hope) thread about 40k literature. ionfish said he'll sticky it. Here are my reviews of the best 40k books, feel free to criticize or query as you feel appropriate.

For simplicity I'll post series together.

Crossfire/Legacy. Far lower on action than most 40k books and a lot more about the politics and societies of the Imperium.

Seen through the eyes of an Arbites officer (Shira Calpurnia) Crossfire takes a route through the twisted intrigues of Hydraphuran life. Well paced and thought out, it gives a good look at the Imperial aristocracy and some lesser known sides of the universe...

Legacy is less well paced than Crossfire but with some unprecedentedly cool action.

Gaunt's Ghosts. 9 books and counting! All of them are pretty good but the first two (First and Only, Ghostmaker) are split into sub-chapters which make it tricky to keep a handle on what is going on.

The Space Wolf series is, as you would expect a pretty ood look at the Space Wolf chapter through the eyes of Ragnar Blackmane. A good series but the emphasis on action gets a little samey at times. Space Wolf is probably the best of ths series for the look at the initiation of Space Marines and Fenrisian life.

For the Emperor/Caves of Ice. Commissar Cain is decidedly unusual in his methods, but it get's the job done and leaves a smile on your face. Told through his own eyes it combines humour and action (and the attempts to avoid it) in a lightweight but fun package.

The Inquisition War trilogy. Possibly the darkest and craziest books the Black library (and boxtree) have ever printed. it follows the adventures of Inquisitor Jaq Draco through the highs and lows of the Imperium via Stalinvast, the Emperor's throne room and the webway to name buy the ones that won't spoil anything. The tone grows steadily madder through the series which makes it a little hard to stick occasionally but if you can last it it will reward you well.

[shorno]

hmm finallllllllllllllllllllly a sticky version because this damm request comes up again and again. in order of my personal preference id say go for these top 5..
1) Only halfway through but the Eisenhorn trilogy blows basicly all the other novels away! shows great in-depth perception of the inquisition triumverate Xenos Hereticus Malleus.. and eisenhorns a pretty good character too.(best cat and mouse book around)..
2)Space Wolf novels 'Space wolf' 'Ragnars Claw' 'Grey Hunter' and 'Wolfblade'. kick ass adventure from one of the greatest Space marine heros Ragnar and one of my favorite chapters!! (so im bias)
3)joint.. Farseer and Angels of Darkness farseer offers a great insight into the world of the eldar as they are rarely in the BL novels and angels of darkness is just plain AWESOME and is a must for any Dark Angel fan!
4)The Inquisitional War! basicly details great adventure from Holy Terra (emperors throne room) to eldar webway ! and other places i 4get . basicly a must read!
5) Ultramarines novels 'Nightbringer' Warriors of Ultramar' and 'Dead sky black sun' same reasons for space wolf novels a great read + offers an insight into the life of a space marine.. i found it particualry good as i never really liked the Ultramarines before these books.
various others
Grey Knights - Deus Excomunicate - Dawn Of War
kind regards hope this helps sum lost peeps! :D

[Kadaj]

aaaaaaah at last a relief from posting about the best books, just one more time........


1) Gaunts Ghosts, 9 of the best books ive ever read, although ive only read 8, hardback costs too much. :bandit:

2) Eisenhorn Trilogy, great series of books.

3) Ravenor, a kind of sequel to the eisenhorn series, yet you needn't have read them, although i reccomend you do.


To sum it up, Dan Abnett is the best 40k writer ever! mwahhahahahahahahahaha

:bandit:

[Coey]

Space Wolf series:Some very good action but the epilogue and prologue of every book are extremely samey. But the inbetween bits are extremely good, but Ragnar's Claw plot doesn't really make sense, a team of 5 blood claws and a sergeant(very cool) are tasked to retrive some talismans and kill a.... well that would ruin it.

13th legion:Avoid like the mutation. These are probably the worst books BL have ever released.

Gaunts Ghosts: Very good, stealthy. Gaunt seems strange at times though.

[radical ed]

Space Marine by Ian Watson

Quite an old book by now, but the best GW book ive ever read, its themes seem much more adult, and sophisticated than the newer GW books. Ive read the Inquisition books, Space wolves ones and guants ghosts, and none came close.

Its about 3 newly recuited Imperial Fists, and there journey throu the ranks of the chapter. Its got all the major bad guys and a couple of cool twists, deff recomended

[ChienAboyeur]

Definitively Space Marine by Ian Watson.
I read it again one week and half ago. Really makes me nostalgic about the good old time.

It relates the story of three novices,all from different social classes and background, the grim world they live on, their motivations to join the Imperial Fist chapter and their ascension to the status of full marines.
It is a very immersive novel, twisted and vicious and most of the fluff must be considered as incorrect because dating back from the time when the dark universe was really dark and it wasnt that easy from screening the bad guys from the good guys.
Space marines are more portrayed as psycho killers always walking the line between salvation and chaos corruption, as ready to commit mass slaughters as to save the life of a child, rather than noble salviors and last hope of humanity as they are now.
Chapters are depicted as groups of secluded beings growing their own social pathologies and deviancies. For the imperial fists, their masochist tendencies through the intensive use of pain as a selection factor and their relation to their body, their insane obsession with carving bones, their feeling of being the superior life form in the universe, even over their space marines brethern from other chapters.
It climaxes with the first encounter with a tyranid fleet the imperial fist chapter made in its history, but only the foreguard of it and the difficulty of the marines to deal with that new threat (ah, "my body cant deal with that poison. I dont know what's going on.Take command", an approximate quote from a squad leader after he got infected and one of his squad members swallowed he doesnt know where by a stomach mouth)
Most of the fluff must be irrelevant since it reports about squats, zoats,sla'ans and so other exotic creations like that.

[Lord Anubis]

The Bleeding Chalice (Soul Drinker Novel #2) by Ben Counter
Unfortunately I have not been able to track down a copy of the original Soul Drinkers book, but I am sure it is just as good as the bleeding chalice. This novel is based around the renegade Chapter "Soul Drinkers" who have been deemed excommunicate for disobeying direct orders in the previous novel. During their encounter with the sacred artifact the Soulspear (in SD #1) the entire chapter has aquired mutations and thus resembles chaos warriors rather than loyalist marines. It is their quest to find a cure to these mutations and ensure the survival of their chapter. At the same time Inquisitor Thaddeus is to find the renegade chapter and read them their last rights. All in all a thrilling novel with twists and turns that will leave you reading some pages twice out of pure amazement.

Iron Warriors:
The adventures of an Iron Warrior's warband to the sacred foundations of a second gene-seed hold on an outskirt planet. A nice read but the fluff is not to be taken literally (as I have been taught by some people here :P). Gives a good insight into the pure chaos of the dark side of the warp.

[ShadowFox]

I Highly Recommend "Storm of Iron" as one of the better 40K books. It really keeps you wondering how it will end, and it is an especially good read for Iron Warriors fans.

Another good book is "Angels of Darkness" that tells about how a small band of Dark Angels hunt the fallen, and how their own zeal is their downfall.

[SavageNature]

sorrry aobut this,but any with lots of ork fighting?or any that contain info about gahzkull(sp?)(sigh....ive loved orks/orcs since warcraft one....what can i say?)

[Cailet]

For ork fighting there is Caves of Ice, Ghostmaker and Ragnars Claw IIRC. All from Imperial views.

There is also the Deff Skwadron comic but I haven't read it and titan 1 has some too.

[Warbringer]

I didn't really care for the Space Wolves books. The author wasn't very good IMO. It wasn't bad just incredibly average. Now strom of Iron, Got Damn! Tha was a good book. Infact anything written by Ben Counter or Grahm Mcneil are good books. All the Ultra Marine books; Nightbringer, Warriors of Ultramar, som other one with Uriel Ventris.
Ben counter wrote Demon world and Grey Knights. Also the Inquisition War books sucked. The things they revealed about the 40K universe was interesting but I couldn't make it past the first book. The author's style sis soooo boring, Yawn...

[shorno]

pfffffffffy warbringer u make me laugh but never mind ur entitled to your own opinion!
erm for orks fighting check out 'Crusade for armageddon' thats pretty good details the Black templars fighting on Armageddon against orkies..

[Icarus]

Can anybody recommend some good Graphic Novels to lread please? Especially anything Eldar related if possible.

:matrix:

[Grendel Rose]

Execution Hour and Shadow Point are probably my two favorite books, their really some of the few that really deal with warships in depth. Good if your into BFG.

[Cailet]

Not terribly good if you want a decent story though.

[Jasoni Osoni]

I can't believe nobody has mentioned Angels of Darkness! It's my favorite! (Though me being a huge Dark Angels player may have something to do with that...)

Regardless, it really is a good read!

[BillyBob]

I think the best I read was Bleeding Chalice. Other than that, I liked Grey Knights. I just got Soul Drinker form Amazon ($30!!! :cry:.. I HAVE to read it, so I spent the $$). I read Wolf Blade which was really good too.
I liked Iron Hands, however I wouldn't suggest it being one of the first 40K novels to read.
I'm in the process of reading Black sun, Dead Sky and it's VERY confusing.. lots of action.. leaves you saying "WTF?" while reading it
That's all I've read so far :bandit:

[Ciaphas Cain]

Name sums it all up for this really doesn't it lol

First and Second by miles are For the Emperor and Caves Of Ice, they are such a different and in my opinion much more enjoyable way of telling a story and probably more true to the word of what the 40K universe would be like. Not all this head strong glory I can take anything on because I have faith attitude that most of the authors seem to take and more of a please just let me live how do I get out of here attiitude lol.

There have been also 2 short stories containing Mr. Cain which were also very enjoyable I recommend them to anyone even if they aren't 40k fans and there is also a 3rd book on the way called Traitor's Hand I believe which gets confused with new Gaunt's one.

I won't tell you much about what happens cos your gunna have to read em but in For The Emperor it involves the Tau and Genestealers (yes thats right no Chaos!!!) and Caves Of Ice its Orcs and Necrons all round (yes no Chaos again YEY!!!)

[IronLegionnaire]

Anyone know where to get the Liber Chaotica books? Sold out on the Black Library website. :(

[Bloodtalon]

u can still get Nurgle and Tzeentch Liber Chaoticas in some stores, and i believe on the website.

Eisenhorn trilogy. some of the best damn books ever done, warhammer or otherwise

[RavenKnight]

The Inquisition War Trilogy. Great book for finding out more about the Sensei Knights and the Illuminati.

[Sacith]

Although it has been mentioned a few times already, I would like to suggest Angels of Darkness. It explains the views of a Fallen Angel during an interrogation by a Dark Angels Chaplain, while in other parts showing how feverishly the Dark Angels hunt the Fallen.

[Deathwing]

- Farseer ( Good book, but not for beginners, in my opinion)
- Space Marine ( read it in german...lousy translation..)
- Inquisitor
- Harlequin
- Chaos Child
- Space Wolve
- Ragnar's Claw
- Grey Hunter
- Wolfblade
- Angels of Darkness
- Storm of Iron
- Eye of Terror ( Wouldn't read that again...)
- Nightbringer
- Warriors of Ultramar
- Words of Blood
- Demon World ( Another book where money got wasted..)
- Crucible of War
- Crusade for Armageddon
- Fire Warrior
- Grey Knights
- Deathwing

The books I've read so far.

I liked the Ragnar books, Angels of Darkness, Grey Knights and Crusade for Armageddon best.
My favourite story is in the book Deathwing. Naturally it is the story about why the Deathwing changed the colour scheme....

[Cailet]

Eye of terror wasn't bad but it was rather RTish (felt like earlier fluff than Watsons) I liked it but not enough for a reccomendation..

[Drunken_Viking]

Now no one really said what 40K books, so I'll start with my favorite by far, the old rule book for the Titan game(Titanicus or something like that, I don't actually own it, but a friend does).

Why does no one like the 13th Legion? Those 3 books were great, especially the last one, it has everything a good book should have.

Anywho, my picks will be as follows:

1. Storm of Iron(read it 3 times, a really good read).
2. Execution Hour(The only book with the planet killer in it, and it shoots!).
3. Into the Maelstrom(Huron Blackheart makes it all worth it, such an imagination for torture).
4. Soul Drinker(a good read, still haven't got the The Bleeding Chalice yet).
5. (Insert Title Here)(I forget which book it is, but it's one of the short story ones. It has the story with Kharne the Betrayer in it, where he fights Slannesh).

Sorry about the not so big explainations, it has been a while since I read anything from the BL. Been spending to much time on The Malazan Book of the Fallen(just finished book 4).

[Cailet]

5 sounds like Dark Imperium.

13th Legion was OK Kill Team was a little better and Annihilation squad was a waste of cash.

[Brother Auric]

First of all I would like to say that the Gaunt's Ghosts novels are by far some of the best 40k books I've read. I also liked Eye of Terror... although the fact that the Dark Angel died kinda made me depressed. I knew it was comming I mean you can't be redeemed for that but still... he was cool.

Second is the main char in Space Marines the same as that Brother Captain in the Inquisition War. I just recently read the big book that had all three and a couple of short stories in it. What was his name... something Arquebus... like Lex Arquebus or something... anyways.

Third, what is that name of the ninth Gaunt's Ghost book? I assume it's after Sabat Matyr. I need to read it and the book stores around my town (small town) don't seem to have it.

[Gibbedboy]

Haven't really read that many Warhammer 40k books, but the ones I have read are:

The Bleeding Chalice: A very good book by all accounts, however, not having read Soul Drinker, I was somewhat confused in the beginning.

First and Only: First 40k book I've read, a good read on a long car trip, can't find anything bad to say about it off the top of my head.

Firewarrior: First time I finished it, I thought it kindof sucked, but for some reason, the more times I read again, the more I liked the idea of corrupted Tau, hehe.

Some questions now. Are the Eisenhorn books any good? What are some good books from the Chaos's point of view?

[Medrevac]

Im havent really indulged myself in the warhammer40k Novels, But after reading this thead I kinda got sucked into it all, anyone recommend a good 40k newbie's novel? I know most SM chapters and their heritage(especialy BA, Ultra & Space wolves. Im not sure very sure about DA yet, i havent done much reading about them and their 'dark secret(is it hunting the fallen?)' but have seen the deathwing novel in a couple of stores. )

Has Anyone read 'Deus Encarmine'? Apparently it was just recently released. If anyone has should i start with that? I might start with that(If i can find a copy of it) 'Deus Sanguinius'(the sequel) Is coming out next year and the sypnosis sounds rather interesting, about a BA marine who apparently is the reincarnation of sanguinius himself and saves the chapter's a$$ again.

