Looking for help with my 'road map' through the Horus Heresy

[firestorm40k]

Greetings Frater :) I've just started revisiting the Horus Heresy (in audiobook form), almost 15 years after I originally first tried to follow the series. Back then I got as far as Fulgrim, but lost interest as I felt like it repeated plot points/character arcs of the first 3 books.

 

Now the series is coming to an end (as well as what might be happening with the HH game later this year ;) :lol: ), I decided I'd give it another go - this time in Audiobook form. I've seen some articles and review videos which suggest there are quite a few books that can be missed altogether.

 

Based on that, I've got a plan that I'll use to go through the key novels of the series - hopefully following the most important plot points as I go. However, I do have some questions, looking for advice and suggestions if there are any I've missed that are 'must reads' (or in this case, listens :D)

 

I've started back at the beginning, so have listened to the following so far:

Horus Rising

False Gods

Galaxy In Flames (which I'm currently just over half way through, just before the bombardment).

 

After that, I'm not sure where to go next - do I go straight to Flight of the Eisenstein? Or somewhere else? As it's mentioned during Galaxy In Flames, I might listen to A Thousand Sons and Prospero Burns (seeing as they're kind of happening at the same time as the events of Galaxy In Flames).

 

But then I thought it might make sense to go back to where the Heresy originated, with the Word Bearers, and listen to The First Heretic. That does seem to cover quite a few different periods in the Heresy - so I wonder if I'm better waiting until I get to the Calth/Ultramar part; would that be better? Also, do I need to listen to the Aurelian novella in order to 'get' The First Heretic?

 

With regards to Calth/Ultramar, I've heard that Battle for the Abyss wasn't that great, so I'll do Know No Fear, and definitely Betrayer (pretty much the only novels I'll definitely listen to are the ones written by Dan Abnett* or ADB); but I don't think I'll bother with the Imperium Secundus stuff (unless there are any that are worth checking out).

 

*except Unremembered Empire, which I've heard is a bit disappointing :huh:

 

I've heard that the White Scars related novels are really good for how they portray that Legion and their Primarch, so I intend to listen to those - I've already go Scars and The Path of Heaven in my library ready - but do the two kind of follow on from each other? Can I listen to them back to back and not feel that I've missed anything from another novel that'll prevent me from following the latter?

 

I'd also like to give Tallarn a listen, as it's such an infamous part of the Heresy, one that is referred to regularly when you read about Guard regiments in 40k. Do I need to listen to Angel Exterminatus to make sense of it (as that one introduces Perturabo) ?

 

Again, something else that's kind of set up at the end of False Gods are the events of Fear To Tread, but I've heard that it's not one of the better books in the series. Should I bother?

 

I'll definitely give Legion a listen, I'm actually tempted to do that back to back with Praetorian of Dorn (I've heard that the latter has the best Alpha Legion stuff in the series since Abnett's highly regarded novel). Again, should I leave that latter book until later in the series?

 

Other than that, I'm not going to bother with the Dark Angels ones, or the Vulkan/Salamanders ones. I'd also like to do some of the later novels in something like chronological order, so maybe use the flowing as my run in to the Siege of Terra series:

 

Vengeful Spirit

Wolfsbane

Titandeath

The Buried Dagger

 

Oh, and I will definitely include Master of Mankind at some point.

 

So, I'm interested in anyone else's thoughts on how I'm approaching the series. Are there any that I've missed which I should give a go?

 

Thanks for reading, and for any advice/suggestions! :)

[theSpirea]

I highly recommend this chart: http://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.html

 

I don't believe reading the HH series in the published order or the chronological order is the best approach, at least it didn't work for me. Mainly due to many different plotlines being dropped and picked up many books later. I believe, it's best to read the first 3 or 5 novels and then follow your favorite legion based on the chart. It's worth it to read all the books and not to skip anything because someone, somewhere said it's trash.

 

The White Scars arc is my favorite one in the series and I strongly suggest reading all the related short stories.

 

Good luck on this incredible journey and enjoy it.

[Slave to Darkness]

Only advice I have is avoid Battle for the Abyss and you will be ok. :lol: 

[Ubiquitous1984]

I'm going to give you a boring response.  Just read/listen to it in the order that the novels were released.  Yes there are some duds along the way, but even the duds tend to be 'ok'.  If I skipped some books in the heresy I know I would have regretted it.

