40k-book-club

[hoary loom]

the entire kilo five team was interesting

[swift beacon]

yeah naomi-10 is a real one. Favourite spartan from the past novels. plus the first person to ever wear the mark VII

[hoary loom]

naomi is great

[fickle sentinel]

Is the cadian trilogy on audible?

[hoary loom]

yes

https://www.audible.co.uk/series/Cadia-Audiobooks/B098TSWZ1B?ref=a_search_c3_lSeries_1_1_1&pf_rd_p=c6e316b8-14da-418d-8f91-b3cad83c5183&pf_rd_r=TZ7ME7517FJ07A7FMYFB

[rich raptor]

Honestly anyone who wants to get into 40k books should first read Dune

And A Canticle for Leibowitz

If they're patient maybe Foundation, though that one is pretty slow

[visual barn]

I dunno about that one. I get it for training your mind to be open to the obscure but, thats a separate beast of its own that takes a lot of investment to digest, especially just to be a preliminary read before reading what you actually want to get into.

[chilly loom]

40k books are generally not that deep

Esp not worth a preliminary reading list

[hoary loom]

Why read dune when there’s a new movie about it that looks and is incredible

[jaunty stratus]

Why read Dune wehn there is the original source material: Warhammer 40k

[jaunty stratus]

Denis Villeneuve sadly has bad luck with his movies amortization. Let's hope he gets the money to at least finish the arc of Paul before they cut the cashflow. If this is achieved, I'm already happy. But afaik he only wants to make like 2 or maybe more movies. Doubt there will be a adaptation of Brian Herberts works

[gaunt glacier]

moorcock accusing bryan ansell of plagiarism be like

[harsh meteor]

When´s the Magos-bookclub taking place again?

I am just hoping I´ll get my order so I have time to read it before that happens

[jaunty stratus]

30th of november

so, you have still enough time, I think. Though Magos is really packed with pages

[harsh meteor]

i read fast so not too worried

been now 2 weeks since i placed the order

next time will probably hunt down a proper e-book offer :p

[jaunty stratus]

they separated the audiobooks into two parts in my country, 13hrs short storys and 11hrs the novel itself, compared to lord of the rings the fellowship, which is 22hrs, its still quite much, just as a warning😅

[harsh meteor]

i dislike audiobooks tbh

i much prefer listening to music on the background and making a nice cup of tea and sipping that while reading a book

perfect escapism 🙂

[jaunty stratus]

but to be fair, unlike lotr the fellowship * looking at you chapter: about hobits *, I enjoyed every minute of magos, so it might be an easier read. Of course only if you have a similar taste

[craggy bone]

tried audiobooks but I space out during reading so when I space out during listening I often can't remember how much I skipped

[jaunty stratus]

true, that. In my case it helps a lot though, have a very busy schedule and not a lot of free time, so I listening to the audiobooks while doing something else. Also thanks to my law studying, I read quite a lot to don't have any motivation to read in my freetime

[harsh meteor]

yeah that makes sense

for me it´s the voice acting that it never matches the voices in my head (does that sound wrong? 😄 ) so it feels... odd

i usually end up creating quite vivid images of the story taking place in my head when reading a great book

[jaunty stratus]

can perfectly understand that

luckily for now, the the voice actors in my language do a very good job. But because they are slow as hell, I had to change to english for bequin for example. Now Cara Swole speaks with russian dialect, this is not what I had in mind when I thought of her Character and really was something I had to adjust to

[craggy bone]

"Cara Swole speaks with russian dialect", that's weird. Did they do it to lean into the memes that she's "visually similar but legally distinct" to Black widow?

[jaunty stratus]

also a reason I can't listen to toby longworth doing eisenhorn, I have a totally other voice in mind thinking about him

[harsh meteor]

iirc Lord Abnett uses the word "voluptuous" in describing her so she´d kinda be Black Widow but in Spehhs!

also known as the literary technique of "thirst for the thirst god" 😛

[jaunty stratus]

I guess I think so, I mean, yes, I also thought about Black Widow, when she was described, but the dialect makes her sound quite "harsh" and "cold" what really is not how she is. Could also be because Helen Keeley just has like x characters she can voice without switching to a dialect to make them distinct. Voice Acting demands still a lot of variance with your voice

I mean, black bodysuit, that emphasises on her curves, switching haircolors with red and blond hair, acrobatic...ye its black widow from mcu in spehs

only thing missing is her origin as an agent, that somehow switched to robin

[rich raptor]

It's a good book though, anyone who is into sci-fi should read it

Also what do you mean investment it's just a book

[copper sphinx]

Dune is supershort, wouldnt say it's much to digest lol

And honestly you only need to read dune, all the other books are purely if you can't get enough of dune. They are not required reading at all

[jaunty stratus]

just like the original source of Dune, the horus heresy. the first four books are the "needed" one and the rest is a can, not a must

[copper sphinx]

[visual barn]

I don't disagree it's a good read for sci-fi fans, just that I don't think it necessary at all to get into reading 40k. It would help simply for the purpose of training your mind to take in abstract concepts which both settings have, but that's about it.

[snow gazelle]

40k Mechanicus time!! 😈

[stuck yoke]

Are there any books regarding Khrave infestations? Or is that more of a niche side thing?

[pseudo raft]

hello all, if i want to read about the imperium of man

[jaunty stratus]

depends, because like 75% is about imperium

[pseudo raft]

ah, what about books that focus on the emperor and how it all started

[jaunty stratus]

Then you have to at least dive down the Horus Heresy series, at the first four books. There is not really a "genesis" book, so it's mostly side story hear and there, but this series pretty much lays down the biggest foundation

It's Horus Rising, False Gods, Galaxy im Flames and Flight of the Eisenstein

[blazing nymph]

Can someone recommend me some books regarding Ciaphas Cain ?

[gaunt glacier]

Liber Xenologis as BL sourcebook with a section dedicated to the Khrave during M41 and Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First as BL novel during M31

[agile hedge]

All of them are solid read, if possible I'd advice you to buy the Omnibuses like Hero of the Imperium or Defender of the Imperium they include short stories that don't take too much time to read and are entertaining

[heavy juniper]

a lot of the horus heresy books touch on this. master of mankind especially has a lot of glimpses at the backstory of the imperium and the emperor. also the valdor book.

[white hawk]

Right so, been looking for books that talk about Ogryns, thanks to some people in here I've had some recommendations, and now, because abhumans are boring without actual humans to make them look 'Ab' I'm asking for traitor guard / normal people gone bad or maybe even gene stealer cults. any recommendations would be great.

[random marlin]

Unfortunately, most of BL novels describe traitor guard/normal people gone bad as mindless idiots or moustache-twirling villains. But there are exceptions. From what I've read, here's what I can recommend:

• Cadian Honour by Justin D. Hill : you get two central characters, one is Minka Lensk, who is a recurring hero of the Cadian trilogy, and the other is an ordinary guy who, for various reasons, ends up joining a Chaos uprising. I liked the fact that the book did not make him just an evil guy at all, and shows how he ends up in this situation.
• Empra by Nate Crowley: in this short story, we are following a young woman who lives on a planet where they have to provide shells for the "Empra". One day, she finds an angel fallen off the sky... Is he a messenger of the Empra? A great read about the consequences of blind faith.

About Genestealer Cults:

• Cult of the Spiral Dawn by Peter Fehervari: this one is more focused on the Astra Militarum regiment on the planet, but you still get to see how the cult/genestealers are operating, and the feeling of brotherhood they have between them, while the humans are on the other hand ruthless and paranoid.
• Day of Ascension by Adrian Tchaikovsky: in this one, we follow two characters, an Adeptus Mechanicus Priest and a young woman who is part of a Genestealer Cult. The setting is a planet ruled by the Adeptus Mechanicus where the working masses are treated like cattle. Adrian Tchaikovsky is a renowned author oustide of BL and his style is fluid and very enjoyable. Interestingly enough, when we as a reader sees how the working masses are treated, it's hard not to empathize with the members of the Genestealer Cult.

Last, if you're looking for more "normal human" novels, you can also check the "Warhammer Horror" and "Warhammer Crime" categories of Black Library, the books in these categories tend to focus more on ordinary people. Hope it helps! 🙂

[jaunty stratus]

to add something: Traitor General from the Gaunts Ghosts series

and to some extent: Blood Pact too

[pearl falcon]

Adrian Tchaikovsky writes 40k?!

Damn

[random marlin]

Yep, it was released this year if I'm not mistaken.

[pearl falcon]

Gosh I kinda wanna read that now

[scenic tide]

I've read too much manga. BL stands for something entirely different for me, so I was mentally double taking in my head for a moment.

Boys Love. Quite literally; very gay. 100%, even.

[random marlin]

https://tenor.com/view/oh-john-wick-gif-19968159

[scenic tide]

Certainly gives "Adrian Tchaikovsky is a renowned author oustide of BL" a new context.

[void stirrup]

Cult of the Warmason is the other Genestealer Cult book, also pretty good. Has the oddity of the "bad guys" winning too.

[radiant iris]

Eisenhorn series makes me want to play psyker all the time

[copper sphinx]

Love me some bloodpact

[copper sphinx]

I was googling yuri from red alert 2 yesterday. Did not add red alert to the search

[scenic tide]

Ha, I remember when I did that. Good times.

[stray prairie]

What was the first 40k book written

[stray prairie]

In one of the siege of terra books there’s that traitor guard unit with the girl in it they’re on that train and shit and they’re portrayed as pretty normal up until the point it’s revealed they’re bad guys

[gaunt glacier]

Ian Watson's Inquisitor should be the first 40k novel published under Boxtree. Ian Watson has the following to say regarding the first novels a decade before BL was a thing.

"Go back quarter of a century and Mr Big was Bryan Ansell, Managing Director/Owner of GW who wanted to read “real” novels by “real” novelists set in his beloved Warhammer domains. As intermediary Bryan hired David Pringle, editor of Britain’s leading SF magazine Interzone, operating from Brighton as GW books. David had already recruited half a dozen authors who regularly contributed stories to Interzone, but no one would touch Warhammer 40K with a bargepole. So it fell to me to read Rogue Trader and many other encyclopedic publications which Nottingham HQ proceeded to send me, including printouts of nonfiction work-in-progress such as the manual of Necromunda, and much else. Bryan Ansell did send me quite a long letter lovingly detailing the sounds which 40K weaponry should make, so that I should be geared up sensually to describe combat. As far as I’m aware (though beware of false memory!) I was given no instructions at all regarding plot or characters and I simply made up the story, within the constraints of what I knew about the 40K universe. I toured the 40K universe, and after a few years the GW games designers decided that they disapproved of a broad approach, compared with single-action novels set on single worlds. (Those are more compatible with games, of course.)"
https://www.ianwatson.info/a-sequel-to-the-inquisition-war/

Not to mention, John Blanche's Jaq Draco piece was inspired by Sean Connery in Soviet military uniform from The Hunt for Red October as he mentioned in his WD 139 (UK) Blanchitsu column as a little fun fact xD

[jaunty stratus]

one word "gussy"

oh and "shit nugget"

Ian Watson was just avantgarde

[void stirrup]

The man's other big works are The Embedding and Orgasmachine. The problem isn't the general story, especially given the lack of any real guidelines even if it is super over the top. The problem is his juvenile and perverse characters.

[jaunty stratus]

Eh, the authors behind sandy Mitchell aren't that far away from Watson tbh. It's just that BL keeps an eye out to match the age ratings

[void stirrup]

Ian Watson's Space Marine in particular is BAD. The most unsavory things in that book cannot be talked about here as this discord has rules that mentioning some of the details would violate.

Worst, none of it is used to express any great concept or develop characters. The awfulness and the juvenile behavior are just there.

[royal egret]

Bifurcated

Penis

[copper sphinx]

same reason i could never read the dresden files

the theme is amazing

but the main characters is so fucking juvenile and unlikeable

i couldn't stomach reading them

[high ridge]

"Who knows, this could be my next movie"

[mellow knot]

May I recommend Mike Carey’s Felix Castor books instead?

