What books to stay away from in the Horus Heresy series?

[eaglefists13]

I'm just about finished with the first 4 books and I have read A Thousand Sons and there are some books I have heard are not fun to read. So fare i have Battle for the Abyss, and both of the Dark Angel books. so what else is bad? I dont want some one telling me about a book that is like by some and not liked by others i mean books that are a universal "Stay away from this book" book

Read them all as they are meant to be a series making a "whole" sense.

In Sci Fi terms i have 1700 books and really enjoy some writers which means i favour them more (Van Vogt, Jack Vance Philip k Dick and Philip E High plus others)

I will generall pick up and read anything by the aforementioned writers.

I'm not too sure I understand the mentality to pick and chose books out of the or A series, it would of suffered If the same author wrote the lot but surely its about the content and personal choice.

[ArmouredWing]

At the risk of being redundant, read them all.

I'll add a caveat to this. Read them all but where possible borrow rather than buy as (depending on your taste) you may find that not all float your boat.

 

For me I'd have to say the one's to really avoid are (perhaps contraversially) Fulgrim (disapointingly generic), Legion (perhaps the first duffer from Dan Abnett) and Battle for the abyss (hopping on the band wagon).

 

Must reads after the first trilogy are Flight of the Eisenstein and the First Heretic in my opinion.

[Lord Ragnarok]

For me, each book has some nice revelations, so even If I didn't like the flow of the book or action (Abyss), it's always nice to have revelations or just a view of pre heresy/heresy thinking and plots. From comments I've seen on the various books from others it is a big ole load of "personal tastes and opinion", so each one is worth a read. I'd caution listening to anyone blankly decrying a book as their thoughts and tastes may differ from your own.

[Zynk Kaladin]

None of the newer books have lived up to my expectations after I read the first 3 HH novels. They're all worth reading, but haven't topped the originals.

[Aegnor]

I'd say read them all, but then I'm a compulsive reader and a completist in terms of having to have full series. But really, they're all at least decent books, and some are much much better than that. My absolute favourites so far would be Horus Rising, Flight of the Eisenstein, Mechanicum, Legion and the Tales of Heresy anthology of short stories. I don't really care whether a book features Astartes prominently or not, or generally whether it conforms to what I thought it would be about, so long as it's a good story.

 

That said, Battle for the Abyss was the weakest of the series for me - it had some good parts but the multi-legion-stereotype group of protagonists felt a bit fan fiction for me. The Thousand Son and World Eater characters were the good points of it however. The big spaceship kept making me think of the old Starship Yamato cartoon.

 

While it was better written that Battle of the Abyss, Descent of Angels was the book that INITIALLY most disappointed me. But that was more to do with the pronounced change it represented in the series than anything else, and it not being clear initially that it would be part of a sub-series of novels. The five books before had all tied closely to the main narrative of the Heresy, and had kept the main timeline moving forward. DoA abruptly ripped us out of that and got a lot of heat for doing so - it was the first book in the series to not advance Horus' story at all. To cross to a different universe, it was as if at the end of Empire Strikes Back, Lucas had made his next Star Wars movie about the childhood of Admiral Ackbar with Luke and Han et al not appearing at all.

 

The other big problem with DoA was that it didnt have an ending - it was left as an obvious set up for the following novels, but at that time it hadn't been made clear those novels were coming.

 

But, and this is a big but, now knowing that DoA is the first of a three book series, and having had time to adjust to the idea that the HH series is going to cover more than just Horus' activities and explore the other events going on at that time, DoA is a much better read.

[Chengar Qordath]

I would have to say I rather liked Descent of Angels as well, though it probably helps that I had Fallen Angels to hand and read it immediately afterward. It was different, but I kind of liked the portrayal of how massive the culture shock would be for a civilization to go from being an essentially medieval society to being part of the Imperium within the space of a few short years. It was very different from the standard Horus Heresy fare, so I can see why some people didn't like it, but I thought it worked quite well.

 

I will toss in another vote for Battle for the Abyss being a lackluster book; it wasn't bad, just a profoundly average entry in a series of books that had been pretty good up to that point. It has good moments, and there's nothing seriously bad about it, it's just that for the most part, the book is mediocre.

 

Nemesis was probably my least favorite book of the lot though. Swallow's tendency to make annoying background mistakes really came out in that book, most egregiously with the fact that he seems to have no idea how Pariahs and Nulls are supposed to work (for starters, the narration used the terms "psyker" and "pariah" interchangeably). The entire concept of the Black Pariah just seemed bizarrely inconsistent, especially a being that somehow manages to have a daemon grafted onto it despite the fact that, as a Pariah, it should be destabilizing any warp entity that comes near it. Then there's the rather odd ending, where the Emperor and Horus decide that using assassins and being secretive is, for some bizarre reason, a horrible thing to do, even to your worst enemy who you plan to kill eventually.

