Black Library

heffomike54 · 05-09-2010 02:17AM

Firstly great thread, I love the books from Black Library. I stopped playing 40k many years ago, but still keep reading the books. I am just re-reading the Space Wolves / Ragnar Blackmane series & I am a bit surprised they have not got mention so far. Think the first in the series, Space Wolf is a great introduction to the Space Wolves/ Space Marines's lifestyle & background & I personally think could be a great film.

Really enjoyed the Gaunt's ghosts books & the Ciaphas Cain series as well. The Night Lords book by Aaron Demski-Bowden was class, can't wait to read more from him. A great aspect of the Black Library books in my opinion is they tell stories about some aspects of the 40K world that don't get as much attention from the actual table top games or video games, such stories about titan crews or small unit actions by Guardsmen.

Angron · 05-09-2010 01:56PM

Started A Thousand Sons there, enjoying it so far. McNeill is a damn good writer imo

Angron · 17-09-2010 07:12PM

Finished up Thousand Sons a few days ago, I've ordered Mechanicum, just wondering is there any other suggestions of what to read? As far as I can see, the Dark Angels series is one to avoid..

Venom · 23-09-2010 10:20PM

Denny M wrote: »

Finished up Thousand Sons a few days ago, I've ordered Mechanicum, just wondering is there any other suggestions of what to read? As far as I can see, the Dark Angels series is one to avoid..

Battle for the Abyss was pretty bad I thought and adds little to the overall story.

The Ultramarine series is very good overall tho the 4th was kinda :eek: but 5th and 6th brought the series back on track.

Dave_The_Sheep · 20-10-2010 01:01PM

Tales of Heresy was quite good alright. The individual stories were excellent, though I'm not sure why the Last Church one was there, or the Angron one. They're good stories in their own right, and it's nice to see a bit of backstory, but they're not really Heresy related.

heffomike54 · 20-10-2010 01:11PM

Another good series of books is Execution Hour & I think there is another book or 2 in the series but its based on an Imperial Gothic class Cruiser during the Gothic War. Great stories in my opinion. Probably have some details wrong here, sorry

Gunmonkey · 20-10-2010 02:46PM

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Tales of Heresy was quite good alright. The individual stories were excellent, though I'm not sure why the Last Church one was there, or the Angron one. They're good stories in their own right, and it's nice to see a bit of backstory, but they're not really Heresy related.

Well "The last church" kinda is, as the Great Crusade was to bring the idea of truth instead of holy worship to the humans scattered across the galaxy, so good to show how the Emperor dealt with religion on Terra. Can be kind of confusing in the novels on pinning down what the beliefs of the Astartes and imperium are (especially as I just started "The First Heretic", only 6 chapters in and already reads as one of the best of the HH series).

Angron · 20-10-2010 04:28PM

Just ordered in a bunch of books from BL, getting Flight of the Eisenstein, Salamander, Blood Angels omnibus, Horus Rising and gonna get the Dawn of War omnibus (giving it a go seeing as it was the Dawn of War games that got me interested in the backstory of 40k)

Venom · 20-10-2010 07:06PM

Denny M wrote: »

Just ordered in a bunch of books from BL, getting Flight of the Eisenstein, Salamander, Blood Angels omnibus, Horus Rising and gonna get the Dawn of War omnibus (giving it a go seeing as it was the Dawn of War games that got me interested in the backstory of 40k)

Horus Rising and Eisenstein are damm good reads, Salamander was ok and the BA stuff was kinda meh imho. The DoW books just use the characters from the game in pretty odd ways tho.

Gunmonkey · 20-10-2010 07:51PM

Denny M wrote: »

Just ordered in a bunch of books from BL, getting Flight of the Eisenstein, Salamander, Blood Angels omnibus, Horus Rising and gonna get the Dawn of War omnibus (giving it a go seeing as it was the Dawn of War games that got me interested in the backstory of 40k)

Just so ya know, the 2 books False Gods and Galaxy in Flames take place between Horus Rising and Flight of the Eisenstein to make a 4 book series, jumping between the 2 you have could be a bit disconcerting as it implies that you know most of the characters by the time you read FotE.

Dave_The_Sheep · 21-10-2010 08:22AM

Gunmonkey wrote: »

Well "The last church" kinda is, as the Great Crusade was to bring the idea of truth instead of holy worship to the humans scattered across the galaxy, so good to show how the Emperor dealt with religion on Terra. Can be kind of confusing in the novels on pinning down what the beliefs of the Astartes and imperium are (especially as I just started "The First Heretic", only 6 chapters in and already reads as one of the best of the HH series).

It's a nice bit of backstory, yes. But relevant to the Heresy (other than in the most vague sense, since the Emperor is involved) - I just don't see it. You could as easily say that a story about how the Emperor united the warring factions on Earth was Heresy related. I'm not complaining much though, since it was a good read.

heffomike54 · 07-11-2010 10:43PM

Another great series of books is the Last Chancer's series. The first two were brilliant, third one was a bit hit and miss. But defo worth a read IMO.:)

crimsonfire · 18-01-2011 04:17PM

heffomike54 wrote: »

Another good series of books is Execution Hour & I think there is another book or 2 in the series but its based on an Imperial Gothic class Cruiser during the Gothic War. Great stories in my opinion. Probably have some details wrong here, sorry

Execution Hour was the first BL book I read all those years ago lol. Shadow Point is the book you're thinking of. Yes they were excellent! Would love to see more stories from the Gothic fleets perspective. Void combat reads really well I think.

