Rank the Horus Heresy Novels - Terrific 2020 Edition

[Roomsky]

G`day

 

I was going to resurrect the old ranking thread but apparently 2016 was 4 years ago. I know we’re only halfway through the Siege, but the numbered entries have been wrapped up for a while now, so I ask you, on reflection of all that buildup to the climax: What was good? What was bad? What are you violently ambivalent about? All this and more for this thread.

 

I limited myself to the 54 mainline books, but feel free to include The Primarchs, The Siege, and the Calth Duology.

The categories I chose are most helpful for me, but obviously if you’d prefer a proper Tier list / numerical rating, go for it.

 

Debate is welcome, but respect the opinions of your fellow Fraters. My categories are organized by author and chronology, not quality.

 

Happy to read at any time:

Horus Rising, Legion, Prospero Burns

The First Heretic, Betrayer, Master of Mankind

Scars, Path of Heaven

Praetorian of Dorn, Slaves to Darkness

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

Know no Fear

False Gods, Mechanicum, A Thousand Sons

Nemesis

Damnation of Pythos

Tallarn

Shadows of Treachery, Shattered Legions, Heralds of the Siege

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

Unremembered Empire

Fulgrim, The Outcast Dead, Angel Exterminatus, Crimson King

Flight of the Eisenstein, Fear to Tread, The Buried Dagger

Angels of Caliban

Ruinstorm

Tales of Heresy, Age of Darkness, Legacies of Betrayal, Eye of Terra, War Without End, The Silent War

 

Please no:

Vengeful Spirit

Galaxy in Flames, Battle for the Abyss

Garro

Descent of Angels

Fallen Angels

Deliverance Lost, Corax

Vulkan Lives, Deathfire, Old Earth, Born of Flame

Pharos, Wolfsbane, Titandeath

Mark of Calth, The Primarchs, The Burden of Loyalty

[Bobss]

That's pretty much my list mate!

 

Copying straight out of my notes...

 

BLACK LIBRARY'S 'HORUS HERESY' SERIES READING TIER-LIST

 

Authors:

- 4. Dan Abnett (6)

- 3. Aaron Dembski-Bowden (3)

- 5. John French (4)

- 1. Josh Reynolds (1)

- 2. Chris Wraight (5)

 

Key:

Horus Heresy Novel (13)

- Horus Heresy Anthology (0)

-- Siege of Terra Novel (2)

--- The Primarchs Novel (4)

 

Tier 1 - Yes:

--- (Josh Reynolds) Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix

--- (Chris Wraight) Leman Russ: The Great Wolf

--- (Chris Wraight) Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris

--- (Chris Wraight) Valdor: Birth of the Imperium

(Chris Wraight) Scars

(Chris Wraight) Path of Heaven

(ADB) The First Heretic

(ADB) Betrayer

(ADB) The Master of Mankind

(Dan Abnett) Horus Rising

(Dan Abnett) Legion

(Dan Abnett) Prospero Burns

(Dan Abnett) Know No Fear

(Dan Abnett) Unremembered Empire

-- (Dan Abnett) Saturnine

(John French) Tallarn

(John French) Praetorian of Dorn

(John French) Slaves to Darkness

-- (John French) The Solar War

 

Tier 2 - Maybe:

--- (Guy Haley) Perturabo: The Hammer of Olympia

(Guy Haley) Pharos

(Guy Haley) Wolfsbane

(Guy Haley) Titandeath

--- (Graham McNeill) Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero

(Graham McNeill) False Gods

(Graham McNeill) Fulgrim

(Graham McNeill) Mechanicum

(Graham McNeill) A Thousand Sons

(Graham McNeill) The Outcast Dead

(Graham McNeill) Angel Exterminatus

(Graham NcNeill) Vengeful Spirit

(Graham McNeill) The Crimson King

(James Swallow) The Flight of the Eisenstein

(James Swallow) Fear to Tread

(James Swallow) Garro

(James Swallow) The Buried Dagger

(Gav Thorpe) Angels of Caliban

(Ben Counter) Galaxy in Flames

(David Annandale) Ruinstorm

- (Various) Mark of Calth

-- (Guy Haley) The Lost and the Damned

-- (Gav Thorpe) The First Wall

 

Tier 3  - No:

--- (Guy Haley) Corax: Lord of Shadows

--- (Guy Haley) Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter

(James Swallow) Nemesis

--- (Gav Thorpe) Lorgar: Bearer of the Word

(Gav Thorpe) Deliverance Lost

(Gav Thorpe) Corax

(Nick Kyme) Born of Flame

(Nick Kyme) Vulkan Lives

(Nick Kyme) Deathfire

(Nick Kyme) Old Earth

--- (Ian St. Martin) Angron: Slave of Nuceria

(David Annandale) The Damnation of Pythos

--- (David Annandale) Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar

--- (David Annandale) Vulkan: Lord of Drakes

--- (David Guymer) Ferrus Manus: The Gorgon of Medusa

--- (David Guymer) Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First

(Mitchel Scanlon) Descent of Angels

(Mike Lee) Fallen Angels

(Ben Counter) Battle for the Abyss

- (Various) Tales of Heresy

- (Various) Age of Darkness

- (Various) The Primarchs

- (Various) Shadows of Treachery

- (Various) Legacies of Betrayal

- (Various) War Without End

- (Various) Eye of Terra

- (Various) The Silent War

- (Various) Shattered Legions

- (Various) The Burden of Loyalty

- (Various) Heralds of the Siege

 