 

Even then, it is a reasonably interesting read for anyone who likes the Officio Assassinorum, especially since the previously-underdeveloped Vanus and Venenum temples get fleshed out.

[Monkeychunks]

Speaking as a Dark Angel fanboy, I utterly *loved* Fallen Angels. I would read Descent purely for the 'boost' it gives its successor, although its probably plenty solid standing on its own. Luther is stunning, particularly at the end. As mentioned before, its brilliant for showing a planet joining the Imperium, and presents a realistic reason for rebellion. I think too many people are put off by Descent, and so give Fallen Angels unfair criticism or avoid it altogether.

 

Also, Prospero Burns is brilliant if you ignore two things:

- A Thousand Sons

- the blurb on the back

 

Its a fantastic book on its own ground, and only suffers when people drag it into expectations. Treat it as a separate novel, like Legion or Fallen Angels, and pay absolutely no attention to the description on the back. And you'll love it.

 

Generally though, all the books are solid. Eisenstein was a bit of a drag to me, and the Abyss was the weakest in the series.

[Fremen]

The Legion started really really good, than `bout at the half got a big downfall. I could not finish it. Felt like Dan Abnett had run out of ideas but had to write X pages.

The 1000 sons can be boring if You are not into that whole sorcery thing.

[Brannick]

@ Monkey - I couldn't have put it any better myself. Apart from me not being a DA fanboy.

 

Well said, sir.

[Captain Idaho]

Whilst we all have our own favourites, it is probably worth pointing out the most common critisms of the series are Battle for the Abyss and Decent of Angels.

 

Of course there are people who liked both of those and that's fine, but I think DoA was particularly boring if you have no interest in the home planet of the Dark Angels before the Heresy...

[Gv0zD]

Of course there are people who liked both of those and that's fine, but I think DoA was particularly boring if you have no interest in the home planet of the Dark Angels before the Heresy...

 

Quoted for truth.

[Brother Captain Kezef]

Whilst we all have our own favourites, it is probably worth pointing out the most common critisms of the series are Battle for the Abyss and Decent of Angels.

 

Of course there are people who liked both of those and that's fine, but I think DoA was particularly boring if you have no interest in the home planet of the Dark Angels before the Heresy...

 

However if you are interested in the DA background then DoA was an excellent book.

 

One of the biggest criticisms of Prospero Burns I think is everyone expected a Space Wolf novel and Dan Anet instead gave thema Horus Heresy novel. PB was most definitely more about the Heresy and the plotting than the Wolves, which is a bit of a shame.

 

I really enjoyed PB but I still want a Space Wolves novel.

[Frater Uriah]

One of the biggest criticisms of Prospero Burns I think is everyone expected a Space Wolf novel and Dan Anet instead gave thema Horus Heresy novel. PB was most definitely more about the Heresy and the plotting than the Wolves, which is a bit of a shame.

 

I really enjoyed PB but I still want a Space Wolves novel.

I just got finished with Prospero Burns last week and thought it was excellent. I've been into the 40K universe for 24 years, and had never been all that interested in the Space Wolves, but now I want to sacrifice my eye and hitch a ride to Fenris. :ph34r:

 

Back to the discussion, besides the first three, I think the best ones are A Thousand Sons, The First Heretic and Prospero Burns. The hardest ones for me to get through were Battle for the Abyss (a Space Wolf, a Thousand Son, a Word Bearer and an Ultramarine walk into a bar....) and Nemesis. Everything else, to me, was pretty interesting, and a fine read. Many on this thread seem to have not liked Legion, but it ranks high on my list of HH books.

 

I had higher hopes for the DA novels, being a Dark Angels die-hard, but they weren't bad. I have high hopes for the third one.

[Captain Juan Juarez]

What's amsuing most is that the story I like above all is actually The Last Church.

[A D-B]

I had higher hopes for the DA novels, being a Dark Angels die-hard, but they weren't bad. I have high hopes for the third one.

 

You might be in for a long, long wait, dude. I don't think anyone has plans to go near them.

[Frater Uriah]

I had higher hopes for the DA novels, being a Dark Angels die-hard, but they weren't bad. I have high hopes for the third one.

 

You might be in for a long, long wait, dude. I don't think anyone has plans to go near them.

Good to know. I'll stop holding my breath. :D

[RapatoR]

Legion revel a little? What about relevation of secret, that GW has kept for years

that AL has twin primarchs?

[Captain Idaho]

I had higher hopes for the DA novels, being a Dark Angels die-hard, but they weren't bad. I have high hopes for the third one.

 

You might be in for a long, long wait, dude. I don't think anyone has plans to go near them.

 

Maybe BL are planning on writing from a loyalist point of view for once? :)

 

Or Is that because you are all so busy writing the Ultramarines novels? I hear the scouring went on for 100 years so that equates to at least 20 books!