40k-book-club

[cursive cipher]

best intro books are the codices

[gentle cloud]

Specifically in introductory stuff, just to get a wider gamut into the concepts etc.

[cursive cipher]

especially 5th-8th edition

3rd is sage but you need to have a good understanding of modern lore so you can point out stuff that has been retconned in 3rd

3rd edition is seen by me to be the "soul" of 40k

[gentle cloud]

Thanks man, I'll definitely push more into that

[cursive cipher]

https://gyazo.com/9f1a16ba0bdd9ef666fb0350add49edb

favourite stuff about 3rd is stuff like this

[patent pawn]

was the eye of terror campaign during 3rd or 4th edition? back when they had the lost and damned

[cursive cipher]

no idea sounds like 4th

[patent pawn]

Was a big ARG event where people recorded their wins as order vs chaos for a black crusade, winner would have that reflected in the fluff for the subsequent edition

until chaos won in a landslide

so gw retconned it

was a bit before my time when I played back around the start of 6th edition

damn, the guardman primer is expensive now. I wish I wasn't broke when it was on the shelves

[chilly loom]

god what an awful idea, player-driven plot

[cursive cipher]

it worked back when the number of people who played 40k was 2

[honest surge]

Yeah the problem is that it's still GW that does the game balancing lol

So whichever faction they've currently fucked the codex for is gonna win

although tbh besides votann it hasn't been terrible lately

[chilly loom]

Yee. 9e is p good rn but 40k overtime has always had weak factions and strong. Basing plot on that is

[honest surge]

well except for the drukhari and admech....

[chilly loom]

Yeah 9e has been good recent and Votann got crippled rightfully

Drukhari are fine now and admech is literal garbage tier atm

[honest surge]

I haven't played in about 6 months so I'm glad they got nuked

[cursive cipher]

We must divide the forces of GW into 3 groups; Lore, Cooperate, and Game Balance

we will call this arrangement the Codex Workshop

[chilly loom]

Also I feel like player driven things are always going to have data skews because of just playerbase sizes

[cursive cipher]

It will divide the legio- I mean employees

[chilly loom]

Player driven things always have the funny thing of like

Imperial players being more newish typically and getting slammed by vet chaos and xeno players

LMAO

[cursive cipher]

and also T'au being involved in places they shouldn't

seriously as a GM for RP games set in 40k getting the T'au involved in anything but the far east of the galaxy is so limiting.

like they are literally just in that corner

and that's it

[honest surge]

Yeah was talking about this with someone in lore channel last week, they really needed to up the tau's numbers by a huge degree

[chilly loom]

Im p sure this is exactly what happened with the eye of terror campaign. Chaos players were on avg more experienced because loyalist marines are the default army for most new ppl

So they dumpied on them

[honest surge]

Lore wise I don't think you could consider them a major faction based on what they have

[chilly loom]

Theyre trying to fix it via the startide nexus and such

[cursive cipher]

6 Sectors since I last checked

[patent pawn]

chaos got given a lot of cool stuff

traitor guard being chief thing

[cursive cipher]

GW must accept the innevitable... Ultramar breaks off from The Imperium and merges with the Alpha Legion for some reason. The T'au and the new Ultramar Empire gang up on the Sautekhs and Death Guard and the T'au heavily expand their territory over the course of 1,000 years.

[patent pawn]

had a look and it was 3rd edition

Deff Sqwadron was a good graphic novel

[tribal crater]

I miss the old GW comics

Damnation Crusade, Titan, The Redeemer

[random marlin]

The last one I read was His Last Command, it was a nice read but I'm having a hard time when Abnett makes the Ghosts basically superheroes, such as ||Mkoll being a ninja so strong that I sometimes wonder what's more efficient: an exterminatus or Mkoll with a knife||.

[random marlin]

I enjoyed it very much too. If you want some suggestions (or if you have some!) about guard novels which lean more on the satirical/horrors of war aspects of the guard and less on the heroic, action-movie side, let me know. 🙂

I loved Dead Men Walking too because of it, making the DKOK more inhuman than the Necrons they are fighting, as we follow the action from other characters' pov (civilians, a commissar assigned to them). I was hugely disappointed by Krieg on the other hand as it's by the same author but the book sings the praises of the DKOK rather than using them as food for thought about fanaticism like in Dead Men Walking. I'm suspecting that as Krieg was released at the same time than the new DKOK plastic kit, the author was asked not to paint them in a bad light. Either that or I've totally missed what the author was going for, which is entirely possible too.

[vagrant trench]

What are yalls thoughts of the leagues of voltann? also if they would be releasing novels/books for them

[drowsy urchin]

Pretty neat, quite certainly will have a book or two in the near future. Probably a bit after the rest of the range is out

[orchid herald]

it an odd way to bring them back. they were killed by nids and brought back. kind of ruins he nids apperance as they killed them off to bring the nids in.

[orchid herald]

but not really bothered either way works

[craggy bone]

they didn't kill them of to bring the Nids in, nids were introduced before. One of the designers said this about discontinuing the squats: "The designers felt that they "had failed to do the Dwarf 'archetype' justice in its 40K incarnation", and that the Squats were more of a joke race.
There existed a design disparity with the Warhammer 40,000 and the Epic-scale renditions of the race, which prevented there being a cohesive vision of the race.
Despite the efforts of the design team, they were unable to think up ways to revitalize the concept"

[orchid herald]

The Squat species was ultimately destroyed by the invasion of an unnamed Tyranid splinter hive fleet that consumed their homeworlds in the 41st Millennium, though some survivors still serve in the Astra Militarum, hoping for revenge and to find a new beginning for the remnants of their people.

first thing you get when you look up how squats died out

[craggy bone]

they killed them off via nids because it was the easiest way to say squats are no more, they ceased to be, bereft of life, they rest in peace

[craggy bone]

yeah, the nids killed them to explain the discontinuation but it wasn't set up as a dramatic Nid event and it didn't serve as an entrance of the Nids into the universe

[drowsy urchin]

I don't really think the change diminishes what happened to the old squats since they've stated it was the league in that area that got eaten and the left over 'squats' can still be angry about losing their league

[orchid herald]

if they should be willing to flesh out a race then it should Jokaero, as it would be cool otherwise idk then

[jaunty stratus]

they didn't even flesh out their latest attempt, called ynnari and it wasn't even a "new" faction

[timid cove]

<@&1016281173720309760> Vouchers going out starting around 5pm ET! 👀

[white hawk]

brutal cunnin here i come

[grand cedar]

How does one qualify for vouchers? 👀

[weary crater]

Tl;dr talk words at people

[copper sphinx]

check pins

[next yoke]

Complete a full 30 year tour in your systems local imperial guard penal legion.

30 years spent in realtime that is.

[grand cedar]

Thanks

[grand cedar]

What If I die in service to the Emprah partway through?

[tepid cairn]

I finally began reading the Horus Heresy series after a big handful of other 40k novels!

[next yoke]

Well... then ya dien

[granite cloak]

What is the "best" Iron Warrior book

[ornate stump]

.

[craggy bone]

same, finished gaunt, eisenhorn/ravenor/beqin and cain so began with HH 2 days ago

[tepid cairn]

after HH I'd recommend the Nightlords Omnibus if you're also interested in the chaos side of things

[craggy bone]

I'll keep it in mind thanks

[tepid cairn]

Ofc np! It was one of my intros to the novel side of 40k

[tall sluice]

Personally I really liked Storm of Iron by Graham McNeil

[granite cloak]

Thanks will take a look at it!

[hearty niche]

cool

[full raven]

In Xenos when they do a "seance" is that done by psykers... and are they physically transferred or just mentally?

[copper sphinx]

it's more

that they're thinning the veil between materium and immaterium

basicly makes the realworld and the warp coexist for a bit

so it's a bit of both

they are there physically, but obviously also barring their souls

[full raven]

hence why they can also take physical damage and not just mentally

immaterium is chaos?

[copper sphinx]

ah yeah

it's just another word for the warp

the imperium likes using it, since it's a bit more inconspicious

and usualy refers to all parts of the warp, and not just the superbad ones

but it's basicly just another word for the warp

[cursive cipher]

Does anyone have any recommendations on HH books to skip?

[full raven]

neato.. that scene was awesome.. and the one after it.. it stuck in my head so well.. i dont think i will forget that scene

[cursive cipher]

just finished Prospero Burns

and it hurts to think

[copper sphinx]

that book hurt my soul

🥲

[cursive cipher]

Smile of his axe

Wet leopard growl

Wolves on Fenris

The voices, the voices, the voices

Age of Darkness is already 100% better

[exotic scaffold]

Third book of Eisenhorn? I gotta catch up with the first two quick

[sweet slate]

Seems that kasrkin are gonna get their own novel uh

[thorn bison]

Reading Silent Hunters right now

Good so far

It's nice to get such a unique SM experience

FOR ONCE

I'm looking at you ultramarines

[full raven]

the first one blown me away. Compared to Horus Rising it was a pleasure to read, off to continue the 2nd

[sterile cedar]

purchased it last saturday. The first one, that is.
Need to find the time to sit down with it.

[full raven]

starts slow but builds itself beautifully. For someone who had close to nill experience with the W40k universe and lore... it was a good read, and the story is interesting

[tepid cairn]

Any recommendation for Xenos novels?

[full raven]

what do you mean?

[tepid cairn]

Non-imperium novels

[full raven]

i had a blast with it without any prep

ahh you mean book about Xenos not the eisenhorn book Xenos? 😄

[tepid cairn]

no sorry :>

[spare pewter]

The Orks got some good ones like brutal kunnin and prophets of waaaghh!

[chilly loom]

Necrons have Twice Dead King and Infinite/Divine.

Tau have the Farsight series

Eldar have Path of the Dark Eldar, and Masque of Vyle for Drukhari and Harlequins. I cant in good conscious reccomend Path of the Eldar/Ynnari

GSC have uh Day of Ascension

[drowsy urchin]

another vote for TDK and I&D

[chilly loom]

Which im not sure abt, I havent figured out if Day of Ascension is just another guard book disguised as a cult one

The warcom article abt it talks about a admech main character so I assume its more slop

[full raven]

is that something you can just pick up or does it need pre understanding?

[spare pewter]

No they are both self contained stories

[jaunty stratus]

What does tdk and I&d stand for?

[drowsy urchin]

Aforementioned Twice Dead King and The Infinite & The Divine

[jaunty stratus]

Ohh, alright, thank you 🙏

I tried to connect it to author names and couldn't find anyone with these letters

[jaunty stratus]

A good way to somewhat enjoy every HH book, so far, for me was to take a break between every book. Never had the urge to skip any of the books, though some of them really had lengths, that weren't necessary at all * looking at you fulgrim and dark angels books *

[random marlin]

It’s not. There are two pov characters, one is a gsc woman, the other’s a tech priest. As the story takes place on an admech controlled world, they are the two factions clashing.