[Valetudo]

Eisenhorn Trilogy+Ravenor - Nicely detailed, epic stories.

Iron Hands - Following Iron Father Gdolkin and a company of the Iron Hands chapter.

Inquisitor War - Hmm i only have the original prints, and havent read the recent reincarnations. I dont think i want to lose the image of Grimm the Squat though. My version was never completed, and ive been in suspense since the early 90s lol.

Storm of Iron - a Grand Company of the Iron Warriors and massive chaos army lays siege to a fortress. I like tales of large scale actions, and this has it all.

its follow up and a nice cross-over Ultramarine novel, Dead Sky Black Sun is very good, and see's the return of some characters from Storm of Iron and answers the questions you had at the end of the previous novel.

Demonworld was highly enjoyable, albeit slightly odd when fitting itself into the bigger picture.

Grey Knights - At last some superb background and fluff on the Grey Knights, and a great read too.

Execution Hour and Shadowpoint - 2 great stories following the Macharius, a cruiser fighting against Abbadons Black Crusade in the Gothic sector. I'd like to see alot more Battlefield Gothic, or indeed any sort of space combat novels.

To be honest, i have bought 2 dozen 40k novels, whilst some are better than others, ive enjoyed all of them. Im a big fan of 40k background and fluff though, and have been for years.

[snrjefe]

Of all these posts, no one has mentioned Dawn of War... It's certainly not the best BL release, but it casts a different light on the storyline of the game. If you've played through the campaign, read the book. Fun C&C exercise.

Otherwise, the Soul Drinkers books and the Eisenhorn Triology (and Ravenor) are my favs. Someone also brought up the old Adeptus Titanicus rule book. I think the old rulebooks have some of the best backstory and the artwork is really cool. Like the picure of the shattered Warhound pouring fire into the Ultramarines as it topples to the ground. Great stuff.

[Kadaj]

the first 40k fiction book i read was 'first and only' by dan abnett (master of BL books :bandit: ), and its still one of my favourites.

[Cailet]

Inquisitor War - Hmm i only have the original prints, and havent read the recent reincarnations. I dont think i want to lose the image of Grimm the Squat though. My version was never completed, and ive been in suspense since the early 90s lol.

The old ones seem to be exactly the same. I have the old Chaos Chld and it has no apparent differences to the new versions. (I haven't read the new Chas Child but the old one fits with the series perfectly). Grimm is still there thank god!!

[Jaghatai-Khan]

5. (Insert Title Here)(I forget which book it is, but it's one of the short story ones. It has the story with Kharne the Betrayer in it, where he fights Slannesh).

I know this book, It is about World Eaters who fighting with Emperor's Children on a ice deamon world (not ice deamon's world, deamon world of ice :] ) isn't it? But, I forget it's tittle, too.

[Lord_Calgar445]

All Gaunt's Ghost novels, ive only read Traitor General (got the limited edition one with the music CD) but i have read short excerpts from some of the others, was a WD freebie.

The Horus Heresy books from BL, ive got both of the Limited Edition ones.

The 13th Black Crusade book, i got the the Limited Edition one that came with the stachel bag plus a few things. It was nice bit too pricey for what came with it, but meh i have a habit of spending a bit too much money.

To date my total amount of money ive spent on BL stuff is 2x£50 for both Horus Heresy books, 1x£75 for the Gaunts Ghost book, either £50 or £75 for the 13th Black crusade book. I will be spending more when i get round to buying all Gaunt's Ghost novels.

[Kalevispetke]

Any books with Sisters of Battle? Man I wanna read about these :D

[Tartan_hero]

Gaunts Ghosts novels. No question. I know they are realy popular and i would like to say something more unique but hey. Probably what did it for me was how the tanith were realy like scottish people, and gaunt (cough) badass (cough). though in the last book i couldnt help but feel totaly depressed at the end. last few words "Friend, Brother, Ghost" (hope i got that right. The books realy give you a good insight into the guard life. Also made the most awsome quote ever "Pain is temporary, Honour is forever!!". Also realy like Angels of darkness. The ending made me depressed again (You hate him at start then lov him at end). These god damn Heroes going around making me depressed. LOL

[Cailet]

"Any books with Sisters of Battle? Man I wanna read about these "

The comic series Daemonifuge, three series so far all in one big book. IIRC it was cool but I have no idea how to get it (I have no credit/debit/paypal.)

[Hostage]

grey knights got sisters of battle (ok...the last 100-200 pages only)

[Medrevac]

I just got the DOW novel written by C S Goto. Im halfway through now, as snrjefe said earlier on, Its not the best novel from BL, but its quite well written and expands a lot more into the storyline than the sketchy SP cutscenes. Now i wanna play the SP campaign all over again. :D

[Brother Auric]

Right, I'll reiterate my question from a previous post. What is the most recent Gaunts ghosts novel called?

[Cailet]

Traitor General.

Oh, I forgot, there are SoB in Crossfire too.

[Medrevac]

I just read Nightbringer & Grey Knights.

They're both good books to get... now 2nd time reading through!
And yes the Sob in Grey knights did 'kick some ass'. wont spoil anything here.

[Brother Lucius]

Firewarrior, Iron Hands, Grey Knights. The only one's i've read so far...go figure.

[FerociousBeast]

Only WH40K book I've read is Angels of Darkness by Gav Thorpe. It sucked.

It's an obvious attempt to malign the Dark Angels, has pretty serious logic failings, boring as shit action scenes, and a scale that is just too small to be interesting. Gav Thorpe is obviously in love with the Fallen, and the book is just another attempt by a Fallenphile to make them the good guys and the DAs the bad guys. The stuff in the book is really pretty ridiculous. Thorpe probably jacks off to pictures of Cypher.

Here's an example of one of the logic failings in the book: during the interrogation of a Fallen Angel, the FA says that the atrocities he committed on a planet he had conquered were done to root out insurrection and heresy against the emperor, and that the stamping out of the rebellion was worth the sacrifice of the innocent. Brother Chaplain Boreas agrees. Later, Astelan, the name of the FA (I think), says that he hated Lion el'Jonson because Jonson used tactics (or wanted to, though Astelan thwarted him) that hurt innocent civilians in order to quickly and efficiently defeat a force of Orks. Brother Chaplain Boreas can think of nothing to say, and his faith is shaken.

It's an unabashedly revisionistic book as well. Luther is cast as a good guy, and the fact that he was liberally blessed with the Chaos gods' powers is brushed over in order to preserve Thorpe's alternate telling of events. Everywhere Thorpe paints the Fallen Angels and Luther as the only ones who still uphold the Emperor's ideal, without acknowledging the obvious fact that many of the Fallen -- and Luther himself -- were and are Chaos, and almost all of the rest at least outlaws. But all of this is lost on Gav Thorpe. One of Boreas's last lines in the book is an acknowledgement that the Fallen are right, and the Dark Angels are wrong. What the fuck?!?!

It's been a while since I read it, but read it for yourself, and you'll see all kinds of stupid stuff like this. But besides the poor logic and revisionism, the fight scenes are really boring when you finally get to them. I found myself wanting to hurriedly read through the fight scenes so I could get back to the interrogation, which frustrated and pissed me off to no end -- which goes to show just how bad the battles actually were.

Being a Dark Angel fan, I was understandably disappointed to find such meager fare for my favorite chapter. Speaking of which, anyone know of any better stories of the DAs?

[shorno]

Hmm well i TOTALLY DISAGREE! You quite obviously are biased. but i belive that everyone has different opinions. i found it a really interesting and it made me HATE the DA even more than i did before, as im an avid Space wolfer myself! so u can guess that i wouldnt be pro DA.

[FerociousBeast]

Please submit the above as corroboration of my post and thus as further evidence that the book sucks.

[Brother Lucius]

Alas, I havn't read the book, but I feel the truth is somewhere in the middle. The Fallen, those who aren't Chaosites, are trying to redeem themselves for their terrible crimes. Meanwhile, the Dark Angels are trying to preserve their honor by exterminating the traitors. By normal WH40K philosophy, they have every right to- "There is nothing worse then a traitor" after all. I'd also point out that it's my belief that the "good" fallen are in the minority.

[Last_Crusade]

Deathwing is a compilation of some short stories with a couple featuring the DAs yet I know of nothing else. It would be great if Dan Abnett or William King wrote a DA book.

[Mastermindkar]

I have to say that so far I am badly disappointed with Wh40k novels. Not so much that the stories are bad (some are quite good) but that representations of the Imperium's greatest warriors are terrifically underwhelming.

***SPOILER***

Did anyone notice than in Grey Knights one of the "Emperor's Finest" is killed by a troop of fuedal knights? For real. Some yahoo with a beaten iron sword kills a grey knight. I'd really like to write it off as bad fluff. I mean seriously, there is actually a place on a grey knight where an ordinary human could jam a sword and kill him? They had to unleash their ultimate attack to escape from an encroaching swarm of Medieval Times wannabes. I'd love to be unpacking my brand new Mark VIII armor and find on the label Warning: proof against las guns, plasma bursts, hyper velocity flechettes, rail guns, exploding bolter rounds, scatter guns, flaming plasma, limited exposure to gauss weapons, sluggas, pulse rifle bursts, auto-rifles, demon flame, hell guns, thrown feces, death rays, zap guns, phasers, and bad language. Stab resistant. Its embarrasing. That is just the one outstanding example, but similar events permeate the story. The endless lamentation about the corruptive influence of chaos and the exhaustive measures taken against it are rendered moot when, at the end, a squad of seraphim with nothing but their naked skulls and faith to protect them follow the Knights into the Demon's lair and bail them out. The parts of the book not about the grey knights were quite good; the Ordo Malleus stuff was neat, Death Cult assassins are beyond awesome, and the SoB were cool. Overall, it still makes for good reading, it just doesn't reflect too well on the Knights' reputation.

In which book(s) do space marines actually kick butt? In Space Wolf one of the wolves shoots himself while cleaning his bolter. Its a joke. Figure out which end hurts things? Great! Sic enemies of the Imperium! My opinion of Space Wolves is reflected in the webcomic Turn Signals on a Land Raider. (View at turnsignalsonalandraider.com) Better put, in which books do the space marines not embarrass themselves?

[FerociousBeast]

They don't embarass themselves in Angels of Darkness. In fact, they do not embarass themselves to the extent that the battles are incredibly boring. Five or six marines take on an entire army of Orks and come out of it dented, but otherwise good to go. I mean come on. So much for choppas which make the best armor save possible 4+.

[Brother Lucius]

In response to Mastamindkar-

Those knights weren';t armed with swords. They had blast lances. IE- Lance Tip hits target, Lance go BOOM. It's a focused boom too. And only one Grey Knight dies.

The Grey Knight SQUAD- ONE SQUAD- proceeds to sack an inteir city, defeating it's inteir resident army and carving their way through, defeating the gigantic mutated king, and then they killed a Chaos Sorcerer of tremendous power.

And the scene at the end of the book, most of the Sisters of Battle died outright, out of a small army. Only a few made it to the actual demon. And this was by the point the Grey Knights had cleared the road and were "distracting" the demon.

And then the Justicar OUTTHINKS a daemon of Tzeenitch.

Plus your forgetting the beginning of the book, where 3 or 4 Squads of Grey Knights take on an inteir Daemon world and win. Of course, they do this by killing their leader, but still...

[Mastermindkar]

If the knights had blast lances I wouldn't be complaining. Does it make sense for them to have swords, bows and... blast lances? The only thing seperating those guys from the frenchies at Agincourt was that some of them rode alien bird-things instead of horses. After that though, the three squads of knights proceed to launch an assault on a medieval city, watch the giant mutated king get spanked by the death cult assassins, and then kill the sorcerer.

Getting flattened by a falling spaceship is unfortunate, taking a left hook from a spacemarine on the chin is hardcore. The battle of wits was basically "you are my pawns, hahaha!" "No! You are just afraid of us! Suck true name!" (it was still cool, but if someone else had memerized the name wouldn't we be in the same boat?)

The introduction was easily the best part grey knight wise. But saying they took on the entire planet is like saying you can jungle twenty eggs by throwing them up in the air.

[Dante]

Deus Encarmine!!! (for anyone that wants to know)

The language used is kinda...meh.

Some "big words" are used too often (sorry this bothers me...i love vivid vocabulary)

The story is pretty solid, but how it develops is kinda slow...

It goes in circles for a while...

But it has good action scenes and has stuff on Baal with Dante.

I'd rate it a 7.5/10

Best 40k book ever would have to be Eisenhorn Trilogy. Only ten bucks for the greatest stories ever.
Its hard to describe since its three stories wrapped into one epic tale of a pure inquisitor being lured into the path of a radical. Get it...NOW!!!!

10/10 :beer: Trust ME.

Currently reading Inquisitor Trilogy...Don't like it as much as Eisenhorn (but only in the second book of it)...It has some pretty wild stories though...like going to TERRA!!!!

Other books i have read: Firewarrior...what a load of crap...TAU crap. Worse than the game. -1/10 :)

Some really old ones that my library had...Dark Angels that were...native americans that fought genestealers...some other stuff...can't recall that much. :)

[BillyBob]

Deus Encarmine is my next book. I read into it a little and it seems good so far.
I will admit that I'm liking Dead Sky, Black sun. I thought it was gonan suck but so far it's been pretty gruesome. only another 80 or so pages to go!

[Mattnav]

Right up front - I like most of the 40k books I've read. Straightforward, not too hard on the brain, fully into a Universe I find fascinating and all together massively violent.

What however, is the deal with swearing. Don't get me wrong, I completely get if they want to keep the books accessible to a target audience (mind you, if that is the concern maybe they should be more worried about the numbers of people dissolving/exploding/shattering into red spray/mist/gore than the odd obscenity) but for gods sake, if you're not going to swear then don't replace the good old fashioned obcenities I have come to know and love with words like 'feth' (apparently a Tanithian reference to some god of the 'trees'). As in (and I am quoting here) ...'you're a fething hero...', '....feth the armour....' and of course '....Feth them indeed....'.

These people are engaged in a fight for their lives, surrounded by psychopathic lunatics out for their blood and a Command structure that is borderline genocidal and more than a little homocidal - If they want to say the 'f' word then say the fucking 'f' word (and if they want to write kids books then they should do something with talking trains and dogs and a puppet that can dance and stuff.....jesus.)

[Medrevac]

i could have sworn the s*** and F*** words were used very rarely in some of the novels i read, but used nevertheless(cant be bothered to remember which) but the s-word is frequent and used by the less popular authors. it did get my attention while reading tho.