[copper sphinx]

I'll have a look, never heard of them!

[mellow knot]

I thoroughly enjoyed them. I mean, I loved the Dresden Files too. Felix Castor is a different tone generally though.

[copper sphinx]

How did you get around how entirely unlikeable the main guy is in dresden files? Just the way he treats women is ouuuugh

[mellow knot]

Because I found a lot of the support characters infinitely more enjoyable

[copper sphinx]

you're a stronger man than I am. i couldn't stop cringing and just gave up.

[stray prairie]

Who was the space marine psyker who defeated mortarions lackey on the planet fortress or whatever they’re called in ultramar

[royal egret]

Do you mean Typhus?

The guy who got defeated?

[stray prairie]

Yeah typhus

[royal egret]

It was an unnamed grey knight but he got named in Godblight I think.

He was like a Captain or something

[rich raptor]

i hvaent read it in a while but isnt' he just your typical hardboiled detective except extra smug? i honestly don't remember anythign else about the book except that he wears a leather duster which is kidn of lol

[dusky hemlock]

I like Harry dresden.

He absolutely starts off like a chauvinist dummy, because at the start he absolutely is.

He does get better, by far as the series progresses. He lets go of the "hardboiled" detective tropes pretty quickly early on.

It's a Harry thing, not a series thing - other POV characters lack those qualities

[copper sphinx]

maybe that's it, cause i have been super confused why people love the series. like i cannot grasp how people got around to liking the main dude

meanwhile he just makes my skin crawl

[compact sable]

I liked him, but then again I read those because I wanted to read Noir Detectives and such

[mellow knot]

The audiobooks are really good, too. James Marsters reads them and he nails it.

[worthy monolith]

Are there any books directly linked to this game?

[hard gale]

That and Dan Abnett also wrote Darktide so you can be damn sure when the full game drops there's gonna be some good Inquisitorial stuff in the story/game world

[gaunt glacier]

Dan Abnett ❤️

[zenith comet]

I recently started Horus Rising to try and get into this universe more. While I am enjoying it, the vocabulary is a little tough, is that normal starting out?😅

[dusky hemlock]

Absolutely. Horus Rising is only the beginning of the Heresy series - its nowhere near a truly 'beginner' book that explains things.

Though context clues will help out alot. What in particular's been stumping you?

[zenith comet]

It's not really a particular thing. It's just trying to understand names of items or certain "fantastical" terms they use. Idk if it's something to dwell on or just keep reading and eventually it will all click as I learn more perhaps?

[dusky hemlock]

Yeahhh. That will come with time. Actually, I wonder if somebody's got a glossary somewhere.

But yeah. Some common bits:

Vox- any kind of comm system. Vox-thief is a bug/wiretap.

Auspex is just a catchall for scanning equipment.

Promethium is likewise legit any fuel source that could be shoved into a fuel tank.

Then you're gonna have all the messy false church latin that'll mostly come with context clues.

[zenith comet]

Thank you for the advice 😃 this will definitely help me, and there does appear to be a few glossaries around that can help me as well. Thanks a ton🙏

[worthy storm]

Anyone else read Day of Ascension? About a third of the way through it as my first 40k book. Loving it so far

[rich raptor]

It's something the universe gets from Dune imo

Also the Horus Heresy books were written for 40k superfans and not beginners

[random marlin]

Read it and loved it too! 🙂

[jaunty stratus]

40k, the fictional universe, where it was actually usefull that I learned a dead language in school back then

[mellow knot]

If anything properly stumps you, just shout up and utilise the hive brain 🙂

[toxic nebula]

The ciaphas cain books have foot notes that explain in universe terms if its something your lookin for

also they are just fun books

[noble turret]

40k Flashman

[gaunt glacier]

caiphas cain awesome

[rich raptor]

"Flashman except he's actually a good guy" is kind of a weaksauce take

I would have preferred actual 40k Flashman lol

[rich raptor]

There's also a decent dose of blackadder in there

And the gimmick of "hero who thinks he's a coward" owes something to some of the other classic military books like Hornblower

[frail beacon]

I want a book where we have the classic heroes trying to overthrow the tyrannical tyranny where one of them is the kid who is learning to control their mysterious power (untrained psyker) and they all eventually become a chaos cult being brutally hunted down by the inquisition

it would go a long way to humanize both chaos cultists and the brutal inquisitors and why they are so merciless in hunting traitors

[toxic nebula]

theres already stuff that humanizes both sides

infact what you just described is basically the latter part of the ||eisenhorn series||

admittedly hes not exactly just a child, but it covers that kinda stuff from an angle where the line blurs a fair bit

[royal egret]

Chaos causing people with good intentions to fall and become what they were fighting against is almost overdone at this point its been done so much.

Its done well often, but its been done a lot.

[lavish badger]

You might want to hunt down "Pawns of Chaos".
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/2204933.Pawns_of_Chaos

The book still has a special place in my Tzeentch corrupted heart.

[weak terrace]

My first ever 40k book was Farseer, read it in second grade and have been reading them since

[mellow knot]

Not sure you meant to tag me in that.. 🙂

[unreal saddle]

I've been hooked by the dark eldar novels. I might be addicted o_o

[twilit coral]

you know guys

i've been thinking and i noticed that the community really is better than GW and its many great writers
at one aspect of 40k that i think is often missing in books and audio works that are official

and that is the human spirit

we see plenty fall to chaos as part of the 'grimdarkness' of the universe
but for as many people as we see fall there should be plenty of people resisting the touch of chaos and adamantly defying it even without the astartes genes

[silver light]

The problem with Chaos is that there hasn't been nearly enough about the more positive qualities the chaos gods (theoretically) possess

So what usually ends up happening is that you get a horde (or four) of mutated hellbeasts that were once possibly human shrieking about MuH aNaThEmA and charging wildly into Imperial guns - while they're not busy killing each other off in utterly banal power plays - and then a character will fall to Chaos despite having encountered the absolute worst it has to offer, and I've honestly just stopped jiving with it at this point

[twilit coral]

i definitely agree

and i am of the personal opinion that we should have some sort of plotline where the faith in the emperor is combined with the positive aspects of the chaos gods to defy the gods' negative influence or the influence of their armies

the hope of the emperor
the honor and respect of Khorne
the pride of slaneesh
and finally the ambition of tzeentch

because even the emperor has some negative aspects to him that he represents which only personally leads in my opinion to the credence of him being some sort of actual god in the chaos realms much like Khaine , Ynnead and the other eldarii gods which i know there is a theory about them being the positive aspects of the gods

though personally i do not sign myself to the eldarii gods = positive aspects of chaos gods theory

[twilit coral]

and to elaborate on this a bit

time and time again we are shown necrons , eldarii , tau and the empire of man can cooperate of course such cooperations never last forever

but heck if Fulgrim can start to be partially redeemed as a clone in tranzyn's safekeeping
it shows Chaos is not the end

[agile hedge]

The Good side of chaos gods is a Fantasy thing, chaos gods in 40k are pure cartoonish evil

[twilit coral]

that is kinda GWs fault for being lazy as chaos has so much potential even in 40k to be used as a power of good

[silver light]

With the end result that you start wondering how Chaos has managed to last ten thousand years

[grave vine]

plot devices usually

[silver light]

"There are always as many elves chaos worshippers as the plot demands"

[twilit coral]

i hoenstly wish Magnus had a chance to come back to the imperial fold but if i recall correctly the last good pieces of him were eradicated by tzeentch

in terms of primarchs we only have mortarion , perturabo and Clonegrim as potential re-foldies

but i doubt GW will capitalize on the opportunity

[silver light]

Magnus was the only traitor primarch I found even moderately sympathetic

[agile hedge]

Simple 40k chaos feeds on suffering and the Imperium supplies plenty of this

[grave vine]

motarion is a chaos prince, so doubtful

[silver light]

with pretty much everyone else, I'm like "yeah, not only are you unsympathetic as a character, you also have an IQ of 64 to continue worshipping the chaos gods after seeing what happened to Horus"

[twilit coral]

he isn't part of chaos by choice however

and has always had a mean streak towards other nurglites

[agile hedge]

Even Perty didnt wanna become a Daemon Prince

[twilit coral]

perturabo , mortarion both didn't want chaos but felt like they had to fall

perturabo even more so

[grave vine]

I could see omegon becoming loyal

[agile hedge]

Morty was literally tortured until he accepted meanwhile seeing his entire legion disolve in front of his eyes

[unreal saddle]

Chaos is written differently than it is in lore. At least only one aspect of chaos is written. Chaos is a reflection of the 40k universe so you would think somewhere an author would write about more than one of those aspects.

Typically it goes like this: good person wanna do good thing ---> they find a solution in chaos ---> get tricked somehow ---> become chaos aligned.

There is nothing else and it does drive me up the wall when the character could have become an example of chaos not being turbo torture evil demon Pandemonium.

P.S. adding onto my little thing above. It's either they fall to chaos or they are already in chaos.

[twilit coral]

speaking of clonegrim though does anyone know if he is still in GW Tranzyn's never use Vault ?

[unreal saddle]

I think so. Am hoping clonegrim and snekgrim have a chat

Would be a missed opportunity if they didn't

[twilit coral]

imagine clonegrim returning to the imperial fold with the lion finally coming out of his den

we would only really be missing Leman Russ for a proper ass kicking and knocking sense into

[unreal saddle]

The Khan needs to stop racing drukari too

Man has a need for speed and needs to return

Probably the most emotionally mature of the primarchs is the Khan. Dude needs to return and force the Imperium to do throat singing for ten thousand years for penance

[twilit coral]

Guilliman is stuck in the past

i am sure the Khan would be able to turn him around for the future

[unreal saddle]

Guilliman needs a brother to hug. Man already had to deal with the chrono war.

We need someone to help him out. Man can't do everything

[twilit coral]

i just hope

the lion doesn't wake up

at least first

he can wake up second <_< or third

[unreal saddle]

The lion is fantastic at warfare and strategy but we need a few primarchs there to hold him back from the absolute verbal tear in reality he will give his sons

[twilit coral]

not just his sons

i am sure he would rip guilliman to shreds

simply because of the reforms guilliman employed

[unreal saddle]

Can't wait for Corax to come back and go looking for bird feed while most of his brothers fight each other

[twilit coral]

isn't he

with leman and jaghatai in the warp ?

[unreal saddle]

Corax is hunting lorgar in the warp. Has been for the past 10k years

Khan went into the webway hunting dark eldar (still think this is stupid but most of the reasons the primarchs went away are stupid)

Completely forgot where russ went ngl

[twilit coral]

supposedly

looking for the lion in the eye of terror

[unreal saddle]

O.o

Isn't the lion sleeping in the rock though?

[twilit coral]

WELL YOU CAN GUESS WHY LEMAN HASN'T COME BACK YET XD

bastard dog got lost in the warp looking for Jonhson allegedly

[unreal saddle]

Can't wait for the lion to hear this and go searching for russ in the warp and we get the comedy "lion and wolf"

Absolute maniac russ is

[twilit coral]

the funny part is

corvus and leman

are supposedly in teh same place

[unreal saddle]

Can't wait for russ to come out as a loyal werewolf primarch and corax to become a murderous magpie as is his destiny.