And Day of Ascension is very well written, by an experienced science fiction author renowned outside of BL.

For GSC, there’s also Cult of the Spiral Dawn by Peter Fehervari which is very good.

[chilly loom]

Ive read Spiral Dawn and its p much exclusively a guard pov

I like Fehervari still tho

Its not bad, I just think its a bit disingenuously marketed LMAO

[swift beacon]

speaking of eldar, im gonna start reading The Beast Arises. I wanted to read book 5, seeing how the eldar made it into the imperial palace. Should i start reading book 1, to know what’s going on? Or just hop into 5?

[chilly loom]

No idea, I dont read imperial books

[swift beacon]

[formal pike]

Sorry mate, imperium burned them all, they kept gotrek and Felix doe

[vagrant trench]

A good xeno book? have you read the farsight books, Empire of lies and crisis of fate? their quite good

[tepid cairn]

I'll look into the farsight series thanks!

[vagrant trench]

great reads those ones

me personally, catching up with ciaphes cain books

[exotic scaffold]

I really liked Horus Rising, looking forward to Eisenhorn!

[random marlin]

Oh yes, didn't notice that what was asked was Xenos as main pov.

There are sections with povs from GSC characters (I remember the Patriarch as well as an infected Astra Militarum) which were quite interesting, but they're indeed not the main protagonists.

[real stirrup]

Up late working on my Kill Team listening to "The Last Church", can't help but suggest this short story to you guys. 👍

[random marlin]

Well, at least it's not as disingenuously marketed as Fire Caste, where BL chose to ignore the title picked by the author and named the novel so that it could draw Tau players, as Tau were the main focus of marketing at that moment, when it's primarily a Guard novel.

Confusion and angriness ensued, and Fire Caste bombed. It's my favorite BL novel, and I keep wondering how it would have done without this poor decision about the title.

This reminds me that Fehervari wrote several short stories with Tau as central characters, such as A Sanctuary of Wyrms, The Greater Evil and Out Caste.

The Farsight series sound interesting, I'd try and pick it up as some point, thanks for the suggestion. 🙂

[real stirrup]

I just finished the 2nd book (audio lol), it's quite an interesting angle on the Tau. A lot of other times they're depicted a bit too "flawless" solely to contrast against the Imperium which can get a little one dimensional.

[mellow knot]

It’s my very favourite short story.

[random marlin]

Heard a lot about it, I really should check it out.

[random marlin]

BL books with flawed characters and nuanced situations are my favorite, I'm really not a fan of the bombastic heroic stories with moustache-twirling villains, so I'll definitely check the Farsight series when I get the chance.

[timid cove]

<@&1016281173720309760> Vouchers are sent! Some info given to me has been lost in the beta smoke, so can @sharp elm @full raven @fluid yarrow @rich raptor and @cedar surge message me with their email and region once more? 🙂

[rich raptor]

might be because his sequel is taking too long, so he put together stuff from old notes

[rich raptor]

it's ok i dont need one but thanks

[distant moon]

Vouchers?

[magic sable]

You get a $20 voucher to the GW website for participating in the book club discussions

[distant moon]

Ooooh interesting interesting

Gotta get in here and defend my imperial guard brethren

[harsh meteor]

position fortifying intensifies

[storm stump]

i got 40 bucks boiis

[copper sphinx]

60

not sure what to use em on tbh

[storm stump]

im saving up for the necron diaper baby bundle

[copper sphinx]

what does that even mean

can't tell if you're meming about necrons or primaris

votann?

[storm stump]

I was gonna say i wasnt memming, diaper babies is what i default call space marines but thats a meme. the necron/ultramarine kit

[distant moon]

Yerrrr space marines are babies

[copper sphinx]

bit weird but ok

[whole sand]

Thank you so much guys, TIME FOR MAGOS!

[thin cloud]

What’re the vouchers for?

[copper sphinx]

pretty much anything on the GW store

[thin cloud]

Oooo

I missed it though how do you get one next time round?

[copper sphinx]

Check the pins!

[craggy bone]

read the book, participate and discuss in the book club event(near the end of the month usually) and that's it

[thin cloud]

Sweet.

[craggy bone]

also if you participate in 6 book clubs in a row without missing one Aqshy said there'll perhaps be somekind of special reward. Last book club with Hereticus gave people a chance to plug the holes in their streak if they missed one( which is great cause I couldn't participate in the second one so my streak has been restored)

[thin cloud]

So is it like everyone joins a call and someone reads or what. If there’s a post about how it works I can try to find it as well.

I’ve been wanting to read the Horus Heresy forever but you can’t get it anywhere.

[copper sphinx]

you can check the older threads down below #hereticus-book-discussion #malleus-book-discussion #xenos-book-discussion

[hearty niche]

Well dang, I've already read them all. Just finished audiobooks for Bequin. Really hoping for Pandemonium soon.

[queen jungle]

A book club 👀 I've been longing for somewhere to chatter about the 40k books I've been listening to at work for a while now, this is great!

[thick atlas]

Hey has anyone read Lords of Silence? Not a huge Death Guard fan, wondering if it's worth it anyway

[mellow knot]

Welcome! 🙂

[queen jungle]

Thank you!

Would written content based on Darktide/40k go in the fanart channel, or elsewhere, for future reference? Wasn't sure where to ask, sorry if this isn't appropriate!

[jagged pine]

currently reading through eisenhorn, should i pick up the other 2 books

[stray prairie]

yes

How to get unlimited books on audible - Call audible support and ask for a manual refund with the excuse that you just "didnt like the book". Tech support people don't give a shit and you can technically get 3 books refunded every day. I've been listening to infinite audiobooks for over a year doing this.

[next yoke]

they do track it, i got my ability to return blocked (wasnt even abusing it) to the point where could only call in to exchange, and only on books i didnt finish (cause they were shit) Eventually they start sending emails saying if you keep it up they will drop you

[stray prairie]

Never got anything like that and I constantly abuse the system

Maybe it’s because I don’t technically finish the book idk

I just stop listening in the end credits

And I’ve redeemed at the very least over 100 books

I’ve got like 1400 hours of listening time

[queen jungle]

I imagine that shorts the authors out of money?

[stray prairie]

Doubt it. If it is I’m never buying extra credits for a book so if I’m listening to a series they’re getting one “purchase” from me or none at all

[wary cypress]

Right because Amazon just eats the cost of giving you a refund lol

/s

[molten dragon]

No they don't

Amazon refund, then charge the book publisher for the refund... whether the publisher does anything about it, idk. They'd have a certain refund % built into their margins, I'd say

That said. Audible purchases are far less lucrative for authors than physical copies

[wary cypress]

Purchases with credits?

Idk

Buying Gaunt’s Ghosts books outright would’ve cost me $30 from audible, which is a much better profit margin even including the cost of the voice work, as opposed to the cost of physically printing paperbacks

[molten dragon]

Yeah, not sure how credits play into it

[molten dragon]

Given that paperbacks cost $3-8 per copy, depending on how large your print run is, absolutely

[queen jungle]

Yeah, it feels too much like what people were doing with the ebook refunds, which were costing authors quite a bit recently until amazon changed the policy

[west wave]

This feels like a prime place to ask- what's everyone's pick for a first 40k book to read? I've been trying to get a friend into the books and thinking about getting them a copy of Infinite and the Divine, but I'm wondering what other people think!

[scenic ravine]

The Ciaphas Cain books

[viral ridge]

The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer

The only book you or anyone else will ever need, soldier

[west wave]

I'm sorry, but I am a child of the omnissiah, when war calls, I send skitarii to the fight

[wary cypress]

The place I started (and the only one I've finished yet) is First and Only, the first book of the Gaunt's Ghosts series.

Seems like it was a good choice so far, didn't dump me into the crazy stuff too quickly

Though now I really want that lol

[west wave]

Easing in slowly might be a good idea, thanks!

[hearty niche]

I started with the most fucked up, which is "Dead Sky, Black Sun". Luetin09 was talking about and i was intrigued. It offers a good insight into the Horror of the Warp and Chaos.

[fervent knot]

Could also find a book in the style they currently like. Know there's a bunch of 40k thriller/crime collections that came out recently, and don't require too much prior knowledge.

[patent bane]

are there any good books that take the pov of an imperial guardsman that doesn't go on crazy spec ops missions?

[wind oyster]

The intro to the Lone Wolves graphic novel.

[fervent knot]

You mean like still part of large-scale fighting?

[patent bane]

yes

[fervent knot]

Let me check my bookcase, One sec.

Right, so if you want something purely on the warfront, usually your best bet are short stories(like Fifteen Hours). Ciaphas's starting short has him on a line as well. Otherwise things like the Honor Imperialis collection has a good assortment, but sometimes it focuses on characters behind enemy lines or doing something less obviously warfront.

[patent bane]

gotcha

[queen jungle]

I haven't read this personally, but this collection seems to be specifically geared towards a first read for 40k https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/getting-started/nexus-and-other-stories-ebook-2020.html

[opaque adder]

Darktide Ciaphas Cain mission recreations would be incredible.

[dusk seal]

The eye of terror really setting the bar for 40k books

[fervent knot]

What's been your favorite part of it?

[dusk seal]

I like that it has a more character focus than some of the other books ive read which focus more on the large-scale battles, this is like a smaller scale story that even a beginner to 40k lore can enjoy

ive tried Fall of Cadia for example, i found it difficult to stay engaged in the story because the non stop battle was kinda too heavily the focus

Also i love learning about and seeing the crazyness of the warp

[fervent knot]

The warp is pretty darn crazy. XD

It's a fun universe to get into. Ciaphas Cain and Gaunt's Ghosts novels tend to focus more on the characters rather than constant combat too if you want some Imperial Guard that's not just the war.

[dusk seal]

ill check them out, character driven storys are great for me because it feels less like reading a battle report, it feels like a more natural approach to exploring the universe

i read another one, i think it was a short story? about the Raven Primarch like haunting a planet and having a fight with a fallen primarch and he ends up kicking his ass so hard the fallen primarch throws a tantrum and hides in his roomm

[fervent knot]

The Shira Calpurnia Adeptus Arbites novels do a good job of exploring the Ecclesiarchy(church), elements of the Mechanicus, the Arbites, Rogue traders, and things like that too if you want some non-guard/nonxenos world-building too.

[teal mica]

Been reading through the Fabius Bile series, it's pretty good so far, nearly finished the third book

[dusk seal]

also read a couple of the men of iron short stories, super engaging but too dang short i just am left wanting more

[fervent knot]

Corvis is bloody grand.