Tier 1 = books that I (still) physically own and cherish

Tier 1 + 2 = my slimmed down version of Black Library's The Horus Heresy Series

Tier 1 + 2 + 3 = 

 

There's a few Primarchs books you could move from No to Maybe. You could also drop Unremembered Empire and Tallarn from Yes into Maybe, but Dan's prose and John's detailed worldbuilding are nevertheless excellent

[Marshal Loss]

I'm not sure I could rank all of them, but I can certainly list my all-time favourites, in no particular order:

 

Slaves to Darkness

Scars

Path of Heaven

Master of Mankind

The First Heretic

Betrayer

Praetorian of Dorn

Solar War

Know No Fear

 

I tend to be a pretty vocal opponent of Abnett's but looking back I re-read KNF recently and it was way better than I remembered, so I've added that to my list. I've also included Solar War because :cuss yes that book rocks.

[Fedor]

I only really have two categories.

 

1. It entertained me overall.

 

2. Actively disliked it overall

 

It would be quicker to just list the ones i didn't like....

 

False Gods: Fecking up and rushing the turn of Horus was just too much to forgive. Rest of the book was fine.

 

Fear to Tread: A risible depiction of Chaos that ruined the iconic Sanguinius Bloodthirster siege confrontation in favour of a comic book end of story villain of the week blowout. Poor Angron will probably pay the price for that.

 

Vengeful Spirit: Completely bungled the chance to be the long awaited return to the Luna Wolves/Horus it was marketed as in favour of big scale battle book. tbf it would have been finefor what it was if Horus had got more character development and screentime in previous books. As is it just left a frustrated feeling.

 

Unremembered Empire: Almost entirely fails to capitalise on the potential of the Imperium Secundus idea.

 

Crimson King: Borderline plagiaristic narrative mess.

 

The Buried Dagger: Really soured on this after a re-read. It's just such a perfunctory take on the fall of the Death Guard and Mortarion's history on Barbarus. Knights Errant conclusion should have been in another book.

 

Most of the anthologies i would say are better judged story by story, but there was enough to like in all of them.

[Roomsky]

 

All around good stuff

 

 

I'm surprised at Shadows of Treachery down in "No", though. More than half of that book is by top tier authors, and I'd personally be remiss to lose out on Prince of Crows or The Crimson Fist.

[Scribe]

I'm not sure I could rank all of them, but I can certainly list my all-time favourites, in no particular order:

 

Slaves to Darkness

Scars

Path of Heaven

Master of Mankind

The First Heretic

Betrayer

Praetorian of Dorn

Solar War

Know No Fear

 

I tend to be a pretty vocal opponent of Abnett's but looking back I re-read KNF recently and it was way better than I remembered, so I've added that to my list. I've also included Solar War because yes that book rocks.

 

I think A Thousand Sons could be on this list, but otherwise as usual I agree with you. 

[Fedor]

If we're doing the Siege series and Primarchs.

 

I thought Solar War was pretty bad. It is a battle book that seemed to have little interest in actually depicting an intriguing space conflict, instead going for easily solvable Chaos ritual shenanigans, with the Oliton subplot to get rid of the PHalanx and the arrival of Horus fleet at Terra and fall of Luna a particular cop-out. I know rituals and the like are just a part of the setting, but little here really felt earned.

 

Overall i'd say i've enjoyed most of the Primarchs series. Ferrus i initially was very unsure on, but it grew on me after a re-read and some thinking on it. Wraight's Russ and to a lesser extent Khan were slight and in the former added little to the characters. Annandale's Vulkan felt like an entirely phoned in excercise and perhaps a sign that BL are struggling on how to further develop Vulkan as a character. The Lion gave me a similar feel and was very checklisty.

Edited May 7, 2020 by Fedor

[Qkhitai]

I haven't read every single book, and a lot of the ones I have read I either read too many years ago, or I've not finished cover to cover, but I'd say:

 

Great:

 

Betrayer

Fulgrim

Galaxy in Flames

Praetorian of Dorn

The First Heretic

 

From a narrative and structural perspective, Praetorian is the strongest book in the series in my opinion, with really great pacing and some intriguing twists and turns. First Heretic is a close second in this regard, although it's not quite as good of a page turner. Betrayer in my mind has the strongest characterisations in the series, and ABD's depictions of Angron, Lorgar and Khârn especially are masterful, even if the actual plot fumbles around too much in the second half of the book. I have a soft spot for Fulgrim because I think it's a very underrated story, and it has quite a good story arc. On top of that, I think the Iron Hands get a very good showing and the pathos leading up to Istvaan is done really well. Lastly, Galaxy in Flames is my guilty pleasure. No, it's not got the strongest story, or the best characters, or the greatest prose. But it's fun. It's action packed from start to finish and is really easy to just read and enjoy, which counts for quite a lot, and is more than can be said for many of the slogfest books in the series.