[CRasterImage]

Mattnav - I think the point of using made up cuss words like "feth" has to do with the fact that language changes over time. Slang and cuss words were a little different a few hundred years ago. They were unrecognizably different a couple thousand years ago. It's not hard to believe that 40,000 years in the future that the slang and cuss words would be completely different than they are today.

Warhammer40k is not the first fictional world to introduce made up cuss words.

[Valetudo]

Problem with some of the books is that the game and fluff all go on about how certain weapons and vehicles cant be made anymore, lost dreadnought and titan technology etc, as well as having chaos troops and titans that have been around since the heresy.

Yet these things die or are destroyed with amazing regularity. If a marine chapter lost a dreadnought every other mission like they seem to in some books they would have run out of them 10,000 years before.

[FerociousBeast]

Yeah, fluff like this I tend to ignore. Quite often the GW fluffies will throw logic out the window in their quest to make the universe as dark as possible.

Concerning cussing: true, language changes over time, and thus cuss words will change as well, but don't forget the first part of this sentence: "language changes over time". I don't think people 40,000 years in the future will be speaking good ol' Imperial English or Amazon Spanish. The books are thus "translated", shall we say, into our English so we can understand them. But if they are going to translate future speak into present speak, they may as well translate the "feths" of the future into the "fucks" of today while they're at it.

Three cheers for shit. Three boos for feth.

[Brother Lucius]

Actually, Dreadnoughts are pretty resilient creatures. Usually when they get destroyed, they can be repaired, just the pilot-corpse is killed.

9 times out of 10 when a Dreadnought is destroyed in a fight they just have to pop a new dead guy in and maybe a new arm or two and it's good as new.

But I personally think they CAN produce Dreadnoughts, just...at a very slow rate, because the resources required are tremendous.

[Medrevac]

Its hard to tell cos GW has lots of contradicting fluff. But then if they cant build nemore dreds then theyre bound to run out sooner or later....so i guess the technology to make them is still possible but as Brother lucius suggested, the process will be slow and resource-demanding. and perhaps, not as efficient anymore.

[RoNsTaR]

Did not read much books yet, but:

Fire Warrior - The weak book for a weak game..., sorry can't say it other way, the book is very boring, even though another culture, then the Imperials are involved. But its just unrealistic to see a single Firewarrior to hack 'n slay through armies of Imperial Troopers and Space Marines, finally finishing off Chaos Gods.

Dawn of War - The Book to our beloved Game..., it was nice to read, but really nothing special, some average new knowladge about the Blood Ravens is provided, rest of the story is known..., maybe on an equal level like 'Firewarrior'.

The Inquisition War - I really liked the beginning about the Genestealers and Assassin - Stuff, but after the first third the books get very annoying with logical errors, partly very strange decisions of the figures and a very hard-to-understand writing style (well I'm not native english ;)). As interesting it is, as negative are most parts of this story. Don't wanna miss it all to have read this, it provided nice backround fluff about the Inquisition.

Grey Knights - Wow, I really love this book, my first of the BL that really was as good as I expected it to be, will look in more of Ben Counter :)

Space Wolves (Ragnar-Trilogy) - Hum, this was my first WH40K - Book and it was not bad, but not satisfying at all..., maybe this lies in the shitty translation of the german publisher, but the story was kinda predictable and reminded me somehow on the not so good novels of Shadowrun ;) Well just ordered the fourth issue of William King..., the critics seem not to be that good, but we'll see :)

@work: Eisenhorn & Deus Encarmine

[BamOBrien]

If you are looking for 40k books to read be sure to put Dan Abnett's work on top priority (Eisenhorn, Ravenor, Gaunt's Ghosts esp.) His books, in my opinion, are perhaps the best written and most entertaining depictions of the 40k universe, though a minor gripe of mine is that for the most part the adversaries of the main characters of his books are almost always aligned with Chaos rather than some other well-known faction.

[Dante]

True that!

Anyways a little thing about cursing in the 40k novels...

In Inquisition War, i am not sure if Draco means like a swear/curse or liek an...evil curse...But he screams out stuff abotu the Emperor in latin...or pseudo latin...

And in Deus Encarmine the blood angels have their sweat words that are like baalite this or baalite that...etc.

[TANCRED]

Dan Abnett's books are top notch. Finished The Eisenhorn trilogy a few weeks ago, and the first bunch of Gaunt novels shortly after. Ben Counter is pretty damn good, with Grey Knights (1 year to wait for the follow up), and the Soul Drinkers series (best character- Tellos...).

[Cailet]

Graham McNeill isn't so hot though, just read Warriors of Ultramar. It was good in places but a lot of it was a hackfest.

[Richtofen]

So much for choppas which make the best armor save possible 4+.

Hi, my name's TT balance, how you doing?

Stuff in the Tabletop and stuff in the stories is completely different. Tabletop is BASED off the fluff just like DoW is BASED off the fluff.

The point of Angels of Darkness isn't to answer questions or get any facts. It's two differing perceptions from different sides of the coin that asks more questions than it answers and thereby deepening the mystery. That is angels of darkess, it doesn't say anything is right or wrong, it merely gives multiple stories for the reader to believe or not.

Plus, Gav Thorpe is the guy in charge of making sure GW IP is used properly, ie, no space marines in skirts, so I'm sure he has a fair idea about what a space marine can and cannot do.

[FerociousBeast]

The point of Angels of Darkness isn't to answer questions or get any facts. It's two differing perceptions from different sides of the coin that asks more questions than it answers and thereby deepening the mystery. That is angels of darkess, it doesn't say anything is right or wrong, it merely gives multiple stories for the reader to believe or not.Incorrect. One of Boreas's last lines in the book is a message to Astelan telling him that the Dark Angels are wrong, and that the Fallen are right. As for your "TT balance" point, that's just stupid.

[ZappBrannigan]

Ok Angels of Darkness was awful and here is why.

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You have been warned!

First of all the Idea that only 5 marines are guarding a deposit of geen seed is astronomicly ludacris. In Storm Of Iron the Imperium
completely DEVESTATED a planet and made it uninhabitable and then created a massive multi tiered fortess complete with Imperial guard and Its Own Titan Legion. So what your telling me is a Veteran Medic Marine being the only one of 5 marines aware of a geen seed deposit in a remote base is a good idea?
Dont you think that this veteran charged with this info would have been a bit more forcefull in letting his companions know that this may be a bad idea?
And how bout the virus weapon INSIDE THE BASE? how stupid is this? Wouldnt it be smarter to have the weapon project the virus OUTSIDE to KILL THE OTHER PEOPLE?
And now that they release the Virus in the Base and decided to seal the base and contain the virus. They all die because they cant recharge their suits. Ok they are in the Base HOW THE HELL Did they recharge them before? Go out for some duracells? Your telling me they couldn't recharge their suits in their own base? moronic. And why blow themselves up? The Medic didnt have any type of sedatives or coma inducing drugs to put them into a hibernation until the virus disipates. At the very least the chapter would have been able to harvest their progenoid glands.

The interrogation scenes were just painful to read as they took on a "are not" "are so" 3rd grade argument flavor. The action was pedestrian at best. The rebel ship was built up to be a formidable and powerfull ship and it ends up getting taken out by 5 marines in a docking pod? What ever you say Gav.
The sad thing was the most interesting part of this novel was the the recruitment aspects, choosing and the training of the young prospective marines. This is the type of incite i expect form someone who oversees all the Lore of GW. Not some halfassed Keystone cop fiasco that really doesnt tell us anything except tell us that there was dicention in the Dark angels during the heresy. These are supposed to be the Emperors Finest Warriors. Im sorry but the "fluffmaster" of GW made these guys look like fools. All in a effort to probably spin off a "fallen" product line to gouge the TT community further.

This truely was a awful book.

[BamOBrien]

Once again allow me to point out Dan Abnett has yet to receive such a tragically scathing but accurate review.

[Flenser]

Once again allow me to point out Dan Abnett has yet to receive such a tragically scathing but accurate review. Absolutely, Dan is indeed the Man, and writes this stuff like no-one else. He has written below-par material though - Ravenor for one, Ghostmaker for another, but his 'below-par' equates to most other genre authors' 'good day at the office'.

The very worst I have read is The Inquisition Wars, mind you. I cannot understand why I am still reading that, but God help me, I am. Please, please tell me Chaos Child is a vast improvement on the first two books!

I will re-read Traitor General when I am done, remind myself how it should be ;)

Flenser

[Cailet]

Chaos Child is insane, moreso than Harlequin.
If you didn't like them then I suggest that dark fiction is not for you.

[FerociousBeast]

Props, Zapp. Let me just point out, however, that Gav Thorpe wrote a pretty good story for the Deathwing compilation, which I just read recently. So he's not an inherently bad writer. Dan Abnett's story was pretty bad, if I remember correctly.

Maybe I will edit in a review of Deathwing a little later, but I'm not promising anything. I will say right now that I came out of that book with a new respect for William King. He also wrote some great fluff boxes for the second edition rulebooks and codices.

[Flenser]

If you didn't like them then I suggest that dark fiction is not for you Not sure if we both mean the same thing by 'dark fiction' but I read a lot of what can or ought to be described as dark fiction or dark sci-fi and enjoy plenty of it. I have also read a couple of Ian Watson's other books - Deathhunter and Miracle Visitors - and they were pretty good. The twist at the end of Deathhunter was a new one on me at the time - I recommend that one. It is not the subject matter but the style of the Inquisition Wars books that puts me off, I just don't like it.

I tried Chaos Child but - meh - I will skip to the end and see how it finishes.

Thanks for the comments, though.

Flenser

[Cailet]

The finish is supremely inconclusive. I agree that the style is not easy to get into (along with the semi-pointless side-quests) but I liked it.

I'll have to find some more Watson stuff and see.

[HeRiTiCs ]3@Ne]

Ben counters Grey knights was awesome, the way describes a whole secor of space and the details saturn is great. story line had a good few twists.

Angels of darkness is also extremely well written. for lots of reasons, the main one being the suggestion about lion el johnson not being as great as everyone thinks and that the fallen or lutherites may have been justified.

the bleeding chalice, good read but very involved (had to read certain chapters again :)) and since i'm a true follower of the emperor, the whole idea of a mutant being the good guy ???

space wolf novels were entertaining (specialy with characters like sven and haegr - lol)
although Im not sure if they capture certain aspects of the wolves that I'd have thought about them. but very entertainint none the less

[Cailet]

Storm of Iron rocks. Got it yesteray and finished it in one sitting.

All fans of 40k have to get it.

[ZappBrannigan]

Heritics Bane,
Just because a book has an interesting bit of fluff in it doesnt make it well written.
In two sentences you more effectively told us what Angels Of Darkness couldnt in 300 pages. Its like I said before it was a poorly written, fluff contradicting bit of GW P.R.

And of course the Lutherites are going to be protrayed in a positive light. Why would anyone buy their Minitures if their portrayed as anything but outlaw badasses. Basicly what this story does is build up the Fallen at the expence of a product line that so many people past present and future use (space marines).
It is also the product line that has the least growth potential.
You would NEVER see a book where GW makes a new product line look moronic, incompitant or ineffective. This isnt so much Science Fiction as it is Marketing.

[HeRiTiCs ]3@Ne]

If I have a dark angels army and fully believe that the lutherites are heretics who betrayed their primarch and legion and the emperor, then that book wont make me decide to change my views.

There's always two sides to the story an of course they will be very contradictary.
But it adds a new angle to provoke debates about it. If I had a Dark Angels army and you a Fallen, we'd spend hours arguing about who was right.

ok, so the style of writing and story line might leave a sour taste in your mouth but I thought it was a good peace of writing. there are two strong points of view that allow the reader to make up their own mind. I enjoy stories that are thought provoking.
In fact the whole 40k universe has a sense of irony.

as far as a marketing tool....could be, but the game would be pretty boring if every one had the same race and army and thought the exact same thing about the 40k universe.

[ZappBrannigan]

HeRiTiCs ]3@Ne
I think your reading too much into this. I honestly could care less who is right between the D.A.s and the Fallen. Its Science fiction so what ever is entertaining and interesting is welcome. I honestly think it was odd that more legions didnt have internal conflicts durring the Heresy. But it would seem that the influence of chaos is inherrent in the fallen. Just their longevity alludes to this. But None of these questions were answered. Nothing was resolved, or revealed.
It would be very cool to see how this played out and If it was true that El'Jonson waited to see who was going to win between the Emperor and Horus It makes it even more interesting. El'Jonson might have let his tactical sencesiblities override his affection for the Emporer, If that affection was even there to begin with. But all we get is the rantings of a condemed man. Its no more reliable than the way the Zealots of the Deathwing describe the events. Just more rumor. Nothing solid or concrete. I can find the same things in the forums here about any topic you pick. If im going to pay money for a book i want to be entertained and this book was no entertaining at all.
It was in all honesty really dissapointing dumb and contrived.
Lets figure out a way to let the fallen get some geen seed so we can justify a rise in numbers that would facilitate an armylist and new products. So lets have 5 moronic marines guard a stock of the most precious commodites in the Imperium. And lets not even let the Commander of the detachment know that there is gene seed there, even though he is a member of the Deathwing.

I could go on and on about how Gav Thorpe fails to tell a compelling story, and instead gives us nothing but speculation and Product placement, but by now it really should be evident to you as well.

[HeRiTiCs ]3@Ne]

So you wanted closure on those topics?
Was El' jonson a traitor?
why is the deathwing so secretive and defensive? (If not self-destructive)
Are the fallen just a bunch of chaos lackies or not?

I fully agree, those questions weren't answered and it does leave alot for speculation.
And yes it also leaves room for another story to come along and answer these questions. and yes, more products to be sold.

I just had a look at your previous post (I only spotted it now) I see your point on alot of things : the interrogations, suites not rechargeble etc. They are being described as idiots.
fine, so from that point, it could have been better. speacialy from Thorpe.

But I still hold to my earlier opinion that the 'fluff' was what compelled me to read through the 'other' bits. honsetly, I was very interested to find out what astellean had to say and what exactly this dark secret was (I didn't know any thing about it until I read the book)

To move on though, zapp, what are your opinions on the Grey knights novel?

[Raske]

SPOILERS AND SUCH I WARNED YOU DON'T LOOK DOWN THERE SEE I TOLD YOU NOT TO LOOK NOW YOU RUINED THE BOOK FOR YOURSELF



In Storm of Iron, that place didn't just hold gene seed, it made the stuff. That is why it was so heavily fortified/secret. The virus bomb was meant as a last resort. As in the enemy are about to take over the tower (this probably means that they are already inside the tower, and it releases the virus outside to kill everything else) and can't be allowed to take the place. Btw, just because a character in the book says something doesn't mean it's true. They are stating what they believe happened.