Loyal warp demon primarchs

[twilit coral]

Corvus - hunting for lorgar in the eye of terror
Vulkan - probably in tranzyn's vault with clonegrim
Leman - supposedly lost in the eye of terror with the 13th company destined to return when fenris needs him most
Jagathai - chased dark eldar into the webway and never came back
Rogal Dorn - dead but his death was retconned

Fulgrim - clonegrim hasn't been corrupted yet or at all though some people like to say that he did

Mortarion - doesn't want to be chaos but feels like he has to be
Perturabo - has space cancer and is only chaos to not die

[unreal saddle]

I want clonegrim to meet his corrupted counterpart so badly lmao

[twilit coral]

almost all the primarchs

except really OG fulgrim and magnus and horus

have a bite at redemption

or a return

u3u and as much as i have hots for magnus the red i know he is lost permanently to the warp unless he gets clonegrim treatment

[twilit coral]

which is sadly impossible to a degree

[unreal saddle]

Fulgrim has it through him being a clone. Its honestly the only redemption his soul could have is hunting down his corrupted counterpart

[twilit coral]

Snekgrim and magnus

both don't have their souls anymore

[unreal saddle]

True but clonegrim has it from what I recall. If magnus had his shattered then someone gotta repair it o3o

[twilit coral]

tsk

there is the caveat

the good side of magnus was destroyed

the shards that belonged to his good side are lost completely

so what remains is a bitter magnus soul in tzeentch's claws

while his body is piloted by a Daemon

[unreal saddle]

Only if ferrus was alive he could forget him a new soul

[twilit coral]

doesn't he

pester fulgrim ?

at least in the metaphorical sense

[unreal saddle]

Idk ferrus is my least researched primarch tbh

[rich raptor]

he has iron hands

Also fans of 40k militaria I would definitely recommend a lot of the classic British historical military novels that the black library authors all have clearly read

Sharpe definitely falls on the gritty/dark side, and also there's an entire campaign based on faith and fanaticism in th enovel Sharpe's Rifles that definitely influenced stuff like Gaunt's Ghosts

The Hornblower series is another classic, and the byzantine systems of Naval provisioning, manpower, and court martials is definitely reflected in the 40k series. Captains are expected to fit out their ships using their own money, and live in constant fear of being judged insufficiently aggressive against the enemy and losing their position or even being sentenced to death for cowardice.

Aubrey Maturin the same, though it's more character-driven and less pulpy than Hornblower

[gaunt glacier]

clone fulgrim vs clone horus when
clone wars

[unreal saddle]

Timelines will have to cross. Like one where big e didn't obliterate horus' soul o3o

[gaunt glacier]

Fabius Bile: Allow me to introduce myself
(Bile did clone Horus post-HH after all in ADB's Abaddon: The Talon of Horus around M32)

[unreal saddle]

Trazyn: "I got some luna wolves geneseed jelly beans. Want some jelly beans?"

[gaunt glacier]

blood ravens would get along well with trazyn D:

[rich raptor]

spy vs spy vibes

[twilit coral]

wasn't every clone of horus sorta... blank ?

[rich raptor]

horus's soul was destroyed by the emperor

which sort of implies that the other primarchs might be able to come back

[thorn bison]

I think the Talon which killed Sanguinius has some space magic bullshit which pretty much guarantees he's dead but the Sanguinior is a thing so I could be wrong

Ferrus got decapitated which isn't too bad I guess

but it happened ten thousand years ago so that could be a problem

Alpharius got cut in half by Dorn so I wouldn't count on the real XXth primarch to return

And Curse was also decapitated if I remember correctly

But he wanted to die so I don't think it would be a good idea to bring him back

[rich raptor]

No i mean the fact taht destroying the soul is a big deal means that otherwise it's possible to get a primarch's soul back somehow

at least the ones not consumed by chaos

either that or they were reabsorbed into the emperor somehow

[jaunty stratus]

its not even completely out of the discussion, that even the corrupted primarchs might return after the godblight book

[gaunt glacier]

yup

[unreal saddle]

Just got done with the first path of the dark eldar novel and I'm immediately going onto the next.

[tall phoenix]

Its gonna get even better

[unreal saddle]

The first two chapters got me wide eyed. I enjoyed Sindiel's little arc of his renegade path

I enjoyed a lot of the novel, but that stood out to me because it expands a bit more on the "oh. I am in danger." Side of going the path of the renegade.

Morr and motley got me like

I'm enjoying the series like I enjoyed the path of the Eldar series. I haven't gotten through the entire series so idk which I prefer. But I'm learning more and more about dark eldar society and seeing it through the lens of the faction itself is what keeps me hooked on these books.

Hence my love for 40k novels o3o

[quick onyx]

Binged half of Assassinorum Kingmaker in one night, it's very good

[heavy juniper]

alpharius is still alive. omegon was killed by dorn.

[abstract cliff]

I am going trough Siege of Terra myself at the moment. Already reading trough Mortis.

[heavy juniper]

am just about to start on echoes of eternity here 😀 have read all the primarch novels also, through to the dorn one.

[gaunt glacier]

Kingmaker is really great

[quick onyx]

Gonna try and finish it tonight, but I think my body is rebelling due to no sleep

[simple plover]

Hey, can anyone suggest any good books about the imperial guard? something boots-on-the-ground?

[rich raptor]

What have you already read

Gaunt's Ghosts is probably the premier guardsman series

it's super long now

[simple plover]

I've read Eisenhorn and enjoyed it. But didn't start with aynthing guard-related yet

[unreal saddle]

True. Cain is another one though i only read the first book so idk how it holds up to Gaunts Ghost

[rich raptor]

The other long series is Ciaphas Cain

[simple plover]

is there something shorter than gaunts ghosts?

[rich raptor]

The subsequent books are pretty much identical to the first

[rich raptor]

the series is long

the individual books are regular length

the first one in thes eries is First and Only

[simple plover]

yeah I got that. still.. would be nice not to jump into a 20 book series from the start

[rich raptor]

THe first two books are essentially stand-alone

the second book is also more of a short-story collection

Then the real serialized stuff starts with book 3

So you can just read the first two book sand stop without feeling like youre missing out on anything

[simple plover]

what's the second book called?

[rich raptor]

Ghostmaker

In terms of other books, I think Ciaphas Cain is ok (they are alright but can get very samey after a while and the stakes are low). I liked Fire Caste by Peter Fehrvari which is somewhat more "literary" than most 40k novels

[proper portal]

Does Trayzen have any good books? I hear he's a creation of a rather not so good writer

but still is cool

like the one good idea

[rich raptor]

I heard his book is good but I haven't read it yet

[icy ingot]

obligatory the infinite and the divine recommendation its a good book has a good amount of comedy makes necrons seem funny instead of mindless terminators

[simple plover]

what do you mean by literally

[copper sphinx]

best part of the those path books is just generally getting to know eldar society more

path of the eldar genuinely got me interested in eldar

the whole warmask thing and aspects are baller as heck

aspect and phoenix armour is fucking sick too

[rich raptor]

Literary as in more like literature

[glass sparrow]

so I finished the Wraithbone Phoenix the other day, was a good story. I hope we get more Baggit and Clodde stories in the future.

[heavy juniper]

they are also in one of the short stories in vorbis conspiracy

[onyx crescent]

Are there any books that feature any form of steel legion other than armaggedon and helsreach? Curious to find one

[unreal saddle]

I highly enjoy knowing about the 40k universe beyond the war and violence. It gives substance to said war and violence.

[whole sand]

The warhammer crime novels are a nice look at other aspect of hive life

[bleak vector]

I enjoy the inquisitor novels because big battles are cool, but the nitty gritty of life is more appealing for me

[hazy cape]

Lijah Cuu did nothing wrong.

[dusky hemlock]

You take that back

[hazy cape]

And Bragg was a big Dumbo.

Inquisitor Quixos was right.

[dusky hemlock]

https://tenor.com/view/futurama-philip-j-fry-drool-drooling-foaming-gif-4920062

[hazy cape]

Cope and seethe, heretic.

[graceful osprey]

they don't show up until the second book but the Yarrick omnibus is really the only thing you've missed

steel legion featured more prominently in the armageddon campaign narratives for tabletop and are sadly scarce in the fiction

aside from the tanith and cadians both for obvious reasons there aren't a lot of regiment focused books. a few krieg novels, some catachan stories, last chancers. valhallans have one book + the cain series, mordians have one book. otherwise it's mostly cameos in books about other stuff as supporting characters

[radiant iris]

just finished the eisenhorn series, is it the ravenor series next, or the bequin series ??

[graceful osprey]

ravenor is the direct sequel

[radiant iris]

yesss

thank you

[graceful osprey]

it goes Eisenhorn 1-3, Ravenor 1-3, Eisenhorn 4, Bequin 1-2

[radiant iris]

oh i read eisenhorn 1-4...

[graceful osprey]

its been a while but I don't think that should ruin anything major

just remember the ravenor books take place before the last eisenhorn book

[radiant iris]

yea that makes sense

[hearty niche]

i think i might try to finish the horus heresy saga

i was listening to audiobooks at my old job and kinda fell off it, but i think i've listend to about half of everything in horus heresy era

[hazy cape]

What’s ya’ll’s thoughts on the Severina Raine books? I’ve only read Honorbound and I wasn’t impressed by the main characters or the ending to be honest. The plan she made just didn’t make any sense to me but maybe I’m just dumb.

I did like the Primaris Psyker Zhane though.

She was very interesting.

[plucky kelp]

Also there are a bunch of short stories that take place in between those books that are very good.

[merry slate]

What are these crime novels you speak of? Consider me still green in the 40k world despite dipping my toes in for years

[sage breach]

hey guys,

really want to get in to 40k lore. any advice on the next book to read? I read eisenhorn omnibus and i loved it. can anyone recommend anything that's not too newbie unfriendly?

thanks!

[toxic nebula]

I highly recommend the Ciaphas cain books! they are good fun and have foot notes explaining a bunch of in universe termanology

Also you might want to grab the Ravenor Omnibus, itw the follow up to eisenhorn!

[sage breach]

thank you!

[noble turret]

https://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-crime

[onyx crescent]

If you like chaos night lords trilogy

[willow geode]

my gf got me "The Hammer and the Eagle: The Icons of the Warhammer Worlds" - it's a set of short excerpts from many different novels, sort of a way to dip your toe into different aspects of Warhammer and see for yourself what you might like and what not, it's pretty cool and thanks to that I already know which books I'll be grabbing after finishing this one

https://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/the-hammer-and-the-eagle-ebook-2020.html

[jaunty vector]

Question for everyone for discussion, of the ciaphas cain books which was your favorite and why? Mine was death and glory as the idea of the oh woops flamethrower sentinel is halarious to me

[craggy bone]

mine also

[thick mulch]

Death and Glory, kinda feels like he's like the Shaggy of the universe where he ends up being instrumental in everything despite that not being the goal.

[jaunty vector]

@craggy bone , it's such a good book

@thick mulch hahahaha never thought of it like that but you are absolutely right. His Scooby-Doo snacks are glasses of ammesec (probably misspelling it)

[thick mulch]

It makes him pretty loveable as a character when you think of him that way haha, he's also like extremely capable despite being afraid of everything.

[jaunty vector]

I like how Amberley calls it out often too, adds a nice counterbalance

[simple plover]

🤔 any good books centered around Krieg?

[thick mulch]

Depends on your personal tastes but Kreig from the Black Library is enjoyable

[distant violet]

hey fellas, im usually a fantasy (old world) fan but darktide has really gotten interested in 40k any book recommendations?

[thick mulch]

So many good ones, what's your old world favorites and maybe some people can chime in for recommendations.

[rich raptor]

Especially if you can find books by the same author, since so many BL authors work for both fantasy and 40k

[thick mulch]

Yeah, a lot of Old world stuff is sort of a more Traditional, Protagonist/Antagonist storyline which I think works well but there are variants and I think his preferred genre would help put him onto something he likes.

If that's your Jam I think Cain's series is a good one, he's more complex than a lot of the steadfast heroes of the old world but capable none the less.

[rich raptor]

Eh Cain's series is more like action-comedy

[distant violet]

well tbh ive never read any of the old world books, i mostly just kinda do research on lore and whatnot. im a huge fan of the lizardmen, tombkings, the empire, and all of chaos

[rich raptor]

malus darkplade

[distant violet]

oh no not mr.incest

wait

thinking of malikith my b

[rich raptor]

huh?

oh ok

[thick mulch]

I think so too, but I think they're enjoyable & have a focused lens.