 

Okay:

 

A Thousand Sons

Deliverance Lost

Descent of Angels

Fallen Angels

False Gods

Horus Rising

Know No Fear

Legion

Pharos

Scars

The Outcast Dead

Unremembered Empire

 

This category is generally books I thought had good points, but were other wise let down. The Dark Angels, Night Lords and White Scars books were all half-good, inasmuch that I enjoyed the arcs of certain legions/characters, but not others (Luther's angels, the VIIIth at Pharos and the Terran Scars respectively were all great; their counterparts not so much). Deliverance Lost was actually a very tight novel, which again is often underappreciated, but I mainly enjoyed the Alpha Legion sections. Outcast Dead was our first real glimpse of Terra, and is quite a unique story set against the rest of the series, so I quite like it despite its faults. Unremembered Empire also has probably the best depiction of Guilliman for me, and the assassination attempt on him is one of the stand out scenes in the series. Lastly, Legion gets points for John Grammaticus being the lowkey breakout star of the Heresy.

 

Bad:

 

Master of Mankind

 

It's...not good. The plot is stretched very thin, with far too many characters doing far too little. The prose is good, and there are interesting characters, but it's not really a story. It feels like about half the scenes could have been cut without affecting anything, which would have freed up some space to, you know, have interesting and important things actually happen. I have high expectations of ABD and I was disappointed after reading this, as his earlier entries in the series were much stronger narratively.

 

I'm sure there are plenty worse books*, but I'm really not inclined to even read them; I'm actually offended by what I've heard of the Iron Warriors books, so I don't read them on principle, and the Salamanders stuff I've tried to get into, but found too tedious. I'm also a creature of comfort, so generally, if I want to read a Horus Heresy book, rather than pick up something new I will typically cycle between Fulgrim, Galaxy in Flames and Praetorian of Dorn, as those are my three favourites.

 

*Battle for the Abyss should probably be in the bad category, but it's been over ten years since I last read it and I honestly don't even remember why it was bad or even what really happens in it.

Edited May 8, 2020 by Qkhitai

[b1soul]

Happy to read at any time:

 

Horus Rising, Legion, Prospero Burns

 

The First Heretic, Betrayer, Master of Mankind

 

Scars, Path of Heaven

 

Praetorian of Dorn, Slaves to Darkness

 

^ Agreed with the above except I'd switch First Heretic with Know No Fear purely for personal preference reasons

[Roomsky]

 

Overall i'd say i've enjoyed most of the Primarchs series. Ferrus i initially was very unsure on, but it grew on me after a re-read and some thinking on it. Wraight's Russ and to a lesser extent Khan were slight and in the former added little to the characters. Annandale's Vulkan felt like an entirely phoned in excercise and perhaps a sign that BL are struggling on how to further develop Vulkan as a character. The Lion gave me a similar feel and was very checklisty.

 

I really wish more people (who didn't absolutely despise it) would give Gorgon of Medusa another go, perhaps in audio if they find Guymer's prose unpleasant. I think there's a lot of depth there and Guymer does some very interesting things with the legion, especially as juxtaposition to his 40k works. 

 

I was baffled to find that /tg/ generally viewed Gorgon of Medusa as crap and Lord of the First as great, while I personally see the opposite. Digging further the argument seemed to boil down to "The Lion kicked ass and Ferrus did not," which is like, so far removed from how I view quality that I can barely comprehend it (this does not extend to the Fraters here who dislike Gorgon of Medusa for the legion being shown in a poor light, they've articulated their frustration quite reasonably).

[StrangerOrders]

This sounds like a fun idea, Imma rip off your style though Roomsky 

 

I'll sort them chronologically since Im pretty inconsistent on the micro-scale.

 

Warning: Taste Ahead

 

Happy to read at any time:

• Horus Rising (The Murder section is a bit dull for me though)
• Age of Darkness (Ngl, I'd buy this just for Savage Weapons)
• Shadows of Treachery (Literally everyone at the top of their anthology game)
• Unremembered Empire (Euten is love, Euten is life)
• War Without End (Most of these are so much fun, Some are iffy but the gems really shine!)
• Praetorian of Dorn (Basically the first three Siege books and Sons of the Selenar, but better in every way)
• Master of Mankind (I'd sacrifice approximately three bulls with a Labrys to Zeus if it meant ADB wrote more BAngels and Mechanicum)
• Slaves to Darkness (Wait, you mean allying with the people that use poisonous homicidal bestiality orgies to commune with the God of beat was a bad idea?)
• Saturnine (Glares at the Inability of Spoilers to make fun one-liners)
• The Primarchs: Ferrus Manus (Gardinaal are cool, Akurduana is bae and Ferrus Manus can bitch-slap lasers and beat dreadnoughts to death for their insufficient badassery)
• The Primarchs: The Lion (I am a simple man, show me a Librarian fighting a sapient meme with a magical minigun and I'll be happy)
• Valdor: Birth of the Imperium (More like 'Valdor: Awkward Teen Years of the Imperium' but it suits my 'Wraight and Custodians' Fetish)
• The Primarchs: Fulgrim (Best thing ever, I will duel anyone that says otherwise (provided I am allowed to bring ten friends and ambush you before the duel to break your knees)