[fervent knot]

I picked up the collection a bit ago, plan on reading it after I finish this warhammer fantasy novel. Glad to hear it's good.

[teal mica]

lots of sass and shenanigans, and big battles near the end of each book

[fervent knot]

yessss. Sounds grand.

[teal mica]

book 2 involves a certain ||'archivist'||

[fervent knot]

That reminds me, I need to pick up "The Infinite and the Divine' too. XD

[teal mica]

Ah yes, the best 40k book

10 thousand years of 'fuck you and I'll see you tomorrow'

trazyn commits vehicular manslaughter to a dinosaur

[fervent knot]

It does sound majestic.

Welp, I must sleep. Looking forward to tomorrow.

[thorn bison]

Trazyn pranks Orikan with a big insect

What an unequalled book

[vagrant trench]

Trayzn, the Pokemon master

[mellow knot]

Sorry, missed this! It’s actually a decent question; what do you think. @timid cove ?

[timid cove]

Did someone say fanfic? 👀 Lemme think on this a bit as authors tend to get flack for being "ew fanfic", so lemme figure out how to set this up where people can post safely. Maybe put it in #theorycrafting for now!

[agile hedge]

Wouldnt that be fan art ?

[queen jungle]

Thank you for the response! Please tag me if you do get an official ruling/setup down the line C:

[honest isle]

I'm still stuck 10k years earlier waiting for the Heresy to end

[hexed cave]

i keep hearing about bolter porn. what is the definitive bolter porn book ?

[copper sphinx]

https://imgur.com/a/mfIxD

enjoy

[graceful osprey]

it's a book that's mostly a string of battle scenes, often featuring new models GW wants to sell and with not much plot although some of them are quite good

Helsreach is a pretty classic example of a high quality bolter porn book

[icy ingot]

would that make any book with only a few battle scenes and super story heavy be called loreplay?

[graceful osprey]

idk if there's a common term for it, but for example inquisition books lean a lot heavier on plot intrigue

[icy ingot]

just a joke

[mellow knot]

The entire Space Marine Battles series is designed for just that purpose 🙂

[graceful osprey]

yeah and space marine conquests

[icy ingot]

so should i continue with the gaunts ghost series, continue the cain series or start something new. i finished the 3 main eisenhorn books

[graceful osprey]

Gaunt's Ghosts is a fantastic series can't go wrong with that. after eisenhorn you could also pick up the ravenor trilogy which is a direct sequel

then after that there are some bequin novels

[icy ingot]

i havent really read any horus heresy ive only really read mangnus and guillimans book

[graceful osprey]

the first five Horus Heresy books are good to read in order, after that you can jump around if you're not down to read the whole damn series

[icy ingot]

what are the first 5

most of the books i read on an audio book while driving when i was a courier

[graceful osprey]

Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy in Flames, Flight of the Eisenstein, and Fulgrim

after that things start branching out a lot

http://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.html

that's a fun series flow chart

[thorn bison]

Fulgrim is about 70 pages too long imo

Good but stretched out too far

[graceful osprey]

Fulgrim does drag a bit but something important happens at the end

so it's worth reading

[thorn bison]

yeah

It's pretty much "Oooh so much story and things happening" - "bruh this is taking too long" - "Boom! Big lore bits!"

[icy ingot]

i like the caul book honestly

[thorn bison]

Good things come to those who wait, as they say

[thorn bison]

The Great Work?

[icy ingot]

yes

[thorn bison]

I like that one too

[graceful osprey]

that was a fun one

[icy ingot]

couldnt remember the title

[thorn bison]

I like how they portray him as the kind of person who will do literally anything to achieve his goals

Because he is

[graceful osprey]

Dark Imperium is worth reading just for the Cawl Inferior scene

[icy ingot]

i like the "flash back" parts

ive read that series it is nice

||kinda rips a bit from iRobot with the hologram recording but still good||

[graceful osprey]

there was a teaser during the Warhammer Day stream about the Arks of Omen narrative event teased what could be a dark mechanicum ally of Abaddon's

so evil cawl maybe

[icy ingot]

dark cawl

[graceful osprey]

the Arkifane

there will be a Kasrkin book releasing next weekend I think

[icy ingot]

idk how to feel about the dark mechanicum

i like the regular mechanicum but i feel the dark just seems like "cover it in demon magic"

[graceful osprey]

they mess around a lot with daemon engines and abominable intelligences

Mechanicum is a Horus Heresy book about the civil war on Mars

tbh though there isn't a ton of dark mechanicum lore since they aren't on the tabletop and there aren't as many POVs of chaos territory

[icy ingot]

at least with the admech the rituals around machines feels more grim dark because they are not just a worship thing. because the rituals are just the regular maintenance and operation of machines with religious tones because they forgot how they work.

from what i know of dark maechanicum is basically "throw a demon in it and it will work itself out"

[graceful osprey]

more or less. they make pacts of mutual interest with chaos marine warbands or mess around on conquered forge worlds

they're also hackers. the conqueror worm gets mentioned in a few different stories, it's a virus that turns members of the mechanicum berserk

until they're killed or burn themselves out

[icy ingot]

i guess maybe early dark mechanicum would be cool because they arent totally insane chaos crazies

[thorn bison]

Oh no they went insane immediately

Well

[icy ingot]

thats why i like inquisitors and admech really. the idea of the ends justify the means. like admech will play with xenos tech sometimes and do other bad shit in the quest of greater knowledge. and inquisitors will become radicals and use warp magic to save the imperium

[thorn bison]

Some did

[thorn bison]

This is what Witch Hunter is all about

That's Fantasy though

But it's the same idea

A WH realises that he can probably use dark magic against his enemies since it works for them so it should work for him too, right?

[graceful osprey]

Vaults of Terra is an excellent inquisitor series

and goes deep on Terra

[thorn bison]

I have The Dark City but I haven't been able to get ahold of the others

[graceful osprey]

oh no that's the last one haha

[thorn bison]

Yeah lmao

It looked cool

Then I realised

[graceful osprey]

Carrion Throne is the first one

Chris Wraight is one of my favorite black library authors

[thorn bison]

Guy Haley is also very good

[graceful osprey]

definitely

Dan Abnett, Haley, Wraight, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, and Peter Fehervari

[thorn bison]

What about Gav Thorpe and Andy Clark?

I like them also

[chilly loom]

Gav Thorpe 🤮

The Path books and Ynnari are god awful

Literal Harbinger of bad eldar writing

[thorn bison]

Okay but counterpoint

Corax and Deliverance Lost are great imo

[chilly loom]

Gav is the only author I've known from BL to have a trilogy cancelled because it was so bad

And BL employs some real shitty writers

so that's shocking

[thorn bison]

Tbh I haven't read his Eldar books so I can't really comment on their quality

I'll take your word for it

[willow geode]

so how about fifteen hours guys

[fading valve]

Alright, guess we @wintry bramblevicts are going to have to chat here in the meantime.

@everyoneWe can chat here until they let us back into general chat.

I think this game is fantastic! I have been playing without issue for the past 4 hours. No interruptions.

I think that you be able to have multi-colored hair, though. They probably have multi-colored hair by the 41st millennium. We do now.

[granite cloak]

No u cant stop it we dont need slow mode anywhere else

[wary cypress]

Stick to the topic of the channel lol

This guy really tried to ping thousands and thousands of people... twice

[analog fjord]

Its a pretty solid story about how one persons fuck up screws everyone. Wouldnt want to be that scribe at the start !

[full bronze]

Isn't one of the Warhammer writer got hired by riot to make there in-game lore?

[heavy juniper]

think both graham mcneill and anthony reynolds work for riot yeah

[heavy juniper]

just preordered the new books up today. kasrkin and void king 🙂 war of the fang special edition looks nice

[swift beacon]

so i just read Fury of Magnus. ||Magnus, who has lost his “noble soul”. He sensed his shard on Terra, and tried to sneak into the palace and claim it back. But Malcador caught him, he said that this shard does have more of his noble and compassion thoughts. It’s actually nothing but memories, it is neither good or evil of his soul. Which makes Magnus more distraught. Everything he’s done, after Prospero. Was his on will, which makes Magnus story even more tragic.|| God this makes “Magnus did nothing wrong” meme, useless lol

[swift beacon]

wait they do?

[full bronze]

Yep

They are writing the foundation for league lore

[swift beacon]

i’m assuming they had a hand with the netflix series.

hell aatrox reminds me of a daemon of khorne

[full bronze]

Believe me or not.. a lot of champion skins are Warhammer inspired

[teal mica]

Magnus had good intentions, but god damn if he messed up big time

[vernal hill]

mordekaiser

and metal skin

[random valley]

I really wanna get into reading WH40k, what should be my first book?

[full bronze]

@random valley eisenhorn, a very good book to start with

[thorn bison]

A good trilogy

The first book in that series is called Xenos

[random valley]

Thank you

[sharp canyon]

Gaunts' ghosts is a pretty fun series.

[umbral orchid]

i just finished a ciaphas cain book and now im sad

[frail beacon]

ive read books like twice dead king series, echoes of eternity, kingmaker, warhawk, and infinite and the divine. any books y'all would recommend?

[zinc notch]

Firm agree on the Eisenhorn trilogy to start with. The Ravenor trilogy is also very good and what out thus far of the Pariah trilogy is also very good (they're all related) .

Some lovable nerd recommended them to me and now here I am ~80-90 books later (Horus Heresy, the Solar War and some Gaunts Ghosts).

There are some meh books, but anything written by Dan Abnett is usually at least good or higher.

[zinc notch]

Do you like Space Marines, Inquisitors or Imperial Guard?

Or something else in WH40k? There's plenty tbh.

[frail beacon]

i like all that, just lookin for good well written books

[zinc notch]

Honestly, anything written by Abnett is solid. The Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Pariah trilogies are the best in the fiction, IMO

The recent solar war books have been pretty good as well. More focus on the sheer tragedy of how it all came to be, pretty space marine focused

and primarch focused

Any Bellisarius Cawl focused books are also usually very good: https://www.amazon.com/Belisarius-Cawl-Great-Work-Warhammer/dp/1789990580

Also, The Infinite and the Divine was a great book, firm agree there. Two immortal jerks fighting over a macguffin because of course they are.

[thick moss]

Howdy, if i dont know much bout 40k and not read any but Love Ogryns, any recommendations?

[lavish badger]

Give Aaron Dembski-Bowden and Peter Fehervari a try

[random valley]

Thank you

[lavish badger]

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/60871891-the-wraithbone-phoenix

This might be your thing. Haven't read it myself. The Warhammer Crime stuff tends to be nice, though

[thick moss]

Cute, sounds fun! Thanks!