[graceful osprey]

Dead Men Walking

[graceful osprey]

Eisenhorn is a pretty classic beginner's recommendation. good inquisitor books that don't throw too much info at you at once. if you're more into imperial guard go with Gaunt's Ghosts. Helsreach is another good one that has space marines and guard vs orks. since you like tomb kings the Infinite and the Divine is a good necron book. for chaos, the Night Lords trilogy is very well regarded

there isn't a lizardmen analogue in 40k. back in 1st edition there was the slann and individual characters very occasionally show up but there's not much lore on them

[tall phoenix]

Krieg basically have 1 writer that writers for them, Steve Lyons

[graceful osprey]

yeah Dead Men Walking and Krieg are the only dedicated death korps novels, plus some short stories also by Lyons

[tall phoenix]

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Dead_Men_Walking_(Novel)

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Down_Amongst_the_Dead_Men_(Short_Story)

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Krieg_(Novel)

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Left_For_Dead_(Short_Story)

and lastly

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The_Strong_Among_Us_(Short_Story)

AMONG US

[graceful osprey]

amogus

damn the krieg all wear gas masks too

krieg is an origin novel about their world and dead men walking is a good krieg vs necrons story

[copper sphinx]

Krieger do show up in one of the ciphias books

[random marlin]

I enjoyed Dead Men Walking very much, as it depicted the inhumanity of the DKOK and their fanaticism in both a satirical and thought-provoking way, and disliked Krieg because it glorifies their fanaticism, achieving the exact opposite effect of Dead Men Walking. Oddly enough, they're by the same author but Krieg was released recently, when the new plastic DKOK were released too. So maybe that's why Krieg depicts the DKOK and their fanaticism in a much more positive light, I'm assuming. Which made reading it deeply uncomfortable, a bit as if the All quiet on the western front movie kept insisting on how awesome being a mindless fanatic in an atrocious war is.

I have the same issue of fanaticism being described as something good and cool with Honourbound by Rachel Harrison, which was quite an uncomfortable read too.

[copper sphinx]

Isn't that their whole curse though? They are ducked up due to their history

[tall phoenix]

Kinda

Krieg is a bit of a big mixed bag

i think Le0 can explain it better

[copper sphinx]

I like the idea and history of krieg, but I defi get why people hate them

Disregarding the meme parts

I would have more against it if it was a ton of companies doing it, but ti's just one, and that's fine

gotta say you're defi a deeper thinker than i am @random marlin

i'm pretty face value when i read but i'm also a big dumbo

[craggy bone]

has there been any word on when the book club will be?

[copper sphinx]

check the event tab on the top left

gonna be on release day lmao

it just hit me

30th of nov

[craggy bone]

oh you're right, looked at it a couple of times and my brain translated it into october every time because they were normally a month apart

[copper sphinx]

yup they were, but this book was thicker, so we got 2 months

[random marlin]

Well, to answer your question Deyj, there's also what Krieg "represents".

What I mean by that is that, I'm French and I've been to a lot of history museums depicting the absolute horrors and absurdity of WWI. It's... impressive to say the least and left a lasting impression on me.

The DKOK kind of fuses together the aesthetics of the French and German soldiers of WWI, which I always found interesting, as making these two sides with so much hatred and violence between them into one "being", with a focus on trench warfare and absolute fanaticism to mirror WW1. That was quite clever, and an easy way into satire by denouncing the DKOK fanaticism.

Dead Men Walking is great in this regard, as we only see the DKOK in the eyes of others, and when we see how they operate, they are "perfect", emotionless killing-machines, to the point where civilians think they're not humans sometimes, and they give no value to human life, their own or others, unless it's "useful to the Emperor".

Krieg kind of deconstructs that by showing their way of fighting as justified by the universe, making them "acceptable" in a way, with other characters admiring how they operate. And in the part covering how they came to be that way, they are depicted as being right with their opposition being moustache-twirling villains who forces them into fanaticism. 🤦‍♂️

And finally, there's the ending of Krieg, which heavily hints at... something about them which makes them uninteresting in my eyes. But I'm getting really close to a spoiler, so you'll have to tell me if you'd want me to elaborate.

And sorry for the long message, I feel like I'm always writing messages which are too long here. ^^

[copper sphinx]

no worries amigo, i appreciate the effort.

i can defi see where you're coming from

i think the point where we diverge is that i think both can exist at the same time in the 40k verse

both the disgust and fear, but also admiration in their zeal

kinda like how space marines generally feared by other humans, but also lauded

but you being french is also most likely part of it

i haven't read krieg, so i don't know about the ending you hint at, so i can't really say much there

but i do think 40k has a lot of duality in it

[random marlin]

I agree with you about its duality, but that's where it can get a bit confusing and even a bit "dangerous", in the sense that people with... dubious ideas, might get attracted to it and find their ideas validated by some of 40K content.

For instance, showing how space marines are feared by other humans but also lauded is interesting, but when the author heavily insists on painting the marines in a good light while reducing their "darker" aspects, it's a missed opportunity.

I feel that duality was well done in Spear of the Emperor by Aaron Dembski-Bowden who did a terrific job at portraying the differences between space marines and the mere humans serving them.

[copper sphinx]

yeah, i won't claim it won't pull a bad crowd

but it is fantasy/scifi and stated satire

[random marlin]

Not all the time, I had a lot of fun with Brutal Kunning for instance. But the Orks can be the funniest and silliest part of 40k, and that's probably why I'll always enjoy them. 😉

[copper sphinx]

i think it would be a shame to avoid a subject because someone might attach themselves to it personally.

but i get your point, i really do

i think a lot of your dislikes are very much author bound

like with most things 40k, it is just a canvas for people to paint their stories on

if the stories aren't good i'd say it's more of an author issue

[quick onyx]

Finished Kingmaker. It is very, very good

[glass sparrow]

... for a second I thought you were talking about the pathfinder game, then I remembered A:what channel I am in, and B: The book has been popping up in my recommended listing on audible

[gaunt glacier]

Officio Assassinorum sooo coool

[mellow knot]

Different people like different things and that is fine 🙂

[quick onyx]

Definitely recommend the book. I haven't heard the audiobook, so no idea if the delivery is good or not. I want to gush about the last part so much, but will not spoil it. It has all the spy drama and action you'd expect from a book about assassins and knight pilots. But also having one of the POV characters being a knight trying to figure out what he actually wants vs what is expected of him makes it hit in places I wasn't expecting. Also Gwynne is the most adorable Sacristan knight mechanic.

[copper sphinx]

I don't think I said anything contrary to what you just mentioned

[mellow knot]

No indeed, that was me agreeing with you 🙂

[copper sphinx]

Ahh fair fair 🫂

[grave vine]

Are there any good books from an orks perspective

aight thanks

Lmao, I was looking at Amazon reviews for the book and someone was coping since the orks use they (singular)

Calling it ‘woke’

[copper sphinx]

the idea of a Woke Ork book

is pretty funny

[graceful osprey]

Ghazghkull Thraka is excellent, there is also Brutal Kunnin which is a bit more lighthearted

[grave vine]

thanks

[graceful osprey]

the same author has another book Warboss that should release in a month or so

also Da Gobbo's Revenge, a novella. Da Gobbo's Demise a sequel was just announced

[heavy juniper]

good orks in the recent catachan book also

catachan devil

[spring glade]

where is my votann book

[austere girder]

at the store, came out today mate

[tall phoenix]

It ran out of prints in a warehouse fire, sorry.

[thorn bison]

It's all a psyop

There is no votann book

They deceived us all

[toxic nebula]

oh thank fuck it was all just a bad dream

[heavy juniper]

really do need votann books. at least there's a new alpha legion book 😀

[swift beacon]

what

[heavy juniper]

renegades harrowmaster by mike brooks

[heavy juniper]

the short story the brightest and the best was kind of a prologue to it https://www.blacklibrary.com/new-titles/featured/eshort-the-brightest-and-best-eng-2022.html

https://www.blacklibrary.com/new-titles/featured/ebook-renegades-harrowmaster-eng-2022.html

[ruby lava]

Votann are like Skaven, they don't exist.

[random valley]

Vo-Tanng clan?

[random marlin]

Not really in the case of Honourbound for me. I read No Way Out by the same author, Rachel Harrison, and enjoyed it as it was a classical horror story done right and Harrison's style is very solid and shines in it. I enjoyed her style in Honourbound too, that wasn't the issue for me.

My issue with Honourbound in a nutshell is: you probably read on the Internet a part of the 40k community defending the stance that what the Imperium does is justified, which plays into their own putrid ideologies in the real world. In an unintentional way, I feel like books like Honourbound and Krieg are kind of endorsing this point of view.

On another subject, anybody read Kasrkin which has been released recently? And I find the premise of Witchbringer interesting too: https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/07/06/the-inside-track-on-witchbringer-a-story-about-coming-home-and-finding-that-home-has-changed/

With the release of the Imperial Guard Codex coming soon, seems like it's a good time for Astra Militarum novels! 🙂

[rich raptor]

Sounds like you're poisoned by politics

[pearl falcon]

GW kinda can’t help themselves from justifying the imperium. For each condemnation, there’s a rethoric that the evils of the imperium are necessary.

It varies a lot of based on the author, but I often trust Aaron Dembsky Bowden to have nuanced takes.

The few actual 40k facists I’ve talked to seems to hate him with a passion — which is a good sign he writes decent 40k.

[random marlin]

I read Spears of the Emperor by him and liked it a lot. I have almost no interest for Space Marines and this is one of the rare books where I found the way they are depicted interesting.

I see that he also wrote Cadian Blood, that I haven't read yet. Makes me want to check it out.

40k lacks nuanced takes, that's why authors like Aaron Dembsky Bowden and Peter Fehervari are very much needed.

[thorn bison]

For the modern Imperium to survive these horrors are necessary, HOWEVER, they were not meant to be. The Emperor planned to create a free and fair Imperium for humanity but all that went to shit when Horus had his tantrum

At least that's my take on things, they made it horrible and now they have to feed this fire, even if it will eventually consume them all

And also, justifying the Imperium brings in loads of cash and a megaton of books for GW

[loud stratus]

Heya all, which book would you recommend to a person who knows almost nothing about 40k universe?

[pearl falcon]

Indeed and ”imperium bad” takes are not nuanced, ”show don’t tell” still stands as a principle of good writing.

Show the process of servitors being converted and stored in cryogenic storage facilities. Show how the imperials brainwash pre-astartes children leading to stunted psychologies and broken families.

These are all things that are canon and make for interesting stories while showing the true nature of the imperium, not just how badass they are in combat.

Eisenhorn is great if you want to understand the more civilian side of the imperium.

I remember really liking the space wolves books with Ragnar as a teenager. They slowly take you from the perspective of essentially a caveman to the machinations of the greater imperium.

I’m not sure I’d like them today, but they were a blast back then.

[loud stratus]

ty all for great advice, will look them up and order asap 🙂

[graceful osprey]

if you're looking for something with space marines but aren't sure about starting the Horus Heresy yet, Helsreach is a really solid big siege book

but you can't go wrong with anything in that list

[fickle sentinel]

The Astra militarum audio collection is also pretty good, same with the Krieg books,

[agile hedge]

I don't agree, Vrak series sucks

[royal egret]

In addition to what others have said, reading the rulebook fluff is honestly a great intro

If you can find a PDF of it, it goes into all the factions more or less and sets up the universe well

[rich raptor]

The basics are in the mission statement

"It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that he may never truly die.Yet even in his deathless state, the Emperor continues his eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst his soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat to humanity from aliens, heretics, mutants -- and far, far worse. To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods."

[pearl falcon]

That’s the ultimate introduction.

https://youtu.be/cy4CJ4F-epA

Someone made a voiceover for it too.

[random marlin]

Love this voiceover so much that I made the French subtitles for it. I like the idea that the "thirsting gods" are actually the people playing 40k, forcing all the factions to kill each other in an endless war. "There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods".

[gaunt glacier]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnShSKDobp4

Yup, it's been the introduction of 40k ever since its inception as RT in 1987 (Rick Priestley, absolute legend, although the one above is the modified version of it), every edition had this iconic introduction, a film adaptation should definitely have it as opening as well, it's just too iconic not to use it I'd say ❤️

[thick mulch]

Is there any good books on the Moebian 6th? I hadn't really read anything on them leading up to this

feels like if there was it would add more weight to the corruption of the defense force.