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

• Tales of Heresy (FUN! The Last Church is the wet dream of a priest looking to convert someone with a poor grasp of theology though)
• A Thousand Sons (A bit exhausting and the villains are shallower than plastic wrap, but boy is it silly-fun)
• Prospero Burns (Really like the parts of it that the character doesnt spend higher than a squirrel tied to a kite in a hurricane while on meth)
• Know No Fear (Behold the Grand Blueberry)
• Betrayer (Some of the best WB stuff, I also somtimes hate it)
• Mark of Calth (The Murder Knife stuff is fun, Oll is fun. But for the love of the gods did it make me develop a very specific need to destroy all tunnels in existence.)
• Scars (Local speedy boy is very slow)
• Legacies of Betrayal (The most random of the Anthologies by my mileage, consequently fun as heck)
• Tallarn (Holy Moly was this fun to read, or agonizingly exhausting, can't recall which. Want to listen to it again though)
• Ruinstorm (Prose be iffy, but a WALL MADE OF BONES BIGGER THAN A SOLAR SYSTEM (Rock Music Blares in the Background)
• The Burden of Loyalty (There is a whole lot of big robots and giant mecha snakes eating suns in this book, also Land. Gimme moar)
• Heralds of the Siege (Kyme rarely knocks out of the park, when he does though...)
• The Solar War (Praetorian of Dorn but worse. Also, Cthonian Savagery is Savage)
• The Lost and the Damned (There is a surprising amount of mud on Terra, most of it seems to be on Katsuhiro)
• The Primarchs: Jaghatai Khan (Horrid on its own, great beyond words as part of a read through of the WS books)
• The Primarchs: Corax (I like big hats, those humans have big hats. Corax is an asshat)
• The Primarchs: Angron (Gee, its almost as if it is surprising that a guy nicknamed the 'Betrayer' has a history with bad judgement and deflecting blame...)
• The Primarchs: Perturabo (Pert's Sister is funner than he is... that tracks)

 

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

• Flight of the Eisenstein (Yes, young BlackLibrary. Let the compulsive need to center a Legion's arc on a Terran PoV that is at odds with the actual Legion flow through you!)
• Legion (Insert Spiderman Clone Meme Here)
• Mechanicum (So much wasted potential, also a YA novel for some reason)
• The First Heretic (Not quite how I saw myself getting banned, but it'll have to do. Last Act is spectacular though and a fine display of author restraint)
• The Primarchs (Primarch beat with an evil butt plug, Omegon having a peculiar notion of resource allocation and Iron Hands being so incompetent that they literally kill themselves, its so silly that I low-key love it)
• Pharos (Night Lords seem like the kind of people that would wear scarves in summer)
• Path of Heaven (Ever read Scars and thought 'everyone here needs to be one-degree more punchable'?)
• Old Earth (Surprisingly tolerable)
• Wolfsbane (Fun in parts, but an apt name for its treatment of the Sixth)
• The Primarchs: Konrad Kurze (This would be higher but damn are some of the Nostromans punchable, its kinda distracting)
• The Primarchs: Lorgar (In the most expected development since fire being hot, Kor Phaeron is a dick)

 

 

Please no:

• False Gods (Hissing Sounds)
• Galaxy in Flames (Hissing Sounds that Gradually Dissolve Into Quiet Snoring)
• Fulgrim (Why have only one demigod be turned by a magic sword when you can have two!)
• Battle for the Abyss (Highly Recommended for Sleep Therapy)
• Fear to Tread (Aptly named)
• Angel Exterminatus (Time to make a Primarch schizophrenic)
• Betrayer (Yes I'm putting this here twice, ADB gets weird reactions out of me. Angron complains more than a Pregnant Cat possessed by Little Horus's ghost)
• Vulkan Lives (I'd have rather he didn't if it had spared me this)
• Vengeful Spirit (Incest Snakes and Cthonian Savagery, Horus also ploughs deep into Chaos's Magical Hole)
• Deathfire (My most earnest request upon finishing this book)
• Eye of Terra (Why did they make Abbadon petty enough to use his topknot for a height gain again? And why on earth are people commenting on this insetting?)
• Angels of Caliban (I'm not sure the Lion grasps the notion of consent)
• Master of Mankind (Ever read the Emperor's Legion Books and wondered 'what if ever Custodian was an insufferable butt?)
• The Buried Dagger (Malcador is an effective bug-zapper, otherwise this book aptly describes the backs of most DG fans)
• The Primarchs: Leman Russ (The Space Wolves in the Heresy Era had alot of balls, only way they could survive getting them kicked in so frequently)
• The Primarchs: Magnus the Red (I get it, Magnus didn't excel at pattern recognition, can he have a successful story now please?)
• The Primarchs: Vulkan (Literally fell asleep listening to this one)

 

Equivalent to Skraivok's Fate:

• Outcast Dead (*Puts on Nemes and turns on Goa'uld eyes* McNeill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes I know that character is O'Neill, just let me have this))
• The Crimson King (Gave me a splitting migraine and I think I read this but better somewhere else)
• Born of Flame (Die in a Fire)
• Titandeath (Also known as 'Oof')
• The First Wall (Roomsky once equated my opinion on this one to popular view of The Room... That might be giving it too much credit)

 

Holy moly did I get sucked into this

 

Edit: Forgot a few.