[versed kestrel]

I ordered the night lords trilogy earlier this morning, hopefully it doesn't take too long to arrive

[late valve]

If you're into exploring some of the lore behind some of the xenos, Path of the Eldar is a decent trilogy, worth a read IMO

[graceful osprey]

wraithbone phoenix was excellent

all of the warhammer crime books are pretty solid

there's also a female ogryn character in the Ghazghkull Thraka novel

which is a great read if you're interested in orks, along with Brutal Kunnin

[mellow nimbus]

Any recommended reading (preferably on Aubdible) to prepare oneself for darktide?

[graceful osprey]

that's a big question, but common recommendations are the Eisenhorn inquisitor series (Xenos is the first book) or if you're more into Imperial Guard the Gaunt's Ghosts series (first book is First and Only)

both are by Dan Abnett, who helped write the Darktide lore

there are a lot of 40k books on audible, so after that it depends on what interests you

Helsreach is also an excellent choice

that has space marines

the audiobook for that one is particularly good

[zenith comet]

I'm sure this has been asked, but what is a good way to get into the 40k world, but is also an easier read. Never read anything before and I don't want something too tough😅

[graceful osprey]

luetin09's youtube channel as a lot of lore deep dives

[zenith comet]

Thanks! I'll definitely check it out asap

[glass cloud]

Hey any books that really give the grimdark feeling of humans living in a hive?

[graceful osprey]

sounds like the warhammer crime books are what you're looking for

there are also some necromunda novels you could check out

I recommend Bloodlines by Chris Wraight or the Wraithbone Phoenix by Alec Worley but tbh pick a warhammer crime book and it will be good

[glass cloud]

@graceful osprey great, thanks for the recommendations

[graceful osprey]

no problem, happy to help

[valid nacelle]

I remember i used to enjoy One Mind Syndicate if we talk youtube channels, they did those videos about factions in a nutshell and after recommending it to some friends it helped them find factions/historical events they wanted to explore more in-depth qith books

And books wise, I really enjoyed Aaron Dembski-Bowden series on Night Lords, probably one of my fav in Black Library

[graceful osprey]

didn't know about that one but looks like a solid recommendation!

Night Lords series are definitely some of the best chaos space marines books

[valid nacelle]

"40 facts about 40k" series. They cover both basics of factions, and add some really fun lore stuff even veteran lore enjoyers may be surprised with

[graceful osprey]

if you like ADB check out his Black Legion books

[valid nacelle]

My friend who got me into wh40k gifted me Talon of Horus and Black legion because it's his fav marines good read, I like his writing style

[graceful osprey]

yeah he's definitely a name to watch for

Peter Fehervari is an amazing author who is kind of unsung. Fire Caste is technically about the T'au but really its an amazing Imperial Guard novel

Cult of the Spiral Dawn is really creepy and about genestealer cults

[valid nacelle]

Never read anything from him, so I may look into that

I am personally huge fan of AdMech and Necrons, so I didn't venture much outside of that haha

[graceful osprey]

a lot of his books have a bunch of connected references as well, it's called the Dark Coil

have you read Forges of Mars?

[valid nacelle]

Yass!

[graceful osprey]

fantastic books

[valid nacelle]

I guess this will be very casual take haha, but Mechanicum is still my fav AdMech book

[graceful osprey]

McNeil isn't my favorite 40k author but man what a ride

[valid nacelle]

It inspired me with building my army actually haha

Love Dark Mechanicus lore

[graceful osprey]

Mechanicum was good too, sad that they didn't get more focus in the Heresy series

Forges of Mars has everything though

its an adventure story, there are wacky martian tech priests, a rogue trader captain, cadian tank crews, titans, black templars on a crusade, eldar, spooky necron tech

its really only missing chaos

[lavish badger]

"Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus" might be an option. It's focused on the Adeptus Arbites, and I liked it quite a bit. Or, as @graceful osprey points out, the Warhammer Crime books also make for a good read on the more "civilian" side of the 40k universe.

[lavish badger]

I agree. I probably like "Requiem Infernal" most. Fehervari is a big fan of gothic horror, and this might be the best 40k horror novel so far.

[graceful osprey]

haven't picked up Requiem Infernal yet but it's on my list. he does creepy very well

dude needs more of his stuff on audiobook

[thick moss]

Should i read Dredge Runners before Wraithbone Phoenix or is it like you can if you want

[heavy juniper]

it's an audio drama

it's good. but not required for learning about the characters before wraithbone phoenix

[heavy juniper]

have read dark adeptus, the second grey knights book? good fun

[valid nacelle]

I have not, gotta get into it eventually haha

[crisp depot]

Currently working my way through all of the HH books. Curious which ones are your guys favorites? I'm on Prospero Burns right now, and I gotta say, I've enjoyed every book so far except for Fulgrim. It was just a slog

[crisp depot]

Requiem Infernal is great. Probably my favorite Fehervari book so far. The Reverie is a close 2nd.

[graceful osprey]

I'll make it a priority then 😁

[next rock]

Hey so are there like any good salamander or custodes books? Cause they both seem rather scarce, custodes in general, and salamanders in the good department from what I've been hearing

[crystal beacon]

Salamanders omnibus is decent

as a life long salamanders guy, you're in for slim pickings otherwise, sadly. As for custodes.... master of mankind, carrion throne and emperor's legion are probably your best bets @next rock

[next rock]

Alright thanks man, cause like when it comes to the imperium stuff I'd say the salamanders and custodes are definitely my favorites but yeah thanks man I'll give those a look

[royal egret]

Also Regents Shadow, which is a sequel to Emperor’s Legion

Sallies stuff almost always just sucks sadly

Nick Kyme has a stranglehold on writing for them and he’s uh….

Not great

[crystal beacon]

Preach

[graceful osprey]

Emperor's Legion and Regent's Shadow are both solid

as is Master of Mankind so I've heard but not far into the Heresy myself

[royal egret]

Its very good. Almost all Custodes books are.

[heavy juniper]

some fun custodes action in dawn of fire series. especially book 2. but ya, watchers of the throne series (third book should be soon maybe), valdor book, alpharius primarch book, and master of mankind. also short story blood games, from hh tales of heresy.

[mellow knot]

Prospero Burns reads like a Viking Saga. If you haven’t already, you should hear it on audiobook, it’s beautiful.

‘Know No Fear’ is my other favourite because there are moments in that which made me genuinely LOL.

[native frigate]

I'm currently on the The First Heretic. Looking forward to prospero burns. Really awesome to hear that Dan Abnett did the story for darktide

[thorn bison]

I haven't finished Master of Mankind yet but so far it's very good

It's definitely a book I would recommend

[crisp depot]

Unfortunately I never have time to listen to audio books. I got Horus Rising on audible, and only made it through the first couple pages before buying the book by itself on Kindle. I have to read stuff multiple times to comprehend it, so audio books just don't sink in as well.

[proper portal]

What are books that are really good and orky?

I've read Deff Squadron and loved it

As well as Clovis The Redeemer, and man hes one fun nut job

[final wagon]

Brutal Kunnin and the Ghaz book

[onyx crescent]

If ya like tau farsight empire of lies is also good

[graceful osprey]

i'll probably read the farsight books eventually but not really. I was praising Fire Caste for being actually an Imperial Guard book

I don't dislike them just not my favorite

[mellow knot]

Same. I only got Prospero Burns on audio because I had a long trip. And it was almost lyrical.

[onyx crescent]

Is it actually? I haven't gotten time to read it 💀

[graceful osprey]

there's plenty of tau stuff in there too

but it's guard vs tau and his guard stuff is amazing

the Arkhan Confederates are like a steampunk version of if the south won the civil war

[onyx crescent]

Is it a both sides perspective?

[graceful osprey]

yeah

[onyx crescent]

type of book?

Ohhhhh thats cool

[graceful osprey]

you get a lot of scenes with a water caste guy

and a fire caste lady

[onyx crescent]

i don't read much tau books, the most i read is usually chaos

[graceful osprey]

the upcoming Kasrkin novel is supposedly guard vs. tau vs. necrons

[onyx crescent]

KARSKIN?

no way that’s sick I love karskin

[graceful osprey]

yeah it comes out next weekend

the author's bibliography is a trip, 40k books and medieval history

https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/o2swOqKyXFG8BoIs.jpg

[onyx crescent]

hard as cover

[onyx crescent]

probably gonna pick it up 🗿

[graceful osprey]

coming out the same weekend

Void King by Marc Collins

rogue traders searching for a new passage to cross the Imperium Nihilus

[onyx crescent]

niceee

[graceful osprey]

between those and the Helbrecht novella they squeezed some audible tokens out of me this month

[onyx crescent]

I don’t do much audio books

I just read ebooks and chill

[graceful osprey]

I was not into audiobooks at all but its extremely useful for when its quiet at my job. I move around a lot and a book or e-reader would be too cumbersome

[quick moon]

Random recommendation: Dead Men Walking by Steve Lyons.

Because Death Korps vs Necrons was a great concept executed well.

[graceful osprey]

super solid. you can pick up the Honour Imperialis omnibus for like 10 bucks

get Dead Men Walking and Cadian Blood plus some extras

[quick moon]

Cadian Blood is a good one. I believe that Omnibus also comes with the accompanying short stories for both novels.

[graceful osprey]

it does, as well as Redemption Corps

which I haven't read yet

[quick moon]

Outside of some questionable lore additions in the sprawling tangle of plot threads that is the Horus Heresy novels, it's hard to go wrong with ADB.

[graceful osprey]

he's not my favorite but he's definitely up there

[quick moon]

He's the best mainline/standard 40k writer imo, edged out by Sandy Mitchell for a more sardonic take on the setting, and Dan Abnett (who is just elevated above all the rest due to being Dan Abnett)

[graceful osprey]

feel the same about Abnett (does anyone not), also Guy Haley and Chris Wraight has been crushing lately

[quick moon]

Graham McNeil did some bangers as well, mainly when let out of the constraints of more generic stuff and allowed to go hog wild with groups like the Mechanicus

[graceful osprey]

I have this complicated relationship with McNeil where I am not a fan of his dialogue writing but I can't argue that the guy is an excellent story teller

his set pieces, his pacing, it keeps you invested

but then I read page long combat dialogue and my eyes roll into the back of my skull

[quick moon]

That's fair, thinking back I remember more of the worlds he crafted than the conversations.

The page long description of a Warlord Titan's Plasma Annihilator going off and the devastation it inflicted is still one of my favourite scenes of his.

[graceful osprey]

that the one from Forges?

[quick moon]

Though I might be biased given the source.

