WH40K Books to read for a new guy
- Thread starter I-Protest-I
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Seriously, a 40K book with an actual sense of humor. That and they're pretty enjoyable adventure stories on their own, too.
Seriously, a 40K book with an actual sense of humor. That and they're pretty enjoyable adventure stories on their own, too.
The Commissar Ciaphas Cain series by Sandy Mitchell, still full of grimdark but with a sense of humour.
I'll echo the Dan Abnett suggestions. Gaunt's Ghosts was my first foray into 40k fiction and I was not disappointed, currently reading and enjoying the Eisenhorn trilogy. The Ultramarines Omnibus was also a good read. Treads some different ground than the others I mentioned, but I don't yet know how well it stacks up against other Space Marine stories. I intend to read the Space Wolves books next.
Dunno if there are any dedicated books, but "Fear the Alien" is a collection of filthy xenos based stories, and it even has a very interesting Dark Eldar one in it.Hubert South said:
Don't read them all back-to-back, they'll bore you to death. Seriously. The first four books are all by William King, and while he isn't a bad author, his books are all the same, and reading more than two of them consecutively is almost unbearable.rsvp42 said:
If you want a more interesting Space Wolves book, read "Battle of the Fang" by Chris Wraight; however, you'll need to be intimately acquainted with the background concerning the feud between Space Wolves and Thousand Sons, otherwise the novel will have a lot less impact for you.
Graham McNeill's Ultramarines novels are excellent and anything Dan Abnett [//1d4chan.org/wiki/Dan_Abnett] has put on paper is worth reading as well. Together with Sandy Mitchell they are the "holy trinity of awesome 40k writers".
STEER WELL CLEAR of C.S. Goto [//1d4chan.org/wiki/C.S._Goto].
Edit: Oh, I don't feel that you have to buy them brand new, there's always loads of second-hand 40K novels flying around, just check Amazon.
STEER WELL CLEAR of C.S. Goto [//1d4chan.org/wiki/C.S._Goto].
Edit: Oh, I don't feel that you have to buy them brand new, there's always loads of second-hand 40K novels flying around, just check Amazon.
Meh I can't believe people have Forgotten the Word Bearers Chaos Space marine Series (containing Imperial Guard, Necrons, Tyranids, Space Marines and of course the Word Bearers them self?s) by Anthony Reynolds. Dark Apostle, Dark disciple and Dark creed are already available though the omnibus will be out later in the year.
I have the Grey Knights novels standing on my shelf (bought them back before the omnibus edition was released), but haven't read them yet. I don't exactly expect them to be terrible, but the author (Ben Counter) is (in my humble opinion) the worst in the entire Black Library. It is, of course, a matter of personal taste, and if it interests you, by all means check it out.rsvp42 said:
Other than that, I recently finished reading the Ultramarines omnibus, and while certainly not among the best I've read, it was still good, which is what I've come to expect from Graham McNeill; especially the third novel, "Dead Sky, Black Sun" was pretty kickass and actually managed to make Chaos look downright scary.
Also, there are the Blood Angels novels by James Swallow (also one of the more talented authors in the bunch). The first omnibus contains the first two novels, which were pretty good, and the second omnibus is slated for release in January 2012.
There are a lot of other Space Marine novels worth reading, but so far none of them are planned for omnibus edition rerelease.
I spy with my little eye...Hubert South said:
http://www.amazon.com/Path-Renegade-Dark-Eldar-Chambers/dp/1849701377/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1316128132&sr=8-1
He's doing his darndest [//1d4chan.org/wiki/Matt_Ward]:Lordpils said:
"Long-time and much-loved Ultramarines writer Graham McNeill tried to correct some of the utter retardation Ward had inflicted on the chapter in the novel Chapter's Due, which brought the Ultramarines down from Mary Sue status, had them take major losses, and had them being forced to get help from the Adeptus Mechanicus and Raven Guard to fight off 17,000 traitor marines attacking Ultramar. It was fucking awesome and was a well-done example of humanizing the Ultramarines - but it managed to infuriate Matt Ward. In his next codex Ward threw in a small moment about the daemon M'Kar - writing how he was in an entirely different part of the galaxy trying to corrupt Mephiston at the same time he was supposedly attacking Ultramar as well as alive and well rather than being stabbed to death by Calgar. In summary: Ward fought the best effort so far to correct the Mary Sue bullshit brought upon the Ultramarines by Ward himself, and attempted to get the entire thing declared non-canon."
The Eisenhorn Trilogy is great. The codex's usually contain a lot of good stories so do white dwarf. Thats pretty much all i can recommend from the 40k end. If you want to branch out into regular warhammer witch hunter, the tales of Malus Darkblade, Mark of damnation and blood money are all pretty good.
Edit
I forgot to mention just google Dan Abnett, and then go buy everything he has written that's based in the warhammer world, including the comic books. He has also done a lot of work for Marvel and DC, His run on Guardians of the Galaxy Was fucking Excellent.
Edit
I forgot to mention just google Dan Abnett, and then go buy everything he has written that's based in the warhammer world, including the comic books. He has also done a lot of work for Marvel and DC, His run on Guardians of the Galaxy Was fucking Excellent.
The ones I personally enjoyed the most were Ravenor and Lord of the Night.
Also, I don't think you can get it anymore except used on eBay but the graphic novel Deff Skwadron is a great read if you're more into the silly side of 40k than the grimdark drama.
I'm pretty sure you can find it posted online in its entirety.
Also, I don't think you can get it anymore except used on eBay but the graphic novel Deff Skwadron is a great read if you're more into the silly side of 40k than the grimdark drama.
I'm pretty sure you can find it posted online in its entirety.