Edited May 8, 2020 by StrangerOrders

[Roomsky]

This sounds like a fun idea, Imma rip off your style though Roomsky 

 

I'll sort them chronologically since Im pretty inconsistent on the micro-scale.

 

Warning: Taste Ahead

 

Happy to read at any time:

• Horus Rising (The Murder section is a bit dull for me though)
• Age of Darkness (Ngl, I'd buy this just for Savage Weapons)
• Shadows of Treachery (Literally everyone at the top of their anthology game)
• Unremembered Empire (Euten is love, Euten is life)
• War Without End (Most of these are so much fun, Some are iffy but the gems really shine!)
• Praetorian of Dorn (Basically the first three Siege books and Sons of the Selenar, but better in every way)
• Master of Mankind (I'd sacrifice approximately three bulls with a Labrys to Zeus if it meant ADB wrote more BAngels and Mechanicum)
• Slaves to Darkness (Wait, you mean allying with the people that use poisonous homicidal bestiality orgies to commune with the God of beat was a bad idea?)
• Saturnine (Glares at the Inability of Spoilers to make fun one-liners)
• The Primarchs: Ferrus Manus (Gardinaal are cool, Akurduana is bae and Ferrus Manus can bitch-slap lasers and beat dreadnoughts to death for their insufficient badassery)
• The Primarchs: The Lion (I am a simple man, show me a Librarian fighting a sapient meme with a magical minigun and I'll be happy)
• Valdor: Birth of the Imperium (More like 'Valdor: Awkward Teen Years of the Imperium' but it suits my 'Wraight and Custodians' Fetish)
• The Primarchs: Fulgrim (Best thing ever, I will duel anyone that says otherwise (provided I am allowed to bring ten friends and ambush you before the duel to break your knees)

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

• Tales of Heresy (FUN! The Last Church is the wet dream of a priest looking to convert someone with a poor grasp of theology though)
• A Thousand Sons (A bit exhausting and the villains are shallower than plastic wrap, but boy is it silly-fun)
• Prospero Burns (Really like the parts of it that the character doesnt spend higher than a squirrel tied to a kite in a hurricane while on meth)
• Know No Fear (Behold the Grand Blueberry)
• Betrayer (Some of the best WB stuff, I also somtimes hate it)
• Mark of Calth (The Murder Knife stuff is fun, Oll is fun. But for the love of the gods did it make me develop a very specific need to destroy all tunnels in existence.)
• Scars (Local speedy boy is very slow)
• Legacies of Betrayal (The most random of the Anthologies by my mileage, consequently fun as heck)
• Tallarn (Holy Moly was this fun to read, or agonizingly exhausting, can't recall which. Want to listen to it again though)
• Ruinstorm (Prose be iffy, but a WALL MADE OF BONES BIGGER THAN A SOLAR SYSTEM (Rock Music Blares in the Background)
• The Burden of Loyalty (There is a whole lot of big robots and giant mecha snakes eating suns in this book, also Land. Gimme moar)
• Heralds of the Siege (Kyme rarely knocks out of the park, when he does though...)
• The Solar War (Praetorian of Dorn but worse. Also, Cthonian Savagery is Savage)
• The Lost and the Damned (There is a surprising amount of mud on Terra, most of it seems to be on Katsuhiro)
• The Primarchs: Jaghatai Khan (Horrid on its own, great beyond words as part of a read through of the WS books)
• The Primarchs: Corax (I like big hats, those humans have big hats. Corax is an asshat)
• The Primarchs: Angron (Gee, its almost as if it is surprising that a guy nicknamed the 'Betrayer' has a history with bad judgement and deflecting blame...)
• The Primarchs: Perturabo (Pert's Sister is funner than he is... that tracks)

 

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

• Flight of the Eisenstein (Yes, young BlackLibrary. Let the compulsive need to center a Legion's arc on a Terran PoV that is at odds with the actual Legion flow through you!)
• Legion (Insert Spiderman Clone Meme Here)
• Mechanicum (So much wasted potential, also a YA novel for some reason)
• The First Heretic (Not quite how I saw myself getting banned, but it'll have to do. Last Act is spectacular though and a fine display of author restraint)
• The Primarchs (Primarch beat, Omegon having a peculiar notion of resource allocation and Iron Hands being so incompetent that they literally kill themselves, its so silly that I low-key love it)
• Pharos (Night Lords seem like the kind of people that would wear scarves in summer)
• Path of Heaven (Ever read Scars and thought 'everyone here needs to be one-degree more punchable'?)
• Old Earth (Surprisingly tolerable)
• Wolfsbane (Fun in parts, but an apt name for its treatment of the Sixth)
• The Primarchs: Konrad Kurze (This would be higher but damn are some of the Nostromans punchable, its kinda distracting)
• The Primarchs: Lorgar (In the most expected development since fire being hot, Kor Phaeron is a dick)

