Your Favorite Warhammer/40k Novel?

[Ruairi iliffe]

Hmm, let me think... oh yes There is.

CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM.

Admittedly the later books are a bit weak, but i love those first few. Also Reading though the Horus Hersey, 'Thousand sons' and 'Prospero burns' Being my current favorites, which is kinda funny in that they are flipside of each other to a degree.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

Truth be told I've only gotten my hands on Horus Rising, but Dan Abnett managed to hook me with that, so I'll definitely want to check out more.

 

[Thaluikhain]

the one where people die. a lot.

[sub]there are warhammer novels? do they have several pages with boom bash peng peng kaboom? or is there more to it than i can imagine?[/sub]

An awful, awful lot of them are more or less just that, with space marines talking like twelve year olds pretending to be action heroes, and there's an inquisitor in eveyr book. Like most franchises, it got to the point where they recognised that they could stick their logo on anything, and it would sell.

OTOH, there is some genuinely good stuff out there that people would read if you ripped all mention of WHFB or 40k out and set in some other universe, written by sci-fi and fantasy authors that exist outside of GW.

 

[Labyrinth]

Ohhh. Dan Abnett would be by far my favourite writer, but favourite individual novel is harder. His series I have adored, and it would be impossible to pick one book from Gaunt's Ghosts which I could favourite, or one book from Ravenor or Eisenhorn. As such, the title must go to Titanicus. I must confess, I teared up at the end. I feel no shame for this. Very well written and remarkably moving.

I would say he's at his best in Gaunt's Ghost, as his ability to write an ensemble cast is almost unparalleled.

 

[MrPeanut]

I like the WHFRP book, that counts right? Actually I've been wanting to check out the novels, what's a good book to start off with? Also are there any novels that focus on the non human factions like the Tau or Necrons?

I'm not really sure about the Tau, but there are a few books on the Necrons. There are also many books on the Eldar as well, as well as one or two of them focusing specifically on the Dark Eldar.

I know they have older stuff but anything with the new-codex necrons in them? I know they plan to release a new imperial armour book focusing on the necrons sometime.

For me would have to be HH series, specifically the books "Fulgrim" and "Fear to Tread" .

 

[Pikey Mikey]

I haven't read a lot of novels, but I really liked Storm of Iron which is the Iron Warriors invading a world to stir shit up, and steal things. I want to read (I just have to get it first) the Achitect of Fate because it's a novel with Kairos Fateweaver as the main character/focus (if I remember it right) and that sounds awesome.

 

[Warlokk]

Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill are my favorite writers in their lineup... I'd say Ravenor has been my favorite series overall, and is the one I recommend to people wanting to get started with the 40k universe.

Gaunt's Ghosts series is also great, as is the Sigmar Legends series. HH is massive and hit-or-miss as far as quality depending on who is writing them, but many of them are fantastic too.

 

[Siege_TF]

I like the WHFRP book, that counts right? Actually I've been wanting to check out the novels, what's a good book to start off with? Also are there any novels that focus on the non human factions like the Tau or Necrons?

There's one book called Fire Warrior which is a novelization of the horrible first person shooter that has a Tau protagonist. There's also a last Chancers book with the Tau as the antagonists, as well as a Cain book and an Ultramarines book. Unfortunately I forget all of their actual names... They're not really the focus of the novels though, and are more about the main cast dealing with each other than with the actual Tau.

I like the Cain books for comedy, the Ragnar books for action, and the Ravenor books for intrigue.

 

[T-004]

Pre Black Library it has to be Konrad & The Inquisition War series.

Now? I'd have to say The Soul Drinker series, Ravenor & Eisenhorn Omnibuses, nearly every HH book (bar Prospero Burns as I just couldn't "get in to it"), Gaunts Ghosts series. Got the Cain books lined up in the near future.

It's impossible to have just one favourite lol

 

[Smolderin]

the one where people die. a lot.

[sub]there are warhammer novels? do they have several pages with boom bash peng peng kaboom? or is there more to it than i can imagine?[/sub]

An awful, awful lot of them are more or less just that, with space marines talking like twelve year olds pretending to be action heroes, and there's an inquisitor in eveyr book. Like most franchises, it got to the point where they recognised that they could stick their logo on anything, and it would sell.

OTOH, there is some genuinely good stuff out there that people would read if you ripped all mention of WHFB or 40k out and set in some other universe, written by sci-fi and fantasy authors that exist outside of GW.