Dave_The_Sheep · 24-01-2011 01:07PM

Finished "A Thousand Sons" there the last day. Top notch stuff, top 3 if not the best book in the Horus Heresy series. The realisation of what he has done by Magnus when he tries to warn the Emperor and how he saved his legion wasn't such a great idea after all... heartbreaking for him. Well worth the read, really interesting in seeing it from the Space Wolves side now.

Although, given the ending ...

Angron · 24-01-2011 07:43PM

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Finished "A Thousand Sons" there the last day. Top notch stuff, top 3 if not the best book in the Horus Heresy series. The realisation of what he has done by Magnus when he tries to warn the Emperor and how he saved his legion wasn't such a great idea after all... heartbreaking for him. Well worth the read, really interesting in seeing it from the Space Wolves side now.

Although, given the ending ...

Agree fully, great book, and McNeill is a great writer. I've read Prospero Burns too, well worth it I think.

BTJ · 25-01-2011 02:30AM

Amazed no one's mentioned this yet, but Lord of the Night was absolutely amazing.

Dave_The_Sheep · 25-01-2011 11:37AM

Denny M wrote: »

I've read Prospero Burns too, well worth it I think.

I didn't even think it was out. Good stuff, will have to get my hands on it.

Gunmonkey · 25-01-2011 04:26PM

Yeah, Prospero Burns kidna snuck out earlier this month (along with God King, winging its way from Amazon to me doorstep as we type). really liking it, gives a very good view of the Space Wolves over the usual "LOLZ tehy R savages...." that seems to make them so popular in 40k circles.

hairyheretic · 26-01-2011 01:56AM

Prospero Burns puts a rather different slant on the Wolves, IMO.

heffomike54 · 26-01-2011 02:19AM

Another great book in my opinion is the Words of Bloods, collection of short stories. The first story in the book is called Words of Blood and it brilliant, its about the Black Templars taking on a Khorne army.

Angron · 26-01-2011 12:05PM

At this stage I've read all the HH books out so far bar 1 (Fallen Angels). Just wondering (if anyone got any of them) are the audiobooks like Raven's Flight or Garro: Oath of Moment any good?

Dave_The_Sheep · 28-02-2011 03:18PM

Just finished Prospero Burns. Bit of a strange book. First three quarters of it was all the background stuff, but very oddly displayed - which is strange for Abnett, he's usually very focused. Though I thoroughly enjoyed the book, it only really comes together in the final quarter.

I hadn't really read much about the Space Wolves or anything, so I was interested in the explanation for the whole "There are no wolves on Fenris" thing. It didn't really get explained too well to be honest. Maybe I just missed it, but it didn't hold with what the generally accepted explanation is

(partially devolved humans/engineered humans)

.

All in all, well worth the read - especially the segments with Russ in them. He comes across as someone who knows exactly what he is there for, ie the Emperor's executioner, but there was an element of sadness to it for him. As if he had resigned himself to that role because he was good at it and because he was doing his duty, etc...

Angron · 28-02-2011 03:50PM

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

All in all, well worth the read - especially the segments with Russ in them. He comes across as someone who knows exactly what he is there for, ie the Emperor's executioner, but there was an element of sadness to it for him. As if he had resigned himself to that role because he was good at it and because he was doing his duty, etc...

I agree with you here, the book gives him an element of humanity that wasn't present in A Thousand Sons, where he came across as little better than Angron in terms of restraint (in my opinion anyway).

I also agree about the "No wolves on Fenris" thing, it wasn't explained all that well really. Still, overall I thought it was a good read, and I'm looking forward to Battle of the Fang when it comes out.

crimsonfire · 01-03-2011 12:42AM

Apparently there's going to be some big bad revelation in Age of Darkness (the next HH book). I'm assuming its a short story collection like Tales of Heresy? It doesn't have an author on the front cover, just editors.

Going to Black Library Live this weekend

. Getting an advance copy of Age of Darkness and Blood Reaver, the sequel to Aaron Dembski-Bowdens Soul Hunter. That was a pretty cool book. The Night Lords always interested me and it was cool to see a Traitor chapter that isn't necessarily Chaotic. There was never much distinction until recently. I always wondered was there Heresy forces who hated the Imperium but hated Chaos just as much.

Angron · 01-03-2011 12:53AM

crimsonfire wrote: »

Apparently there's going to be some big bad revelation in Age of Darkness (the next HH book). I'm assuming its a short story collection like Tales of Heresy? It doesn't have an author on the front cover, just editors.

Going to Black Library Live this weekend . Getting an advance copy of Age of Darkness and Blood Reaver, the sequel to Aaron Dembski-Bowdens Soul Hunter. That was a pretty cool book. The Night Lords always interested me and it was cool to see a Traitor chapter that isn't necessarily Chaotic. There was never much distinction until recently. I always wondered was there Heresy forces who hated the Imperium but hated Chaos just as much.

There is the Soul Drinkers omnibus (though I've never seen it in stock on the BL website..). They are renegade, but they hate Chaos and the Imperium.

And Aaron Dembski-Bowden is a great writer, I read Soul Hunter (managed to get a signed copy after he was in the GW in Dublin

), thought it was a great read.

crimsonfire · 02-03-2011 02:52AM

Oh cool. Yeah I got The First Heretic and Soul Hunter signed when he was here a while ago. Seemed a surly but cool chap.

Black Library

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