Yup

[graceful osprey]

yeah Forges was excellent

[quick moon]

Forges, Mechanicum, Titanicus.
I really enjoy when writers go wild and show how disparate and unique each individual group within the Mechanicus is.

[graceful osprey]

not exactly Mechanicus but you should check out Assassinorum: Kingmaker

it's advertised as an imperial assassins book but their target is on a knight world

reads like a classic james bond movie

[onyx crescent]

Saved

Mechanicus is great I love them

[onyx crescent]

I’m also planning on reading that

[timid cove]

<@&1016281173720309760> sending straggler vouchers out now, hang tight!

[exotic mango]

what

[full raven]

on medical leave... come on.. 😄 go recover

[timid cove]

yeah I intend to, but it's a week wait for those waiting, so want to get the rest out before my surgery

[whole sand]

Is there a mechanicus reading order? I finished mechanicus, and I wanna go in order

[full raven]

all the best, and thanks

[dusty gust]

there is a mechanicum section of the spoiler free reading order

https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horus_Heresy_Spoiler-Free_Reading_Order.png

top left section

[whole sand]

You're as beneficent as Oll Person. Thank you kind soul

[dusty gust]

np

the events of titandeath are also very important for the recent siege of terra books

to explain the grievances of the mechanicum

[quick moon]

For the modern 40k mechanicus there isn't so much a reading order as they're all independently occuring stories.
My recommendations are the Forge of Mars series and Titanicus as the stellar standouts, and stuff like the Cawl books if you like the character and Adeptus Mechanicus Omnibus if you want to know more about their tabletop army.

[dusty gust]

Agreed ^. In order to understand the cawl book I'd recommend looking at the reading order suggested in this thread https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/d6d2un/belisarius_cawl_the_great_work_prerequisite_lore/
That's the one I'm currently following myself

[white hawk]

book club more like

[queen jungle]

I read the great work recently without much context and managed to follow along well enough

[onyx crescent]

How do i book club just to vibe

[heavy juniper]

enjoying the new warhammer crime a lot, vorbis conspiracy. all the short stories in it are telling different angles around a large disaster event that happens. really wishing one of the warhammertv shows would be set in varangantua, such a nice cozy setting. call it varangantua. a book like vorbis conspiracy could have been one season of a show, each of the seven short stories would be one or two episodes each. another season could be just following one of the probators. would be very nice.

[grizzled raptor]

Is the author of the new Kasrkin book any good, Edoardo Albert? Kinda tempted to pick it up

[tribal ermine]

The cover art looks awesome @grizzled raptor . I was thinking about it also

Kinda random but I really like that GW, and The Black Library came up with the idea to do "horror", and "crime" genres that take place in the mythos.

[crisp depot]

Gotta say, the Mechanicum book in the HH series was probably one of my favorite books so far in the entire BL. Convinced me that I need to get a Mechanicus tattoo lmao

[tribal ermine]

Yeah it was a doozy!

[ionic dove]

Which title was it?
I really enjoyed the Binary Succession short story

[tribal ermine]

Just realized.. Are we allowed to discuss any WH literature here, or is it specifically whatever the "book" is for the month (Currently: Hereticus)?

[harsh meteor]

i think we can discuss any books related to wh stuff here

and there´ll be a proper channel for the book club book in question

we had one for each so far, aka xenos, malleus & hereticus

[fluid yarrow]

New novels on BL! Perfect timing for those vouchers.

[onyx crescent]

Oh its eisenhorn hereticus? rn?

How do i get the bookclub role 🗿

[heavy juniper]

on adeptus mechanicus, I enjoyed the tech priest and skitarius novellas quite a bit. by rob sanders. pretty interesting detailed explanations of how they work technically, how skitarii are controlled and stuff like that.

[heavy juniper]

if you look at the pinned post in here there's a post from early september about hereticus. and there's a channel for it under the category 'other'

[crisp depot]

I believe it was literally just called Mechanicum. It's like the 9th book in the series i think

[onyx crescent]

damn I haven’t started eisenhorn 🗿

at all

[tribal ermine]

Eisenhorn was so gd good.

[native olive]

what book should one start with?

[onyx crescent]

In general?

[vernal ginkgo]

Should do the Bequin series too

Be completionist

[harsh meteor]

and Ravenor

[thorn bison]

I say you should pick between:

Horus Rising

The Infinite and The Divine

Indomitus

They're all great first reads to get you started and quickly introduced to either Horus Heresy/30k (Horus Rising) or 40k (Infinite & Divine/Indomitus)

[hallow flame]

Horus rising is a dub of a book

Galaxy in flames was top tier however

[thorn bison]

the whole trifecta is great

Such a good start to that series

[hallow flame]

Agreed, i was completely blown away with the writing

Easily some of my favorite reads

[hallow flame]

Have you read kharn: eater of worlds?

[thorn bison]

Sadly not, but I've heard good things

I have read Kharn: The Red Path though

Loved that book

[hallow flame]

Tbh i did not truly get to enjoy the red path because i read eater of worlds first and then i read the red path and because of that the writing depth was very different and it felt that chapter after chapter they 24/7 said blood for the blood god and somewhat acted all similar

While in eater of worlds the legion is damn near tearing itself apart due to the differences in beliefs and personal principles

[thorn bison]

Yeah, I can understand how that happens

However, the scene where ||Kharn forces a draw while duelling FUCKING ABADDON HIMSELF perfectly displayed how much of an absolute force of nature he really is||

The writing might not have been the best but the things that happen in that book make up for it imo

[onyx crescent]

As a chaos worshipper say night lords trilogy good n talon of Horus if that isn’t ur taste go try Horus rising or Gaunts Ghosts

[hearty niche]

did some of ya read eisenhorn?

[hearty niche]

The first three book are absolutely peak. Once they toss in Primarch perspectives it loses its draw for me personally.

[hearty niche]

I'm on chapter 6 of Xenos right now. I was weary but it reads like a noir/detective novel. I'm really into it.

[hearty niche]

i am already in the half of the second book

but keep reading its worth it

[crisp depot]

I finished all of Eisenhorn and Ravenor a couple months ago. Ngl, kinda disappointed compared to Gaunts Ghosts.

Dan Abnett has this really weird deal with building up the story for like the first 90% of the book, then the climax happens, and theres like, only 20 pages left. Its most notable in his later books.

||like the end of Ravenor was just an absolute mess. All that massive buildup for 3 whole books, and at the end, the entire plot is resolved in like 15 pages, with a lot of unanswered questions.||

[onyx crescent]

Haven’t started it yet

[final wagon]

I find Ravenor to overall be diaappointing. Couldnt even get past the first hour of Book 3

[robust lintel]

Does anyone have any good recommendations if it comes to mechanicus books ?

[glass coyote]

Recently finished an Ork book. Brutal Kunnin. It has a strong Mechanicus presence in the story. Plus a surprise. I really enjoyed it.

Orks are just plain fun. terrifying, but fun.

I would like to see a sequel to it.

[thorn bison]

Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work and Mechanicum are both good

[robust lintel]

thanks ill check them all

[pseudo raft]

Where would someone start if they wanted to get into 40k lore and read the books or listen to the audio books if there are any

[agile hedge]

Well you could try to catch up what we have been reading so far : the first Eisenhorn trilogy with Xenos, Malleus and Hereticus, and right now we are reading Magos until the release of the game

[onyx crescent]

Night lords trilogy kind of since you learn a fair bit about chaos space marines with some heresy tidbits

n also because talos is my favourite war criminal

[split wind]

i got my night lords omnibus on the shelf cant wait

[onyx crescent]

I would recommend talon of Horus but that need little bit of background knowledge on the traitor legions n the heresy

[native olive]

just got a book called Bloodline, its the first on in the 40k crime series

first 40k book

[native olive]

i was lookin for gaunts ghosts

[onyx crescent]

That’s a good guard one

the omnibus?

[magic sable]

Bloodline is great

I will forever sing the praises of the 40k crime books

[native olive]

I wanted to get into the 'Normal" peoples stories instead of the great and perfect Space Marines

[magic sable]

Yeah it’s a great way to picture what your average person would be like in the universe. Obviously way more grounded than bolter porn and great at everything Marines

[native olive]

are there books where someone turns to chaos?

[onyx crescent]

Bolter porn is space marine battles series usually

[magic sable]

||a main POV character turning to chaos? No||

[magic sable]

The only book I’ve read that could be classified as bolter porn was Fist of the Imperium and man that book was subpar

[onyx crescent]

I will give props to that series for giving the Armageddon helbrecht pov other than that not that interested in Cato sicarius

[magic sable]

Yeah I’ve never been particularly interested in the series, or Cato Sicarius

I do own the Dark Angels omnibus but I haven’t gotten around to reading it, I imagine it’s gonna be bolter porn to an extent lol

[onyx crescent]

I do have a ultramarine friend and I understand why they’re liked but not for me honestly

[magic sable]

The Ultramarines novella that’s in Nexus is pretty good imo

[onyx crescent]

Idk I don’t read much space marines

It’s usually chaos or guard

[magic sable]

Nexus is one of the first books I purchased. It’s a collection of short stories where each short story is focused on one faction.

[onyx crescent]

🗿 that’s real good actually

[native olive]

there many books on the Necrons?

[onyx crescent]

There’s infinite and divine

[willow geode]

15 hours is a good book

So is the "let the galaxy burn" omnibus and the imperial guard omnibus

Let the galaxy burn has some great stories

Cadian Blood is also a good book

I think I remember liking the soul drinkers books?

[quick moon]

Forges of Mars.

[royal egret]

Forges of Mars books are amazing

@severe trail Come agreed with us that they're amazing

[quick moon]

Dead Men Walking if you want to see what it's like to face them, Infinite and the Divine if you want to see their shenanigans from their perspective.

[onyx crescent]

Dead men walking is the krieg book right? with necrons as the immovable enemy?

[quick moon]

Yup

Really works for showing how terrifying Crons are to face as a regular dude.

Three viewpoint characters and none of them were Kriegsman or Necrons, the two factions being showcased.
Instead the entire story is witnessed by a Commissar, a conscripted hive-worker, and a noble's daughter.

[severe trail]

Yes they are amazing

[onyx crescent]

Mechanicus actual go hard

I’m noting so many books now lol

[thick moss]

I've started the Wraithbone Phoenix, first two chapters, quite fun so far, enjoying Baggit, i cant wait to get to Clodde

[thick moss]

I JUST FOUND OUT RATLINGS AREN'T LIL RATS!

[quick moon]

Yeah, they're space halflings/hobbits.

