WH40K Books to read for a new guy

[I-Protest-I]

I've read a few comic books here and there and Space Marine really hammered home how I want to get reading more into the universe as a whole.

What recommendations could anyone possibly please give me, I know there's a few fans here.

(Oh I have heard about the Horus Heresy, but I'm going to leave that until after a few of these books atleast.)

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Ravenor. Best trilogy ever. Seriously i cannot stress how good dan abnett is. Gaunts ghosts as well.

 

[I-Protest-I]

Ravenor. Best trilogy ever. Seriously i cannot stress how good dan abnett is. Gaunts ghosts as well.

Thanks, bought both through Amazon and they'll be here soon.

 

[peter-lavalle]

Read the rulebooks

 

[Catface Meowmers]

Actually, some of the best stuff you can read (in terms of fleshing out the universe) is in the old codicies and especially in the older editions of the rule book. if you can find an old rule book used for like $5 (it'll be pretty thick), get it, the first 20% or so reads like a cool history book for the 40K universe, and the whole thing's littered with 2-4 page short stories.

 

[BiscuitTrouser]

Ravenor. Best trilogy ever. Seriously i cannot stress how good dan abnett is. Gaunts ghosts as well.

Thanks, bought both through Amazon and they'll be here soon.

Ive literally read and re read these books over and over. Im not going lie. I own every black library book. All of them. I personally track down and buy them the second they are released. I highly reccomend those, i also find the space wolves novels really good. The literature is pretty good in general, you get some cliches though. Quite a few. The omnibus's are pretty cool and the horus heresy book fulgrim was my personal favourite. Very human. You will get tired of space marines pretty fast i think. If you DO want those, ultramarines novels are good. I prefer those that mention them but focus on the people.

 

[Rawne1980]

Gaunts Ghosts.
Eisenhorn
Horus Heresy collection.

Someone already mentioned Ravenor which is also awesome.

 

[Catface Meowmers]

Read the rulebooks

make sure they're the old editions though, they'll be cheaper and the older editions are thicker and have way more actual literature in them as opposed to rules and army lists.

 

[Rusman]

If you're going with Ravenor, Read Eisenhorn first as it is the first part of the trilogy of trilogy... Confusing somewhat and you may not no some of the characters and themes in the Ravenor books. Both of those are great series' though.

Also if you like IG... well even if you don't you will after reading the Gaunts Ghost's books. They're great.

And good plan on waiting before you start Horus Heresy. I did too but now it is easily my favourite series.

 

[DPeteD]

Gaunts Ghosts.
Eisenhorn
Horus Heresy collection.

Someone already mentioned Ravenor which is also awesome.

These. ESPICALLY the eisenhorn trilogy. BEST.WARHAMMER.BOOKS.EVER also an old but good one would be the last chancers which are far more original and just plain better than gaunts ghosts in my opinion, also if your in to space marines I heatily reccomend the space wolfs books, they are the best for giving an insight into how space marine chapters work and they are just damn good.

 

[I-Protest-I]

Read the rulebooks

make sure they're the old editions though, they'll be cheaper and the older editions are thicker and have way more actual literature in them as opposed to rules and army lists.

Having to read rule books sounds like homework, I'm uninterested in the tabletop (apart from looking very cool.) I'll give these a good read when they come and order more if I enjoy them.

Thank you all for your suggestions but I have work in 5 hours so it's best if I grab some sleep

P.S I also prefer real fleshed out peoples stories with science fiction thrown in, like some of the Halo extended universes books.

 

[spartandude]

Ravenor. Best trilogy ever. Seriously i cannot stress how good dan abnett is. Gaunts ghosts as well.

Thanks, bought both through Amazon and they'll be here soon.

no dont read Ravenor until uve read Eisenhorn, its before Ravenor and it much better imo

also the Horus Heresy Horus Rising

 

[Lil_Rimmy]

GAUNTS GHOSTS GAUNTS GHOSTS!

Damn, I love these books. There are sooo many and they are some of the BEST books I have ever read. Why?

