Brother Gothard Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 This won't be a long thread. And I won't spoil ANYTHING for you guys. I will simply say that for any serious fan of Space Marines in an extra-gaming fashion, Horus Rising is an absolute MUST READ. Not only is it an amazing look into the seeds of the Heresy, but Dan Abnett's masterful prose delves VERY far into the minds of our heroic Astartes. Very, very, VERY good. I can't put it down. Unlike the other 40k fictions I have read, this one injects insights and emotions into the battle-zones of the future. A very, very good book. That's all :) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingbaby Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Dude where have you been? But yeah I totally agree... Personally I think Dan Abnett is really the only 40k author capable of capturing that original RT/RealmOfChaos feel that got me hooked on the game. Graham McNeil does an alright job, but if you read the rest of the series be prepared to be very disappointed. Just wait until to get to Mr. 1-dimensional-lack-of-subtlety James Swallow. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1689962 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Gothard Posted September 11, 2008 Author Share Posted September 11, 2008 I have not read much of the other fiction, but I wonder why they let some authors write for the company at all. Anthony Reynolds, for example, is ... passable at best. Graham McNeil authored Storm of Iron, which was a bit better than Dark Apostle, but still very much a shallow novel. I admit storm of iron turned me on to reading 40k fiction as a whole, a genre I have not read since highschool when I was thoroughly engrossed in Hickman and Weis' Dragonlance. Anyway, yeah. Very good book. Very sad, too. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1689971 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zingbaby Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 I admit storm of iron turned me on to reading 40k fiction as a whole, a genre I have not read since highschool when I was thoroughly engrossed in Hickman and Weis' Dragonlance. Well Storm of Iron was the first 40k novel I read as well. :D I enjoyed the book and also all of the Ultramarine books written by Graham. I'll pretty much read any book that takes place in the 40k universe but some are quite lousy. It's too bad that GW realizes they can continue to peddle any piece of crap and suckers like me will keep buying them; because with the Horus Heresy books they could have had a landmark piece of Science Fiction (authored by Dan Abnett) rather than just a never-ending, increasingly cheesy, saga that only existing 40k fans will buy. PS - I also read Hickman and Weis's Dragonlance in highschool. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1689998 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillen Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 I liked what the old Battletech line did. They found actual authers that could write and offered them a cut of the profits to write books for their story line. They even let them shape the story line with their books and incorperated their polotical outcomes. Games Workshop will never do this thou. They would have to let someone make money. lol And their greed knows no bounds. If you really want a kick ass series of books (not 40k related) read the Song of Ice and Fire Series by Goerge R.R. Martin. Firts book is A Game of Thrones. Second is A Clash of Kings. Third is a Storm of Swords. And the last one I read was a Feast of Crows. Truely awesome serious. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690006 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Lodbrok Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Indeed, Horus Rising was utterly amazing but as others have mentioned brace for mediocrity afterwards. Not all the books that follow are bad but its the ones in between that destroy the cohesive feel. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690146 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legacy40k Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Welcome! It's nice to see you made it out from under your rock! Anyways. yea, it's a great book and starts the series off with a bang, the problem is that after that... the series has a lot of repitition and becomes a bit formulaic, but I won't spoil it and it's still worth reading. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690174 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medwayman Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 If you really want a kick ass series of books (not 40k related) read the Song of Ice and Fire Series by Goerge R.R. Martin. Firts book is A Game of Thrones. Second is A Clash of Kings. Third is a Storm of Swords. And the last one I read was a Feast of Crows. Truely awesome serious. In counterpoint, I'd suggest that the Song of Ice and Fire series is horrible. Game of Thrones was good. It was so promising I slaved through the rest of the series, but it was NOT worth it. His characters are caricatures, and his plot devices are cheap. There's only so long you can drag your audience though turning antagonists into pseudo-protagonists whilst killing off the protagonists you've let your audience attach themselves to. Its a continual loop of rising action but fails to deliver satisfying climaxes to its preposterous number of plot lines. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690181 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ambro Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 I've read the first three books in the series and I really liked all of them so far. The first one is probably the best though but the other two are still really good books and defintily worth buying. Not sure about the others though as I havn't read them yet, do they get a lot worse or are they still readable cause i'm planning on getting some black library novels soon? Also which authors does everyone rate most highly, obviously Dan Abnett but are there any others who are as good as him? Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690219 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific81 Posted September 11, 2008 Share Posted September 11, 2008 Personally I like Fulgrim - the 'fall of a hero' plot line, which i thought could have been handled better in False Gods, is given over 500 pages in this book, and the end result is incredibly emotive. At the risk of sounding like a big girls blouse, by the end of it I almost had a lump in my throat. :D Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690418 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eirik_Xenobane Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 Personally I like Fulgrim - the 'fall of a hero' plot line, which i thought could have been handled better in False Gods, is given over 500 pages in this book, and the end result is incredibly emotive. At the risk of sounding like a big girls blouse, by the end of it I almost had a lump in my throat. :D Just finished Fulgrim, first time an author got Slaanesh right. it's not about the sex damn it! It should be required reading for people interested in a Slaanesh army. Captures the whole essence of feeling, sensation and desire taken to extremes from innocent beginnings. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690453 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarl Kjaran Coldheart Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 i gotta agree, despite my dislike of Graham Macneil, i found Fulgrim to be one of my favorites of the HH series so far. wolf lord kieran Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690510 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sons of Horus Posted September 12, 2008 Share Posted September 12, 2008 its funny hehe, the first Horus Heresy novel i read was Fulgrim. i've read the rest already and yes i definately agree with you there. Horus rising is a great novel. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-1690853 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gil galed Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 So I've just finished Horus rising and thought it was a really really good book. Did anyone else however find it really hard to read it without feeling sad throughout the entire time? now that i've read about the wolves and specifically about Horus it seems to make the whole heresy seem even more like something which didn't need to happen and make you feel like the Emperor really should have told everyone about chaos and the kind of bad stuff it would do. Also Erebus is a real -------, shame on him. Now on false gods and even more sad reading to follow, and Horus seems like such a nice chap (well, when i buy it, for some reason i bought galaxy in flames instead lol, oops) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258527 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justicar Valius Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 It makes you feel sad because the horus heresy series is a tragedy series. You can't help but feel sorry for every single marine that strayed away from the rightous path of the Emperor yet you know they are evil. The only one i don't feel sorry for is Erebus as Dan Abnett writes the story very well and portray erebus as the first traitor marine very well. Graham Mcneil does very well too but Ben Counter is really quite bad but is helped out imensely by the events he gets to write about. Just to underline Ben Counter's level of attention to detail, he puts an assault cannon in ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258568 Share on other sites More sharing options...
