WH40K books

[poleboy]

Hey there.
I've decided it's time to read some WH40K books (novels, not rulebooks).
So, where do I start? Are there lots of them? Who's the most acclaimed author? Are they mostly about space marines or are there books describing the other races' views on the whole situation as well?

[Solo]

I suggest you start by reading about COMISSIAR CIAPHAS CAIN HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!

[Attilargh]

Yes, there are lots of them. The plots are mainly Imperium-centric, but I think there's the occasional xeno novel as well.

I believe the most prolific author is Dan Abnett, whose Eisenhorn trilogy I've heard is pretty darn good. (I don't know if that last part is grammatically quite correct, but eh.) I've got a pair of his Gaunt's Ghosts novels, and going by them, that series isn't too shabby either. The writing flows easily, doesn't overwhelm the reader in Grim Dorkness (but the flavour is very much there), and as long as you can stomach highly Badass Normal characters and don't expect too much of the plot, they're good.

Then there's this Inquisition War trilogy by some bloke whose name I can't remember Ian Watson. Heard it's pretty fine too, as well as one of the first 40k novels.

[hanzo66]

The only non-Imperium novels I know of are "Fire Warrior", which is about a Tau footsoldier facing down the Word Bearers backed by an Ultramarine Captain, "Eldar Prophecy" about an Eldar Warp Spider and "Deff Skwadron", a comic about Ork Bomba-pilots.


Heard somewhere that Games Workshop don't allow any Xenos stuff printed now anymore. Bit of a disappointment, though I guess it's to add some more mystery to the races.

[poleboy]

"Deff Skwadron", a comic about Ork Bomba-pilots.

That sounds freakin' awesome.

Thanks for the advice everyone. Solo, name of the book/author?
Do you need a lot of background knowledge to enjoy the listed books? I've never actually played 40K and all I know about the setting is picked up from random sources mostly.

[hanzo66]

The Author of the Ciaphas Cain books is Sandy Mitchell, from what I remember.


There is to be one more book to come up known as "Cain's Last Stand" where he ends up fighting in the 13th Black Crusade from what I can tell.

[Revlid]

Ciaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ciaphas-Cain-Hero-Imperium-Warhammer/dp/1844164667/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210932910&sr=8-1) is totally awesome. Seriously, some of the best books you'll ever read.

Eisenhorn (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Eisenhorn-Omnibus-Dan-Abnett/dp/1844161560/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210932957&sr=1-1) is also a great series that personifies the Inquisition.

And, obliviously, Gaunt's Ghosts. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Founding-Warhammer-40-000-Gaunts/dp/1844163695/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210933018&sr=1-1)

Depending on what race you're most interested in, there are other books. Storm of Iron is basically a whole book about how awesome Iron Warriors are, for example. I gather that Angels of Darkness and Lords of the Night are also very good for the Dark Angels or Night Lords.

Oh and the Horus Heresy (http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_b/026-2805191-4000455?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=horus+heresy&x=0&y=0) series, though a bit hit-and-miss at times, is still pretty good.

[leperkhaun]

I would recommend the series about Ragnar Blackmane.

[Bryn]

Eisenhorn is a great series as mentioned, and unlike many stories it is set away from the front lines. I also highly reccomend Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon. It's definitely not much like the standard 40k books, very grim as opposed to heroic, and wonderfully written. Apart from those, you can't go wrong with Gaunts' Ghosts, although I felt that the later books declined in quality somewhat, and you begin to wonder if there's anything the Ghosts can't do; nonetheless, they are very much worth reading.

All of those are about either the Inquisition or the Imperial Guard.

Apart from the novels, I hugely reccomend Xenology, which tells a great story while simultaneously giving all sorts of fascinating information about the 40k races - it's also the source of my favourite conspiracy theory about the Tau, which is awesome. Imperial Armour IV is also good, especially if you enjoyed the Alien films, but that might be a bit pricy.

[SuperMuldoon]

I also highly recommend Ciaphas Cain! I have the omnibus of the first 3 novels and short stories and it is awesome. Read it!

[LBO]

Dan Abnett can basically do no wrong. Eisenhorn is the series about the Imperium, and Gaunt's Ghosts the Imperial Guard novels (first three must-read, later ones are merely excellent). He also did "Brothers of the Snake" (one about the Marines), another Inquisitor series (Ravenor) which is a respectable read, and is responsible for one or two of the Horus Heresy books. The HH series overall is... hit and miss, but interesting.

Ciaphas Cain. Manages to be funny and accurately GRIMDARK at the same time, and are also good books. Fifteen Hours is hella grim, but also utterly brilliant. I rather like Gav Thorpe's Last Chancers books, about a Guard penal legion, one (or is it two?) of which heavily involves the Tau. His Dark Angels stuff is decent too.

