Warhammer 40k book recommendations

finished fear to tread now.

/snips

bit of a plot query tho..

near the end, how did a human with a knife manage to kill a librarian who was supposed to have been watched over by a sanguinius guard who was blocking the only exit to the room?

Overall, I'd give Fear to Tread a 7/10, though that feels a touch generous. None of the marines really grabbed me, but the general depravity of the Warp Posse was suitably lurid. Have to say your point in the spoiler did get me too. I dare say it's explained somewhere, but I'll wait a little before rereading the book.

Nice to see Erebus get a little payback. :D
The two Dark Angel books and the Battle for the Abyss have been the worst in the series. I don't even remember what happened in the DA novels. Won't read them again.

Loved Fulgrim though. The "downfall of a Legion" type of story seems the most interesting.

Fulgrim's right up there with First Heretic and A Thousand Sons for me. Excellent book.
 
Just finished Shadows of Treachery. A few good stories in there. Two main stories involve an Imperial Fist contingent on it's way to the Istvaan site
and fighting off an ambush by the Iron Warriors and PERTURABO!
, and the second centred on the Night Lords -

specifically the First Captain Sevatar and some of his decisions that effect the enire Legion, causing it's eventual break-up into smaller warbands that we see in later Night Lords books from A.D.B.
Interesting to see some mention of the Dark Angels, especially with them hunting and clashing with the Night Lords.
Konrad Curze is great - you can understand who he is and WHY he despises his legion.
Well worth reading for the Night Lords story on it's own.
 
Just finished Primarchs and it was quite enjoyable read.

All the stories were solid though the Lion still came across poorly. I really enjoyed the Alpha Legion story

I was about to rage at how rubbish and weak Omegon was but was really impressed by the twist of it not actually being him :D
 
about 50% through fear to tread, and have shadows of treachery lined up to read after. Loving it so far!

Have read every other HH book so far, and agree fully the Dark Angels ones were highly frustrating, having been my fav chapter since the early days when I got into the whole universe in '91 / '92 I was reading those books hoping they would be entertaining, provide some decent story, but they really didn't.

Alpha Legion stories are great - should be more of them :)
 
Finished Fear to Tread. Enjoyed it overall although I did find the main characters quite wooden. Loved how it ended.

Has anyone bought any of the novellas? I'm tempted in getting the latest one 'Brotherhood of the Storm' but wondering whether its worth £30
 
Just finished Fear to Tread as well.

It was ok. Nothing good about it, nothing bad about it. Just average.

Can recall very little that actually happened as it was just unmemorable :p

One thing though

I thought Blood Angel lore stated the Red Thirst was brought on to the legion in the aftermath of Sanguinius' death. Like a death echo which drove them all loony toon?
 
Just finished Fear to Tread as well.

It was ok. Nothing good about it, nothing bad about it. Just average.

Can recall very little that actually happened as it was just unmemorable :p

One thing though

I thought Blood Angel lore stated the Red Thirst was brought on to the legion in the aftermath of Sanguinius' death. Like a death echo which drove them all loony toon?

Wasn't that the Black Rage? Both are different.

The red thirst is a lust for blood. The black rage is a result of the impact and shock of the 'fall'

I may be wrong though.
 
Well being vague there were mentions in the book.

This red thirst was said to make them go crazy.

After crazy bloke died Raldaron smeared his armour in ash saying "welcome to the company of death" or something along them lines.

Now whilst the author does not bring up a formal death company and it isn't mentioned in the books it is heavily implied that the thirst leads to crazy.

Previous lore iirc states death echoes of Sanguinius leads to crazy death company folk. So it is confusing with the book saying thirst = crazy whereas prior law states sang death = crazy.

Surely it should be one or the other? :p

To be honest I enjoy the books for what they are but I just wish it had been managed better. If they had wanted to tell the story and not just milk a cash cow and do had good solid authors with a coherent vision this could have been the most epic series of books ever. As it is, it's just big standard Bolter porn not fit for much more than a holiday read. Shame :(
 
Had Shadows of Treachery delivered today. Reading will begin shortly.

Also in a bizarre turn of events, I just picked up Promethean Sun from an old friend for a very good price :D
 
Here's a question that I've always wanted to ask. From reading the HH series I've realised that the advances in technology etc seems to be very small from the 31st millennium to the 41st millennium. Is this just an over looked part of the whole story or is there a reason for this which will be made apparent towards the end of the Horus Heresy?? I mean, 10,000 years and all I seem to see if updates in SM armour and maybe the odd vehicle and that's it
 
Here's a question that I've always wanted to ask. From reading the HH series I've realised that the advances in technology etc seems to be very small from the 31st millennium to the 41st millennium. Is this just an over looked part of the whole story or is there a reason for this which will be made apparent towards the end of the Horus Heresy?? I mean, 10,000 years and all I seem to see if updates in SM armour and maybe the odd vehicle and that's it

That's largely because Man is meant to be past it's technological peak. Many of the device used are discovered from a previous age.

Reading the Lexicanum articles on Standard Template Constructs explains it a bit better: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/STC#.UGVfY67xVhw
 
That's largely because Man is meant to be past it's technological peak. Many of the device used are discovered from a previous age.