[craggy bone]

they're OC for the game, no material except the Abnett devblog

[thick mulch]

Oh that makes me hyped to learn more about them

cool concept though, basically the outer rim defense force, seems like the OC of the "Darktide" means they're adept at dealing with Chaos

Which is unusual that you ever get to do that more than once lol

[past tide]

Fairly new to 40k lore, is Cadian Blood a good read? Thinking of trying to get one of the special editions if I can

[graceful osprey]

it's very good

one of the better cadian novels

[royal egret]

Draik is here too

[graceful osprey]

oh hello. yes while i'm an amateur in certain hobby discords here i'm an expert dispensing recommendations

so many new lore fans with the same questions I had not so long ago

[swift beacon]

Currently reading the new Alpha Legion book. ||The Alpha Legion are losing their shit, when seeing the primaris space marine. Biggest one was seeing Gullimans return||

[tall phoenix]

In a good or bad way

[tall phoenix]

Terrible.

[swift beacon]

YOOOO ||THE UNSUNG ARE HERE IN THIS BOOK IM SO FUCKING HAPPY LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO||

[swift beacon]

It’s been 5 years since we last heard of them, it brings a tear to my eye seeing ||the Unsung|| again.

[heavy juniper]

really loving this book so far. alpha legion 🎉 about halfway through. mike brooks is very good at alpha legion. fun that the warbands from previous books are mentioned ya, even if I really dislike sons of the hydra hehe.

https://tenor.com/view/pen-gif-23499473

need a book with the penitent sons. they seem fun lol

[tawny pollen]

hey guys wants a good book you reccomend starting with?

[swift beacon]

eisenhorn series, watchers of the throne.

[wicked tree]

Vaults of terra too

[tawny pollen]

ive added those to my list thx bois

[wicked tree]

Vaults and Watchers both focus on Terra.
But the difference is the factions they centre around. The Inquisition and Custodes respectively

[tawny pollen]

i know like next to nothing of the lore (other than my friends telling me about it) but it sounds awesome

[wicked tree]

XD fair. Might have heard this a bit. But there are a number of solid loretubers to help you get your foot in the door. You branch off from there

[swift beacon]

i would say read the Horus Heresy books, but they’re meant for hardcore fans. Though they’ll give you a huge covering ground that leads up to the 40k universe.

[tawny pollen]

im going to start with eisenhorn then well see

thx for the reccomendations

[onyx crescent]

Night lords trilogy for evil great people 💀

Cadia stands is an okay book I guess for myself but if you like guard that’s also a good starting point

[swift beacon]

i was gonna mention the trilogy, but wasn’t sure if chaos is a good start without knowing what made them@this way

[onyx crescent]

True but it could also spark interest later so they see what made them the way they are 🗿

[onyx crescent]

chaos corruption 😤

[white hawk]

Ok boys, I’ve asked for Ogryns and traitor guard stories, Now
Who has gene steamer cult stories to recommend ?

[random marlin]

#40k-book-club message

See the second part of the above message. 🙂

Also the short story ||"The Greater Evil" by Peter Fehervari|| but I wonder if it isn't a spoiler to say that there's a genestealer cult in it. 😉

[simple plover]

Do you guys know any good AdMech books?

[dusky hemlock]

Forges of Mars omnibus is pretty good. Bonus other factions

[random marlin]

Didn't read it, but heard a lot of good things about Forges of Mars.

[mellow knot]

I actually started with the HH for that reason. It put the 41st millennium into proper context.

[fathom seal]

just finished "Fabius Bile, Primogenitor. Very interesting, a must read.

[jaunty stratus]

as long as you end 40k with the watsonian apokrypthae, your cant do anything wrong

[hard gale]

As much as I loved the Horus Heresy, i wouldn't start with it to understand the 40k setting. Honestly the best overview for 40k is probably the fluff parts of the 40k rule book. After that I would check out Eisenhorn for sure (essential reading). I think when you have a grasp on 40k, enough to say "man how the fuck did humanity get so bleak", then it's time for the Horus heresy and 30k 🙂

[tall phoenix]

^

[tawdry tendon]

I like recommending Ciaphas Cain, they're well written books that expose you to a lot of the different factions of both the imperium and enemies

And they're also funny and perhaps my favorite unreliable narrator in fiction

[graceful osprey]

Belisarius Cawl: the Great Work is also pretty interesting

[simple plover]

read that one already. couldn't keep up with which marine is which xD

[graceful osprey]

and if you're not too picky, Assassinorum: Kingmaker is a james bond story that takes place on a feudal knight world

same author also wrote the infinite and the divine

[drowsy urchin]

yeah both are great stories, love em

Robert Rath is quickly coming my favourite BL writer

[quick onyx]

Same

[gaunt glacier]

Assassinorum great, 100% recommended

[languid pumice]

5 chapters into Horus RIsing. Liking it so far for my first Warhammer book, but im still not sure about starting a 60 book series that I know I'll never finish (its 60 fucking books, ive read 15 books in 2 years. 60 would take me a decade of reading only 40k books). Was thinking of The series starting with Xenos or something else.

[swift beacon]

let’s not forget there’s more HH books being added as they go.

[hard gale]

It is a hell of a commitment, that's for sure. They're easy enough reads but of course everyone goes at their own speed.

[languid pumice]

Ya im thinking of putting it on hold and starting Gaunts Ghosts or Eisenhorn

[hard gale]

definitely worth getting through at some point but Eisenhorn a much better start

plus the Inquisition as a faction are so cool

[languid pumice]

Sounds good, I think my local game store has the Omnibus (all three books in one i think) so i might try and buy that.

[lost quarry]

so a quick question ar any of the Horus Heresy Primarchs books connected or can i just pick any one of them and start from there?

[swift beacon]

primarch book series offer in depth story about themselves before, and during the great crusade. Maybe some bits of after the crusade for some of them.You’ll miss some specific points about them from the HH series when they mention something, but if you want to learn more about a specific primarch. I’d say go for it.

Also about how their legion works as well.

[lost quarry]

cool thanks for the info 👍🏻

[swift beacon]

So from the new Alpha Legion book. ||Apparently there are some cells of the Alpha Legion, that want to protect the Imperium. Specifically the Emperors vision of the imperium, they’re willing to go far as killing the people of the imperium that doesn’t support the idea of the Emperor. Though they’re doing this as repentance for what their legion did during the Heresy. So i guess some are loyal, some are believers to the ruinous powers, others are following their Primarchs/idea of what the Alpha Legion should strive for.||

[honest willow]

And some may or may not be Alpharius himself, the man who died thrice in the books but was never actually confirmed dead. the IIth... I mean uh 11th Legion is a very confusing one yes.

[void stirrup]

Nah, Alpharius is absolutely dead. Memery and members of the community aside. The only question is if Omegon is actually dead to Guilliman. Probably won't know until the Scouring books, if even then.

What Alpharius MEANS to the Alpha legion still lives. What he made them, taught them (for better or worse). Arguably he influenced his legion more than any other primarch.

[royal egret]

Yeah, Alpharius is 100% confirmed dead in Praetorian of Dorn

The Omegon thing though is almost certainly fake because in universe the only source on it was an Inquisitor who ended up being an AL plant it was revealed later.

And the UM have no record of it and no one else recalls it.

[void stirrup]

I do hope Omegon is alive. And actually gets used in the "modern" plot.

He'd be a lot more fun than any of the daemon primarchs.

[swift beacon]

for real, Omegon was like Alpharius. Except his superior ego, and his redundant tactics. He’s the only primarch which i believe, isn’t influenced by chaos. If he did survived for 10,000 years with body and mind intact. I think Omegon might be potentially, one of the most dangerous primarch to go against. Tactical, and fighting wise.

he give gulliman the run of his money

[hard gale]

idk man. The Twins seem to be a bit worse in a straight up fight for whatever reason, probs cause their potential is split into two bodies. Russ is pretty confident he can wreck Alpharius when they fight, and Dorn just murders him. I always wanted to see a fight where it was the two of them vs another Primarch, bet they would wreck face.

Way less Alpha Legion-y but whatcha gonna do

[swift beacon]

i think people tend to forget as primarchs age, they get more stronger mentally, and physically. Sure when 1v1 there’s a chance they’ll lose depending who it is. But i think people forget this guy took on Valdor which should mean something. But if Omegon was active for 10,000. robute is gonna get shit on

[hard gale]

Valdor is essentially a primarch if you're talking modern power levels, so that's no small feat. What book does this happen in?

[swift beacon]

Head of the Hydra

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/vmkie9/alpharius_head_of_the_hydra_alpharius_tries_to/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf

here’s a quick summary for that event

[hard gale]

man

alpha legion lore is all over the fucking place lol

[boreal otter]

They have many Black library writers and each writer has their own idea of what the legion is

So yeah very much all over the wall

[twilit coral]

the alpha legion is just running counter intelligence operations on the blackium librarium

[orchid herald]

The problem with bl is that it cannon till told other wise. And there are no consistent stories between writers. No foundations stone on the various faction

[heavy juniper]

mike brooks pulled together the alpha legion narrative for the heresy extremely well with head of the hydra, and is kind of doing it again with renegades harrowmaster for the alpha legion books set in 40k. head of the hydra confirms omegon was killed by dorn during the heresy. alpharius is still alive!

[twilit coral]

how many primarchs are dead and how many are just 'written out' by now

Dorn is alive for sure due to a retcon i am definitely sure of

[heavy juniper]

yeah, it’s left open to bring him back now

[twilit coral]

i think almost all of the primarchs

are available-ish

[vocal quest]

The only confirmed ones are Sanguinius, Manus, Horus and maybe Kurze, right?

[twilit coral]

Sanguinius is dead 100%
Horus has been erased from existence so he is ULTRA dead
Konrad Curze was assassinated by a callidus assassin willingly i might add
Manus was killed by Fulgrim through decapitation with a daemon sword

however

Manus' spirit does live on

Sanguinius' spirit is debatably around

Konrad Curze seems to have accepted being dead as we haven't heard of his spirit

[craggy bone]

40k canon: nothing is true

everything is permitted

[mellow knot]

Just to reiterate… Canon isn’t always determined by the authors. A lot of directive comes down from the studio. Sometimes things cross over during a retcon. It happens.

[graceful osprey]

god damnit. I read cadian blood on ebook like a month ago. it was published in 2009 I thought I was safe. guess what went up for pre-order today on audible

anyway if you're interested in cadians I recommend it

and now it's gone. must have been a mistake, they did the same thing with void king before it released

[heavy juniper]

the reprint hardcover is going up for preorder on saturday. so ya, probably also an audiobook coming. black library site usually has a week exclusive period over audible

[graceful osprey]

yeah they don't usually put up pre-orders on audible

wish I had looked at the release date

[tall phoenix]

FINALLY.

[graceful osprey]

but probably in a few weeks

[tall phoenix]

https://tenor.com/view/gordon-ramsey-food-finally-some-good-fucking-food-master-chef-gif-17833684

oh right no gifs 💀

[royal egret]

Alpharius is also confirmed dead

[tall phoenix]

even if he isnt its literally either one of the twins

his death has the Primarch psychic-shockwave and everything

[heavy juniper]

per head of the hydra, omegon is dead

[royal egret]

Also Omegon has an inner monologue about it at the end of the book.