CS Goto's books... are the red-haired stepchild of 40k lit. He sacrifices a lot of canonical accuracy in favour of telling a good story, which would be bad enough anyway, but he seems to have trouble actually telling a good story. His first was a videogame tie-in, and it shows. It apparently sells well enough for the Black Library to keep commisioning them, but not for everyone, and not for me.

Graham Mcneill's Ultramarines stuff didn't quite grab me, but Storm of Iron is awesome. It's the archetypal "The Siege" storyline, with supersoldiers and giant robots, and doesn't let up on the GRIMDARK either.

Comic-wise... Deff Skwadron (http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/3011/warhammer40kdeffskwadrofs8.jpg) and Bloodquest III (http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/9426/warhammermonthly5601001wp9.jpg) are absolute necessities if you can get your hands on them. Daemonifuge is odd, but good, Bloodquest I and II good, Titan has giant death robots but for once Dan Abnett's writing is... a bit meh.

Basically: Read Eisenhorn, First & Only and if possible Bloodquest III and Deff Skwadron, then pick and choose from the rest. There are dozens I've left out, and most of them are pretty damn good.

[comicshorse]

I've really enjoyed all of the Horus Heresy novel with the very painful exception of the one about the Blood Angels ( Flights of Angels, I think) which was both terrible and complelely fails to advance the plot of the series.
I thought the Space Wolves novels were very much by-the-numbers writing but did enjoy the Commissar Cain novels. Basically Flashman in WH40K .

[Callos_DeTerran]

And to think I was contemplating a thread just like this one.

I'll throw my questions in the ring then.

What books should I read for Tyranid and Necron goodness?

[LBO]

Graham Mcneill, both counts. His book Nightbringer has something approaching Necrony goodness (well, look at the title), and Warriors of Ultramar, which features Ultramarines defending against Nids.

For instant serious Tyranid goodness, have The Fall of Malvolion by Dan Abnett, free to read on the GW site here (http://uk.games-workshop.com/tyranids/malvolion/1/).

[GolemsVoice]

Well, I've read Nightbringer, in it's German translation, and I didn't like it very much. This was to a great part the fault of the translators (they translated the chapter names, Emperor help me! And the weapons! The horror! The horror!), but seeing as you will most probably read it in English (if you did not intend to do so until yet, I strongly recommend it.), this problem should not occur to you. But the plot, as well, was generic, (not bad, that's a fact) Ubermarines action, but, hell, who reads the books for plot :smallwink:
I also second the Eisenhorn series and the Ravenor books, which share some plot, as Ravenor was Eisenhorn's pupil and got maimed during the events described in the secon Eisenhorn book, Malleus.

@Callos_De Terran
As far as i know, there are no books featuring Tyranids and necrons as real protagonists (as they make poor heroes, laking free will and all), but, as mentioned, Nightbringer has the, well, Nightbringer, and Ravenor get's to kick some tyranid tail before the rest of the whole Milky Way in the Book Ravenor Rogue.

[Revlid]

And to think I was contemplating a thread just like this one.

I'll throw my questions in the ring then.

What books should I read for Tyranid and Necron goodness?

For Necrons, they appear rather suddenly in Caves of Ice, one of the Ciaphas Cain series.

[BRC]

Question about puns in the cain novels. From TVtropes


Shout Out (At least one footnote in one of the books makes a reference to a certain individual who held the dual rank of Colonel-Commissar for a number of years. There are also a number of shoutouts to other media; one in particular that comes to mind is "the Nuns of Gavaronne," though never explicitly called such, in Duty Calls.)
Imperial ration packs of "Soylens Viridians" had this troper in stitches.
The Villain Ersnt Stavros Killian made this troper chuckle.
"We have to call in the Navy to sterilise the whole site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure."
Could somebody explain the bolded \references?

[LBO]

The second bolded one is a line from Aliens, dunno about the first. And I added the Soylens Viridians one :smallbiggrin:

[Attilargh]

Ernst Stavro Blofeld? The Guy With The Cat from the Bond movies, anyone? C'mon, people!

[Zenthar]

Are there any books about psykers? A psyker as the main character, or so?

[Attilargh]

Pick a novel about Inquisitors. Any novel about Inquisitors. Odds are you'll find plenty of psychic goodness.

For example, Dan Abnett's Ravenor is a story about a quadriplegic who does the Inquisitor thing by possessing his agents and other such means.

[SolkaTruesilver]

A guy at my Game Workshop shop showed me an awesome WH40k book, but it isn't a novel:

It's the Imperial Guardsman's field manual, in preparation for the Gulf Crusade.

The whole thing is freaking awesome/hilarious, if you want to get into the spirit of a Guardsman.

