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Warhammer 40k Novels.
Raven
Member UncommonPosts: 2,005
Ok I never really got into Warhammer or Warhammer 40k much at all, until recently I started looking into the RTS' and looking into this game, the trailer looks good and the bit of gameplay I saw really got me intrigued specially the fact that there was an aim for guns combined with the classical mmo elements of skills, one of the things games like APB lacked was that whole MMO feel they instead feel like shooting rooms with some socializing with characters attached to it, so I am hoping this will be in between an mmo with a bit of shooter on top of it.
Now I am not really a big fan of futuristic settings and I am more of a fantasy type guy, the thing that I am curious about this is what it seems to me the fantasy heavy background behind the whole futuristic thing and the sort of medieval system with guns, maybe I am wrong ( I hope not).
Introductions aside, I am looking to read some of the novels of Warhammer 40k to try and understand the whole lore behind it, so when I looked through the huge library of books available for Warhammer 40k I got a bit confused as to where to start or even what to buy first, I did a quick search on the web and there are a few topics about this but everyone seems to have mix feelings about what you should read first etc..
So I thought I would ask here what ppl think should be the starting books to understand or gather more knowledge about WH40k, and hopefully this will also help anyone else that may be potentially interested in getting into it.
Thanks in advance.
Comments
Read STORM OF IRON by Graham Mcneill. It's The Must read Chaos novel from the auther of
Ultramarines. Ultramarines is awesome.
go with either one but, I'm reading Storm of Iron and I have to say its AMAZING
Currently I'm reading this series
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Apostle-Warhammer-000-Novels/dp/1844165078/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280824041&sr=1-1
Pretty good. From the perspective of a chapter of chaos marines, so it is a bit dark.
The Horus Heresy novels would be a good place to start if you don't know anything about 40k lore, but really the novels are designed so that you can jump in at any point and kind of pick things up as you go along. The 40k army books for the table top game are also filled with some pretty interesting items, and are worth checking out.
I agree, I have always loved the 40K backstories, which i mainly got from the game books my friends had.I never really played the table top game.
The Horus Heresy series is a great place to start to learn about 40K. Although the HH is set in 30K, its where Chaos Marines came from adn give a great grounding on the universe and how it is set up. The series covers all sorts of themes: love , betrayal,war, elitism,racism, tolerance or lack there of. plus lots more.
Anything by DAN ABNETT would be good. He is a great writer that can really immerse you in the culture.
hope that helps.
Cheers
Ark
Ian Watson's Inquisitor War Trilogy is probably the best written out of all W40k novels, but then again it was written on time when they still hired proper authors.
"The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in."
Any book by Dan Abnett is awsome. He did Ravenor and Eisenhorn great Inquisitor books.
The space wolf novels by william king are good to. If you like the dawn of war series there are some books for that as well.
I thoruoghly enjoyed Dan Abnett's Eisenhorn Triliogy.
"Part detective story, part interplanetary epic"
Was good.
Depending on if you're a voracious reader like I am, I've read a good portion of the 40k novels and would suggest the best place to start is with the Space Wolf series. It follows a character from his childhood, being selected to be a Space Marine, and a bunch of his adventures with an over-arching plot. My personal favorites though are all Dan Abnett series. The Eisenhorn Trilogy, The Ravenor Trilogy, and the Gaunts Ghosts (12 books and still going) are far and away my favorites.
Dan Abnett's (Gaunt's Ghosts), he's very good at producing atmosphere for 40k.
http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014633/Classic-Game-Postmortem
Did teh Space marines one, good stuff, then went back and am reading Horus Heresy, gutted my favorites got killed when Horus gassed the planet
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/ab/Norsefire-logo.png
Yep, read it almost all (can't find a few books), truly epic.
BTW i don't expect to see much lore in Dark Millennium, it looks like they are screwing it to force in the gameplay they have in mind (2 factions, battlegrounds and stuff).
Definitely Gaunt's Ghosts series... I have reread that so many times that my copies are in tatters.
Also, Ragnar's Claw is really good (I think that is a part of the Space Marine series?) I have tried a few others... I need to hit up the Inquisitor series, since that has been one of my favorite tabletops from GW
most of the book are awesome gives u a great feel of 40k. i personal love the ciaphas cain books. to note on 40kDM i hope gamesworkshop will step in and tell them to match the lore. i honestly wanna be a space marine and kill eldar but if i can't then i wont be buying this game. thats just me tho.
IN THE FACE!
Disclaimer - Most of my Warhammer reading has been the fantasy novels (love Gotrek and Felix).
But I did venture into WH40K and bought "The Grey Knights Omnibus". I thoroughly enjoyed them and since I'm big fan of witch hunters, the Grey Knights kinda fit the bill.
There are plenty of good suggestions here. I'll throw in my $0.02.
- The Horus Heresy series: This will give you a taste of the pre-history. Most are a pretty good read and will help you to understand all the odd comments and references that are littered throuout all the 40k novels.
- The Eisenhorn omnibus: the very 1st 40k book I read. Quite easily one of the best I've read.
- Gaunt's Ghosts: There are a lot of books in this series. I think he's working on his 4th omnibus now. I HIGHLY recommend you start with 'The Founding'. This will easily show you the good/bad/ugly of the 40k universe.
- Commisar Ciaphas Cain series: If you find you like any of the above novels then do yourself a favor and pick up ANY of the Cain series. I little humor in the 40k universe is a good thing!
There are tons of other 40k novels out there but I think you'll find these make for an excellent starting point! Happy reading
We're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad.
I'll echo what some of the other posters have said and recommend anything by Dan Abnett. I've read the Eisenhorn trilogy, one of the Ravenor books and one by him called Double Eagle. He writes well, really easy to read and get into, hard to put down.
Recently read "Soul Hunter" by Aaron Dembski-Bowden which was also a really good read, as easy to get immersed in as the Abnett books I've read.
Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat
It really is staggering how much lore there is established behindf this IP, I haven';t read any 40K fiction to be honest but I have played the tabletop game from inception and the lore in all of the old tomes and compendiums is outstanding.
I am glad to have found this thread I am gonna start chewing through some of these books myself, its a good way to tide yourself over for the game... which is ... a ... long ... way .......off.
I just finished reading Soul Hunter, a really good Night Lords novel. It makes a nice nod to an older novel called Lord of the Night.
Been reading the Heresey series as well, looking forward to the next installments, I think Flight of the Eisenstein and Battle for the Abyss are my favorites so far. I wonder what happened to Captain Garro and if he has any involvement with the inqusition, or he was there for the founding of it.
I am taking a break and am currently reading a kick-ass zombie novel called Day by Day Armageddon: Beyond Exile. The first book was you guessed it, Day by Day Armageddon. I highly recommend these novels to any zombie fan out there.
Back to 40K next novel on my list is part of the Battles series: Helsreach.
Current Games:
Like everyone's said Anything by Dan Abnett is great. I personally loved the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series as well as Brothers of the Snake which is a novel about the Iron Snakes spacemarines chapter. The Horus Heresy Novels are great back story. (I loved Thousand Sons I'm a huge fan of the Thousand Sons chapter!) James Swallow's Blood Angels novels are exceptional! I love the boys in Red. (just ordered the print on demand Book of Blood which has a lot of Blood Angels stories and a comic in it.) I just finished the Space Marines Battles: Helsreach which was great the story was well crafted and Aaron Dembski-Bowden is def one of my new favorite authors.