Masterworks - it's decision time!

[JH79]

So, it's your first day starting as the new Big Decision Director for Black Library and suffice to say, you're feeling a heady mix of excitement and trepidation!

 

You've met the staff on a guided tour and are now sat at your desk sipping a freshly made brew of your favorite mid morning tipple. Suddenly you get a call from The Big Cheese, Mr or Mrs Top of the Pile as it were, and He or She quickly dispenses with the pleasantries...

 

"We're fist pumping the market again under the brand name Masterworks... we've got 10 slots available, because 10 is a nicer number than 9 you see. Horus Rising & Helsreach kick things off, because they're awesome, get back to me with the remaining 8 by end of play would you. Oh and welcome to the team!".

 

You slowly take another sip, and because much like Horus Rising & Helsreach, you're also awesome, get straight to work filling in the gaps!

 

-

 

So there you have it people... i like the idea of a properly curated selection of Black Library Masterwork books, but my background knowledge of their catalog is limited, Roomskys Top 10 Essential Reads list was evidence of that! So how would you fill in the remaining gaps, we'll assume there's 8 to go, Masterworks is the name, making a list is the game!

1. Horus Rising
2. Helsreach
3.  
4.  
5.  
6.  
7.  
8.  
9.  
10.  

[Roomsky]

This is fun. Unlike my essential reads, I'm not going to limit myself to one per author, though there'll definitely be some overlap.

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Lord of the Night*

4. Space Marine*

5. Fire Caste

6. The First Heretic

7. The Carrion Throne

8. Crossfire

9. Honourbound

10. Legion

 

*Assuming these aren't getting anniversary hardcovers. If they do, replace with Scars and Praetorian of Dorn

 

JH79 hates the number 9 confirmed.

Edited June 6, 2020 by Roomsky

[rookie40K]

Fear to Tread anyone? SHOTS FIRED! SHOTS FIRED! Sorry I couldn’t resist, and for the record I loved the audiobook version.

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Eisenhorn Xenos

4. Know No Fear

5.False Gods

6. Watchers of the Throne Emperor's Legion

7. Galaxy in Flames

8. Master of Mankind

9. Fear to Tread (sorry everyone it’s just an opinion and trying to spread the love on authors)

10. Final Book in Siege of Terra (optimistic!)

 

Note all mine based on audio versions which were fantastic. It was also hard not to put Spear of The Emperor and First Heretic on the list.

 

Special shout out to Guy Haley for writing quality books at a high rate of productivity! Sorry none of his books made the list, but glad for his service to the community.

Edited June 6, 2020 by rookie40K

[byrd9999]

It's gotta be a Peter Fehervari Dark Coil omnibus, with bonus author introductions, forewords and afterwords.

[Kelborn]

Just my personal list of "masterpieces" in no particular order. Reasoning behind those is easy: they hooked me right from the start, became pageturners and some I've ready many times again. If I've read all or more stuff I'd most likely exchange some of them with other authors like Fehervari, etc.

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. The Emperor's Spears

4. Battle of the Fang

5. Brotherhood of the Snake

6. Praetorian of Dorn

7. Scars

8. Konrad Curze

9. A Thousand Sons

10. Soul Hunter

Edited June 7, 2020 by Kelborn

[JH79]

Awesome lists guys! I keep seeing Lord of the Night and Space Marine popping up on these boards so I must track them down to see what is what when time permits.

 

This Masterworks series really has me thinking about what makes a book eligible for selection. There are some quite incredible books that have been released in recent years, but would something so new make it into the collection? Does the book have to be of a certain age or is it just another marketing tool to re-issue out of print "popular" books in order to gain new readership?

[Kelborn]

Think it's a mixture of popularity among the community and the amount of sold copies and such.

 

OR

 

A self decided list done by "internal judges" which could lead to some confusion amongst the community when novels like....I'm just naming one randomly, ok?....Vulkan Lives would show up on that list.