[lethal bough]

Is there an established 'best' place to buy 40k books? I was checking Barnes & Noble and it looks like a lot of the books aren't in circulation anymore physically making them hard to find and on ebay for 3-4x price isn't appealing to me 😅 Specifically I want to get into the book recommendations to understand the lore for DarkTide so the Gaunts Ghosts and Eisenhorn series in particular

[royal egret]

The GW site is a decent place typically

Amazon too

A lot of stuff isn’t in circulation anymore but those books should be

Also e books and audible of course

[lethal bough]

Yeah it looks like I'd have to go e book unless I want to pay a tremendous amount 😦

[royal egret]

https://www.amazon.com/Eisenhorn-Warhammer-40-000-Omnibus/dp/1844161560

You could do this

Its the Eisenhorn trilogy, not too expensive for all three books

One left in stock for paperback

@lethal bough

[lethal bough]

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/eisenhorn-dan-abnett/1141221602?ean=9781789990546 That at least has gotten a reprint 😮

[royal egret]

Yup that is

Cheaper too

https://www.amazon.com/Founding-Gaunts-Ghosts-Omnibus/dp/1784966177/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?adgrpid=61543056452&gclid=Cj0KCQiA37KbBhDgARIsAIzce164kQau_h3cIVlOz7iIttIPSavwgZsD4LhNGaZduI0zhdzjAn12EggaAqvJEALw_wcB&hvadid=580828039894&hvdev=m&hvlocphy=1016367&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=13558793893471372351&hvtargid=kwd-300417362149&hydadcr=100_1014984223&keywords=gaunt's+ghosts+omnibus&qid=1668107577&sr=8-1

There’s also Gaunt’s Ghosts Omnibus on Amazon too

That’s the first one

The others aren’t really a reasonable price

[lethal bough]

It looks like reprints may be slowly trickling out

so perhaps sometime next year I can get them all

[royal egret]

Yup

[lethal bough]

victory part 2 comes out next month as a reprint

[heavy juniper]

the victory part 2 is a new release. but at least it seems like they've done another print run recently on the gaunt's ghosts omnibuses. but ya it's very hard to find stuff in print if it's like more than a couple years old.

[jaunty stratus]

looking at the trailer, its funny how the inquisitor basically looks like how I imagined Mam Mordaunt

[quick moon]

I believe that's the ship captain rather than the Inquisitor. Subtitles call her Shipmistress, which is a rank for the person in charge of ship operations but isn't in charge of the ship as a whole (like the captains of Astartes and Collegia vessels)

[last oak]

if you ain't read Vincula insurgency after reading the rest of gaunts ghosts, you are just not a real one, i'm sorry.

[rich raptor]

i think they also do it to prevent confusion because captain is a separate rank

[royal egret]

Yeah it’s not always consistent but the distinction is made because of people outside of the Navy’s command structure

But still in charge of a ship.

[quick moon]

Yeah, it's likely to be the case with the Astartes. Not so much with the AdMech organisations that use it but the idea of captain conferring rank while shipmaster is a job scope is still there.

[quick onyx]

Just finished Honourbound. It's pretty good. The actual crusade conflict seemed more like a background thing rather than actually part of the plot, which more focused around a mystery investigation and character drama. I wish the Primaris Psyker Zane had more scenes, she's my favorite character in it. || I also liked how the main antagonist has so many parallels with the Emperor I would be shocked if it wasn't an intentional metaphor.||

[jaunty stratus]

Really? Where was that, only thing I read was Brahms, thought that's her name like Grendyl Brahms

Nevermind, found it. Well interesting. It's still possible that it's also her ship, but true, it's more likely that she's not the Inquisitor

[simple plover]

Who knows where to get the Forges of Mars books? They're unavailable in europe and crazy expensive to order from US

[void stirrup]

Kindle

[simple plover]

meh

[tall phoenix]

From the GW store?

I remember trying to buy stuff there but it said it was not sold in Turkey when its literally a book pdf file

[simple plover]

Black Library only has the ebooks

[tall phoenix]

Oof yeah no dice i think

[jaunty stratus]

its because of the .pdf harvest last year. It suffered thanks to climate change, so they had to limit the exports, plus the climate in turkey lets .pdf spoil too fast, so james workshop decided its not worth exporting there.

online shops from gw are ridiculous anyway. It feels like some dude randomly allows some exports one day and another day its not available anymore for reasons. Same with that mini painting handle. It could only be ordered via rest of EU, but not into Germany. A couple of weeks later it was available again

[sage breach]

hey guys, is the space wolves omnibus worth reading?

[quick moon]

Any local GW/Warhammer stores? They can normally bring in books and other stuff from the GW operated webstores without absurd shipping rates.

[simple plover]

I think there is one. I'll check there, thx.

[tall phoenix]

The william king ones?

[sage breach]

yea i think so. the one about ragnar

[quick moon]

Random book stores occasionally have a slapdash collection of 40k books as well in the Sci-Fi/Fantasy section. I picked up some of my novels from shopping malls in the past. If you ever end up in Nottingham, Warhammer World has pretty much any novel still in print and some which aren't on the shelves as well.

[tall phoenix]

They are OLD but pretty good!

If you are a space wolf fan you'll like them i think

Ragnar is also a really likable protagonist

[sage breach]

are there any "new" ones that are pretty good? I'm currently reading the commisar cain books and love it but i want to finally read something about some astartes or psykers. ive read eisenhorn and loved it too

[tall phoenix]

Astartes got a few but they range from bad to good repeatedly

https://www.blacklibrary.com/

I'd say scroll and pick through it yourself, might be easier

[quick moon]

The Horus Heresy stuff is among the more engaging Astartes content, though it's set way in the past.

And is of varying quality across its massive amount of books.

In terms of the general Space Marine battle novels, the notable standouts are Helsreach, Rynns World, and World Engine. All of which are pretty old at this point.

[graceful osprey]

my space marine knowledge leaves a lot to be desired so I haven't read any non-heresy space wolves, but you might be looking for the Blood of Asaheim series by Chris Wraight

the first three were published in the early/mid 2010s but the Helwinter Gate was from 2020

he also wrote Battle of the Fang, a standalone space wolves novel in 2011

can't speak for their quality but i've read Chris Wraight and i'm a big fan of his work

you can also pick up the Sagas of the Space Wolves Omnibus which has a few novels and a bunch of short stories. all or most of them from the 2010s

as far as psykers, there's a new book coming out in early December, Witchbringer by Steven Fischer. it sounds like a half psyker/half cadian novel

oh! if you've read the eisenhorn series, it's direct sequel ravenor is about a psyker inquisitor

excellent books

[frail beacon]

just read Harrowmaster, was quite epic

any other new 40k books that are good>? ive loved head of the hydra, echoes of eternity, warhawk, infinite and divine, and twice dead king series

[royal egret]

Yes there are

[frail beacon]

what would you recommend?

[jaunty stratus]

pariah and penitent I would recommend, but I would also recommend to read Eisenhorn and Ravenor prior these two

[royal egret]

^

Also Brothers of the Snake, Helsreach

Spears of the Emperor

[meager trench]

If you loved Warhawk then might as well read the whole WS saga

Brotherhood of the Storm, Scars, Path of Heaven

Underrated picks would be Paul Kearney's Calgar duology, if you could find it

[austere girder]

The only books I read are Guard related, so I cant help with recommendations

[graceful osprey]

the new kasrkin book is very good || and has necrons ||

if you liked the infinite and the divine, robert rath also wrote assassinorum: kingmaker recently which is also excellent

[uncut nimbus]

As they should be! Carry on soldier!

[glass coyote]

I just finished Volpone Glory: A bluebloods Novel by Nick Kyme. I really liked it. I'd like to see more of the surviving characters.

I don't think I've read the Infinite and the divine. ...but I might have. I don't remember it though. I might be confusing the Twice dead king books.

[meager trench]

yeah volpone glory surprised me. i wasn't expecting much since it was written by kyme but he hit me with an actually good novel, that was good to see

[glass coyote]

I'm now without a 40k novel to read and I hate it.

My local barns&noble doesn't stock really 40k and is terrible for it.

[random marlin]

Isn't it a spoiler?

[random marlin]

I enjoyed it too, one thing I thought was well done was the logistical and tactical aspects of the war, Nick Kyme did it much better than other authors, making it more realistic and immersive.

[graceful osprey]

I guess you're right, I didn't mean to ruin anything. assumed it was clear from the ancient evil beneath the sands in the cover blurb

[random marlin]

If you want, you can add || at the beginning and at the end of your second part of the sentence to hide it. 🙂

[drowsy urchin]

it's pretty rare to see praise for Nick Kyme

His Salamanders books are rather disliked

[graceful osprey]

thanks! hope nobody feels like a twist got ruined

[random marlin]

Maybe he's better suited for guard books then? Volpone Glory was enjoyable, it maybe wasn't completely original (some of the characters were very similar to characters in Gaunt's Ghosts for instance) but there was a good balance between character moments, conflicts between various regiments' cultures and the way Commissars exploit events for propaganda.

[random marlin]

I usually read as little as I can about books I'm interested in so that's probably why I didn't know, so don't fret too much, I think it'll be ok for most people. ^^

By the way, what did you enjoy in Kasrkin in particular? I'd love to know more about your opinion on it, without spoilers of course. 😋

[graceful osprey]

at work but I can probably get to a reply in a few minutes

[heavy juniper]

yeah, the volpone is one of the few very good nick kyme books. the salamander books are absolutely ridiculous. it sucks so much that he basically had exclusivity on salamanders, and.. the books are like that.

today's gw preorders are up now. cadian blood limited hardcover, da gobbo's demise, witchbringer, gaunts ghosts victory part 2 omnibus, krieg paperback

[random marlin]

That's a good time for people who like guard novels. 😉

I find the premise of Witchbringer interesting, I'll probably buy it once it's available for Kindle.

[heavy juniper]

yeah, very interested by that one. it's all been by different authors so far in that series, but I've really enjoyed the previous ones. steel thread and catachan devil

[random marlin]

I enjoyed both of them, with a slight preference for Steel Tread, some moments of tension in that one were great.

[heavy juniper]

love the stealth orks in catachan devil. lol

[graceful osprey]

ok not every 40k book can do multiple perspectives well but it felt compelling no matter who you were following, the characters were fleshed out. some books are vague about battle scenes or objectives but there was a clear goal the entire time

[random marlin]

Yes, it was nice seeing things from a Blood Axe's point of view. 🙂 I kinda had the feeling with Catachan Devils that the novel was just the beginning though, as some things were left unexplored, ||notably the rivalry between the Blood Axe and the Catachan Colonel||, but I'm not sure there'll be a second book, unless this one is very successful which maybe it was, but I didn't hear a lot of people speak about it.

[random marlin]

I'll definitely have to check it out. Thanks!

[random marlin]

(I really have a knack for writing clear, simple to grasp, sentences!)

[heavy juniper]

ah yeah they've listed cadian blood audiobook today on blacklibrary. it's two weeks off, so three weeks until it's on audible I guess. https://www.blacklibrary.com/audio/featured/mp3-cadian-blood-eng-2022.html

kind of nutty the new books for preorder today are on a 2 week preorder. so they dont come out until the 25th. or at least the imperial guard ones. including the gaunt's ghosts omnibus.

to line up with the release of the imperial guard miniatures army box I guess, but still very strange.

somehow the krieg paperback sold out on gw site. weird, since it's a super wide book release that also go to normal book stores. lol. maybe krieg is just that popular

[glass coyote]

I really enjoyed that one too. I also read Brutal Kunnin right after that so it has kinda blurred together with all that orkyness

Just checked my bookshelf(all 40k books). I got lucky with getting a hardcover Krieg.

[random marlin]

Brutal Kunning was a ton of fun, really enjoyed this one. 🙂

[graceful osprey]

my favorite ork POV book is ghazghkull thraka: prophet of the waaagh if you haven't read it

brutal kunnin is a close second though

mike brooks has another ork novel that should be up for general release in like a month, Warboss

there was a special edition a few months ago

[random marlin]

I didn't enjoy Ghazghkull Thrakka: Prophet of the Waaagh that much to be honest. I thought it took itself way too seriously for what it was, but it may have been influenced by the fact that I had read Brutal Kunning a few months before it and that I enjoyed so much how fun it was. Why is it your favorite ork POV book? Not saying in any way that it's wrong of course, I'm genuinely interested. 🙂

[full raven]

Brutal is fun?

[glass coyote]

Orks in general are about as fun as they are terrifying. Some comedy only Orks bring about.