Because it's the imperial guard. They are human. Not some giant super-human-on-steroids-armour-...thing (which is ironic because I play the tabletop board game and I play as Space Marines.)

See, they have feelings. Space marines..... not so much. Imperial Guard are just so much more interesting. One shot could kill them. They have to think tactility. Space marines.... probably wont die until a few good solid artillery shells to the face (yeah yeah, exaggeration)

Anyway.

Get it.

It's good.

Gaunt's Ghosts.

Woooo.

 

[thahat]

Read the rulebooks

make sure they're the old editions though, they'll be cheaper and the older editions are thicker and have way more actual literature in them as opposed to rules and army lists.

Having to read rule books sounds like homework, I'm uninterested in the tabletop (apart from looking very cool.) I'll give these a good read when they come and order more if I enjoy them.

Thank you all for your suggestions but I have work in 5 hours so it's best if I grab some sleep

P.S I also prefer real fleshed out peoples stories with science fiction thrown in, like some of the Halo extended universes books.

then you, want to read the ciaphas cain HERO OF THE EMPERIUM series. XD its like 3 books per book since they got put togeather into a compendium for like 20 bucks. if your stingy bout your money. go ebooks of a certain purple swirly nature. but seriusly, worth the buy, says i, the self proclamed pirate.

 

[FlashHero]

SPACE WOLFS....READ THE SPACE WOLFS OMNIBUSES. BEST BOOKS EVAR.*



*Okay the Black Company books are better but these are a awesome 2nd.

 

[deckai]

If you want something to laugh, the Ciaphas Cain books are great. They are still awesome Military SF but with a more untypical Wh40k hero, don't get me wrong he's still more bad-ass than humanly possible but not for the reasons all the other WH40K heroes are.

 

[dickywebster]

The horus heresy series does a gd job of telling the basis for a lot of the story, especially with the chaos and imperial forces
Otherwise, gaunts ghosts, though its kinda long, titanicus, redemption corps, though really it depends what race u want to read, the necrons and tyranids having no books and the orks having shrot stories at best is a problem, eldar dont have a lot, but theres loads of choas and imperial ones

 

[Sonicron]

Why would you people recommend he read Ravenor before Eisenhorn? That makes no sense.

To inform you, OP, celebrated Black Library author Dan Abnett is in the process of penning three consecutive trilogies about agents of the Inquisition, the third of which has yet to see the light of day. The first trilogy is called Eisenhorn, the second is Ravenor; both are very much worth reading (in fact, Eisenhorn is what got me hooked on W40k a few years back), but you really should read them in order.

If you're looking for a few good one-shots before delving into the bigger series, I recommend the following:
- Brothers of the Snake (Dan Abnett)
- Helsreach (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)
- The Hunt for Voldorius (Andy Hoare)
- Angels of Darkness (Gav Thorpe)
- Storm of Iron (Graham McNeill)

As for series that span several novels, I suggest
- the aforementioned Inquisition novels by Dan Abnett
- The ongoing Horus Heresy series (spanning 16 novels so far, I think)
- the new Night Lords novels by Aaron Dembski-Bowden (so far consisting of Soul Hunter and Blood Reaver)
- Nick Kyme's Salamanders trilogy (Salamander and Firedrake; third novel is due late this year)
- the adventures of Commissar Ciaphas Cain by Sandy Mitchell (probably the only W40k series that deliberately employs comedy)

-EDIT-
Since so many folks seem to be recommending them... yes, the Space Wolves novels aren't bad, either, but be warned: You really can't read more than two of them back-to-back, as William King's writing style is always the same, and it just gets monotonous; the final two (out of the entire six) novels are by a different author, though.

 

[Harry Mason]

Hands down, Gaunt's Ghosts is the most crucial 40k fiction there is.
They are actually WELL-WRITTEN.

 

[mkg]

I like the ones that contain a bunch of short stories, they really give you a varied feel of all the foes humanity faces, you'll read through them pretty fast.