Agreed to a point, but such books are written by the more generally weaker authors. The Warhammer series as far as the novels are concerned, are definitely hit or miss depending on what author you choose to read. For the most part though, if you do some searching around you can generally tell which authors are worth reading. William King, Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, and Alex Stewart/Sandy Mitchell to name a few. Quite a few of them don't just focus on the Space Marines and their battles, many of them deal with some impressive character development (even the ones with the Space Marines)and world building. But it all comes down to what author you pick up. Really the authors are typed above are anyone's best bet for a good Warhammer author.

 

[Grey_Focks]

Ciaphas Cain: Hero of the Imperium, ofcourse. Some of the Dan Abnett stuff is pretty entertaining, too.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Agreed to a point, but such books are written by the more generally weaker authors. The Warhammer series as far as the novels are concerned, are definitely hit or miss depending on what author you choose to read. For the most part though, if you do some searching around you can generally tell which authors are worth reading. William King, Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, and Alex Stewart/Sandy Mitchell to name a few. Quite a few of them don't just focus on the Space Marines and their battles, many of them deal with some impressive character development (even the ones with the Space Marines)and world building. But it all comes down to what author you pick up. Really the authors are typed above are anyone's best bet for a good Warhammer author.

I more or less agree with that. I would say that Sandy Mitchell's WHFB books were very good, but his Ciaphas Cain stuff was mostly one joke carried too far, trying to be Flashman without daring to be Flashman...with the exception of Caves of Ice which had a decent story in there.

Likewise, Graham McNeill strikes me as an average, if passable, writer, but Defenders of Ulthuan was woeful.

EDIT: Now that I think of it, though, there seemed to be a general decline in quality even amongst established authors. Possibly deadlines became tighter, or they'd started running out of ideas, but a number of them started putting out noticeably worse works, IMHO.

 

[DJjaffacake]

I love Gaunt's Ghosts in general, though I feel they took a dip in quality after The Armour of Contempt. But then,

Spoiler

My favourite character, Caff, did die at the end of that one, which may have had an effect on my perspective.

My favourite Gaunt's Ghosts in particular would have to be either Ghostmaker or Straight Silver, mainly because they were the biggest on my beloved character development.

I'm also a big Gotrek and Felix fan, though William King was far superior to Nathan Long. Best would be either Skavenslayer, for Thanquol's awesomeness, or Beastslayer, for epic scale (not to mention more Thanquoly awesomeness).

 

[Plasmadamage]

Commissar Ciaphas Cain, Hero, Defender and Champion of the Imperium

Surviving the 41st Millennium. One battle at a time.


(The Edmund Blackadder of the far future.)

 

[Tiger King]

for me it's a tie up between lord of the night by Simon spurrier or storm of iron by McNeil.

does anybody know if lord of the night was edited and re-released?
because in the new night lords series it is mentiond that tszo sahaal was Terran born(from earth).
yet in my copy of lord of the night, it states clearly he was from nostoramo.

 

[Thaluikhain]

does anybody know if lord of the night was edited and re-released?
because in the new night lords series it is mentiond that tszo sahaal was Terran born(from earth).
yet in my copy of lord of the night, it states clearly he was from nostoramo.

GW has a weird view on continuity, especially with novels written by different people.

 

[WindKnight]

All of the Ciaphous Cain books. ALL.

 

[Tiger King]

does anybody know if lord of the night was edited and re-released?
because in the new night lords series it is mentiond that tszo sahaal was Terran born(from earth).
yet in my copy of lord of the night, it states clearly he was from nostoramo.

GW has a weird view on continuity, especially with novels written by different people.

I do know Simon moved on to work for some comic company and I reckon that gw saw a series in the lord of the night but without the original author they had to make a new start whilst borrowing heavily from Simons style (and chopping and changing where needed)

 

[Coffeejack]

'Ciaphas Cain,: Hero of the Imperium'.

Also, '13th Legion' and 'Kill Team'. Those two are about a penal legion's adventures through space.
'Ravenor' is a great Omnibus about a group of Inquisitorial agents and their hunt for those running an interplanetary flect trade.

'Flects' are shards of glass, often from stained windows of cathedrals, that are found on worlds tainted or invaded by Chaos. By looking into these shards, one can experience joyous visions of the God Emperor or terrifying, twisted and corrupted scenes of fire and ruin. Those who go for a 'look' can become possessed by daemons. It's a nifty little premise and it makes for a great story, though it does take time to set the scene before getting to the action.

 

[Hawk of Battle]

Space Wolf, Traitor General, every Ciaphas Cain book, every Horus Heresy book, the 2nd and 3rd Grey Knights books, Ravenor, Eisenhorn... yeah, I can't pick a favourite.