[ZappBrannigan]

Raske

Oh I see, So if you have a Fortification that MAKES the gene seed it can be outfitted with every conciveable defense the Imperium has to offer.
Now if they only STORE the gene seed then i guess we can just put it in vending machines that require photo ID on random planets. And If the Virus Bomb was a weapon of last resort It was a poor choice considering the Marines were capable of surviving for weeks inside the fortress. It's actually pretty dumb unless your trying to write a second rate 40k novel. I wonder what these Tacticly Savvy Deathwing Base designers were thinking when they designed this?

Deathwing Genius #1 "OK we need a last resort weapon that will prevent the gene seed from falling into enemy hands. Any Ideas?"

Deathwing Realist "How 'bout we have a big melta bomb that will turn the base into slag so it will never be able to be used?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Hmmm thats ok but it would be a shame to blow up such a swell base."

Deathwing Genius #2 "Maybe if we smother the gene seeds in Milk Chocolate any foes who invade the base will think their chocolate covered Apricots and eat them?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Hmmm not bad, very devious, but it would never work. Now if we had some Dark Chocolate we'd be getting somewhere.

Deathwing Realist "Errr How bout we just put it in a heavily defended military instilation, with more than 5 of our battle brothers defending it, that is close to other military stongpoints so it could be quickly reinforced incase of attack?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Naa that will never work too obvious."

Deathwing Genius #2 "Oh I got it! Lets put a Virus Bomb in the base that will wipe out the everyiving thing on the planet, everything except foes in power armor."

Deathwing Realist "Hmm considering every one of our foes that would want the gene seed uses power armor I don't think thats such a good idea. "

Deathwing Genius #1 "wipe out the everyiving thing on the planet, everything except foes in power armor.... Brilliant!!!"

Deathwing Genius #2 "Brilliant!!!"

Deathwing Realist "yeah I'm gonna go see if the Space Wolves are hiring.."

Seriously If you think about it for just over 30 seconds This book makes less sence than Caddyshack 2. I really can't Believe this tripe came from someone they call the Official "Lore Master" of GW. I think I should check their Help wanted section of their website. Im fairly certain that the position of Games Workshop "Common Sence Master" is still available.

[Shov]

Having just read Ravenor Returned I'm gonna put that in here, was nice to go back to Eustis Majoris and see how the team coped down there in less than ideal conditions.

[CRasterImage]

I just finished the first part of the Daemonifuge graphic novel series. Loved it! I plan to order the other two parts tonight. Good story, good drawing. I give it a thumbs up!

[Capt. Gorlois]

The Eisenhorn Trilogy made me revise my long-held belief that a good story cannot be told purely from one character's perspective. In fact, Abnett goes on to tell a whole TRILOGY entirely from one character's perspective, charting an inquisitor's long life of service and how it changes him as a person over the decades.

Where Abnett scores, and I think people will mostly agree with me here - when it comes to anything he's done, be it Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn, Ravenor, his comic work, whatever - Abnett is skilled in creating and fleshing out a character's behaviour, looks and general personality with a minimum of gumpf. This results in stories with a strong central cast, but with plenty of action - that is made all the more engrossing because you like (or at least feel like you know) the characters.

EDIT: Is it just me, or did anyone else feel that Eisenhorn was obsessed with clothes?

[Honsou]

The Uriel Ventris Ultramarines novels and Storm of Iron were fantastic, and Dead Sky Black Sun, where Uriel and Honsou meet face to face, is bloodily brilliant.

The Dawn of War novelisation was crap though, and Eye of Terror is bollocks. The Alpha Legion have never even BEEN to the Eye.

[Anaris]

Gotta say I'm not much impressed by any of the 40k fiction. Dire examples such as the Inquisition War make me dread opening a new GW book. Abnett's work is the exception: Sabbat Martyr is brilliant, and the Eisenhorn trilogy almost as good, with the Gaunt's Ghosts books providing a solid read.

P.S. I like Angels of Darkness. Even if the premise is a little bit ridiculous.

[Cailet]

Why does no-one like Inquisition War (some of the best 40k fiction and perhaps the only one to catch the spirit of the universe) but can read Abnett's lesser works and praise them to the heavens? His best was the two FB books he wrote early on (Gilead's Blood and Hammers of Ulric) followed by the Eisenhorn books.

Get Crossfire, if it doesn't catch you nothing can.

[Brother Lucius]

I feel Eisenhorn is more Alchoholic, actually. Every time you turn around this guy is kicking back Amasec.

In the Grim darkness of the future, there is only AA.

[ChunkyMrEvil]

I personally didn't like Gilead's Blood, at all. Some elf pwns an unnatural amount of guys while simultaneously developing no character, he was always just some elf you didn't care about.
I mean he wanders into a magic tower with a loada crazy stuff in it? Those aren't just lying around.

Best fantasy books I've read are from a while ago- the Konrad trilogy (Poor guy, nothing seems to go his way), the Orthio (I think- the one about the bard) trilogy and some of the later Gotrek & Felix's, from Dragonslayer onwards.

[Cailet]

Konrad is good. Orfeo, I haven't gotten into yet.

I feel that Abnett hasn't done as good as that in a while, certainly not with GG.

[Evolution]

Hmm, its a pain to get a hold of the eisenhorn trilogy.

I ordered the book through Akademibokhandeln (one of the biggest bookstores in Sweden) and they took contact with the publisher which said all three books (Xenos, Malleus, Hereticus) are no longer printed.
Seems like it'll be a hunt for used copies :(

[Anaris]

Konrad isn't very good either. I'd like it more if the author could tell me something simple in simple words. I don't want to read eight pages of polysyllabics just to find out Konrad has brown hair. I did like Zaragoz, however.

To the poster who liked the Inquisition War: What was it exactly that captured the spirit of the 40k universe? The stupid conspiracy? The mediocre writing and character development? The Irish language used for the Eldar?

The Eisenhorn books are available as a collected omnibus that IS still in print.

[Cailet]

To the poster who liked the Inquisition War: What was it exactly that captured the spirit of the 40k universe? The stupid conspiracy? The mediocre writing and character development? The Irish language used for the Eldar?

The fact that it's dark, ugly and full of people who want you dead. Draco goes insane as he realises just how dark and horrible the galaxy really is, he loses his faith and his drive under the enormity of what he has to confront. That is the only sane option and he was too sane for his task. It doesn't break out in happy-clappy bits of high-tech isn't-this-a-wonderful-place like Eisenhorn did (which shoulld be available in trilogy form BTW). It never became a blastfest like GG or Storm of Iron.

The conspiracy was canon fluff back then, the last desperate gamble of an insane Emperor. The Emperor himself is part of the point of the story, he is the heart of humanity but he has lost faith in it. His loss of faith is the great threat to the Imperium right at it's heart. It's hopeless to fight on as your heart fails but humanity is still hoping for victory it can never have. Even if the Hydra succeeds humanity will lose because it will no longer be humanity.

It's better written than anything Abnett, King or Haines ever did. Face it, this is Sci-fi for young teens by and large, it's not going for the L. Ron. Hubbard prize.

[Anaris]

I think what most put me off about the Inquisition War was the Myffic factor that completely destroyed any suggestion of the 40k universe. The 40k universe isn't about mysterious quests from the Emperor and discovering conspiracies that threaten mankind, in any other fluff. It's a dark future, not one where you can go chat to your god and get sent across the galaxy.

Further, compare the one-dimensional assassin to, say, Nessa or Sabbatine from Gaunt's. That's not better written. She's a much more bland character. Then we have the fact that Eisenhorn is constantly set back by his morals (see the intermission story about Sameter, for example), whereas Draco just storms ahead according to his own personal code, without ever a moment of temptation.

[Cailet]

And look where it gets him, he can't bend when he has to question reality. When he can see a path 'the Golden Path' which led him to the Emperor (who, being a god can do that kind of thing) he is clear, he keeps going and will not give up but when there is no instant guide he becomes indecisive, unable to deal with the events. He became sidetracked into his personal quest because he could not see a way onto the true path without a fully apparent objective and route.

Asassins can't really get beyond one-d. They are dedicated ruthless killers, they have no compassion, just a borg-like drive. Callidus can cover that up well but their true character is all drive. Nessa and Sabbatine are people with different drives and purposes in the same head. They do not just fight because they have orders, they fight for loyalty, for humanity, for compassion, revenge and family.

[Anaris]

An assassin can still be interesting. Meh'lindi was just a generic brainwashed rebel.

And no, the Emperor can't do that sort of thing. It's been stated numerous times that his entire might is focused on the Warp, he can't just neglect the Astronomican for a few seconds to give some upstart Inquisitor a vision.

But hey, agree to disagree.

EDIT: Not just on the Astronomican. On keeping the Warp from breaking through into the material universe as well. Might be the 2e rulebooks that state it explicitly; if the Emperor's attention wavers for a second, the galaxy ends in a torrent of fire and death and nasty gribbly things with too many teeth.

[Cailet]

May as well. Give someone else a chance to put something in.

Although no-one I have seen before has said that his full effort is on the Astronomican. After all, he has to get His message to the Saints somehow. He's more powerful than he seems.

[Honsou]

I ordered the book through Akademibokhandeln (one of the biggest bookstores in Sweden) and they took contact with the publisher which said all three books (Xenos, Malleus, Hereticus) are no longer printed.

Not individually, no, but I bought them as one book. Eisenhorn trilogy or something.

[Brother Lucius]

Havn't read Inquisitor Wars, so I cannot comment on it. However...


It doesn't break out in happy-clappy bits of high-tech isn't-this-a-wonderful-place like Eisenhorn did

Dozens of characters we become close with die. People are betrayed simply to further the work of another Inquisitor. Eisenhorn approaches love in a realistic, no happy happy joy joy all will be okay way. How in the world is Eisenhorn happy clappy? He spends 2 books building up Eisenhorns love then kills her in the opening chapters of the 3rd!

[Cailet]

Look at the world around him though. The technology is squeeky-clean except when he goes to real slums. It never feels like the Imperium, it feels like the Imperium with the rough edges (of religion in particular) removed, smoothed frictionless and then polished for good measure. It is a good look at imperial politics and the psychological aspects of an Inquisitor's life and has some interesting asides (the Saruthi are a cool race FE) but it doesn't seem to all be there.

I was rather OTT in my criticism originally, sorry. I stand by my altered version though

[Brother Lucius]

mm..Fair enough, but one of the major cities the story takes place in is constantly choked and wracked by horrible pollution. But the insanity of the imperial religeon is lessened I think, but we have to bear in mind the story is in the first person of one of those very zealots.

[Anaris]

Look at the Witchhunter who comes after him for an example of the fanatics. Or the one who flays that guy. Or... well. There are examples. But as whatsisface just up there said, it's a single PoV tale. Eisenhorn isn't going to think the same thing is fanatic as we do, because he is one.

[Destraex]

These are all the novels I count ATM, did I miss any????? I have 4 now

Angels of Darkness
Annihilation Squad
Caves of ICE Cain Novel
Crimson Tears Soul Drinkers 3
Crossfire Novel
Crucible of War Novel
Crusade FOR Armageddon
Daemon World Novel
Dark Imperium Novel
Dawn of War
Deathwatch Graphic Novel
Deathwing
Deff Skwadron
Deus Encarmine Blood Angels
Double Eagle Hardcover Novel
Fire Warrior
First and Only 40K Novel
FOR the Emperor
Ghostmaker Novel
Grey Hunter Novel
Grey Knights 40K Novel
Guns of Tanith Novel
Honour Guard Ghost's Novel
Iron Hands 40K Novel
Kill Team Novel
Legacy 40K Novel
Lord of the Night
Malleus
Necropolis Gaunts Ghost Novel
Pawns of Chaos
Ragnar's Claw Novel 40K
Ravenor
Ravenor Returned
Sabbat Martyr
Shadow Point
Soul Drinker Novel
Space Wolf Novel
Storm of Iron Novel
Straight Silver Ghost Novel
The 13th Black Crusade
The Battle FOR Armageddon
The Bleeding Chalice Novel
The Inquisition War
Titan GOD Machine
Traitor General Guants Hardbck
Warriors of Ultramar
What Price Victory
Wolfblade
Words of Blood Novel
Xenos

[Anaris]

Cailet: You were right. Crossfire is pretty good. I just started it again last night. Other than a few minor tense problems, I'm loving it. Well written and, more importantly, a pretty good story.

[Dante]

Another book to the list...

Deus Sanguinius.

Really good, but you have to read the first one...How ironic...to enjoy a good book, you have to read a not so good book. :lol:

Also started reading Ravenor last night...so far its pretty good. Not as epic as Eisenhorn, but just as intense

[Destraex]

Well I could not get the 1st soul drinker book so am reading the second one in the series. No bad so far really. Very dark world. Humans definently not the good guys, culture kinda communist\dictatorship with a lot of death and feelings of individuals being insignificant. Kinda the opposite to what western civs are like today where everybody is taught they are super-important and must be heard.
As I said very dark and thats what makes it interesting to read, would not want to live in their world.

[Flenser]

###WARNING - POSSIBLY SOME SPOILERS###

The Inquisition War - one of the few books I have ever actually regretted reading.

So. Can someone tell me where the plot went? I was keeping an eye on it all the way through books 1 and 2, but I must have glanced away when I started book 3 and the plot ran off. I think it is behind my sofa.

I get that Draco went nuts, but that is not a good reason for an author to abandon his plot. It is bad writing, and it is all the worse because the author is talented and I enjoyed some of his other books (Deathhunter & Miracle Visitors), and so he should know better.

For a comparison, imagine at the end of The Two Towers, instead of heading into Mordor, Frodo and Sam decide to turn around, go back and try and resurrect their old pal Boromir, and everyone pretty much forgets about the One Ring and Sauron and the whole coming war and everything.

Now, Tolkien may have made us believe that Frodo and Sam would have done that, but you would still have put The Return of the King down in disgust as Frodo dies by his own insane, hobbit hand and Sam runs off into the wilderness.

Perhaps I am being a bit unfair, but for me the plot was the one thing the book had going for it. Everything else was either pedestrian or downright sloppy. Once the plot went south, it seemed to me that Watson had decided to just give the reader a tour of the WH40K universe, and the plot had got in the way of that.

Abnett is not a great author by any means, but he does what he does very well, and has a gift for describing and melding action with setting.