 

 

I really hope it's the former though. :P

[Tarvek Val]

Here's what I've come up with:

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Soul Hunter

4. The Eye of Medusa

5. Scars

6. Xenos (throwback to the old days with Eisenhorn)

7. The Talon of Horus

8. Honour Guard 

9. Legion

10. Blood Gorgons*

 

* I don't think I've ever seen BG on a top-ten list, but it actually does a good job of introducing a unique Chaos faction and exploring their mythos and culture. I was looking through my shelves to find a book to fill my tenth spot, and I think BG deserves the nod.

[cheywood]

Here's what I've come up with:

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Soul Hunter

4. The Eye of Medusa

5. Scars

6. Xenos (throwback to the old days with Eisenhorn)

7. The Talon of Horus

8. Honour Guard

9. Legion

10. Blood Gorgons*

 

* I don't think I've ever seen BG on a top-ten list, but it actually does a good job of introducing a unique Chaos faction and exploring their mythos and culture. I was looking through my shelves to find a book to fill my tenth spot, and I think BG deserves the nod.

Nothing against Blood Gorgons itself, I remember liking it, but it will never be republished. Zou plagiarized parts of Flesh and Iron from an Iraq War memoir and is very much persona non grata as a result. Edited June 7, 2020 by cheywood

[cheywood]

It seems there’s two ways to make this list: pick books you like personally or try to guess what BL will choose. I’m going for the latter. My guess is the line will mostly feature standalone novels or the first books in popular series, at least to start with.

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Lord of Night

4. Angels of Darkness

5. Xenos

6. Nightbringer

7. Soul Hunter

8. Fire Caste

9. Path of the Warrior

10. Dark Imperium

[Tarvek Val]

 

Here's what I've come up with:

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Soul Hunter

4. The Eye of Medusa

5. Scars

6. Xenos (throwback to the old days with Eisenhorn)

7. The Talon of Horus

8. Honour Guard

9. Legion

10. Blood Gorgons*

 

* I don't think I've ever seen BG on a top-ten list, but it actually does a good job of introducing a unique Chaos faction and exploring their mythos and culture. I was looking through my shelves to find a book to fill my tenth spot, and I think BG deserves the nod.

Nothing against Blood Gorgons itself, I remember liking it, but it will never be republished. Zou plagiarized parts of Flesh and Iron from an Iraq War memoir and is very much persona non grata as a result.

 

 

Sheesh, I didn't know that. I do remember thinking that Blood Gorgons was the only truly memorable book of the three Zou put out for Black Library. Thank you for bringing that to my attention. In that case, I'll nominate Path of the Archon as my tenth pick.

[Knockagh]

Horus Rising (Abnett)

Helsreach (ADB)

Carrion Throne (Wraight)

Watchers of the Throne (Wraight)

for the Imperium (Mitchell)

Necropolis (Abnett)

Cadia Stands (Hill)

Spear of the Emperor (ADB)

Lorgar (Thorpe)

Jain Zar (Thorpe)

Path of the Eldar (Thorpe)

Xenos (Abnett)

 

That’s 12 but who’s counting??

Edited June 7, 2020 by Knockagh

[JH79]

Horus Rising (Abnett)

Helsreach (ADB)

Carrion Throne (Wraight)

Watchers of the Throne (Wraight)

for the Imperium (Mitchell)

Necropolis (Abnett)

Cadia Stands (Hill)

Spear of the Emperor (ADB)

Lorgar (Thorpe)

Jain Zar (Thorpe)

Path of the Eldar (Thorpe)

Xenos (Abnett)

 

That’s 12 but who’s counting??

Ha! I'll take 12 over 9... oh Dawn of Fire, how you mock me with your odd number musings!!

[Brother Lunkhead]

Here's my list in random order All of these I've read multiple times and found each read as pleasurable as the last.

 

1. Horus Rising

2. Helsreach

3. Titanicus (Abnett)

4. Space Marine (Watson)

5. Fear to Tread (Swallow)*

6. Necropolis (Abnett)

7. Blood Pact (Abnett)

8. Master of Mankind (Dembski-Bowden)

9. Storm of Iron (McNeill)

10. Atlas Infernal (Sanders)

 

* Brave choice rookie40K, but you are not alone