 

The only jarring continuity concern I had by following the novel reading order was book 30 - Vengeful Spirit.  That book expected you to have listed to some of the non-Novel audio releases to be up to speed with the characters featured.  If you do decide to following the reading order, then do make sure that you seek advice online first for which audios to listen to before starting Vengeful Spirit.  

[Sviox]

Here is something I've made that might help you. Not saying it's the best timeline out there, but I find this an easier to follow and more informative format than most. Follow the strong red line up-to-down, stopping to absorb recommended pieces in left-to-right order. Feel free to skip some of the non-starred ones if you have no interest in specific factions, or alternatively have a go on the non-essential related works connected via faint red line or go grazy and read related books from outside HH context connected with dashed lines.

 

Feel free to point out corrections and let me know if you disagree with some recommendations.

 

 

[firestorm40k]

Thank you all for your replies! :) :tu:

 

@theSpirea: thank you, that is a helpful resource. I'll have to wait until I can fire up my old laptop, as it's a bit difficult to navigate on my phone :D

 

@Ubiquitous1984: thanks for the pointers regarding Vengeful Spirit - I was going to leave it till I'd got through other books in the series, but I'll definitely make sure to check which audio is connected to it.

 

@Sviox: thank you, this is also really helpful. I may end up going through in an order similar to your suggestion - branching off of 'main' books if I become particularly interested in following a specific Legion or character's arc.

 

@Slave To Darkness: don't worry, I've no plans to listen to that one :lol:

[DukeLeto69]

 

Here is something I've made that might help you. Not saying it's the best timeline out there, but I find this an easier to follow and more informative format than most. Follow the strong red line up-to-down, stopping to absorb recommended pieces in left-to-right order. Feel free to skip some of the non-starred ones if you have no interest in specific factions, or alternatively have a go on the non-essential related works connected via faint red line or go grazy and read related books from outside HH context connected with dashed lines.

 

Feel free to point out corrections and let me know if you disagree with some recommendations.

Whoah that is one mighty fine piece of work! I know some things are subjective but I would disagree that Galaxy in Flames is not essential. It might be nowhere near as good as books 1&2 but it is essential to the opening arc.

 

As for subjective, well there are a couple of other novels that I would have starred.

 

I am intrigued why you have The Beast Arises series branching from the Gav Thorpe SoT novel?

[Sviox]

Whoah that is one mighty fine piece of work! I know some things are subjective but I would disagree that Galaxy in Flames is not essential. It might be nowhere near as good as books 1&2 but it is essential to the opening arc.

Thanks, been working on this one for a while. I feel GiF is the weakest of the opening trilogy (still recommended though!) and in many ways book 4 shows the main plot points about Isstvan III. Can't have all of them starred  

 

As for subjective, well there are a couple of other novels that I would have starred.

Make me change my mind!

 

I am intrigued why you have The Beast Arises series branching from the Gav Thorpe SoT novel?

You know what, the connection should be from The Lost and the Damned . There is a certain Fists Captain that plays a major (central in fact) role in The Beast Arises series.

[theSpirea]

Here's an interesting article about The Battle for the Abyss https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/11/16/revisiting-battle-for-the-abyss-by-ben-counter/

If you've never read that, again, I suggest not skipping anything because others didn't like it.

[firestorm40k]

Here's an interesting article about The Battle for the Abyss https://www.trackofwords.com/2021/11/16/revisiting-battle-for-the-abyss-by-ben-counter/

If you've never read that, again, I suggest not skipping anything because others didn't like it.

That's an interesting article, I always appreciate it when someone offers a 'counter' to a widely held opinion.

 

I think for me, I want to pick out the 'big' moments and/or revelations of the HH series, and as this article kind of supports, as much fun as it's possible to find in the story - the overall series isn't progressed by it.

 

I think there's the point about the Heresy as a 'setting' rather than a series - if I had the time, I'd want to invest more attention to the setting. But I feel I've a lot to catch up on fairly quickly - it takes me at least two weeks to get through an audio book (I'll listen to a couple of chapters a night on average, while I'm painting), so I'd like to be somewhere near to being able to start the Siege of Terra series when the final novel is actually released. If that makes sense..!