calgar101 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Lieees! The Heresy never happened! the Great Crusade lives on! Ahem sorry im just a HH deneyer(spelling?) Yes, it is sad because you get to know the characters as such and then WHAM! they betray everythingg they've built, they betray their brothers who have shed blood for them! ;) Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258580 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pacific81 Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Indeed, but thats what makes it so powerful... I think the best way to think of the Horus Heresy series as a setting, rather than a strict kind of omnibus - its a setting for stories, in the same way as 40k or WFB, and so people should pick or choose. I think in a lot of cases people are feeling obliged to read the books just because they think its essential for the other books to work, but I think in the majority of occasions thats not the case. A prime example of this is the number of people who complained about the Dark Angels books for not moving the series forward, yet the books were no doubt devoured by fans of the Chapter who wanted to read some of their background, and the story is part of the same universe even though its only link to the events of the other books is tenuous at best. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258667 Share on other sites More sharing options...
The WarPig Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 ive just finnished Horus Rising and i am reading false gods and so far the book is realy depressing but they are realy good the only other book 40k related ive read is salamander and you just cant compare them. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258804 Share on other sites More sharing options...
infyrana Posted January 23, 2010 Share Posted January 23, 2010 Got the first four on order in the post to me. I only want the DG fluff -_- Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2258920 Share on other sites More sharing options...
gil galed Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 went to waterstones today and the only HH book they didnt have was false gods, DOH! had to order it off amazon, 5 business days to arrive *sniff* Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2259356 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Justicar Valius Posted January 24, 2010 Share Posted January 24, 2010 Your local GW should stock most of the series. I know mine does. Also its free shipping from GW online if you live in the uk Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2259453 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monstra Sumus Posted January 27, 2010 Share Posted January 27, 2010 I've got everything up to Fallen Angels. I think my absolute favourites are Flight Of The Eisenstien, Legion and Mechanicum. Ben Counter, Mitchel Scanlon and Mike Lee are dreadful writers. The only reason I read through those piles of dribble and filth was to get the broad spectrum on the Heresy and what happened. Then again, McNiel's first books were very, very basic. Nightbringer was almost painful to read but he got alot better through Warriors Of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun. Dont even get me started on Goto. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2262555 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piousservant Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 I've got everything up to Fallen Angels. I think my absolute favourites are Flight Of The Eisenstien, Legion and Mechanicum. Ben Counter, Mitchel Scanlon and Mike Lee are dreadful writers. The only reason I read through those piles of dribble and filth was to get the broad spectrum on the Heresy and what happened. Then again, McNiel's first books were very, very basic. Nightbringer was almost painful to read but he got alot better through Warriors Of Ultramar and Dead Sky, Black Sun. Dont even get me started on Goto. I don't think Mike Lee is necessarily a terrible writer. I really disliked Descent of Angels, but he also has written the Nagash book in the fantasy "Legends" series and I enjoyed that. Agree about the others though... (But didn't Counter write Flight of the Eisenstein?) My favourites were Fulgrim and Legion, followed by the first three books in the series. I think where Fulgrim and Legion stood out, for me, was that they displayed a different slant to what we're used to seeing, and they did it well. Particularly, the portrayal of Slaanesh and Fulgrims fall (and, slightly incidently Ferrus and the Iron Hands who I thought were well portrayed) was good. I can't remember the name, but the short story about the Custodes in the "Tales of the Heresy" collection was very good and gave an interesting view of Terra itself. Actually I liked most of that collection, and I'm not normally a fan of short story anthologies. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2264256 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Monstra Sumus Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 James Swallow hit the nail on the head with Eisenstein, I mean it was thoroughly good. I've personally not read a good book Counter has done, but I have yet to be proven wrong, he may be a good writer. Then again every writer has a work of art, look at McNeil and Storm Of Iron, phenomenal book. Yet his Ultramarine stuff and his Heresy books I found really lacking. Tales of Heresy was a good collection. I like the short story comps, especially Let the Galaxy Burn. Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2264287 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Piousservant Posted January 28, 2010 Share Posted January 28, 2010 Ah, for some reason I thought Counter had written Eisenstein. I liked Eisenstein but thought Battle for the Abyss was pretty poor. Which make more sense now... Just my bad memory at work. :nuke: Link to comment https://bolterandchainsword.com/topic/145770-horus-rising/#findComment-2264299 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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