 

 

Please no:

• False Gods (Hissing Sounds)
• Galaxy in Flames (Hissing Sounds that Gradually Dissolve Into Quiet Snoring)
• Fulgrim (Why have only one demigod be turned by a magic sword when you can have two!)
• Battle for the Abyss (Highly Recommended for Sleep Therapy)
• Fear to Tread (Aptly named)
• Angel Exterminatus (Time to make a Primarch schizophrenic)
• Betrayer (Yes I'm putting this here twice, ADB gets weird reactions out of me. Angron complains more than a Pregnant Cat possessed by Little Horus's ghost)
• Vulkan Lives (I'd have rather he didn't if it had spared me this)
• Vengeful Spirit (Incest Snakes and Cthonian Savagery, Horus also ploughs deep into Chaos's Magical Hole)
• Deathfire (My most earnest request upon finishing this book)
• Eye of Terra (Why did they make Abbadon petty enough to use his topknot for a height gain again? And why on earth are people commenting on this insetting?)
• Angels of Caliban (I'm not sure the Lion grasps the notion of consent)
• Master of Mankind (Ever read the Emperor's Legion Books and wondered 'what if ever Custodian was an insufferable butt?)
• The Buried Dagger (Malcador is an effective bug-zapper, otherwise this book aptly describes the backs of most DG fans)
• The Primarchs: Leman Russ (The Space Wolves in the Heresy Era had alot of balls, only way they could survive getting them kicked in so frequently)
• The Primarchs: Magnus the Red (I get it, Magnus didn't excel at pattern recognition, can he have a successful story now please?)
• The Primarchs: Vulkan (Literally fell asleep listening to this one)

 

Equivalent to Skraivok's Fate:

• Outcast Dead (*Puts on Nemes and turns on Goa'uld eyes* McNeill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes I know that character is O'Neill, just let me have this))
• The Crimson King (Gave me a splitting migraine and I think I read this but better somewhere else)
• Born of Flame (Die in a Fire)
• Titandeath (Also known as 'Oof')
• The First Wall (Roomsky once equated my opinion on this one to popular view of The Room... That might be giving it too much credit)

 

Holy moly did I get sucked into this

 

Edit: Forgot a few.

 

This is the best thing ever written.

[mc warhammer]

Happy to read at any time:

Horus Rising, Legion, Prospero Burns, Know No fear

The First Heretic, Betrayer, Master of Mankind

Primarchs: Perturabo

Primarchs: Ferrus

Primarchs: Fulgrim

 

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

Scars, Path of Heaven, Primarchs: Khan

Praetorian of Dorn, Slaves to Darkness

Primarchs: Lorgar

Primarchs: Angron

Primarchs: Night Haunter, Corax

 

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

False Gods, A Thousand Sons, Crimson King, The Outcast Dead

Unremembered Empire

Ruinstorm, Primarchs: Guilliman

Wolfsbane, Lost and Damned

Solar war

Primarchs: Leman Russ

 

Please no:

Flight of the Eisenstein

Vengeful Spirit, Fulgrim, Angel Exterminatus

Galaxy in Flames

Deliverance Lost, Corax

Edited May 8, 2020 by mc warhammer

[StrangerOrders]

 

This sounds like a fun idea, Imma rip off your style though Roomsky 

 

I'll sort them chronologically since Im pretty inconsistent on the micro-scale.

 

Warning: Taste Ahead

 

Happy to read at any time:

• Horus Rising (The Murder section is a bit dull for me though)
• Age of Darkness (Ngl, I'd buy this just for Savage Weapons)
• Shadows of Treachery (Literally everyone at the top of their anthology game)
• Unremembered Empire (Euten is love, Euten is life)
• War Without End (Most of these are so much fun, Some are iffy but the gems really shine!)
• Praetorian of Dorn (Basically the first three Siege books and Sons of the Selenar, but better in every way)
• Master of Mankind (I'd sacrifice approximately three bulls with a Labrys to Zeus if it meant ADB wrote more BAngels and Mechanicum)
• Slaves to Darkness (Wait, you mean allying with the people that use poisonous homicidal bestiality orgies to commune with the God of beat was a bad idea?)
• Saturnine (Glares at the Inability of Spoilers to make fun one-liners)
• The Primarchs: Ferrus Manus (Gardinaal are cool, Akurduana is bae and Ferrus Manus can bitch-slap lasers and beat dreadnoughts to death for their insufficient badassery)
• The Primarchs: The Lion (I am a simple man, show me a Librarian fighting a sapient meme with a magical minigun and I'll be happy)
• Valdor: Birth of the Imperium (More like 'Valdor: Awkward Teen Years of the Imperium' but it suits my 'Wraight and Custodians' Fetish)
• The Primarchs: Fulgrim (Best thing ever, I will duel anyone that says otherwise (provided I am allowed to bring ten friends and ambush you before the duel to break your knees)