Flenser

[Cailet]

Chaos child was quite mad yes. Personally I feel that the Hydra needed some more resolution in Chaos Child, the insanity was fun but it obscured the meta-plot. It'd be nice if he did a connected book (not a Draco book but maybe starring Baal Firenze or someone) to tidy up some of the shadowy doings in the sides of Harlequin and Chaos Child. I'm good with the story being left open but a bit more resolution would be good.

[Robert Frazer]

Upon hearing all of the harrowing and appalling horror stories about the utterly dire nature of Simon Spurrier's novelisation of the execrable Fire Warrior computer game, I purchased the book out of morbid curiosity to assess just how an atrocity could be made manifest. Much to my surprise, I actually found it to be quite readable.

Please don't kill me, let me explain!

Of course, as a card-carrying Fluffist, I find the ability for Kais, a stripling on his first combat operation (regardless of whether he's "The Terror" or not, he only has two hands), to blast his way through entire companies of Imperial Guard, Storm Troopers, Space Marines, Dreadnoughts, Chaos Marines and Greater Daemons to be a stupid and disgusting notion and grossly offensive to me - I am in no way seeking to excuse the terrible plot. The aura of invulnerability that surrounds this shas'la is so absurd that even someone who's never heard of Warhammer 40,000 in his life would find it hard to swallow.

But I do find it necessary to apologise for Simon Spurrier. He didn't choose that plot, he was saddled with such an onerous and ponderous albatross when he was commissioned to write the adaptation. It seems that Spurrier has recognised the inherent faults in his source material, because he has compensated it to a substantial extent by creating a novel that is nonetheless quite well-written. He's veritably bedecked the pages with all manner of lavish, voluptuous depictions of chaos, destruction, slaughter and carnage in scintillating, iridescent detail. You can palpably sense that Spurrier is enjoying himself as he lovingly carresses the gobbets of flesh sailing through the air after the latest grenade blast with the torrent of evocative language streaming from his pen - there are some excellent visualisations, such as how a ruin "dribbled condensation incontinently" (although the part where he talks about "shrapnel flatulence" was a little difficult to take seriously). He's done his best to cram in lots of background detail (e.g. a strategic conference provides an excuse for an aside on the formation of the tau'va), so it's a fairly good reference for people who don't own the Tau Codex, either.

Spurrier also handles the psychology of the characters sensibly and realistically, especially the twisted internal monologue that chitters, bawls and weeps within Kais, as well as the burning shame of unworthiness to his distant father's memory. In addition to this, Spurrier has appreciated that in the world of warhammer 40,000 there are no happy endings - as such, the epilogue isn't simply a neat bow-tie of the verbal package where everyone jets home for tea and medals, but has a bitter, sombre atmosphere that highlights the harsh nature of the Dark Millenium well (something you also see in sections where he spends an entire page building up a record of someone's great achievements - only to kill him off in one line). The final, parting sentence is also a wonderful, magnificent touch and grants a good deal of meaning too.


So, I think we should at least show Spurrier sufficient good grace to accept that he's made his best of what was a bad job to begin with. Yes, the storyline is dreadfully, nauseatingly ridiculuous; but Spurrier has done his utmost best to allieviate that galling poison by rescuing the horrific shambles and turning it into a decent page-turner.
-------------------------
-------------------------
Out of curiosity, can I ask those who have both played the game and read the book - how 'faithful' was Spurrier to the original game (something of a paradox, I know, seeing as how the game was as unfaithful as you can get)? Were there any flashbacks to his father's stare of reprobation, wrestling with the Mont'au, or El'Lusha explaining how his father was a dirty snae'ta? Or were those and similar features purely Spurrier's invention?

[Aquila]

Nope. In the game, Kais had no flashbacks and there was not a mention of his past or emotions. You were just a cold, speechless, emotionless killer. The idea of a daemon within him was purely the invention of Spurrier.

Anything that wasn't from the perspective of Kais was not in the game, with the exception of a meeting between Ardias and the Admiral. There is very little dialogue in the game... for the most part, you just take very vague orders from Lusha. Lusha himself takes no part in the game at all, other than a little voice on the battlenet.

As far as the player knew, Kais didn't have a father, and there was virtually not backstory at all, other than a series of holographic lectures that you have the option to read in the training level. My guess it that most players never listened to them. Lusha never fought, you never even saw a Crisis Suit. It was just standard FPS fare the entire game.

[Robert Frazer]

If that's so, then I can only emphasise my desire to applaud Simon Spurrier in my review above. With such a basic premise as the Fire Warrior game, he could have easily dashed it off in several conjoined battle scenes and quite justifiably considered his task accomplished. Yet he didn't succumb to sloth, and made in his book genuine effort to haul the game out of the abyss which Kuju Entertainment had sunk it into and impart to it multifaceted perspectives, character and depth. I think the man deserves a commendation for making such an atrocious game a good novel. I saw him demonstrating considerable talent for the Warhammer 40,000 universe in his work on Book III of Daemonifuge - this confirms the fact that the man has skill.

[Aquila]

Hahaha, well, I admit I never saw it from that perspective before. While I would not go so far to call it a good book, I think tolerable would fit. I didn't feel like I wasting my time, which is more than I can say for many books. There were a few parts that I really enjoyed. While anything from Kais' perspective seemed odd and intolerably repetetive (I think he must have copied and pasted the same internal conflict at least 7 times), I really liked the different perspectives. The arrogant Stormtrooper commander and the emotionless techpriest from the boarding party are two that come to mind.

[shadowdragon]

read the whole soul drinker trilogy best book ever :D very dark, shows you the imperiaum from the perspective of an excommunicated chapter and believe me the imperial are borderline bad guys. heres a bit of a break down of both books( contains a few spoilers)
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Soul drinker (how they became excommunicated plus insight to imperiuam)


bleeding chalice (searching to find a cure to there mutations) (read first one you'll understand) has a lot about inquisition and sisters of battle

crimson tears (wont spoil this lets just say there looking for someone) (larger sections of book on there new recruits and on a squad of promising scouts, crimsion fists make an appearence in book plus dark elder.) has a good description on the space marines you'll know what i mean when you read that section.

But am hoping the writer makes more cause they show so much promise.

[TANCRED]

A few left ...
Amazonlink (http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1844161625/ref=pd_rhf_p_1/202-5458887-9819036)
:gonemad:

[shadowdragon]

which novel is it about when theres three boys joining a space marine chapter and its basically about there induction into it?

[Cailet]

Space Marine.

Space Wolf is similar too but there are more involved.

[Raske]

Good luck finding Space Marine though. Saw it on Ebay for $10 once but I don't have an account :damnu: . Amazon has 2 copies for sale in their marketplace, but you don't really want to pay $75 do you? I hear the book is good, but I can't see a book being $75 good :wtf:

[forcedperfect]

just got through 'ravenor' last week. enjoyed it, but the pseudo cliffhanger kinda bugged me. looking forward to 'ravenor returned'.

loved the eisenhorn trilogy.

the inquisition war had its moments, but overall was pretty awful in my opinion.

read 'grey knights' and enjoyed it. could have been better, could have been worse. great description of daemon worlds.

'the bleeding chalice' was pretty good. more nasty daemons, but it lacked a bit in substance... of course i didn't read the first book, so that may have had something to do with it.

that's about all the 40k books i've read.

[Blazing-Angel]

Let's see...personally, I have around 18 W40k books, with around 5 more on the way.

Gaunt's Ghost series - The first Warhammer 40k books I read. Absolutely phenomal story telling, balls-and-guts-and-brains-to-the-wall action, incredible characters and character development, and Gaunt is one badass Colonel-Commissar. I dearly love this series.

Ravenor - Looks great. Can't wait till I have some free time to sink my teeth into it.

Grey Knights - Awesome action and finally some great background info on the Grey Knights! Interesting characters, and an extremely well done plot - Everything comes together. Closure is good.

Ciaphas Cain series - I love this series. It's such a departure from the norm due to the first person perspective of Commissar Cain, who is a really deep and complex character. Action is great, and it's funny to boot. Only critique would be the conspiracies in the first two books are a bit too similar, but still great nonetheless. Gonna dig into the third soon.

Space Wolf series - I really like these books. William King goes through great detail in describing everything, and the action is quite itense. It can get quite wordy and long-winded, but it's worth it.

Storm of Iron - Hands down the best Chaos book written to date. It takes a chapter or two to get into it, but boy, it is an incredibly intense ride. TITANS KICKING EACH OTHERS' ASSES!! Wonderful character development; for once Chaos characters aren't JUST psychotic blood thirsty killers, but have motivations, depth and desires (Don't get me wrong, they're still despicable, and you'll want them dead just the same). My only qualm would be the depictment of the loyalist Space Marines; they die too easy and aren't the best soldiers.

Soul Drinker - Currently half way done with the first book, and eager to get into the second; third one arriving shortly. This is a wonderful book and a great look into the psyche of a Space Marine. You will want to kill the Adeptus Mechanicus. Great action and story telling.

Titan graphic novel series - Mind blowing. That is all.

[RZetlin]

My take:

For the Emperor: (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1844160505/qid=1119152946/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0415581-0978535?v=glance&s=books&n=507846) An action packed novel that focuses on the "hero" of the Imperium. What makes this book fun to read is the "hero" spends most of time trying to figure out ways to avoid the battle front. There are some predictable parts in the novel but the characters are lively enough to keep on reading.

Soul Drinker (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0743443233/qid=1119152590/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-0415581-0978535?v=glance&s=books&n=507846): An interesting story that describes the downfall of the Soul Drinker Chapter from the Imperium. I find that some of the narratives are too long on details which detract from the storyline.

The Bleeding Chalice (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1844160548/ref=pd_bxgy_img_2/102-0415581-0978535?v=glance&s=books): A sequel to the Soul Drinker. Overall I didn't like the novel because the narrative focused too much on the Inquisitor chasing down the Soul Drinkers in a cat and mouse game. I found myself reading the first few chapters and the last few chapters and not losing in the way of story.

BTW, are there any novels that focus on the Tau?

[SlickWilly]

Firewarrior, even though it is very un-fluffey and a lot of people dislike it.

[bloodthirster2]

Deus anything very good books right there

the bleeding chalice (even though i only go though half of it)

and who could forget the reson im at these forums DAWN OF WAR

[WallEye]

"Space Marine" was such a well written book. from the characters beginning in the Necromunda underhive to their recruitment by the Imperial Fists to the campaigns against Chaos cultists and Squats to their first taste of war versus the tyrannids. Plus appearances by Titans. It really covered most of the 40k spectrum; Necromunda, 40k and epic.

Made you see the Space Marines in a different light. And it was one of those increasingly rare books where the ending doesn't let the rest of the book down.

Just too bad that it wasn't a very long book, only 2 or 300 pages.

[Flenser]

Quite enjoyed Double Eagle - makes a real change from Dan Abnett's usual ground-and-pound IG meatshield fiction, and he has obviously done his homework once again as the aerial action is quite convincingly described. It misses out on the gritty flavour of the Gaunt's Ghosts books though, since being airborne robs the battles of the grisly melee of the GG action scenes. It all felt a bit too clean and polished, and the chaos enemy never really felt threatening or, well, chaotic enough. Biggles would not have found himself out of place or even out of time here, and that is a bit surprising for a tale of dark future conflict. Still it is very readable and often unputdownable in the usual Abnett style.

Read two of the Ciaphus Cain books "For the Emperor" and "Caves of Ice". Both were reasonably good. Quite a few jokes and puns and lines from movies thrown in, and clearly did not take themselves too seriously, which might not sit well with some readers. Going for the "Catch-22 of WH40k" title?

Flenser

[Cailet]

I've just started Double Eagle and it does feel like W.E Johns in the far future but with some better pacing (so far).

The Cain books are fun. Decent storylines but the humour wins it.

[DaRKNeZz_Ogre]

Does anyone know of any other books that have massive battles in it like Storm of Iron? I have picked up a few others but it seems like the authors want to talk more about society and once in a while a battle. Sorry if someone has already asked this but I couldn't find anything on the search bar.






ZappBrannigan
Member

Join Date: Jan 2005
Posts: 10


Raske

Oh I see, So if you have a Fortification that MAKES the gene seed it can be outfitted with every conciveable defense the Imperium has to offer.
Now if they only STORE the gene seed then i guess we can just put it in vending machines that require photo ID on random planets. And If the Virus Bomb was a weapon of last resort It was a poor choice considering the Marines were capable of surviving for weeks inside the fortress. It's actually pretty dumb unless your trying to write a second rate 40k novel. I wonder what these Tacticly Savvy Deathwing Base designers were thinking when they designed this?

Deathwing Genius #1 "OK we need a last resort weapon that will prevent the gene seed from falling into enemy hands. Any Ideas?"

Deathwing Realist "How 'bout we have a big melta bomb that will turn the base into slag so it will never be able to be used?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Hmmm thats ok but it would be a shame to blow up such a swell base."

Deathwing Genius #2 "Maybe if we smother the gene seeds in Milk Chocolate any foes who invade the base will think their chocolate covered Apricots and eat them?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Hmmm not bad, very devious, but it would never work. Now if we had some Dark Chocolate we'd be getting somewhere.

Deathwing Realist "Errr How bout we just put it in a heavily defended military instilation, with more than 5 of our battle brothers defending it, that is close to other military stongpoints so it could be quickly reinforced incase of attack?"

Deathwing Genius #1 "Naa that will never work too obvious."

Deathwing Genius #2 "Oh I got it! Lets put a Virus Bomb in the base that will wipe out the everyiving thing on the planet, everything except foes in power armor."

Deathwing Realist "Hmm considering every one of our foes that would want the gene seed uses power armor I don't think thats such a good idea. "

Deathwing Genius #1 "wipe out the everyiving thing on the planet, everything except foes in power armor.... Brilliant!!!"

Deathwing Genius #2 "Brilliant!!!"

Deathwing Realist "yeah I'm gonna go see if the Space Wolves are hiring.."

Seriously If you think about it for just over 30 seconds This book makes less sence than Caddyshack 2. I really can't Believe this tripe came from someone they call the Official "Lore Master" of GW. I think I should check their Help wanted section of their website. Im fairly certain that the position of Games Workshop "Common Sence Master" is still available.
ZappBrannigan is offline


Then edit the story yourself, send it to GW..ask for approval to publish it then do it.

[CRasterImage]

Just finished Ravenor. Loved it. So, I just ordered Ravenor Returned on Amazon.com. (cheaper than ordering from the black library)

[chocolate]

The Liber Chaotica books must be mentioned. Each one of these four books takes a in-depth look at one of the Chaos Gods, and is filled with anecdotes, theories about the nature of hte gods, and descriptions of the various demonic entities and champions who serve them. An excellent book. Additionally, over the course of the four you can watch as the "author of the manuscripts" goes slowly insane.

