Hello experts in all fields of errata, I come seeking advice. There’s a new Humble Bundle with a ton of WH40K ebooks that I’m quite tempted by. Given that my knowledge of the property comes pretty much solely from video games, are these good reads? Will they give me good background info on, I don’t know, everything? Should I just get a couple of the books or bite the bullet and go for the $15 tier? Or just skip it entirely? Books for the book god!
Oh, and here’s the link:
The only one of those I’ve read is A Thousand Sons, and I really enjoyed it. Graham McNeill and Dan Abnett are both reliably fun WH40K authors, so I think it’s probably worth it to go in for something.
Thank you for this thread. I love Warhammer games but haven’t read one novel.
I only read up to book 9 (Mechanicum) but I’d say it’s a pretty solid series. Dan Abnett is legitimately a good writer. I think Graham McNeill is just as good of a wordsmith, but I think Abnett really has a way of depicting the little folks swept up in the WH40K universe. Ben Counter is very workmanlike in his writing. Overall, I’d say $15 is a pretty decent deal.
Of course, like any of these multi-author shared universe stories, quality varies and the plot gets very convoluted.
Strictly speaking these aren’t Warhammer 40K books. They’re set ten thousand years before the 40k setting proper and are sometimes referred to as Warhammer 30K. There are some solid reads here but they will not inform you of what’s going on in the main setting except in a deep background sense.
OK, that’s good to know. So these wouldn’t have much to do with stuff like the Dawn of War games? Are there space marines, orks, chaos, etc?
Ah, so they fill out the universe a bit, as it were?
It’s got that stuff. The pillars of space marines versus space orcs, space elves, and whatnot is still there. Expect a lot more marine vs marine, though.
Like, the Horus Heresy is kind of a foundational myth for the Imperium of Man, but it would inform you about the current state of things about as much as reading about the Revolutionary War would acquaint you with modern America. (only 10k years instead of a couple hundred)
All right, good enough thanks. I figure I’ll get $15 worth of entertainment out of the bundle.
I am honestly not sure there’s very much if any xenos stuff in these fifteen books. Chaos and its corruption of Horus and some of the marine Legions are central, though.
It’s mentioned. It’s definitely not the focus, at least not in the nine books I read. Like I said, expect a LOT of marine vs marine.
The quality definitely varies. I gave up somewhere around book 5 or 6 I think. Speaking of the little people’s viewpoint, I’d love to see someone like Joe Abercrombie’s take on the Heresy. Or even Imperial Guard or Marine novels.
Are these readable as standalones? If I know next to nothing about this universe, are they confusing?
I like Abnett. He is a really good writer. The others I don’t know about. I really don’t see myself reading the entire series, but I could see reading the Abnett books and maybe another one or two.
Anyone play the Talisman game included?
I’m guessing, or maybe just hoping that this is a good jumping on point since it takes place 10,000 years before the games (my only familiarity with the whole franchise). I didn’t even notice there was a game in the bundle actually - have to try it out when I get home.
That’s DLC, actually. The game isn’t included.
Oh well, assuming it’s DLC for Talisman, I will still try it out later. Otherwise guess I’ve got something for the giveaway thread.
Horus Heresy Talisman is a separate release, and the DLC in the bundle is for that.
I’ve read a good chunk of those books. The quality varies book-to-book, sometimes quite widely.
In my opinion, anything by Abnett is great. Ben Counter and Aaron Dembski-Brown are generally good. I don’t tend to care much for McNeil’s stuff and James Swallow can be hit-or-miss.
There’s like 16 books in the series that I’ve read and I’d put six of them into “great”, five into “good”, and the remaining five into “meh”. None are overtly terrible though a couple hover on the edge.