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

• Tales of Heresy (FUN! The Last Church is the wet dream of a priest looking to convert someone with a poor grasp of theology though)
• A Thousand Sons (A bit exhausting and the villains are shallower than plastic wrap, but boy is it silly-fun)
• Prospero Burns (Really like the parts of it that the character doesnt spend higher than a squirrel tied to a kite in a hurricane while on meth)
• Know No Fear (Behold the Grand Blueberry)
• Betrayer (Some of the best WB stuff, I also somtimes hate it)
• Mark of Calth (The Murder Knife stuff is fun, Oll is fun. But for the love of the gods did it make me develop a very specific need to destroy all tunnels in existence.)
• Scars (Local speedy boy is very slow)
• Legacies of Betrayal (The most random of the Anthologies by my mileage, consequently fun as heck)
• Tallarn (Holy Moly was this fun to read, or agonizingly exhausting, can't recall which. Want to listen to it again though)
• Ruinstorm (Prose be iffy, but a WALL MADE OF BONES BIGGER THAN A SOLAR SYSTEM (Rock Music Blares in the Background)
• The Burden of Loyalty (There is a whole lot of big robots and giant mecha snakes eating suns in this book, also Land. Gimme moar)
• Heralds of the Siege (Kyme rarely knocks out of the park, when he does though...)
• The Solar War (Praetorian of Dorn but worse. Also, Cthonian Savagery is Savage)
• The Lost and the Damned (There is a surprising amount of mud on Terra, most of it seems to be on Katsuhiro)
• The Primarchs: Jaghatai Khan (Horrid on its own, great beyond words as part of a read through of the WS books)
• The Primarchs: Corax (I like big hats, those humans have big hats. Corax is an asshat)
• The Primarchs: Angron (Gee, its almost as if it is surprising that a guy nicknamed the 'Betrayer' has a history with bad judgement and deflecting blame...)
• The Primarchs: Perturabo (Pert's Sister is funner than he is... that tracks)

 

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

• Flight of the Eisenstein (Yes, young BlackLibrary. Let the compulsive need to center a Legion's arc on a Terran PoV that is at odds with the actual Legion flow through you!)
• Legion (Insert Spiderman Clone Meme Here)
• Mechanicum (So much wasted potential, also a YA novel for some reason)
• The First Heretic (Not quite how I saw myself getting banned, but it'll have to do. Last Act is spectacular though and a fine display of author restraint)
• The Primarchs (Primarch beat, Omegon having a peculiar notion of resource allocation and Iron Hands being so incompetent that they literally kill themselves, its so silly that I low-key love it)
• Pharos (Night Lords seem like the kind of people that would wear scarves in summer)
• Path of Heaven (Ever read Scars and thought 'everyone here needs to be one-degree more punchable'?)
• Old Earth (Surprisingly tolerable)
• Wolfsbane (Fun in parts, but an apt name for its treatment of the Sixth)
• The Primarchs: Konrad Kurze (This would be higher but damn are some of the Nostromans punchable, its kinda distracting)
• The Primarchs: Lorgar (In the most expected development since fire being hot, Kor Phaeron is a dick)

 

 

Please no:

• False Gods (Hissing Sounds)
• Galaxy in Flames (Hissing Sounds that Gradually Dissolve Into Quiet Snoring)
• Fulgrim (Why have only one demigod be turned by a magic sword when you can have two!)
• Battle for the Abyss (Highly Recommended for Sleep Therapy)
• Fear to Tread (Aptly named)
• Angel Exterminatus (Time to make a Primarch schizophrenic)
• Betrayer (Yes I'm putting this here twice, ADB gets weird reactions out of me. Angron complains more than a Pregnant Cat possessed by Little Horus's ghost)
• Vulkan Lives (I'd have rather he didn't if it had spared me this)
• Vengeful Spirit (Incest Snakes and Cthonian Savagery, Horus also ploughs deep into Chaos's Magical Hole)
• Deathfire (My most earnest request upon finishing this book)
• Eye of Terra (Why did they make Abbadon petty enough to use his topknot for a height gain again? And why on earth are people commenting on this insetting?)
• Angels of Caliban (I'm not sure the Lion grasps the notion of consent)
• Master of Mankind (Ever read the Emperor's Legion Books and wondered 'what if ever Custodian was an insufferable butt?)
• The Buried Dagger (Malcador is an effective bug-zapper, otherwise this book aptly describes the backs of most DG fans)
• The Primarchs: Leman Russ (The Space Wolves in the Heresy Era had alot of balls, only way they could survive getting them kicked in so frequently)
• The Primarchs: Magnus the Red (I get it, Magnus didn't excel at pattern recognition, can he have a successful story now please?)
• The Primarchs: Vulkan (Literally fell asleep listening to this one)

 

Equivalent to Skraivok's Fate:

• Outcast Dead (*Puts on Nemes and turns on Goa'uld eyes* McNeill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Yes I know that character is O'Neill, just let me have this))
• The Crimson King (Gave me a splitting migraine and I think I read this but better somewhere else)
• Born of Flame (Die in a Fire)
• Titandeath (Also known as 'Oof')
• The First Wall (Roomsky once equated my opinion on this one to popular view of The Room... That might be giving it too much credit)

 

Holy moly did I get sucked into this

 

Edit: Forgot a few.