[graceful osprey]

honestly? because it takes itself more seriously than brutal kunnin

so I think I enjoyed it for the exact reasons you didn't

[glass lintel]

Ork books feel like they keep bouncing between the hero worship of Dan Abnett and the swinging pendulum of doom from Aaron-Dembski Bowden (except the orks are the doom) without ever hitting either side fully. Still waiting for a book that really pushes home how terrifying they are.

[glass lintel]

Aaron Dembski-Bowden's Night Lord Trilogy is still my definitive choice for space marine books. They're the only ones I found that hit on the transhuman dread, philosophy, and role of them without any other aspect failing.

[uncut nimbus]

I really enjoyed Leman Russ - The Great Wolf by Chris Wraight. Even as a non-40k book it was great writing.

[random marlin]

Ok, I guess as I had read several novels and short stories approaching the Orks in a serious way (Imperial Glory, Grey and Green, Krieg to name a few), that's why Brutal Kunning happened to be a welcome change for me, with Ghazghhkull going into the serious aspect of the Orks again. I still enjoyed some part of it, notably ||the female psyker Ogryn (so it's in the lore now Fatshark! :D), some of the facts about Ork culture (Orks believe in reincarnation, who would have thought Orks would have a spiritual approach close to buddhism?).||

[graceful osprey]

yeah the book || has so much fun ork kulture || but it's definitely a personal taste thing I get why you'd prefer mike brooks

[random marlin]

Did you read The Enemy of my Enemy? It's a short story involving Orks written by Nate Crowley too. 🙂

[mellow knot]

Hey folks - I updated the pinned post that has links to the audios of the short stories with the psyker one as well 🙂

[random marlin]

I really have to make time to hear/read these stories, I'm really curious about them.

[mellow knot]

They’re not very long 🙂

[jaunty stratus]

Hadron can confirm this with a throbbing sound of binary

ducks and leaves

[hard gale]

my dudes, my companions, my good folk

where can I find that sick little story about the 4 founding members of the inquisition

where they're basically talking about how to proceed and 50% of them disagree with the other 50% and then they all part ways

it's a p short short story, but dripping in atmosphere. Pretty sure it was in a White Dwarf at somepoint in time but I can't for the life of me remember what it's called.

[tall phoenix]

I think you mean the last War of the Beast book?

[hard gale]

no it predates that. it's really old lore, it's almost a throw away excerpt. I understand that the Beast series kind of expanded on it (haven't read that series) but the thing I'm thinking of was definitely a stand alone piece

[tall phoenix]

https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Portal:Publications

Well if you wanna dig i wish you good luck

[hard gale]

ty v much! Dig I shall

[tall phoenix]

Have at it chief

🗃️ 🗃️ 🗃️

[hard gale]

18: Thorian Faction Sourcebook, (Saved archive page, dated July 2013, last accessed 24 February 2020), pgs. 7-9 <---- it's this, but I can't for the life of me find the pdf

[tall phoenix]

Question, is it written by Thorpe

[hard gale]

i have no idea

[hard gale]

Oooooooooooo could be

that looks like that is it

why dost thine ask?

Now I'm curious

[tall phoenix]

Yeee I mostly ask because I had a copy with his name on it like the one above

[native frigate]

I finished xenos last night, going to start reading the next book tonight

[plucky current]

nice, Hope you enjoy Malleus

[solid minnow]

Any good stuff with black templars?

[bleak vector]

honestly that entire book combination (Eisenhorn, Ravenor, Bequin) are easily my favorite ones

[heavy juniper]

have not read it yet, but helsreach is written by aaron dembski-bowden

[next rock]

Hey is vulkans Horus heresy book good?

holy shit nevermind that thing is 91 bucks on Amazon for a paperback what the hell

Ok the ebook version is only 16 bucks not as bad

[honest willow]

black library books tend to be printed out in low numbers with reprints over time. lots of people like to buy up limited stuff and then resell it too.

[next rock]

Ah that makes sense

[jaunty stratus]

speaking of recommendations: has someone experience with the primarchs series? I got through the Roberto Guillaume book, and it really has been the first 40k book where I really had to struggle to finish it, such a boring read and even the point of the story was like "really? thats it?"
is the rest the same or does it get better?

[tall phoenix]

A lot of the Primarch books kinda suck unless you are a Legion's fan

[jaunty stratus]

This sounds like I better skip them then

[tall phoenix]

Oh no there ARE some good ones

https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/rii84o/all_primarch_books_rated_and_reviewed/

Probably the best summary one you can get

[jaunty stratus]

As always, thank you kindly 🙏

[tall phoenix]

No worries 🙏

[jaunty stratus]

Heh, the review fits pretty much my opinion about the gman book, except I would even give it a worse rating

Looks like everything Annandale or Guymer are involved can be avoided

[tall phoenix]

Yeah they are sadly kinda rushed and not super great

a few of the traitor primarch books are awesome but others are eeeeeh

[glass lintel]

As a rule, the majority of the HH reads like one of those History Channel documentaries where they're talking about secret Nazi superweapons or trying to fill-in dialogue for meetings they knew happened but have no notes on, so they have the local highschool P.E. teacher that looks the most like Horus say

"Taxes! Those suck! Taxes are like, bad. Why, if only there were something I could do to those taxmen, but alas: I - Horus Emperorson - am not evil."

Essentially, they've got a basic timeline made of sticky notes from codexes that give a quote from someone which was on the planet Soyjach VII in the year 30,024, and are now tasked with making sure that every piece on a chessboard make all the right moves to be in place for it. Real constrained and cheesey.

[heavy juniper]

have read all the primarch books, and the only one I think is a good book is the alpharius one. it is great.

[jaunty stratus]

ye, if they ever consider a rework, it should not be on the foundation of libertarian ideas lol, same with the whole ||fever dream of horus and erebus and magnus struggling to pull horus in one ore another direction, and horus clearly knowing whats up but still following the liar erebus, because, reasons|| but overall I enjoyed the hh series so far. Though even there the storys about the dark angels were from time to time, meh. Same with Everything Fulgrim involved, it could profit from being more streamlined. To compensate this, I at least got the Alpha Legion book, which is still one of my favourites and with Mechanicum a cool goofy scooby doo adventure combined with mechs. And lots of creepy horror where the authors really have a hand for.
but with the primarchs books I think I will now only look at the books from dilaras link, that got a 3/5 or more rating, thankfully audible has refund. Still a shame, expected more tbh, and if vulkan is even worse than gman, they did the only likeable primarch really dirty

[hard gale]

You will definitely want to read Helsreach, by ADB. One of my all time favourites, it's a fucking fantastic read.

[glass lintel]

I already had an opinion of almost every chapter going into the HH, and all the Primarch books did was make me like some of the legions less.

[jaunty stratus]

Fits with the Guilliman book so far. He felt quite level headed in Know no Fear, and battle for the Abyss Cestus was really a likeable and quite clever character, same with rules of engagement or how it was called. In the Primarch book they all are idiotic fools, that especially lack the ability to talk. Especially the nemesis chapter were low budget roleplaying John Snow the whole time "I don't like how he treats us, BuhT hEs mAh pRiMarCh"

[solid minnow]

isnt it the same has that youtube video?

[hard gale]

there's a guy on youtube who has animated it and done the audio over the top. Though I believe it's unfinished. Haven't checked in a long while

either way still v much worth reading, excellent story

[graceful osprey]

there is a recent novella about the black templar chapter master, Helbrecht: Knight of the Throne that was also pretty good

[royal egret]

There’s also a Sigismund book which takes place pre-Hersey but it does a good job establishing their foundation to some extent.

[gaunt glacier]

https://web.archive.org/web/20130729085727/http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m1320032_Thorian_Sourcebook.pdf
It was a free update from Specialist Games for the TTRPG Inquisitor: The Battle for the Emperor's Soul aka Inq54, the father of 40k TTRPGs of late Black Industries and FFG (and now C7).

Eisenhorn series of Dan Abnett was a tie-in series for Inq54 for that matter.

[hard gale]

amazing. are there more of these sourcebooks for other inquisitorial sourcebooks?

[gaunt glacier]

There are only fan sourcebooks for the Amalathians, Isstvanians etc.

[hard gale]

a shame. i guess the project was never finished?

[gaunt glacier]

Yup, Inq54 was discontinued around 2012 just like the rest of the Specialist Games such as BFG, Necromunda Underhive, Epic.

[hard gale]

well fuck

i'm gonna assume it will re appear in some form in this new era of GW we find ourselves in

since they seem to be coming back to these games

[gaunt glacier]

I hope so really, 54mm minis were awesome

[hard gale]

(which i love, SO MUCH extra universe stuff)

[gaunt glacier]

Phil Kelly is still working for GW, he was influential in Inq54, having written the supplements.

[gaunt glacier]

ikr 😍

[hard gale]

big heart eyes emoji energy for sure. The inquisition alone is just endless in scope, and i have a massive softspot for battlefleeth gothic and naval battles as well

SO EPIC

[gaunt glacier]

yessss ❤️

I'd recommend finding the issues of Exterminatus magazine too for Inquisitor

as well as the supplements The Cirian Legacy, Death of an Angel and Heavenfall, they are all well written supplements.

Exterminatus issue 4 had the Xenos Mercenaries such as Eldar Rangers, Eldar Pirates, Kroot Mercenaries and Viskeon and random Xenos generator.

[hard gale]

nice i will look into these for sure. they probably exist somehwere in the bowels of the internet

[gaunt glacier]

Yup, Exterminatus issue 4 had the Xenos Mercenaries and issue 6 had the Daemonhosts and Unbound Daemons for a more Radical flavour of an Inquisitor too ❤️

Kroot Mercenaries, Eldar Rangers, Eldar Pirates, Viskeon Bounty Hunters and random D100 Xenos generation table

[hard gale]

sick

love me some radical inquisitors

[gaunt glacier]

Khibala Yusra as hired by Inquisitor Agmar and Alanthrasil Swiftblade and Vrashrak the Stalker as hired by Inquisitor Lichtenstein, they had their own special character rules as well, besides generic Xenos Mercenaries characters.

[gaunt glacier]

❤️

[hard gale]

this is all really helpful, thanks for the direction. making lore videos for newcomers to the tide series who haven;t encountered 40k before, and ofc the Inquisition is definitely going to get its own video before long

[gaunt glacier]

I'd also recommend The Inquisition: An Illustrated Guide to the Secretive Protectors of the Imperium as a sourcebook by Black Library, as well as The Inquisitor sketchbook of John Blanche for even more great material.

Dan Abnett, absolute legend ❤️

[hard gale]

the man the myth the legend

Darktide's story will be great I reckon

[gaunt glacier]

HYPEE

my another recommendation regarding Inq54 would be Gav Thorpe's interview from the glory days of GW forums and Specialist Games website
https://web.archive.org/web/20031004150649/http://www.games-workshop.com/community/transcript4.htm
and Inq54 website
https://web.archive.org/web/20040819005550/http://www.games-workshop.es/especialista/inquisitor/bestiario/index.html

[hearty niche]

Siege of Terra book Tier list
S- Warhawk
A- Saturnine, Echoes
B-Solar War
C-Mortis
F-First Wall

[mellow knot]

I had a Black Templar in a Deathwatch short story and I loved him so much.

[hard gale]

read em all and I think you have A and S tier mixed

Warhawk was good but it wasn't on the level of Saturnine and Echoes

and that comes from a RABID Sigismund fan

there were parts in Echoes and Saturnine that just left me with chills. had to put the books down and take a few minutes

rest of it spot on

[hearty niche]

True, but Warhawk had THE best fight scenes

[heavy juniper]

echoes is incredible

[hearty niche]

Agreed

[hard gale]

it had some certainly excellent ones, but the best 'action' scene in the whole thing for me has to be...

wait how do i do spoiler tags

[hearty niche]

|| in between

Double em

|| like this ||

[heavy juniper]

lol

[hard gale]

fuck sake

lol

ah man i can't find that key on my stylish but less functional mechanical keyboard

i feel like I don't have itr

but either way 'In the name of his Lord Dorn'

that paragraph... never read anything quite like that in GW literature

it was perfect. and I felt so sad after you later discover the fate of said character

||https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/ks835v/spoilers_saturnineexcerpt_when_camba_diaz_is/||

There we go

thank god

one thing I think we can all agree on though, is that the First Wall was utter, utter shite

like what a fucking waste of a book

[daring whale]

Quick question I just finished Einstein and was wondering is Fulgrims book worth getting?