Reading the Lexicanum articles on Standard Template Constructs explains it a bit better: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/STC#.UGVfY67xVhw

Ta very muchly. I knew there'd be a reason for it. Interesting that Land Raiders and Land Speeders were actually named after some Mechanicum dude. You learn something every day :)
 
Here's a question that I've always wanted to ask. From reading the HH series I've realised that the advances in technology etc seems to be very small from the 31st millennium to the 41st millennium. Is this just an over looked part of the whole story or is there a reason for this which will be made apparent towards the end of the Horus Heresy?? I mean, 10,000 years and all I seem to see if updates in SM armour and maybe the odd vehicle and that's it

As the guy above me said, mankind has gone though a regression in terms of technology ever since the Age of Strife screwed everything up. The Emperor improved things when he emerged to lead humanity in the time leading to the Unification Wars and reunited with Mars, but technology was still lacking compared to how it used to be, and STC technology cold never be replicated, only found and reused.

With the Emperors "death", mankind over the next 10000 years gradually regressed even further into an age of religion and ignorance (which ironically is exactly what the Emperor tried to stamp out) where technological advances are few, and further held back by deep-rooted superstitions about technology, where everything (production, maintenance etc) has to be done in specific ritualistic and very restrictive ways to appease the "machine spirits".

Don't get me wrong, technological advances do still exist, but just at a very slow rate... with limited understanding of the more hyper-advanced technologies in existence. Some technologies are only able to be maintained, rather than improved upon. A good example of how important STC technology is was shown in the first Gaunts Ghosts book i've just finished reading (and also mentioned on the Wikia page), where someone told how an STC was recovered that contained designs for a new and improved steel alloy knife that was stronger and sharper than that currently in use by the Imperium. It was instantly rolled out to more than 30 space marine chapters, and the scouts who discovered it were "given world of their own". So yeah, STC's are the holy grail!

I suggest just going to the Warhammer 40k Wikia (it's more in-depth than the Lexicanum) and reading/searching to your hearts content... I can (and have done) spend hours and hours looking through it. http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Warhammer_40k_Wiki :o

I think 40k is officially my favourite sci-fi setting of all time now... more so than Star Wars even. :eek:
 
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As the guy above me said, mankind has gone though a regression in terms of technology ever since the Age of Strife screwed everything up. The Emperor improved things when he emerged to lead humanity in the time leading to the Unification Wars and reunited with Mars, but technology was still lacking compared to how it used to be, and STC technology cold never be replicated, only found and reused.

With the Emperors "death", mankind over the next 10000 years gradually regressed even further into an age of religion and ignorance (which ironically is exactly what the Emperor tried to stamp out) where technological advances are few, and further held back by deep-rooted superstitions about technology, where everything (production, maintenance etc) has to be done in specific ritualistic and very restrictive ways to appease the "machine spirits".

Don't get me wrong, technological advances do still exist, but just at a very slow rate... with limited understanding of the more hyper-advanced technologies in existence. Some technologies are only able to be maintained, rather than improved upon. A good example of how important STC technology is was shown in the first Gaunts Ghosts book i've just finished reading (and also mentioned on the Wikia page), where someone told how an STC was recovered that contained designs for a new and improved steel alloy knife that was stronger and sharper than that currently in use by the Imperium. It was instantly rolled out to more than 30 space marine chapters, and the scouts who discovered it were "given world of their own". So yeah, STC's are the holy grail!

I suggest just going to the Warhammer 40k Wikia (it's more in-depth than the Lexicanum) and reading/searching to your hearts content... I can (and have done) spend hours and hours looking through it. http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Warhammer_40k_Wiki :o

I think 40k is officially my favourite sci-fi setting of all time now... more so than Star Wars even. :eek:


Silly Imperium. I wish I could thank you for that link but I can't as like you, I will also probably 'waste' hours reading through every single thing. The only problem I have is that I'm afraid of reading any spoilers regarding the HH in particular the fates of the Primarchs.

I assume most (hopefully not all) die (please do not confirm this :p) but how they meet their fates etc is still a big mystery for me and if they did survive, did they do a Yoda or an Obi Wan Kenobi

I love Star Wars too but the 40k universe ****es all over it :D
 
Silly Imperium. I wish I could thank you for that link but I can't as like you, I will also probably 'waste' hours reading through every single thing. The only problem I have is that I'm afraid of reading any spoilers regarding the HH in particular the fates of the Primarchs.

I assume most (hopefully not all) die (please do not confirm this :p) but how they meet their fates etc is still a big mystery for me and if they did survive, did they do a Yoda or an Obi Wan Kenobi

I love Star Wars too but the 40k universe ****es all over it :D

All i'll say is don't be afraid of reading the fates of the Primarchs etc before you finish the books to the current point. It will be AGES before the HH series is finished, and if you wait till then to do some reading up then it will leave big holes in your overall understanding of the universe for a long while. Besides, all the info on the primarchs etc was all well available before the HH series was written, so don't feel like you're cheating for doing the reading up as it won't at all affect your enjoyment of the books, in fact I find my reading pleasure enhanced by knowing the fluff. I mean we all know that that
Horus gets killed by the Emperor
, so in that respect you know the big ending of all the books anyway!

Don't fight it, just get reading. :D
 
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All i'll say is don't be afraid of reading the fates of the Primarchs etc before you finish the books to the current point. It will be AGES before the HH series is finished, and if you wait till then to do some reading up then it will leave big holes in your overall understanding of the universe for a long while. Besides, all the info on the primarchs etc was all well available before the HH series was written, so don't feel like you're cheating for doing the reading up as it won't at all affect your enjoyment of the books, in fact I find my reading pleasure enhanced by knowing the fluff. I mean we all know Horus get skilled by the Emperor, so in that respect you know the big ending of all the books anyway!

Don't fight it, just get reading. :D

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:
 
Dude that is a harsh spoiler :eek:

I agree it doesn't spoil the books knowing what will happen but if I didn't know by now I wouldn't go out of my way to find out now, just enjoy the series.
 
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