 

This is the best thing ever written.

 

I'd call it a labor of love, but according to the sacred laws of BL I must accredit it to Contempt and my Cthonian SavageryTM.

 

Completely unrelated but I have spent the last bit thinking that your new Avatar was Ciri from the Witcher for some reason.

[Roomsky]

 

I'd call it a labor of love, but according to the sacred laws of BL I must accredit it to Contempt and my Cthonian SavageryTM.

 

Completely unrelated but I have spent the last bit thinking that your new Avatar was Ciri from the Witcher for some reason.

 

 

I'm personally a big fan of Cthonian SavageryTM. This may be because the Sons of Horus went like this:

 

Abnett's Special Charisma Sauce (Horus Rising) > Literally Nothing (Everything until Cthonian SavageryTM) > Cthonian SavageryTM (Slaves to Darkness)

 

I don't know if I'd even agree they had it in Vengeful Spirit, I got more of a "Mcneill doing his best Abnett" impression. It may have gotten a bit overblown, but I'll take it.

 

(The pic is Dorian Electra, but I do love me some Witcher)

Edited May 8, 2020 by Roomsky

[DarkChaplain]

Man, I generally don't like the whole rankings and listings thingything, but I'd really like to do the ranking in this style. However, frankly, I don't get to re-read books as much as I'd like or should. It's a super duper exception reserved for stuff like Tolkien's The Children of Húrin or Michael J. Sullivan's Riyria novels, which benefit greatly from a re-read to pick up on all the pre-planned hints and nudges (especially with the 3000 years earlier prequel series that concluded with book six this week, oh boy I'm in for a 10 novel Riyria re-read soon).

 

There are HH novels I re-read, of course. A lot of them with partial re-reads, too. And John French's Warmaster audio drama has looped hundreds of times since it released, with me knowing it by heart. But it's really not something I do anymore, out of sheer backloggery. As such, I feel like I couldn't write up a list that'd make me happy.

 

...on top of that, I'm not sure I'd want to re-read individual novels outside of their narrative arcs anymore these days. One duo I did re-read in recent enough memory was Deliverance Lost and the first two novellas from Corax, and they did much, much better on that second read than the first. My original read gave DL too little credit.

[Bobss]

 

 

All around good stuff

 

 

I'm surprised at Shadows of Treachery down in "No", though. More than half of that book is by top tier authors, and I'd personally be remiss to lose out on Prince of Crows or The Crimson Fist.

 

 

Both of those novellas are great - especially The Crimson Fist. I thought John French did a superb job of showing us some good, meaty Legion Vs. Legion combat and the Battle of Phall remains one of my all-time favourites due to the lack of Chaos shenanigans interfering with the core appeal of Roman Legions In Space. I'm also bummed that we didn't get a full novel when one was perfectly possible, but I think the era of Novellas Without End was about to start. That being said the McNeill entries are weak and the thing, as a single cover-to-cover product is still pretty inconsistent. Like, imagine if a wedding cake had a layer of sawdust or something. I wouldn't be too chuffed

 

I have a very weird relationship with anthologies. The only anthology I rate is Mark of Calth because that is a bunch of authors all writing about a story set within the Calth sandbox set up by Know No Fear. It fulfils its purpose, and everything is tied together nicely despite a few weak entries. Boom. That's an anthology for you folks. Tales of Heresy and Age of Darkness are also pretty solid and reasonably related, but they are both very outdated now (I mean, almost every story in Tales of Heresy has basically launched its own novel - booyah). Everything else is a bunch of previously-released material slapped together without rhyme or reason. I mean Aurelian might be a great novella but Eye of Terra isn't. So like, I totes get why people want this material in a written format for their collections, but it's just not my cup of tea

Edited May 8, 2020 by Bobss

[DukeLeto69]

Reading this thread/lists has made me realise that I have never re-read a HH novel. Not once. I have certainly had 2nd or even 3rd reads of some of my favourite 40k books but have not revisited any HH. Weird!

[mc warhammer]

i don't think i've ever reread one entirely, but i have definitely gone back over favourite bits in certain novels

[Roomsky]

And now, the rest:

 

Happy to read at any time:

Jaghatai Khan: Warhawk of Chogoris

Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix

Dreadwing

Saturnine

 

Enjoyable in a series read-through:

Valdor: Birth of the Imperium, Leman Russ: The Great Wolf

Sons of the Selenar

Ferrus Manus: Gorgon of Medusa

Angron: Slave of Nuceria

The Solar War

 

I wouldn’t bother reading it again:

Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramaer, Spear of Ultramar

Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia, Corax: Lord of Shadows

Lorgar: Bearer of the Word, The First Wall

 

Please no:

Vulkan: Lord of Drakes, The Unburdened

Magnus the Red: Master of Prospero

Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter, The Lost and the Damned

Lion El'Jonson: Lord of the First

The Honoured