Do you know of any good books?

[JxKxR]

So I just finished reading A Thousand Sons from the Horus Heresy books and now it's my favorite book of all time! I always really liked the thousand sons and Ahriman and the book was just a joy to read and that is rare for me because I normally really don't enjoy reading and especially a book that long. It was by far the biggest book I've ever read and also the quickest I've finished a book. So I was wondering if there were any other Horus Heresy books I should give a try or was this just a freak occurrence.

[wittdooley]

Um... Read all the HH books. IMO, Prospero Burns, Nemesis, The First Heretic and Mechanicum are at least equal to A Thousand Sons. Honestly, I'd recommend you read all the HH books. Battle for the Abyss is the weakest of the bunch, but still a decent read.

[Whoop!]

I've really enjoyed all of Dan Abnett's work for the black library. Outside of Black Library, if you are looking for an AWESOME epic read King's Dark Tower.

[Whoop!]

If you have an e-reader then check out black libraries e-mag hammer and bolter. I'm 2/3rds through the first issue, pretty good, pretty cheap!

[JxKxR]

Prospero Burns was actually the one I was thinking of reading next, but just wanted to know if it was worth the time. I don't think I'll read all of them though because I tried reading one about the Emperors Children and didn't really care for it so I stopped reading.

Also I was telling one of my friends about A Thousand Sons and she was wanting to give it a read, but she doesn't play and she doesn't know anything about the background so should I just let her read it or should I give her some background so she has some idea of what they are talking about? and if so what kind of reading material could get her caught up? I was thinking of just letting her borrow my rule book to flip through some of the fluff before she got into a thousand sons.

[Wolf Brother Hellstrom]

i read most of HH books and they were decent. just finished both space wolf omnibus's both amazing! Non warhammer check out anything by RA Salvatore and another really good one is Raymond Feist. these guys are prob the best fantasy writers in the biz

[DarkLink]

Outside 40k books, anything by Brandon Sanderson (particularly his Mistborn series), anything by Matthew Stover (particularly The Acts of Caine), and anything by Jim Butcher (Codex Alera or the Dresden Files). John Scalzi (Old Man's War, Android's Dream, Agent to the Stars). I could go on for a while.

Most of these are fantasy of some sort, though, with the exception of John Scalzi's stuff. And The Acts of Cain, they're half sci-fi half fantasy. In fact, the Acts of Caine could be described as 1984 meets Conan the Barbarian.

I can back up RA Salvator. Been way too long since I've read anything by Raymond Feist.


Oh, and check out the Game of Thrones. They're turning it into an HBO series atm, but the books themselves are epic. I've never seen another author come anywhere near as close to perfectly balancing literally dozens of main viewpoint characters across a vast and intricate nation-spanning civil war, based loosely on the War of the Roses in European history, in a fantasy setting. Amazing books.


Edit: If I had to recommend only three, I'd say Mistborn, a Song of Ice and Fire from the Game of Thrones, and Heroes Die from The Acts of Caine. Those are easily three of the best books I have ever read in any genre, ever.

[eagleboy7259]

I think it depends first on which legions that your interested in and then the author and writing style of the book. Out of the Horus Heresy books I can say that my favorites have been First Heretic, Descent of Angels and Fallen Angels. Descent of Angels was awesome (Mitchel Scanlon) the story, presentation, everything. Fallen Angels was good (Mike Lee) but his story was definately not on the same level as the first Dark Angels book, but my love of the chapter and it's fluff made it so that I couldn't put it down.

I can say that the only HH books that I haven't like have been the ones my Ben Counter. Battle for the Abyss made me want to cry. 30-ish Space Wolves and World Eaters +1 Ultramarine Captain take down the largest battleship the Imperium had seen during the Horus Heresy? Bull.

Obiviously anything by Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill are awesome

[Scion_of_Terra]

If we're not limiting ourselves to 40k, then the Malus Darkblade series for sure. Malus is the greatest anti-hero since Spike.

EVERY 40k player should read Starship Troopers.

[DarkLink]

Starship troopers is pretty awesome. And before someone goes on a rant about how facist they think it is, go and read Stranger in a Strange Land, too.