[grave vine]

if you're interested in the emperor's children then yes

[daring whale]

I want to get a full picture of the Horus Hersey. I figured it would help shape it but I been reading reviews that some books could be skipped. I would love to read them all but am unsure if it’s worth getting them all.

[grave vine]

up to you really

I read a lot of wikis which give a broad picture

[somber summit]

@daring whaleI use this one as a guide 🙂
https://blog.basementofdeath.com/2018/05/01/horus-heresy-reading-guidance/

[daring whale]

@somber summit Ty so much

[graceful osprey]

there is an extremely important plot point that occurs at the end of Fulgrim

the rest of the book is hit or miss but it's pretty much the last one you shouldn't skip

[daring whale]

Ok that sold it for me

Ty for illuminating me

[graceful osprey]

good. when you finish it you will be glad you did

if the emperor's children parts bore you just hang in there

[daring whale]

Ngl most people dislike space marine lore but I happen to enjoy it. I just want to get to the siege of terra but no reason to rush it. I just didn’t know if any of the books are filler because there are a lot.

[graceful osprey]

the heresy does have some filler and good stories that aren't super relevant to the broader plot

after fulgrim you can use reading guides like the one Energiie posted to use your best judgment

it should highlight the plot critical ones and everything else you can just read if you think it sounds cool

also the series # is a little inflated by short story anthologies

[wicked tree]

As others have said, you can pick and choose what you want to read.

I’d say at the very least the first….4 or 5 are good for context as to how it started.

Then you can jump around based on what characters/legions you enjoy

[somber summit]

@daring whale I'm going through the Heresy too, about two books away from starting on the siege books, it's worth it 😁

[daring whale]

This is the information I needed. I just don’t know what happened to certain characters at the point I’m at and would hate to skip them due to skipping a book but the guides will help me figure it out.

[somber summit]

And yes, definitely do not skip fulgrim

Or any Abnett books 😁

[daring whale]

Oh I love abnett I took a break from hh and got my first gaunts ghost book

[graceful osprey]

after flight of the eisenstein HH stops following a core group of characters

[somber summit]

Just finished the latest book in Gaunt's ghost

Mate, it only gets better

[graceful osprey]

garro's story picks up in a short story anthology I believe

[somber summit]

You are in for a ride 😁

[graceful osprey]

but otherwise the plot jumps around

that's why you can skip, it's not super linear

[meager trench]

garro shows up a lot in audiobooks and anthologies yeah

[graceful osprey]

more like different stuff happening in different places

[daring whale]

I love that name haha

[graceful osprey]

all sort of around the same time

[meager trench]

a lot of the audios made their way down into written form but not all iirc

[daring whale]

So coming back to a book wouldn’t really ruin it if I skip I assume.

[somber summit]

Depends on the book I guess 😅

[graceful osprey]

yeah although you wanna check out the next book and make sure it isn't a follow up to one that you skipped

[daring whale]

Yeah I’m sure the guides will help me

[somber summit]

For sure 😊

[daring whale]

I just don’t want the guides to be like here’s Loken

[somber summit]

Some books, like mechanicus and the war on Mars, gives good insight, but nothing important will be missed if I'm honest

[wicked tree]

Based on your name, I can guess what legion books you’ll be focusing in on. Any other legions, Little Horus?

[somber summit]

And there are several of those "side book" in Horus heresy

[graceful osprey]

this might be helpful http://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.html

I have found it helpful visualizing how the series is organized

[royal egret]

I was just gonna post that lol

[daring whale]

Honestly I don’t have a legion I love yet. But I really enjoyed the lunar wolves out of the ones I have met so far.

[graceful osprey]

great minds

[royal egret]

Have you read the Ultramarines and Word Bearers arc?

[daring whale]

No

[somber summit]

Lunar wolf rules! Until...

[graceful osprey]

Horus just finished eisenstein

[daring whale]

I have read up to Eisenstein

[royal egret]

Tbh the early books are rough

But it gets better

[somber summit]

Salamanders are awesome too @daring whale they are probably the most humane of the space marines

Worth a look Imo 😊

[royal egret]

I’d recommend the First Heretic next

[daring whale]

I also read Helsreach but it was so different haha but I loved it

[royal egret]

And then Know No Fear

[graceful osprey]

I told him not to skip Fulgrim because of the thing

[somber summit]

Agreed @graceful osprey

Don't skip 😁

[daring whale]

@somber summit i seen them in Helsreach I love them but Glamaduis hated them haha

[somber summit]

Haha fair 😁

[daring whale]

@royal egret I’ll check it out

[royal egret]

It’s my favorite series

[daring whale]

Thank you guys I gotta get back to work. I’m gonna copy the links and I learned a lot

[royal egret]

First Heretic, Know No Fear, Betrayer

Great little trilogy

[graceful osprey]

no problem! yeah Eternal is right once you get like 20 or 30 books in there are way less recommended skips

[jaunty stratus]

OK, what's the problem people have with battle for the abyss? ||I mean sure, it had no relevance for the main plot, but is that all? ||

[royal egret]

It’s not very well written imo

It’s just kinda bolterporn

Not really much interest to me

Definition of a filler book

[daring whale]

First Heretic is kinda far down the line I won’t be missing anything after I read fulgrim?

[royal egret]

No

A lot of these books once you read the first few become separated in sequence

The First Heretic starts earlier than any book you’ve read I think for example

[daring whale]

Okay because when I checked it out it seemed like a prequel. It’s so confusing haha but I’m grasping it now. I just bought Fulgrim I need to see the end of this book now.

[jaunty stratus]

OK, maybe that got lost in translation(of my localised edition) . I really enjoyed it, it had something of a dirty dozen die hard crossover, where a rag tag crew had to work with what they got

[royal egret]

It’s fine if you enjoyed it, I just didn’t much and others didn’t.

It’s definitely just a personal taste thing, I just don’t enjoy those kind of books as much.

[jaunty stratus]

Was just wondering, because so far my taste somewhat met common consensus 😅

Especially when I look at the dark angels books

[meager trench]

Battle for the Abyss' problem is it came on the heels of the opening trilogy, and their followups

So comparatively speaking, it fell short

[royal egret]

Yeah it came out when people wanted more of the Heresy

And instead we got this pointless story of a ship that didn’t really matter

[meager trench]

Yep

[royal egret]

Same with Damnation of Pythos or whatever it’s called

[meager trench]

It's impact was getting one of the titular ships destroyed during the shadow crusade

But it does somewhat fit within the kinds of novels that would come out later, i.e mostly filler

[jaunty stratus]

oh, that makes sense, another thing that did not affect me, because I came late to the party, sounds really like it was just a filler for the bigger events to show up

[meager trench]

Yeah it kind of just fills up a release slot, that's really it

[jaunty stratus]

the benefit of coming late to a pary I guess

[onyx ore]

battle for the abyss also have very cliche 40k characters when its set in 30k

its like an action movie, lowbudget

other than that just read the first bunch, it sets the scene and its the core of the story tbh until you get up to battle of terra,, not to mention Legion that is amazing. Sadly the Dark Angel books are soso, its good to read about caliban before the imperium

[dry pecan]

Just finished all the Cain audio books on Audible. I know that they are not all on there but holy shit. Hilarious series

[naive storm]

Not had the privilege of listening to the audiobooks, but I'm halfway through the Saviour of the Imperium Omnibus and having a whale of a time

Love me some Cain

[daring whale]

@jaunty stratus I looked into battle of abyss and I’m totally gonna have to get it. I been wanting to see the ultramarines in action.

[jaunty stratus]

They are even astonishingly likable, but it's rather smurfs and some other legions, I wish you a good read

[daring whale]

Thank you and I hope to end up liking the boys in blue

[jaunty stratus]

Then really don't read the primarchs book about Guilliman, never. Just pretend it does not exist. That was my latest book and it was... Something

[daring whale]

I will end up at least reading one primarch book for each legion.

[wicked tree]

Good thing there’s only one per legion XD

[tall phoenix]

If you don't like it absolutely get Know No Fear

This is the book that more or so saved the Ultramarines from obscurity in the Horus Heresy series

[dry vessel]

I’m wanting to get into 40k lore, what book should i start with?

[meager trench]

what general areas pique your interest? superhuman soldiers? regular soldiers? civilian life? aliens?

[dry vessel]

Maybe a mix of necrons and superhuman soldiers?

[meager trench]

for necrons, The Infinite and the Divine has received great reviews, Twice Dead King as well. A much older novel that pitted necrons against guardsmen that I enjoyed years and years ago was Dead Men Walking, though the latter is pre-flavor necrons iirc, when they were more terminators in space than tomb kings in space. for superhuman soldiers, if you can find it, Calgar's Siege is great, the Bill King Space Wolves trilogy, Brothers of the Snake are all good choices imo

for a mix of both at the same time, Damnos was alright, Knights of Macragge was better imo, to be read in that order

Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work is also a mix of both at the same time

[wicked tree]

New Kasrkin novel spoiler: ||The Necron Lord and his AI companion were the best part of the novel imo, the Kasrkin were probs the worst tbh||

[meager trench]

yeah i was hesitant to bring that one up since on one hand, i did like the novel overall, but Albert's writing is hit or miss for me (I couldn't get through the Silent Hunters at all, but made it through this) and the Necrons in Kasrkin were pretty fun to read. though they don't show up until way later

[wicked tree]

||Yeah they were easily the highlight, though the Kroot were good too tbh. Again if I hadn’t been told every paragraph, I wouldn’t have know they were Kasrkin, they seemed to bumble their way to success||

[meager trench]

lmaooooooo truth

[dry vessel]

i’ll check those out

which one should i start off with

with the ones you recommended

[meager trench]

I like Calgar's Siege, it was written in a very intro-esque manner

[dry vessel]

alright thank you

is brutal kunnin good?

[meager trench]

heard good things, though i have not read it yet. i might start it tonight

[graceful osprey]

brutal kunnin is in fact good

[tall phoenix]

If it helps

this is the same guy that had 5 fucking Marines kill an entire kabal's worth of dark eldar somehow while having an autistic child with them that could see secret portal doors

[mellow knot]

It has genuinely hilarious slapstick moments in it. I love it.

[tall phoenix]

Its superb 👌

[drowsy urchin]

https://twitter.com/WarComTeam/status/1592880328384946177?s=20&t=8c6rllYAHo01Fj15ab1igA

no preview? New angron book

Limited edition art looks dope

[jaunty stratus]

also liked the "x minutes before disaster" narration, cool idea from DA

[glass coyote]

Hands down my favorite book of the Primarch series was Konrad Cruze. I do agree the Guilliman book was... something. I get why it couldn't be something more when Guilliman needed a long nap and near death experience before he could really shine.

[glass coyote]

Yes. Does Orks well and adds in comic relief only they can provide.

[daring whale]

I haven’t met Cruze yet which legion is his?

[glass coyote]

is that one called Silent Hunters? I really ended up enjoying that one too. A certain scene with an artifact and characters got literal look into who they really are and only one of them already knew it.

[tall phoenix]

Yeah thats it. Was a pretty disliked novel.

[glass coyote]

The Night lords. The buggers you love to hate. The Night Lords Omnibus was a good read too.

[glass coyote]

A shame, I didn't go in expecting a ton. Still had moments I thought was worth the read.

[drowsy urchin]

Isn't the Curze novel the most disliked primarch novel for how differently it portrays Curze compared to every other novel he is in

[tall phoenix]

Yeah to the point that the author said the people that were objecting were the same people that would be into serial killers IRL