"But," you say, "I thought that the Liber Chaotica books were out of print!" Silly fool! GW just recently released The Liber Chaotica Complete, all four of the books combined into one, with more speculation on each, more miscellaneous material, and more information about the nature of Chaos Undivided.

So get out there and buy it!

[Cailet]

For massive battles. not much. The Uriel Ventris novels perhaps.

[Evan_gelion]

It's a bit off topic, but am I the only person on earth that doesn't like the Ben Counter novels? Personally I feel like the guy spends more time making sure he gets the lingo and terminology right than the plot. His books seem extremely dry and not nearly as compelling as Mitchell or Abnett or Thorpe.

[Benjamin]

the Original 1987 rouge trader rule book is an entertaining read...besides the rules i mean.

its got some good short stoires in it

[eventhorizon]

if anyone is still looking around for Liber Chaotica books, you can avoid spending lots of money on amazon and ebay for the original limited editions and get the new COMPLETE Liber Chaotica including the newly released fifth chapter: Liber Undivided, new release from the Black Library, only £30 GBP, goes into extreme detail of Chaos from the view of an unwilling (Warhammer- Brettonian?) archiver. definitely worth a read.

[chocolate]

Its a sigmarite priest, and yes, its awesome.

[DOW MAN]

1. Blood Money and 2. Blood and Steel- About a bounty hunter in warhammer world.

Riders of the Dead- About Empire and Chaos.

Fifteen-Hours- About IG and Orks.

[NathrakH]

I love the Graham Mcneill Ultramarine novels.
The soul drinkers series by ben coultier.
Eisenhorn, Eisenhorn, Eisenhorn!!
Ravenor, Ravenor, Ravenor!!
the Space wolves books are fun but they aren't nearly grim enough for me - too fantasy like.
The Gaunt's Ghost books - anything by Dan Abbnet.

[Psymon]

i have only read one Warhammer book and thought it was great, 'Caves of Ice'. Comissar Cain and the Valhallan (onehelloalot)ths battle orks, necrons and weird things called ambulls on an ice planet, very cool

[chocolate]

Ahh, and thats the second in the series as well. I recommend reading "For the Emperor" the first, followed by the third (which, alas, I have not had the pleasure of enjoying yet).

[DaRKNeZz_Ogre]

I am reading "15 hours" and I really like it so far, a bit hard to start, but I think everyone will like it once they get into it.

[Rawhide]

The whole Commisar Cain series is the best one in WH40K (of course, I have yet to read any Gaunt's Ghosts or other Dan Abnett stories).

I just finished 15 Hours. Took me like, 3 hours it was so short. While it was good, I odnt think it really felt very Warhammerish. More like just an ultra-bleak story about some stupid city on some stupid planet.

I also just finished Lord of the Night. This book was awsome, and it gave a great glimpse of the Chaos Space Marine chapter Night Lords (thats where I get my sig). This one is reasonably long, and took me 10 hours to finish (with breaks for meals).

If you want my advice, steer clear of "Dead Sky, Black Sun." This book is violent, yes, but terribly written. It was all I could do to finish it.

Also skip the book "Gray Knights" for the same reasons. However, I highly recommend the Space Wolf series. I have only red the last two books, but they are good.

If you are not the kind of person to read long stories, go for the collections. Dark Imperium, and um... I forget the other two I own, but they are pretty good.

[Rawhide]

Who, ok, I went through my library and pulled every WH40K book I own (excluding Space Wolf, because I haven't read it yet), and I will now rate and review each in turn. If I have already reviewed the book in my post above, I will just rate it.

Lord of the Night: 8/10 (previously reviewed)

Eisenhorn: I just got done with this book last night. Took me 12 hours (spread out over 3 days) to do it, but I finally read all 764 pages. Xenos and Malleus were pretty good, but the connecting short story sucked. I also didn’t much care for Hereticus, and I had already read the second short story elsewhere.

I felt that Abnett should have put more detail into Quixos and Cherubael, and eliminated a few characters, but still, it was a reasonably good collection, and defiantly worth a buy (nearly 800 pages for $10.00!). 7/10

Double Eagle: This book was well written, but it doesn’t feel at all like WH40K materiel. Its worth a look for anyone interested in Imperial airpower, but not recommended for anyone that doesn’t like a WWII-style air war.

6/10

Fifteen Hours: 5/10 (previously reviewed)

Dawn of War: A reasonably well-written version of the war on Tartarus. Worth a look to anyone interested in seeing the game a new way. Note: don’t buy this book if you are planning to play the game, it has spoilers.

7/10

For the Emperor: 8/10 (previously reviewed)

Caves of Ice: 7/10 (previously reviewed)

The Traitor's Hand: 7/10 (previously reviewed)

Grey Hunter: 9/10 (previously reviewed)

Wolfblade: 9/10 (previously reviewed)

Gray Knights: 5/10 (previously reviewed)

Iron Hands: I barely remember this book, but I do recall hating it. I don’t remember why, so I'm just going to say skip it.

5/10

Crucible of War: 8/10 (previously reviewed)

What Price Victory?: 8/10 (previously reviewed)

Dark Imperium: 8/10 (previously reviewed)

Deus Encarmine: This story sucked. Hard. It was poorly written, the plot stank of rancid filth, and it was a total waste of money. Only a die-hard fan of the Blood Angels should even consider buying this putrid tome.

4/10

Deus Sanginius: Just like the first book in this pair, this book is horrible. I say only buy it if you have read the first or are a fan of the Blood Angels.

4/10

Storm of Iron: This book was ok, nothing special. You guys went on and on about it like it was holy work or something, and I order it and wait a week to get it, then shell out $7.00, and its only average. The titan parts are limited, and the characters are weak. Still, it’s worth a read.

7/10

Dead Sky, Black Sun: 4/10 (previously reviewed)

[Hodgeh MkII]

Abnett's 'Gaunt's Ghosts' series is awesome, They all are, too bad I can only find 3 from the series.....

McNeil's 'Storm of Iron' RULED. I've read his first 2 Ultramarines books, on the 3rd now, 'Dead Sky, Black Sun', really trippy descriptions of hell and the warp and extra-dimensional real-space travels, good so far, I like how McNeil intertwined Storm of Iron's Honsou into the story so far...

The 'Space Wolf' series is a bit cliche, but still the first 2 in the series I have read are solid and intertaining books.

Scanlon's '15 Hours' was a good read, a good character study book with a very specific, dark and brooding setting that's.... sobering.

[CRasterImage]

Just finished 15 hours. Liked it. Very interesting view of the front line Imperial Gaurd. Feels like a World War I or II novel with Vietnam tones.

[-Norbert-]

How about the Eldar?
I heard a mention of "Farseer" but without any comment about how good it is.

And are there other books about the Eldar, or even from their view?

[GrinningD]

Hi all, my first post so be nice.

I'm not going to be though, allow me to ellaborate:

Space Wolf is a BAD BAD BAD book. A BAAAAAAAD book, for the love of christ it makes me blind with anger that anyone would dare to write such a load of degrading, pompus, crap stained trash about what used to be my favorite chapter. Hell I wasn't even sure it was supposed to be about Ragnar Blackmane because he's BLONDE for crying out loud, I hope for his own sake that King wrote the book after GW decided to rewrite Ragnar's fluff because if it was this book that changed it then there will be serious issues and certainly no tame amount of blood spilt over this. What's he supposed to have done? dye his hair black because he thought nobody would take a blonde seriously? Honestly GW.

Oh sorry, minor rant there went on a little longer than I suspected, other inconsistancies with the book such as who discovered Ragnar, how he was trained etc all seem seriously lacking in Space Wolf mythology and as for the Chaos Cult sneaking down onto the Fenris (which apparentlyhas enough of a land mass around the Fang for them to get away with this without being noticed) I find that just downright silly.

**stabs the book a few times**

Over all King's writing style isn't particularly bad but I have to agree with somebody earlier (I forget who and I apologise for stealing your words) who said that a lot of the current 40K novels seem like novels aimed at teenagers and children. When you consider King's earlier Trollslayer series Space Wolf seems like he needed to pay the electricity bill or something.

**stabbity stab stab burn**

Again I'm sorry, this book actually made me stop collecting Space Wolves which I had done since their first codex came out. It also caused me to stop reading any more of the new breed of BL novels which was particularly mean because I was rather enjoying the Gaunt's Ghosts books at the time. (I can't really remember but I think I dug out my old copy of Deathwing to make myself feel better.)

:cranky:

By far the best book that I have ever read was Space Marine, it was the first 40K that I ever read and it was the main reason I got into Games Workshop in the first place - Dark and sinister with a constantly evolving and expanding plot with a finale that left me thinking "Hang on Mr Watson, you can't do that..."

Someone else asked earlier if the SM captain in the Inquisitor series is the same as the one from Space Marine, the answer is yes, that is indeed Lexandro d'Arquebus. The Assassin also features in one of the short stories in Deathwing as possibly does the squat Grimm.

More on Inquisitor at a later time.

Peace out.

[Doohicky]

Have to agree that I wasn't impressed with the Space Wolf books.

I felt it was inconsistent and even for super warriors all these guys are too good. Okay Ragnar you can expect to be good, but all the other scouts also seem to be unbelievable.
For instance they took down a bunch of stealers up close and personel when outnumbered.

Fair enough they were sick, but still....

Plus that Chaos in Fenris!! What?? No Chance.

[Anaris]

I agree with all of that rant except the praise for the Slayer series, which were just as bad.

On the Eldar: Black Library policy frowns on stories from the view of an Eldar because they are considered "too alien". For this reason, you don't get much. Farseer is alright, I guess, but not splendid. It has its moments, and it's generally competently written, though.

[Rawhide]

Ah, how different our opinions are...

The Space Wolf series is actually my favorite. Granted, I have not yet read the second book, but I have gotten through the others.

==(Spoilers up ahead for anyone who hasnt read Space Wolf)==

And, just for your information, Ragnar is called "Blackmane" because he killed that wolf at the end of the book and wore the pelt.

[dragannia]

I just finished the Inquisition War series. Brilliantly written, if a tad bit inaccurate at a few points (obviously since fluff was just beginning at that stage).

Eisenhorn and Gaunt's Ghosts are awesome. Gaunt's Ghosts can get a bit repetitive at times, but generally they're excellent reads. Eisenhorn trumps everything though. Even though Hereticus was...unsettling, it was still one of the best 40k novels I've ever read.

I've also read Nightbringer. Well written, but generally pulp fiction. But I still enjoyed reading it.

The other 40k book I've read is Words of Blood. Interesting, and some of it is very good, but generally average.

The next book I want to read is Firewarrior (just to see Kais romp through Greater Daemons :D).

[-Norbert-]

Just finished with Farseer.
It is really good. And the end was quite surprising.

Does anyone know if there are (or will be) any sequal to it?
I read somewhere it's the first part of a Trilogy and the end very much suggests it to be part of a greater whole too.

[Cailet]

It is the first part of a trilogy but having asked the man himself (on his website, Trollslayer.net) there are currently no plans to do the second book (he does have a non-GW book to sell now so excusable I guess).

[Hodgeh MkII]

I'm in the middle of Eisenhorn now, like it, 1st person is good for a change.

A bit off topic, but what are some good reccommendations for plain Warhammer books? I just finished 'Death's Messenger' (a fun 'snack' read, plus it tied into WH Fanatasy Roleplay)...

[Cailet]

Konrad/Shadowbreed/Warblade series is brilliant (I have the boxtree originals, from when GW did good covers on books).

If you can find Ignorant Armies, Wolf Riders or Red Thirst (also boxtree books) they have some great short stories.

Beasts in Velvet and Drachenefels are pretty good too.

Hammers of Ulric and the Gortrek and Felix series are excellent reads (G&F is rather pulp I guess bbut hey).

I've heard good reports of Burning Shore.

[Hodgeh MkII]

I saw the other day that the Konrad omnibus is out.... you reccommend it, eh?

[Cailet]

Go for it!

[Kadon_Bloodblad]

Yeah, Burning Shore was great, I didn't like so much how he portrayed the Slann's way of thinking, but I might be biased since I'm a big Lizardman fan...but all in all, its a good read. And the Gotrek and Felix books, well, couldn't stop reading 'em.

[thechaosengine]

Thanks to everyone who has posted reviews and thoughts on the books but the lack of a search function still leaves the following question unanswered for me:

Which book should I start with?

The universe is of course built through a number of books and series. But is there a series I should start with to get going.

Lots of books have been reviewed here but I've no idea in what order i should read them

Where should I start my adventure!?

Thanks all

[Cailet]

Probably best to start with Crossfire and Legacy, maybe the Gaunt's Ghosts books too, they aren't bad.

After that read what you like, I recommend Inquisition War and Eisenhorn for more serious reading.

[that guy]

If this is off-topic then i'm sorry, but has anyone read "warhammer 40k warrior brood and is it any good.

[Hodgeh MkII]

thechaosengine, look for the 'Eisenhorn' omnibus, all 3 eisenhorn inquistor novels in 1 package, then anything Dan Abnett.

Then the 'Commissar Ciaphis Cain' series my Sandy Mitchell

[DeathBolt]

If this is off-topic then i'm sorry, but has anyone read "warhammer 40k warrior brood and is it any good.

I have just started reading it, and the start is really good and well written.

[Hodgeh MkII]

Is that the new CS Goto book about the Deathwatch?

[Kadon_Bloodblad]

Yeah, it is.

[DeathBolt]

It's a very good book, I am almost finished. I highly recommend (think that is the word in english) it to those who like action all the time (including me).

[DrakeZilla]

SPOILERS!!!
I've probably read about 25 of the the 40k books... and the only one I was reasonably disappointed with was Ravenor Returned... the story has absolutely no closure at the end... (and i had to shell out 10$ extra for a F***ing hardcover) and their treatment of Eisenhorn's story was awful. No description, not even a paragraph... just

Goon 1: "So... we killed Eisenhorn the other day"
Goon 2: "Really?"
Goon 1: "Yep, he just up and Died when we shot at him"
Goon 2: "All the other well established, hard-to-kill characters?"
Goon 1: "Them too"
Goon 2: "Wow... so anticlimactic"

Eisenhorn trilogy were my favorite of the 40k books... so i kept reading, waiting for Eisenhorn to come back, He didn't. I was pissed.

[Hodgeh MkII]

Ok, since I'm in the middle of 'Hereticus', that post seriously warranted a spoiler alert.

/me drives Barbiasater through DrakeZilla's eye

[Cailet]

Sheesh, Draz, in a thread like this, Spoiler Warnings are pretty much mandatory.