[heavy juniper]

😄

[onyx crescent]

quite crafty with a gun too

[heavy juniper]

baggit is really scary when he wants to be

[thick moss]

I THOUGHT BAGGIT WAS A SMALL RAT FELLOW

THE DISGUST IN THE CHAPTER 1 MADE MORE SENSE AT THAT RATTLING MAKING THE STEW THAN JUST A SHORT PERSON

[onyx crescent]

lmao

[heavy juniper]

🤣 yeah they're just super shitty to mutants

[rich raptor]

space marines are supposed to be like mythic heroes. guard are regular people

that's why Abnett's space marine books are almost the only good ones

There were a few others that did a decent job

[rich raptor]

hobbits as filtered through a parody of british colonial stereotypes

[rich raptor]

I think they are also using old necrons

[native olive]

I know that, but on the outside alot of the games have the Space Marines, just think its neat to have the average miserable joe of the Imperium of Man..

[rich raptor]

Agreed

[native olive]

"old: Necrons? what there is a Gen-Z of Necrons?

[drowsy urchin]

oldcrons and newcrons. Oldcrons were without any character and just terminators in space, newcrons are what you've seen for the past decade at least and they're way more interesting

[rich raptor]

Oldcrons had interesting lore but quickly turned into saying literally everything in universe was a c'tan did it

so probably good

Next retcon twist: Necrons are actually men of iron who got a complex about being created by inferior humans to the point where they intentionally brainwashed t hemselves intho thinking they were older than humanity

[mellow knot]

I mean, I like Space Marines. But other people don't. And that's OK. 🙂

[woeful yew]

It would be boring as hell if we all liked the same thing 😉

[mellow knot]

Ain't that the truth.

[copper sphinx]

so currently halfway through magos

some of these shortstories are phenomenal

the strange demise of titus endor was heartwrenching

and i really enjoyed the backclotch for crown one too

looking forward to book club!

[copper sphinx]

hey you're not allowed to say that here 😠

[quick moon]

Honestly from a non-Necron perspective there's no difference. It works just as well as a Newcron plot.

[copper sphinx]

only SM and krieg hate allowed ||(also shitting on cadia)||

[quick moon]

I mean Death Krops are pretty cool.

Not all too interesting, but there is appeal in the whole grim determination thing. They just make terrible protagonists, which is why most stories about them are depicted from a third party PoV.

[copper sphinx]

i'm being facetious cause quite a few of the regulars are very anal about their dislike of krieg and space marines

[severe trail]

Lol

I don’t dislike Krieg, I dislike a lot of the dumb jokes around them

[quick moon]

Most factions get obnoxious when there's a saturation of jokes and memes around them.

And when everyone you talk to online can't talk about the merits and flaws of said faction without just repeating said memes ad infinitum.

[severe trail]

Y e p

[royal egret]

“Hahaha toaster Ad Mech. I am a comedy genius.”

[rich raptor]

Krieg is basically just on the strength of their aesthetics

[royal egret]

I would mostly agreed with that

Their lore is pretty basic to me

[quick moon]

They take the whole "soldiers are a statistic" idea some regiments have to its logical end as well. There's some fun concepts there, mainly in the idea of these dehumanized, disposable soldiers either going too far, or being put into situations that should be normal but they find uncomfortable.

Their old special rules were a bunch of fun as well.

[mellow knot]

And if I'm the only person who loves Space Marines, I don't mind at all. 😄

[copper sphinx]

you're too kind for this world fam ❤️

[mellow knot]

If you only knew.

[copper sphinx]

but you shouldn't say so, cause GW will stop making space marines if only you like them

[royal egret]

Well considering they pay for basically every other faction combined

It’s definitely more just an online thing

[mellow knot]

Pretty sure I’m safe there 🙂

[jaunty stratus]

My favourite story of the whole Eisenhorn series

Pretty good written and works perfectly, even without the 40k context. A good glimpse of how alzheimers might feel

[copper sphinx]

the curiosity was also good

had a nice surprise to it in the end

looking forward to hearing what the others thought of em

i bet we'll have plenty of opinion of which ones are the better ones

[craggy bone]

loved the short stories, kinda wish the whole book was just short stories+ more short stories

[gray plinth]

Anyone know if there are any books that include/are about the Missionarus Galaxia?

[stray prairie]

https://tenor.com/view/fall-weather-autumn-windy-fall-season-leaves-changing-gif-19292268

[split wind]

you got me bro the only reason i got into warhammer is badass dudes in suits. only space marines for me and i actually judge you if you aint into them 😉

[copper basin]

The Tau would like to speak to you about badass suits

[thorn bison]

Why oh why can't I use my vouchers for purchases delivered to Sweden?! I understand that the vouchers are in € and we use kr but why can't it just translate those amounts?

I can't use the vouchers because they can't be used on Swedish deliveries, so I have to order to another country in the EU

Problem is, I don't live in another country, I live here! Why is this like this GW?

[silver light]

Because $$$

[onyx crescent]

ah so they’re more spooky then

[carmine valve]

Can anyone tell me what book from the black library is told from the point of the necrons?

[chilly loom]

Twice Dead King and The Infinite and The Divine

[carmine valve]

Those the only ones?

Cause looking to gift em to someone

[solid pecan]

Is there a book considered to be a good for someone who knows nothing at all about the lore yet? Maybe like a good gateway book into the universe. I don't want to have to reference a website on what a lore word means so to speak, looking for something that explains as you go to wet my beak.

[rich raptor]

Space Marines are cool because they are the epitome of what boys want out of life before they start liking girls

[hearty niche]

As people always said.. esienhorn book is a great start

[rich raptor]

Or any of the old old sourcebooks

They had a lot more fluff back then compared to the current ones whoch are almost entirely rules

[solid pecan]

Will check it out, thanks

[mellow knot]

That’s in part because there is a lot more in terms of fiction outside of the rules set these days 🙂

[craggy bone]

try asking in 40k minis and armies or lore chat

they'll know

[quick moon]

The new Guardsmen look to be using updated Kantreal pattern Lasguns, with some added handles/attachment points. Should be the same ones the Cadians have been using for a long time.

It'll either be the standard Kantreal, or a new mark. Maybe an M37? But it looks mostly the same.

[trail gyro]

Ah shit, im so sorry. I faking missclicked 😅

[white hawk]

Anyone know any good books that talk about ogryns, trying to soak up what little fiction they have

doesnt have to be about them

just involve them

[main plover]

one from that novella collection back in 2021 i think, called spark of the revolution
its about an ogryn in necromunda

[lavish badger]

"The Wraithbone Phoenix" features a special Ogryn as one of the main chatracters

[random marlin]

There's an Ogryn in Imperial Glory, an old Astra Militarum novel. The Ogryn really behaves like a child in it (a big, brutish child, but a child nonetheless) which makes him kind of touching. He's a very minor character though.

I also saw an Ogryn in the recent Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! novel, but it's a very special Ogryn. Spoiler for this book (you do learn this near the beginning, but it's still a spoiler): ||The inquisitor retinue includes a female Psyker ogryn, it's an interesting character, and it shows a female Ogryn in the lore, but it's still far from the "usual" Ogryn description if that's what you're looking for.|| And it's also kind of a minor character.

[white hawk]

Sick, thank you all very much

Wanted to read Ghazghull anyway

[random marlin]

Now that I think of it, there are also two Bullgryns (I think?) in Cult of the Spiral Dawn, but they're in the background, not detailed characters, and just appear in a battle scene where they're quite efficient from what I remember. But it really is a minor appearance too, even more than the two others I've mentioned.

[royal lake]

Does that book have anything to do with Eldar, because wraithbone and phoenix are both craftworld words

[thick mulch]

They (The Darktide Team) just tweeted a Short story about an Ogryn and I have emotional damage

[mellow knot]

I’m not sure whether to be pleased or anxious about that as a reaction.

[thick mulch]

I think it achieved what it was trying to do, maybe it didn't have to do that to me at 3:00pm on a weekday.

Good job on the writing but it evokes the same emotions as Marley & me

[mellow knot]

Planxious, perhaps?

[lavish badger]

I'm still in the process of listening to the book. (It got some praise on this channel. 😁) Guess it's no spoiler that the Wraithbone Phoenix is an artifact thats being hunted. And like all Warhammer Crime novels, the story is located in a deteriorating imperial City.

[wraith timber]

Agreed, hit me right in the feels…

Fight now?

😄

😢

[mellow knot]

Guys, I’m glad y’all like my Ogryn tale. ❤️

[craggy bone]

when is Ogryn's tale 2: Revelations coming out?

[royal egret]

And the prequel, Ogryn’s Tale: Genisys

[vital maple]

I refuse to believe Tig didn’t survive

[mellow knot]

I loved creating him 🙂

[vital maple]

I’m glad, he was fun

[mellow knot]

He’s the hero Atoma needs. 😉

[wanton fossil]

TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG

the feels 😢

[sinful python]

TIG LIVES! STOMP STOMP

[thick mulch]

He should be immortalized in Plasteel in the Morningstar

The hero that allowed the recognizance to get back to the Morningstar 🥲

[mellow knot]

A Tig shrine would consist of a couple of tinnies and a hand rolled cigarette. 🙂

[stuck yoke]

Ey yo. Only ever read a few HH books. Need recommendations for wh40k audiobooks to listen to. So which ones should i go for and why? Hope this is the right place to ask for this

[drowsy urchin]

Eisenhorn saga is very good, current monthly book club on this server is on that series, although on the 4th book already. Other good ones are Cain and Gaunts books. If you want xenos The Infinite & Thee Divine or Twice Dead King are amazing Necron books and among my favourite 40k books of all time. Chaos marines my goto would be the Night Lords trilogy

[full raven]

"Eisenhorn saga is very good" in book 2 but man i loved the first

[lavish badger]

What kind of topics/style/factions are you interested in?

[stuck yoke]

Mainly imperial but open for anything wh40k, as long as its well written/read

[lavish badger]

"Eisenhorn" is always a good start. "Flesh and steel" might be a nice introduction to Imperial low life and its interaction with the Adeptus Mechanicus. "Rites of Passage" offers politics of the navigator nobility.

Imho the three books got interesting characters and are narrated well

A nice choice might also be "The Talon of Horus", as it kinda connects HH to 40k. Might be one of the best audiobooks so far. Focused on chaos, though.

[still plume]

Just got done listening to "his last command" and goddamn was it an absolute banger

[vital maple]

If you're interested in Necrons then the Twice Dead King Trilogy is a good place to start, with The Infinite and Divine being another good one, that's got a substantially lighter tone.

[solid spade]

Infinite and the Divine is probably the better one to start with, makes you love necron characters ^

[stuck yoke]

Thanks for all the answers everyone! Think I got plenty to listen through now xD

[wicked tree]

If you’re curious about what happened on and near Terra just before and after the great rift.