Edit: I found the titles. there is the original:
Imperial Munitorum Manual (http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Munitorum-Manual-Warhammer-000/dp/1844165027)
and the Damocles Gulf edition
The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Infantrymans-Uplifting-Primer-Damocles/dp/1844164845/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b)

[Breltar]

There was one I read that is out of print that I believe was named "Eye of Terror" which was the story of a Dark Angel Space Marine and also at the same time the story of a Rogue Trader. Very good if you can find it.

I also recommend 'Space Wolf'.

[Attilargh]

Edit: I found the titles. there is the original:
Imperial Munitorum Manual (http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Munitorum-Manual-Warhammer-000/dp/1844165027)
and the Damocles Gulf edition
The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Infantrymans-Uplifting-Primer-Damocles/dp/1844164845/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b)
Those are two different books. The first is essentially an equipment catalogue, while the other is the Guardsman's guidebook. I've got the original edition of the Primer myself. It's a fun book, but bloody expensive. The art is nothing special at all, and the book itself is only like half a centimeter thick and that's including the hard, easily dirtied covers.

[SolkaTruesilver]

Those are two different books. The first is essentially an equipment catalogue, while the other is the Guardsman's guidebook. I've got the original edition of the Primer myself. It's a fun book, but bloody expensive. The art is nothing special at all, and the book itself is only like half a centimeter thick and that's including the hard, easily dirtied covers.

Agreed. However, it makes a bloody good addition in a WH40k RPG

[poleboy]

Thanks for all the replies, I'm really excited about this now. I guess I'll pick up the Eisenhorn series and the Ciaphas Cain series to get started. One last thing: Does chronology matter much and can the different series be read independently without any spoilers/confusion?

[Fri]

As far as I concerned, I can read most of the series in any chronological manner without confusion/major spoilerage. Except, say Cain's series that chronologized his life.

On an completely out of topic manner, just yesterday I dreamt the craziest dream involving WH40k ever.

In my dream, I was a new Space Marine fresh from the training, with armor and implant and such. Except, the setting isn't dark or gritty at all. It's just a mundane metropolis, with Imperial Guard acting as the police force, and Space Marine acts more like a swat team.

So, on my first day, there's a hostage situation on a bank, and the Imperial Guard called the Space Marines. I'm the only one sent (because it's mundane). I realized that they're actually looking at me for command, except that I'm completely inexperienced, on my first day. So I just say

"Just bust the door, I'll take care of the rest"

They bust the door, and with my superhuman speed and reflex I casually shoot all of the bad guys with my lasgun.

crazy... There's a romantic subplot involving sister of battle, but I forgot what happened.

[Destro_Yersul]

Ciaphas Cain can probably be read out of sequence, as each book makes no more than a couple references to past books. Some things will make more sense if you read them in order, and you should definately read the first one first, but other than that I'd say it doesn't matter too much.

Most of the others should be read in order. Ravenor especially. I read 1 and 3 and rather a lot made no sense. I suspect 2 would explain this, if I could find a copy of it anywhere.

[Bryn]

The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition (http://www.amazon.com/Imperial-Infantrymans-Uplifting-Primer-Damocles/dp/1844164845/ref=pd_bxgy_b_text_b)
How could I forget this? The Uplifting Primer is probably one of the best things published by the Black Library, absolute genius from cover to cover. I still quote from it in discussions; the illustrations are hilarious in their absurdity (one of my favourites is the 'using reach' picture on page 55), the over-the-top propagandar is fantastic, and all in all its one of my favourite books.

You wouldn't buy it for eye-candy, but for a great entertaining read and a very good piece of 'in-universe' material. I would reccomend gettting the Damocles Gulf edition rather than the original - convenient, as it's the one they sell - as it includes the rather fantastic section on Tau biology.

I haven't got the Munitorum Manual (which is, as has been said, a completely different book), but I intend to obtain it some day.

So, that brings my list of reccomendations (a bit late now, but hey) to Fifteen Hours, Xenology, The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Eisenhorn (get the omnibus), and the first series of Gaunt's Ghosts.

Fri; interesting to know that you can write Mary Sue fics in your dreams. You could make money with that :smalltongue::smalltongue:

[LBO]

Good dream:

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u320/LBO_photos/picture019.png

[SolkaTruesilver]

You wouldn't buy it for eye-candy, but for a great entertaining read and a very good piece of 'in-universe' material. I would reccomend gettting the Damocles Gulf edition rather than the original - convenient, as it's the one they sell - as it includes the rather fantastic section on Tau biology.


my favorite:

- Tau do not have a good far eyesight
- Tau do not see well in dark
- Tau are afraid of water
- Tau are afraid of fire
- Tau are in the same biological family as bovines
- When nervous, Tau have the tendency to erupt methane from their back