[DrakeZilla]

*Pulls Barbarisater out*
Sorry, I didn't mean to wreck the story for you, that was posted at like 3:00 AM, and i was at least 45% asleep already. I feel terrible now.

Now, to atone...

*Hands Barbarisater to a nearby Dark Angels Chaplain*
"YAY CYPHER!"
(this'll take a while)

[Cable]

Does anyone know of any books focused on Catachan's, or at least the troops on a Catachan-esque Deathworld? I love Catachan's - they rock and want to read a novel centered around them.. my BL book collection isn't exatly the greatest - Dawn of War, Fire Warrior and dare I say, Annihilation Squad...

Thanks

-Adam

[Shas'ui]

I don't know if they are especially about the Catachans but here is a link to a list of about 8 books about the Imperial Guard. Here (http://www.blacklibrary.com/gauntsghosts/#) just click on the icon and navigate the little window that pops up.

[Robert Frazer]

I'm afraid that there haven't been any books related to the Catachans, AdamBomb. The closest to Catachan-oriented fiction that you can enjoy is a comic strip entitled The 19'ers which was serialised in Warhammer Monthly issues 62, 64-65, 67-68.

It details the exploits of a small band of Catachan Jungle Fighters who have been deployed into an Ork-infested and chokingly dense rainforest on the world of Maypax. The company leader is a loyal and faithful officer in the Guard, but he is feeling quite resentful about the high casualty rate he's suffering on this world - the worst of any campaign he's participated in - to no obvious strategic purpose. Thus when he hears from a dying Explorator who is mortally wounded after an Ork raid that there's a treasure-stuffed temple in the vicinity, he notes that his orders don't explicitly forbid him from taking diversions and so on his next Ork-killing tour around the jungles decides to take the 'scenic' route...

It was fairly mediocre, to be frank, but I suppose that it's preferable to naught.

[Cable]

It appears the omnipotent powers of Robert, Lord of all that is Fluffy have a downside as well.... THERE'S NO CATACHAN FICTION BOOKS!!! *Cries*

Anyway, thanks Robert and Shas'ui for trying to help me.. I guess I'll have to go wrie my own Deathworld fanfic..

Until next time!

-Adam

[FabianX]

If anyone gets a chance to read Warrior Brood I suggest you do it pretty good IMO. Only thing I didn't like is that the Mantis Warriors(Billed as Mantis Legion in IAIV not sure about0 the name change), who took part on the wrong side of the Badab Uprising, in the book they say that the Astal Claw fled into the Eye of Terror. In all other fluff they fled into the Maelstrom. I don't know if the Author got it wrong or maybe they are trying to show the the Imperium is ignorant and think that the Maelstrom and Eye are the same thing. Other then that it was a very good read and adds alot of good back ground for the Mantis Warriors and some more insight into Deathwatch.

[Cable]

Annihilation Squad.

Many people have said its a pile of shite / waste of good trees etc. but I'm curious,

*SPOILER*

I'm assuming Kage and all the others die at then end... with Kage and von Strab falling into the precipice, the overlord would have certainly of died but seen as Kage was falling away from Oahebs, wouldn't the demon inside him have erupted and hence the 'Warp-dream' he has at the beginning of the book about falling and sprouting wings etc. actually happen?

Also, there's no indication whatsoever about what happens to Schaeffer. He can't die, he's a legend for crying out loud!

Does anyone know what happens or did Gav Thorpe just finish it there?

Thanks

-Adam

*END SPOILERS*

[Commander Ozae]

Has anyone read the Liber Chaotica, and if so could you please tell me about it. It is apparently amazing in terms of fluff for the dark gods but when i looked it up on amazon all they said was that it was basically for warhammer fantasy and not 40K.

[Cailet]

*SPOILER*

I'm assuming Kage and all the others die at then end... with Kage and von Strab falling into the precipice, the overlord would have certainly of died but seen as Kage was falling away from Oahebs, wouldn't the demon inside him have erupted and hence the 'Warp-dream' he has at the beginning of the book about falling and sprouting wings etc. actually happen?

Also, there's no indication whatsoever about what happens to Schaeffer. He can't die, he's a legend for crying out loud!

Does anyone know what happens or did Gav Thorpe just finish it there?

Thanks

-Adam

*END SPOILERS*

BIG FUCK-OFF SPOILER WARNING!

Gav seems to have ended it there and then. I would guess that Kage can supress the Daemon, to an extent at least, certainly I think, until the point of no return.

And Schaeffer got out I'm sure. The distraction provided by Kage is ample opportunity.


Has anyone read the Liber Chaotica, and if so could you please tell me about it. It is apparently amazing in terms of fluff for the dark gods but when i looked it up on amazon all they said was that it was basically for warhammer fantasy and not 40K.

The two are somewhat interchangeable.

[Azara]

ok first there is a short story about catachan imperial guard, its part of a collection of short stories like the book deathwing (it might be in that actually or the other short story collection book i have) SPOILER SPOLIER SPOILER its about a squad of imps who are trying to escape a zone in the jungle in 24 hourse because in 24 hours the whole of that zone was going to be eradicated somehow (i think it was orbital bombardment or something) the 2 main characters are a imps guard who helps a fem psycher (second main character) by practically carrying her out of the zone. its a good short story, good characters very good confrontation scenes, and a somewhat cruel twist at the end
SPOILER SPOILER SPOILER
the twist is that the commisar leading these remnant out of the danger zone sacrifices himself (sort of) in order to fill the main character with courage by example and then through hes death filling the imps guard into a rightous furry at seing the commisar die and making him go into a berzerker furry and massacre the rebels that were attaking him. the cruel twist is that the commisar died in the last battle before the next zone where it was supposed to be finally safe, but it seems that that zone was also penetrated by rebels and as such they have to move another 100km or so to the next zone or get orbitally borbarded to oblivion, a very dark ending that made me feel very sorry for the exhausted imps guard and the fem psycher, and sad i think.

anyhow i recomend 'Lord of the Night' above all other 40k books (and above gortrex and felix warhammer books but they are the only ones that are warhammer that i have read), it is by far the best book ive read that is 40k and ive read about 90 % of the books mentioned in this thread.

P.S. i got my sig from lord of hte night as well although im thinking of changing it to
'hail lord of the night death to the emperors followers' or something liek that, its a message from the night lord cut into the flesh of a priestess in the book.(itll e in gothic though)

P.P.S. the ending i think is the most bloody mad driving i can think of, he leaves it in such a way that youre practically begging to know what happens next, it drove me mad to the point i started to have spasms. :fight: :omg: :disgust:
i really hope theres going to be a sequel. but i doubt it ah well an obsessed fan can dream right?

P.P.P.S. oh and i second that simon spurrier made a good job of fire warrior and how could he not? he wrote 'lord of the night' after all.

[Klaus88]

I just finished Warrior brood its a pretty good insight to the workings of a deathwatch kill team and the poltics of the inquistion

[Abyss]

Warriors of Ultramar, Wow just wow for this book, still reading The Inqusition war it's really hard to follow it

[Batousai]

Has any one here read "What Price Victory".

This book isn't about anyone Space Marine Chapter or Imperial Guard regiment. Its a group of short storys set in the 40K universe. Exserpts from 40K books that are out now. I recommend this book to every noobie getting their feet wet in the World of 40K.

[Cailet]

Damn good book that one.

[Batousai]

My favorite was "Forever Loyal", "Calculus Logi" and "Crimson Night". What was yours Caliet

[Cailet]

I'm trying to remember, the Genestealer one I think.

Calculus Logi was pretty good, I remember.

[Batousai]

I just bought my first 40k Book, which happens to be Dawn of War. And i just finished the part where they defend the city of Magna Broum(sp). Now after playing the game and reading some of the book, i can finally begin to grasp the whole Cyrene "mishap". And why everyone is looking at Gaberial sideways.

C.S. Goto is a pretty good story writer but he really needs to pay more attention to 40k fluff, the story is great so far and ive only come acrossed three "fluff flaws" so far.

[Full_ork]

Sorry if this was asked before I don'[t have time to read the whole thread.

Are their any books involving orks talking and fighting? Like showing the ork side?

[draaka]

my top three book(s):

1.konrad trilergy ( i know i cant spell)

2.the ghosts (go gaunt)

3. dues encarmine (the blood angels thing)

[Commander Ozae]

How are the deus books, i heard their pretty good.

The favorite book i've read so far either has to be Eisenhorn (with the Inquisition) or Ragnar Blackmane (tales of the Space Wolves). Both were excellent books but i've heard Gaunt's Ghosts is really good too. I'll get to that soon.

[Robert Frazer]

Sorry if this was asked before I don'[t have time to read the whole thread.

Are their any books involving orks talking and fighting? Like showing the ork side?

There's very little, by the way of specific greenskin fiction, Full_Ork - they're the antagonists more often than not. I believe there are a couple of short stories ferreted away in the anthologies somewhere, although I couldn't place them for you.

You'd have more luck examining the Orkish comics, of which there is a very, very slight - but nonetheless warmly appreciated - corpus of work. It includes the following:

-Rite Bait's Skwig Imporium (Inferno!, Issue 12)
-Betta da Warboss ya Know! (Warhammer Monthly, either Issue 27 or 28)
-Deff Skwadron's five adventures (collected in a graphic novel format).

[omega the end]

Are the blood of (blood angels primarch) books any good? I think it is a series of three books but i'm not sure.

[Mattnav]

There was a question a few pages back about the existence of Catachan/Death World IG stories. While I'm not aware of any specific books devoted to these guys there is a sizeable chunk in the second 13th Legion book that deals with some guys who might as well be Catachans (even if they aren't). Schaeffer picks up a piece of ........possible spoiler..........cannon fodder.....sorry, a recruit from them (not that I think referring to anyone in a 13th Legion book as cannon fodder is in anyway a spoiler).

[Commander Ozae]

I like the looks of the Horus Heresy books by Dan Abnett, he is the Black Library's greatest author and if he pulls off the books then we'll have an amazing trilogy on our hands. I have full confidence in his abilities.

[CRasterImage]

While waiting for my book order to arrive, (completing my set of Gaunt's Ghosts) I decided to fill the time by reading Dawn Of War.

Hmmm. I havn't finished it and I am not sure I am going to either.

None of the characters talk or behave the way they should. The Space Marines, the PDF, Librarians, Chaplains, Commanders, etc... None of the characters seem to be behaving as I would expect them to. They all come off sounding too cartoonish or just incorrect.

Maybe Dan Abnett has spoiled me.

[Commander Ozae]

Dawn of war only works if you played the game. It is designed for the gamer to add more information for the game. I think Gabriel is very well done. Just endure the book, it gets better as it goes on.

[Azara]

who ever was wondering about the deus encarmine and deus sanguinius books (blood angles novels) they are alright, first book is better then second and truth be told they are too short even for W40K books. you can read them through once but not a second time without considerable pains.

[Stealthlazer]

1. Gaunt's Ghosts are best by far. Really gets down to the level of your basic trooper and shows their deaths as well. Amazing how long Dan Abnett has kept the series going.

2. The Ravenor books. Good feel for the 40k universe and shows some cool action. Gets gritty and mixes horror in with some action.

3. The Soul Drinkers books. How better to see the twisted vilainy of the Imperium than through their finest heroes. Through the renegade Chapter you can se the evil of the Imperium and their struggle to survive.

[Andkat]

Do any texts from Necron, Eldar, Dark Eldar, and Tau perspectives exist, or is it all IoM or CSM?

[Cailet]

Firewarrior might be from Tau perspective.

There are bits of Eldar/Dark Eldar stuff in Shadow Point bu the book is quite poor.

Necron stuff looks like this 100011110101001010010100110

[silent killer]

Dan Abnett is by far the best 40K novel writer around IMO. First it was his Gaunt's Ghosts that really captivised me. And the i read the Eisenhorn triology, and man was that good.

[CRasterImage]

Well, I have finished all my Gaunt's Ghosts novels, except for the inbound "His Last Command" novel. Which should arrive in 3-5 days.

I am kind of sad. This is the end of the Gaunt's Ghosts novels and I don't want it to be. *sigh* My only consolation is that Dan Abnett is going to write a series of novels about the Horus Heresy. Novels where the Emperor is an actual walking, talking person. Not just a vague conceptual being that people pray to. That should be interesting.

For those of you who have not read the Gaunt's Ghost novels. I implore you to do so. They are the best WH40K fiction available. Dan Abnett's other works such as Eisenhorn and Ravenor are excellent as well.

Basicly, my top 10 list has Dan Abnett's work filling up the top half of the entries.

[FabianX]

His Last Command isn't going to be the last in the Gaunt's Ghosts. http://www.blacklibrary.com/news.html?id=676&offset=0 detailed there.

[RoNsTaR]

Dawn of War: Ascension

...this book is one of the best of the Black Library this far.

C S Goto made a great step as a writer since his last novels and made up a story which has something very human in it, something very unuasal for the very cliché world of WH40K. He show's that his hero Captain Angelos of the Blood Ravens has at least feelings like a real human and even shows the flaws of the eldar and how they could be surprised by something primitive as the human (I really LOVED the 'scene' when the eldar helps the Adepta Sororitas to translate some ancient text, this one really strong!).

Well I could only recommend the book, u guys will love it!




Necrons are featured in this book

[Kadon_Bloodblad]

Yeah, Firewarrior is almost totally, if not totally, from Tau perspective. Like the game was, I actually kinda like the game...but my friend and I rented it then realized that only one person could go through, rather than two, which sucked, but oh well.

[nareik123]

I must say, i really enjoy the Nightbringer, Warriors of ultrimar and Dead sky, Black Sun novel's. I really can't wait for the next one if there is one.

[FallenSouljah]

The kinda new Brood Warrior book is good...Has good insights into mantis warriors chapter, and good action. Its the first in a series of deathwatch books...

Still my favorite book out of the 40k series is Storm of Iron. Talk about a kick ass book. Second would be the Uriel Ventris Ultramarines series, hope they come out with some more. And Finally the Soul Drinkers series is pretty, Love how they are free from the imperium yet still serve the emperor.

[[SA]Ghost]

The Soul Drinkers Books Own!

[Batousai]

How many 40k Books do you own currently?

I have 6 books.
"15 hours" (Have Read)
"Dawn of War" (Have Read)
"Dawn of War: Ascension" I'm Currently reading.
"Deus Encarmine" Going to Read after ^^^
"Deus Sanguinius" Going to read after ^^^
Caves of Ice" Will read after i buy and read "For the Emperor"


all in all i have read 4 Warhammer 40k books.
"What Price Victory" was the one i read first at the Public library.