I’d check out the Vaults of Terra and Watchers of the Throne series. Focusing on the Inquisition and Custodes respectively

[hearty niche]

Hi lads, I'm pretty new to warhammer as a whole but have recently jumped into Vermintide 2 and played the Darktide beta and have loved them both (despite darktides performance issues). I'd like to dive into the world of warhammer a bit deeper before the release of Darktide so just wanted to ask where I should start in terms of books? Keeping in mind I have literally 0 existing knowledge on this franchise.

[craggy bone]

if you want Warhammer Fantasy then Gotrek and Felix books, for Warhammer 40k a nice start is Eisenhor trilogy, Gaunt's ghosts and Ciaphas Cain

[hearty niche]

what is the difference between fantasy and 40K? Should I be looking to get into both eventually? Are they related at all in terms of lore?

i apologise for the bombardment of questions

[craggy bone]

they're different universes with some similar factions and antagonists. Fantasy is one planet with a lot of factions that are often darkly comedic takes on human cultures and fantasy stereotypes(the setting of Vermintide) while 40k is science fiction with a very grim look of the future of humanity and alien life

[hearty niche]

ahh okay I see, I assume 40K is the preffered settings amoungst the community?

[craggy bone]

40k is more popular and GW officially killed(and literally destroyed in the lore) the Warhammer Fantasy setting so they can make a continuation called Age of Sigmar. Due to the surge of popularity of the Fantasy setting thanks to the games like Total War Warhammer and Vermintide they're once again launching lines of miniatures so it's kinda getting revived. I vastly prefer Fantasy but both settings are cool in their own way

[hearty niche]

Wow, interesting, well sounds like I have a lot to work through, best start searching for material to start reading. Thank you very much for answering my questions 😄

[craggy bone]

no problem, happy to help

[mellow knot]

Gonna just throw in here that as a life long reader of SF/F - a lot of the Warhammer Fantasy/Warcry/Age of Sigmar stuff is WAY up there with some of the best fantasy I’ve ever read.

[quick moon]

As a side note, Gotrek and Felix isn't just a great novel series to get introduced into Warhammer Fantasy, but it also brings you all the way to the end of the setting and into Age of Sigmar. The Gotrek audio dramas and novels for Age of Sigmar are the best gateway to that setting.

[drowsy urchin]

If you want a starter to Darktide specifically Luetin made a video about it in cooperation with Fatshark, it touched upon the 40k lore and history in general as well https://youtu.be/VwLoEhgcyzc

[mellow knot]

Hey folks!

Check these out - a VA has taken the Darktide short stories and turned them into little audio versions. I’ll add any more that show up, but they’re great and well worth a listen.

Posted here following confirmation from CM. 🙂

Veteran - https://youtu.be/khXbHKZcMP0

Zealot - https://youtu.be/FpbW6sfbV34

Ogryn - https://youtu.be/l0yKiWvX7gM

Psyker - https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=93aie74HVd8

[agile hedge]

Love it thank you

[hearty niche]

listening to it pretty cool

[mellow knot]

It’s the strangest thing hearing a story you’ve written as an audio. I love it.

[toxic nebula]

do we know who voiced it

nvm im stupid

[agile hedge]

[hearty niche]

Books? Go straight Warhammer 40k a lot of them are good writing

[gray plinth]

can confirm. also, just in general, most of the published work that you find on fantasy/scifi shelf is going to be pretty good; probably better than a lot of the stuff written by celebrity authors who get their stories worked into other media formats like movies/tv shows

[unborn stone]

I need to agree on this one and its very Surprising ! But in fact there are some great books in die 40k Lore.

[mellow knot]

Genre fiction generally gets sneered at by other writers and that’s the way it’s always been. It has gained more credibility in recent years because of some of the big adaptations

[proper portal]

I finally got some good warhammer books on my kindle, starting with the GREATEST HERO OF ALL, Caiaphas Cain, Hero of the Imperium.

[proper portal]

You're the writer? Cool!

[mellow knot]

Guilty as charged

[proper portal]

So thats the crime they sent you to the Inquisition for

[mellow knot]

One of the many.

[craggy bone]

literary academia is unfortunately full of very elitist snobs. As a historian I've participated in a lot of early modern literature translation projects and have been an editor for many sci-fi/fantasy short story collections for the last 10 years and the amount of awful takes and bad criticisms of the sci-fi/fantasy by people with education in literature that never read it was astounding

[vital crest]

wait what, do people in academia not really read the genre they critique?

[craggy bone]

they seriously believe in the false high/low literature separation, was especially funny when I've seen dude that defended his doctoral thesis on a novel which was more or less historical fantasy but he didn't realize it due to his lack of historical knowledge being critical of fantasy. "Did you actually read it?" "No, but I can see at a glance that it has no literary value". EDIT: Yeah, also the novel of the thesis was written originally to sell more newspapers but there was a shortage of national authors of my country at that period so it's artificially kept in high regard, just adds to the hilarity

[craggy bone]

yes, happens constantly.

[vital crest]

wow

[proper portal]

they're as lazy as their students, cool

[mellow knot]

Even my own dad, when my first 40k book was published was ‘yes, but it’s not a real book, is it?’

[craggy bone]

what's the book? Currently on a 40k spree

[mellow knot]

I mean, he mostly reads non-fiction stuff anyway so I let that one bounce off me.

[mellow knot]

The first one was The Gildar Rift.

[craggy bone]

I think the problem with lit students is that they're generally in a lit bubble which often encourages interaction with only other lit students and their professors. Had many bad encounters with them while translating and perhaps it's a little bit negative of me but after years of contact with them from all parts of Europe(and USA in a couple of instances) I just can't take them seriously anymore.

[gray plinth]

it happens in every genre

i was a music student and almost all of the instructors and professors had a very derisive view of anything resembling a modern genre of music

despite the fact that metal and prog has far more in common with jazz than rock and roll which is the only non-classical genre that classical musicians tend to regard well

[mellow knot]

Even within genre fiction, speculative fiction is kind of treated as the embarrassing member of the family

[mellow knot]

I've always been super-proud of the fact that my music tastes are hugely eclectic. My playlist has stuff from classical through to metal and every shade in-between. My take is that if I like how something sounds, or if it evokes an emotional response of some sort, I like it.

My heart will always belong to the music of the 80s though. 😄

[copper sphinx]

Wait what you're a published 40k author? @mellow knot you'll have to shares what youve writtrn now

[copper sphinx]

Same here tbh, I have a friend who even said i have eclectic tastes in general

[mellow knot]

Quickest route..

https://www.blacklibrary.com/Home/Search-Results.html?__csrfToken=tDcUncmaDZk7jkQrSh%2BwSlZaCM0%2BXk88QB7xwBiAJej5&filter_type=6&filter_Action=0&filter_name=SearchTerm&submit=GO&filter_value=Cawkwell

although that’s not quite all of it

But you get the idea

[hearty niche]

What book?

[copper sphinx]

Quite a few ones

Very cool

[mellow knot]

All detailed above

[hearty niche]

That's a lot

You write war cry? Damn that's lit

[hearty niche]

@proper portal @agile hedge @hearty niche @stuck yoke
Finding out some good books to listen? For fantasy: war cry and the story of the reaper aka khorne's Valkyrie, for wh40k: hammer and bolter highly recommend

[sage vapor]

These are INCREDIBLE! Easily deserve to be posted on the official Darktide channel

[mellow knot]

They’re wonderful, aren’t they?

[quick vessel]

bless ur soul kentucky

[mellow knot]

Well, thank you.

I… think.

[thorn bison]

In whose name are you blessing this soul...?

[quick vessel]

the machine god of course 🙏

[thorn bison]

Gotta get my daily quota y'know what I'm saying?

[quick vessel]

im not alpharius :[

[gaunt glacier]

hydra dominatus

[onyx crescent]

Then aspire to be 😤😤

💪

[gaunt glacier]

facts

snek

[quick vessel]

FAX FRFR omw to shave my fucking head and start pumpin iron

[swift beacon]

you called?

[quick vessel]

we're not alpharius anymore :[

this is a lie

[gaunt glacier]

or is it

sus

[glass coyote]

The Darktide short stories have inspired me to do a little writing of my own about my own character backstory. I went with a Veteran and it's turning out to be a lot of fun. Especially figuring out what crime they did that didn't result in a BLAM by a Commissar.

[unreal saddle]

Hydra Susinatus

[void stirrup]

It's pretty meh. Spends a long time setting up for little payoff. If you are looking for tank books, I liked Gunheads (other Leman Russ tank book) much better (it is also old and super cheap). Baneblade and Shadowsword are popcorn movies in book form, but really fun.

[random marlin]

You can read reviews on Goodreads for Steel Tread here: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58326584-steel-tread?ac=1&from_search=true&qid=ChBbj1SFNx&rank=1

My review is somewhere in it too. 😉

But to sum up my view about the novel, I liked the way it intertwined the personal situation of the crew, and the conflicts between them, with the massive battle going on, and there were some high-tension scenes which really worked for me.

The book is a bit too much on the heroic side of things, especially near the end, for my taste (my favorite AM novels are Fire Caste, 15 hours and Dead Men Walking so I enjoy nihilistic and/or satirical takes on the universe rather than popcorn war movies), but, to its credit, it never forgot about its characters like a lot of other AM novels/short stories do.

There are also a lot of details about a tank crew life that helped getting immersed in what they are experiencing.

I wouldn't say it's a must read, but I enjoyed it much more than most other AM novels. 🙂

[mellow knot]

Writing character vignettes is a glorious thing to do and I love doing them.

[grand scaffold]

Fire Caste is so good

[random marlin]

It's basically the novel that drove me back to 40k. 🙂 I had started reading AM novels as they're my favorite faction and most books I read were so action packed that the characters were all one-dimensional, with Chaos being the worst, all being moustache-twirling villains with no substance.

And then came Fire Caste with its complex characters and situations, and I was sucked right back in 40k. This novel really shows how great the 40k universe done right can be.

Well, an important piece of advice first... It really depends on what you're looking for in AM novels.

I know there are a lot of people who enjoy AM novels as long as they're action-packed and shows how heroic and great the Imperial Guard can be. I guess one could call it "Lasgun porn". 😉

I enjoy more nuanced, bleak takes on it, like the three novels I have mentioned in my earlier post, and characters are important to me, as I need to find them relatable, or at least care about them, so I can be immersed in the story.

In the case of Cadia Stands, it wasn't for me, as it tells important elements of the lore and as such is not focused on its characters at all, or at least too little for me to care about them. The best way I could describe it is that, imagine you're watching Saving Private Ryan, but 90% of the scenes of character development have been cut. So you just have the action scenes, one after the other, unfolding. You don't know the characters who are fighting and dying, and can't really care for them.

There are still some good scenes in the novel, but it wasn't what I was looking for in an AM novel.

However, I enjoyed the second novel in the trilogy more, as it focused on Minka Lensk and we follow another character who has quite an interesting story arc. Traitor Rock, the third one in the trilogy, goes back to me on the heavy side of the action and I didn't enjoy it a lot.

But it's all a matter of taste really. 🙂

I find them very enjoyable, Abnett is great at worldbuilding and making characters relatable and/or memorable. The only thing that annoys me with Gaunt's Ghosts is how powerful and somewhat unkillable they are at some point. They sometimes shoot down enemies who are supposed to be on their level or formidable by dozens, reminds me of 80's action movies.

And on the other hand, Abnett sure likes to surprise the reader by getting a Ghost killed from time to time.

Anyway, if you haven't read them, I'd advise you to do so, they're a lot of fun and are a staple for AM novels.

You're welcome, and feel free to share what you thought of the books you read here, I'd be happy to see what you thought of them. 🙂

[proper portal]

finally reading some CAIPHUS CAIN and hooo boy it do be fun

exactly the kinda dude i wanna read about in 40k land

snappy dialog, goofy funny hero, and good action

anything else in that tier of greatness in the books?

[thorn bison]

Have you read "The Infinite and The Divine"?

[craggy bone]

try to find a list to read them in the chronological order, the release order(so non linear) doesn't add anything to them

[void stirrup]

If you are looking more light hearted, the only others off the top of my head are the original Kal Jericho trilogy. Necromunda, bounty hunter going around the bleak awful hive with his trusty mutant sidekick and bad-ass sort of love interest femme fatale, getting caught up in plots by cults, nobles, gangs, and always coming through smirking.

Think they have written more, but I have only read the first ones

He is kind of where the cyber-dog lore from 40k got developed. He has one.

Blood royal, Caridnal Crimson, and Lasgun Wedding were the titles in order I think.

[rich raptor]

Abnett did his tribute to the old ww2 fighter pilot genre with Double Eagle

It was pretty good

He also did one with titans, Titanicus

They get cameo appearances in some of his other books too

Peter Fehrvari is also good, pretty unappreciated

I think the only adam dempski boden book i realy liked was The Emperor's Gift

I know som epeople liked the Soul Hunter series but it was j ust a little too overwrought for me

it's a fine line you have to walk with space marines

[hoary loom]

So far I’ve gone through quite a few Horus heresy books

I’m onto “battle for the abyss”

[rich raptor]

meh i wont spoil it but the imo the only good horus heresy books are dan abnetts

[hoary loom]

I disagree I rather enjoyed listening about istvan 3

The only time I was kinda bored was the fulgrim

Gonna get gaunts ghosts

[gaunt glacier]

Gaunt's Ghosts awesome, the Sabbat Worlds Crusade my fav 40k fluff ❤️

Sabbat Martyr 😌

[hoary loom]

Sad cadian blood isn’t on audible looked like an interesting story Hopefully it’ll be added in the future

I can’t really sit and read books I like listening

[echo turret]

listening the infinite and the divine while playing cyberpunk 2077

I like listening to stuff while I game

its really good 🙂

the Infinite and the divine

[hoary loom]

Gaunts ghost it is

[vital maple]

Necropolis is really good

[brittle crown]

Just got Mortarion: The Pale King. I haven't read any 40k novels as an adult so i'm looking forward to jumping back in, as well as hoping that I picked a good one 😂

[thorn bison]

The Primarchs novels are consistently good in my experience (though I've only read 10 of them so far) so you're probably in for a good time!

[brittle crown]

Cool looking forward to it then! I looked into some of the other novels people recommend, but most were pretty hard to find for a decent price especially the older ones

[thorn bison]

Yeah, some of the oldest ones aren't sold anymore but the newer ones get reprinted sometimes

I'd recommend Alpharius: Head of the Hydra and Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero, if you can find them

Currently reading Rogal Dorn: The Emperor's Crusader but I haven't finished it so I can't in good faith recommend it until I'm done with it

[heavy juniper]

head of the hydra is fantastic.

[jaunty stratus]

Just finished Angelus Exterminatus, though the book has similar problems like Fulgrim, when it comes to its length, there were really some hilarious scenes and kind of satisfying ones too, considering some characters really needed some behaviour checks
||do we see the one surviving dark eldar again or was he really just a plot device for this one book?||

[gaunt glacier]

hydra dominatus

[heavy juniper]

🙏

[brittle crown]

Honestly I'll probably read both at some point, I want to know more about Alpharius's chapter and him as well. Magnus also seems like a easy choice since I love the Thousand Sons and Ahriman

[thorn bison]

All books about the Alpha Legion are great in my experience so if you want some additional books about them I'd also recommend "Legion" (Horus Heresy) and "Shroud of Night" (40k)

legion is great as additional background fluff for the lads and Shroud is Alpha marines encountering primaris for the first time

[gaunt glacier]

All is dust

[brittle crown]

Sounds good, screenshoted the suggestions for the future! I wanna freshen up my knowledge on the books, lore, and general writing so I can start trying to run some 40k TTRPG

I'll definitely post my thoughts here when I start and finish Mortarion

[thorn bison]

I'll be looking forward to it!

Haven't read it myself yet so it'll be nice to see someone's opinion

[brittle crown]

I just love death guard and Nurgle, and the wait for DTide is killing me so I figured I'll dive into it all 😂

[glass coyote]

That's what it started as, but as I started writing it's turned from my eventual darktide veteran being the protaganist to someone related to him becoming the main character for the short story. I know how this person is going to die too, very heroic and Caidan-like. Somehow the Commissar is also forcing his way into it lol.

Standing at 1200 words right now, but still have one or two scenes I need to render before I get proper a Reject origin.

[onyx crescent]

How are the Heretic omnibuses other than NL?

Currently just started reading Iron warriors and then probably going into Word bearers

are they decent enough?

[fading parrot]

I have an entire google doc full of links to different vignettes lol it is a lot of fun.

[fading parrot]

Is there a Darktide style book in the 40k universe?

[rich raptor]

What does that mean

[onyx crescent]

A book of convicts fighting chaos or wdym?

[hoary loom]

if you want guardsmen fighting nurgle units there is "cadian blood" i believe

[fading parrot]

Sounds cool

[swift beacon]

amazing classic book. I love the moment, ||when the psyker asked the raven guard about tarots. Everyone was like wtf, let’s kills this guy. then he asked for a space marine psyker. Which to everyone’s surprise, he honor that request. Psyker went off on that book.||

[hoary loom]

i havent read it im more an audiobook person

and it isnt available on audible

wanted to listen since theres only like 2 books that show off kasrkin

the annoying part about audible is they dont have any consistency in voices

so like book 1 would be one person then book 2 another

if its a series it should come under 1 person to read it

luckily the eisenhorn series is like that

[ember moss]

What the fuck is up with Dan Abnett and bodygloves

[jaunty stratus]

I mean. Have you seen black widow? That's the prototype for Cara Swole. DA writes for horny teenagers mainly afterall

[swift beacon]

the night lord trilogy is amazing on audible. in fact, it’s how i was introduced to that series.

[fickle sentinel]

good ig books on audible

[hoary loom]

I was listening to the Horus heresy series and the HALO book series called “grasslands” “the Thursday war” and “mortal dictata”

Good 3 book series

Truth be told the Horus heresy series was interesting except I found the fulgrim book kinda dull except I ended up liking the loyalist emperors children guy I can’t remember his name

[jaunty stratus]

solomon demeter or saul tarvitz?

Fulgrim could be a very good book, if it was shorter imo, same with angelus exterminatus

scratch that, a good book

very good if they reworked the arc of fulgrim, because hes like really dumb

eldrad too lmao

[hoary loom]

I think tarvitz he died on istvan 3 didn’t he?

[jaunty stratus]

then it was demeter

nevermind, it was tarvitz too

totally forgot, that he died there too. Tarvitz was the one who warned all on the ground, demeter was one of the people on istvaan 3 that got warned by him

[fickle sentinel]

IG books IG books IG books (thats not cain or gaunts ghosts)

[jaunty stratus]

Horus Heresy: Legion

one of the cooler Imperial Army regiments

sadly at the end it shifts more towards these manchilds in power armor

[rich raptor]

They are high tech

[random marlin]

What are you looking for in IG Books exactly? If you want more action-focused, heroic novels, there's the Cadian trilogy (Cadia Stands/Cadian Honour/Traitor Rock) as well as Steel Tread that has been published this year and there are a lot of other books that are written this way. If you want something more nuanced with satirical/nihilistic aspects (think Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket and so on), there's 15 Hours, Fire Caste and Dead Men Walking. Hope it helps. 🙂

(psst, what's the use of the historitor bot please?)

[hoary loom]

that the alpha legion one?

[jaunty stratus]

ye

[hoary loom]

stupid ass primarchs

[jaunty stratus]

its mainly focussed on the geno five two though

good spy story too

[rich raptor]

The abnett ones are the bedt

[rich raptor]

Fire Caste by Peter Fehrvari

Strong shades of apocalypse now and the vandermeer books

Well written

[subtle fractal]

I really like the whole big tiddy psychic command staff element

[gaunt glacier]

I liked Fabius Bile novels

[unreal saddle]

Gaunts ghost made me a fan of Abnett. Especially the novel "Traitor General"

[gaunt glacier]

Dan Abnett is absolute legend

[unreal saddle]

His writing on chaos and the characters reflecting on it has stayed with me for so long lmao

At least in traitor general

[gaunt glacier]

ikr ❤️

Urlock Gaur 😌

[unreal saddle]

tries to remember a character mkvenner in that novel got me like hmpf

[native frigate]

His characters feel like they were molded by the universe and not just in it.

[gaunt glacier]

I really love the way he wrote the Blood Pact and even the splinter groups like the Sons of Sek, Urlock Gaur and Anakwanar Sek were interesting

[unreal saddle]

Very true. This series has the benefit of being long running, so we see far more in the personal lives of them. Caffran, Tona, and Dalin for example

Also having an actual organized chaos threat outside of spesh mureens was fantastic

[gaunt glacier]

The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is a proof of how powerful a Chaos Cult can become, one of my fav parts of the fluff.

[gaunt glacier]

yup, exactly

[unreal saddle]

Guardsmen being human instead of guarding all the time. I like war and the violence on 40k but gimme family time and regiment chemistry. The stuff that makes the fighting actually matter

[gaunt glacier]

yesssss

[fading parrot]

I do like the darktide trailer where they're playing cards lol

More of that

[swift beacon]

grasslands is amazing story, a good insight before halo 4. Wish they properly fleshed out jul character in the later games

[visual barn]

Card tables in the hub when?