[Dante]

A good quickie...

Bringers of Death. A collection of shorts. You have some free time? Read one.

Good short reads.

[silent_lord]

I love 40k fluff, its truely one of a kind. I have 99% of all the 40k novels, (except space marine and death wing. no longer sold at my store). And i have to say there are some truely great books, and bad ones too.

The Inquisition War; Is a good triliogy. however his writing style is in a league of his own, his books require you too really read the books. and personally are a favourite. (he did write the script for AI, bound too be a bit whacky)

Others i enjoy are, Storm of Iron. great books that gets you hooked with its great action and characters.

Black templars series: is another great read for any who love, war, carnage and plenty of bloody swords and fists.

Gaunts ghosts series; the beginning was great, a lot of action and some really shocking plot twists, but the more books that come out the more repetive it becomes. now before i even read it i could probably already guess the outcome. That all changed howeer when the new series came about, the Lost series. now its back to the originals, and a bit more darker and sinister.

Farseer: too me was a huge let down, weak story and eldar i thoroughly didn't like. (no wonder the author scraped the sequal)

Basicly the 40k novel range cator's for everything. theres actions, blood thirsty villians and some down right ugly daemon work around. I would suggest you any and all. as they all have there good and bad points, and its all 40k.


My recommendations are these:

Storm of Iron

Inquisition War

Esinhorn Triolgy/Ravenor double (must all be read in my opinion)

Ciphas cain series

Black Templars double

[Gwarnokyon]

Ragnar's Claw! ((only 40k that I have read so far))

[Cailet]

Actually the Farseer sequel hasn't been scrapped, Bill's just trying his hand at non-GW fiction.

And BTW the Eldar aren't meant to be likeable, they're meant to be Eldar.

[Julian]

Eldar are Amoral at least to human eyes. Thats the point. When you live for nigh on eternity, war and disease aside. You begin to start losing sympathy for others. As for Best 40K books- I would have to say my Favorites are:
Gaunts Ghosts - By a long long way. Particularly, Necropolis, Honour Guard and Traitor General.
The Eisenhorn Trilogy- Malleus is best.
Inquistion war - as said, it gets kinda silly, but has brilliant moments, like a Squat trashtalking a marine.
Nightbringer, aint bad. Pawns of Chaos is an interesting look into daemonic possession from the POV of the possee.

Unfortunately teh Black library aint short of Bad novels.
Chief amongst the poor Is C.S Goto, who continues to write poorly and bastardise the fluff. Firewarrior i wouldnt reccomend reading too heavily. I'm heavily fluff obsessed and a voracious reader (When i bought the new Wheel of time by Robert Jordan I re-read teh previous ten in a week. Thats like 5000 pages) so i read the crap ones and the good ones. But i would definetely say... If you wanna good read and an intro to the fluff Read Gaunts Ghosts, either that or Eisenhorn. Which is also pretty good.

[Hodgeh MkII]

What do you guys think of Sandy Mitchell? 'For the Emporer' started off well, but got mired in a lame dungeon crawl and stagnating plot. At least he used the Tau.

'Caves of Ice' is ok so far, but Mitchell has to hold our hands and guide us through EVERYTHING his characters think. ugh. 'Death's Messenger' from Warhammer was good.

btw, there's a new Ciaphas Cain book on the way.

Also, Inquisitor characters are in WAY too many 40k books. They are overused as 'swiss army knife' plot device characters that are way often too cliche and just too 'handy'. can you say - deus ex machina - ?

[Azara]

does anyone actually know if the farseer trilogy is on hold or is he writting a bit now and then at the same time as non40k?

[OrionAssante]

This is a great thread, it helped me a lot in making a few selections. Well, I say a few, but I actually went on Amazon and ordered 13 books and am already working on a list of more books to order once I am through my first order.

[Hodgeh MkII]

I sure hope 'Storm of Iron' and 'Eisenhorn' were among them.



btw, I'm just into Jonathan Green's new one, 'Conquest of Armageddon', so far it's very good, a very descriptive writing style that get's the Khornate Bersker section right without all the extraneous thought crap that Sandy Mitchell uses or the just plain far out, trippy-ness of Graham McNeil in 'Dead Sky, Black Sun'.

[Hello_Moto]

Dark Adeptus by Ben Counter (Sequel to Grey Knights) is a good book but i cant help but feel that the storyline has been ripped straight out the movie "Virus" starring Jamie Lee Curtis & Donald Sutherland (if you have seen the movie, you can make the connections immediately).

Substitute the following and you get Dark Adeptus:-

1). replace 20th century with 41st millenium
2). replace malovalent alien AI with daemonic possesion
3). replace backdrop from ship to unchartered intergalactic planet
3). replace heroine Jamie Lee Curtis with Grey Knight Space Marine squad

[Azara]

ahh moto, thats too generaL a comparison, you could apply just about every movie to a book like that.
(i have seen the film)

[Hello_Moto]

ahh moto, thats too generaL a comparison, you could apply just about every movie to a book like that.
(i have seen the film)

but have you read Dark Adeptus?

[Azara]

i havent read the book no, but come on it cant be that bad a rip-off otherwise some zealot lawer would have sucked the publisher and writer dry of all their bodily fluids by now.

[Robert Frazer]

Dark Adeptus by Ben Counter (Sequel to Grey Knights) is a good book but i cant help but feel that the storyline has been ripped straight out the movie "Virus" starring Jamie Lee Curtis & Donald Sutherland (if you have seen the movie, you can make the connections immediately).

Substitute the following and you get Dark Adeptus:-

1). replace 20th century with 41st millenium
2). replace malovalent alien AI with daemonic possesion
3). replace backdrop from ship to unchartered intergalactic planet
3). replace heroine Jamie Lee Curtis with Grey Knight Space Marine squad

Considering that the Virus film constituted nine reels of cinematic bilge, with some decent animatronics and inventive use of Meccano being its only redeeming qualities, that's not exactly a reccomendation... :\

[DoomKnights]

I have to say line wise my list is this.

1) Eisenhorn Tril (Detective/Horror)
2) Angels of Darkness (Fluff and different look on the fallen plus no =I=!)
3) Grey Knights

I just read not too long ago Conquest of Armageddon which was an ok story line, but fluff wise horrible.

[Viperstorm]

Grey Nights good book only time ive ever seen the sisters of battle in a book so far

[Hodgeh MkII]

Hmmm you all speak well of 'Grey Knights'... plus its got Sisters of Battle (!) >:D

[Olgerth Istaarn]

Weighing in on the Soul Drinker novels.

Ben Counter's writing style is very easy to digest, and he actually manages to keep his facts straight (unlike a certain author of certain Ultramarine novels). He also has a penchant for some really bloody and twisted imagery, so if that's your thing, you'll like his novels.

The first Soul Drinkers book is downright excellent, the characters are believable and you can actually sympathise with the titular Chapter. Unfortunately, the heroes become less valiant and more self-centered in the second and third book. Sure, they talk about being loyal to the Emperor's ideals and standing between humanity and Chaos. Additionally, the enemies and action are "more of the same". Sure, all three books are a good read - but by the time you close the third one, the plight of the purple-armoured warriors becomes somewhat stale.

[Hello_Moto]

Weighing in on the Soul Drinker novels.

Ben Counter's writing style is very easy to digest, and he actually manages to keep his facts straight (unlike a certain author of certain Ultramarine novels). He also has a penchant for some really bloody and twisted imagery, so if that's your thing, you'll like his novels.

The first Soul Drinkers book is downright excellent, the characters are believable and you can actually sympathise with the titular Chapter. Unfortunately, the heroes become less valiant and more self-centered in the second and third book. Sure, they talk about being loyal to the Emperor's ideals and standing between humanity and Chaos. Additionally, the enemies and action are "more of the same". Sure, all three books are a good read - but by the time you close the third one, the plight of the purple-armoured warriors becomes somewhat stale.

perhaps the explanation comes further on in the trilogy but at the moment i have no idea why these marines have been inflicted with mutation and why they suddenly went renegade just cos the Adeptus Mechanicus stole their SoulSpear relic.

the "spider-centaur" librarian is a bit OTT....

EDIT: I understand it now.....everything fell into place in the last couple of pages of the 1st book. quite a good story.

[MantaroMan]

About these Gaunt's Ghosts novels. Would it be in my best interest to read them all in order? I'm interested in checking the series out, but all the book stores I've checked so far have only Necropolis and Traitor General.

[Hodgeh MkII]

Yeh, but you're going to have to hop online and order msot of them, because small-niche SF books like the Gaunt's Ghosts series have a pretty short shelf life before they are sent back to the publisher (BL).

Grab the first 3-4 books and get free shipping from Barnes and Noble online, as you are HIGHLY unlikely to find them in a large chain bookstore.

[FerociousBeast]

I've seen quite a few 40K books at Barnes and Noble, however I didn't look closely so I don't know what books were there.

[Hodgeh MkII]

Yes, the B&N I work hat has a decent collection, but good luck finding stuff that's been printed before 2005.

[GlassHammer]

I'm am reading 'inquizator' at the moment. It is hard to get iinto. Not really good material.

[Belgarath001]

definately the gaunt's ghosts novels...these rock!!!

[Destraex]

only read a little of Gaunts Ghosts so far. ITs not too bad.

[SteveO86]

So far I've only read DoW and DoW:Ascension I'm in the middle of the Grey Knights and it beats the shit outta both DoW's. I think DoW the book was better then the game lol adds more detail and some extra here and there. I was actually very dissapointed with Ascension it didn't seem all fluffy especially how nice Gabriel was to Macha wtf was with that and the ending wasn't to great anyway althought I suppose Goto likes to end his novels on cliff hangers..or half finished. Grey Knights it alot better I just can't decide whether to read dark adeptus or Eisenhorn when I'm finished.

[Hello_Moto]

So far I've only read DoW and DoW:Ascension I'm in the middle of the Grey Knights and it beats the shit outta both DoW's. I think DoW the book was better then the game lol adds more detail and some extra here and there. I was actually very dissapointed with Ascension it didn't seem all fluffy especially how nice Gabriel was to Macha wtf was with that and the ending wasn't to great anyway althought I suppose Goto likes to end his novels on cliff hangers..or half finished. Grey Knights it alot better I just can't decide whether to read dark adeptus or Eisenhorn when I'm finished.

i have DOW, DOW: Ascension, Grey Knights & Dark Adeptus amongst my collection and i agree with what you have to say.

DOW was good in that it fleshed out the storyline presented in the original game.

DOW: Ascension....I HATE THIS BOOK. it is one of those "mind-fuck" books with flashbacks and other incoherent nonsense. i thought that the book's climax might redeem an otherwise "WTF" storyline but it cops out: something involving the Sun, a large mothership and orbital barrages. IMO, Goto should have continued the storyline from the original instead of pitifully striving to link Ascension to the WA campaign storyline.

Grey Knights: freaking awesome. Blows both Goto books out of the water. great plot and fast paced action. little dismayed about Counter's over-reliance on the GK's Holocaust ability to get of tight situations....kinda reminded me of those "clear-all-screen-bombs" from retro arcade shooters.

Dark Adeptus: again, an awesome book but pails in comparison to Grey Knights. a few appropriate references to those familiar with the Grey Knight prequel....No Holocaust "save feature" cos the squad is now all dead. however, i feel that Counter has ripped off the storyline from the movie "Virus" (starring Jamie Lee Curtis & Donald Sutherland) and modified it into a WH40K setting. if you have seen the film, you can begin to make the connections almost immediately.

Ben Counter's other work such as the Soul Drinkers Trilogy is EXCELLENTE. a recommended read.

[Vannaroth]

haha, i went to a bookstore the other day and completely by chance found Grey Hunter. So i thought ''sure, I'll browse through it''. Me and my friends all cracked laughing up when we couldnt find a single sentence not containing the word ''Ragnar''.

[Reapray]

I enjoyed the, oddly written "Angels of Darkness" which provided a good insight into the Dark Angels, and the truth of their situation with The Fallen (Its totally... not what you'd think.)
I also enjoyed Farseer, but doubt the supossed "trilogy" will continue.

Deamonifuge was a great graphic novel.

[Anaris]

ALERT ALERT

Angels of Darkness should not be viewed as the absolute truth!

[Reapray]

Why not? It makes a lot of sense.

[Anaris]

Yes, but that doesn't mean it isn't lies. I'm not saying "Angels of Darkness is utter bullshit". Just that it's no more the absolute truth than the other side's presentation of it, it's just dressed up better.

[Reapray]

I think it portrays both sides of the argument rather well, especially with Astellan being a fairly "heavy player" in the DAOL

[Touristo]

I have to say, I'm rather interested in "Dead Sky, Black Sun", if nothing else but for the rather vivid mental image the title inspires. Curious though, wasn't that description given to the daemon world of one of the traitor primarchs? Perturabo, maybe?

[Ciaphas Cain]

w00t! Go Commissar Caiphas Cain! Love those novels and waiting to get the next one.

Also, the Soul Drinker saga is good too.

[ZellFish]

Just finished the Eisenhorn omnibus for the fourth time. God I love Abnetts work. Also started in on the Second book in the Ravenor trilogy, along with Traitor General. Both look extremely promising.

[TerrorLegion]

1) Angels of Darkness: Good story, i liked it (said not to be exactly fluffy)

2) Gaunts Ghosts, only read 8 (can't find Traitor General :down: wanna get the newest one)

3) Grey Knights, really good book

4) Last Chancers read the second book (woops) and the ending was really good, like the story a lot.

5) Lord of the Night, also liked this a lot, good story, giving more info as book goes on.

6) Double Eagle, also liked this a lot

7) Deathwing, good collection of stories

[Ciaphas Cain]

I GOT 'TRAITOR GENERAL'! W00T! I GOT IT! YOU DONT! (or not yet or already do...but thats beside the point) I GOT IT! WOOHOO! I'm half-way through it, and steadily reading more. :D

[Setaro]

Traitor General is by far the best GG novel after Necropolis.

[NathrakH]

I really liked sabbat martyr myself

[Brother Lucius]

I have to say, I'm rather interested in "Dead Sky, Black Sun", if nothing else but for the rather vivid mental image the title inspires. Curious though, wasn't that description given to the daemon world of one of the traitor primarchs? Perturabo, maybe?

Thats actually where the book takes place. I won't ruin what happens - the means of travel to/from the Daemon world seem highly suspect to me, but I guess the warp is full of wierd, wierd shit like that. I like how it depicts Space Marines- it fleshes them out a good deal.

Plus it has HUMAN CATTLE!