[Javin]

Orson Scott Card - Enders Game
Anything from Jim butcher
Anything from Dan Abnett

[Grailkeeper]

The forgotten soldier by Guy Sajer- a great book about one man's experiences fighting for the Germans on the eastern front.

Anything by Simon R. Green

[geisthammer]

Anything by abnett. I don't read any books other than the 40k and fantasy books. I read a lot of comics. A few suggestions are spawn origins, sin city (anything by mcfarlane and miller) watchmen, v for vendetta. I even have some crazy old terminator vs superman comics.....

[MaltonNecromancer]

If you're interested in comics, I have a few suggestions for self-contained works.

Most things that are creator-owned by Warren Ellis, but especially "Desolation Jones"" (whose superpower is he just doesn't care - you'd be surprised how awesome a power that is) and "Global Frequency" (with USMC Captain Richard Quinn as possibly the scariest thing I've read in comics, and he's only in it for one issue!). "Black Summer" is amazing; any comics where superheroes kill the president has to be worth a read. Fell is very good too - extremely messed up and disturbing as hell, but a very good read. I also enjoyed "No Hero", though my friends thought it was a little too gory. "Crecy" is amazing, though don't read if you don't like swearing. Seriously.

Garth Ennis' "Crossed" is superb (I'd recommend Preacher, but I'm going for self-contained books rather than series here), though it will mess you up; the levels of gore are unbelievable. "Unknown Soldier" is a particularly good piece of character work, as is "303". Both war stories, both horrible, neither has a single act of heroism (which I approve of). (As a side note, if you like ongoing series about violence and little else, I'd also recommend Ennis' second "MAX" impring run on "Punisher"; it's set in an alernative universe with no superheroes (Ennis has loudly proclaimed his hatred of them), but more bloodshed, torture and death than is entirely healthy. Absolutely not for kids.) "The Pro" is also very darkly funny (and again, not remotely for kids. Superpowered prostitutes are not the stuff of PG-13 heroics).

Alan Moore's "From Hell" is his finest work (much better than the somewhat overrated "Watchmen"), and his series "Top Ten" is totally unique (it's set in a city where everyone, from the homeless guys to the people who sell hotdogs, is a superhero. A very human and affecting work.

"The Tale of One Bad Rat" by Bryan Talbot is quite remarkable; if you're not moved by the end, something's wrong with you.

Joe Sacco's "Palestine" is an astonishing piece of real world work, and I recommend it wholeheartedly.

Junji Ito's "Uzamaki" is a disturbing piece of horror; very compelling, and beautifully drawn. The author actually draws people rather than big-eyed mutants.

A few suggestions for you there. Most (if not all) are profoundly disturbing and violent, and some have explicit sexual content, so do please beware.

[Grailkeeper]

Garth ennis was mentioned above- his work is genius, but I'd work my way up to crossed. Its pretty sickening. He does have some self contained war stories or if you prefer some series try the boys or preacher

[isotope99]

IMHO, a lot of the HHbooks suffer from GAS (generic alien syndrome). That's not to say they aren't good, but it's much more fun having Fulgrim face off against an avatar than some random sea creature things (the laer).

I'm also going to recommend the Ciaphas Cain books, they get a little samey but he's a great character.

[JxKxR]

Honestly there isn't anything too sick and disturbing that I couldn't read it. (I've been told I'm F'd up in the head)

@ Everyone. Thanks for the suggestions! A lot of these sound really intriguing even though I originally was asking about 40k books you people have thrown out some really good suggestions. Let's keep it coming for anyone out there looking for some new reading material!

Also my second favorite book is Day by Day Armageddon by J.L. Bourne he is the new master of Zombie books, and if anyone can think of someone who does it better I really want to hear it. Funny little side note for ya, I was reading the second Day by Day Armageddon when I started a Thousand Sons. I was originally just going to give it a little glance but then got sucked in by the story and I was balls deep baby!

[wittdooley]

You asked about for your GF/Wife.... Prospero Burns is easily the best jumping off point in terms of the Horus Heresy. My wife it about as disinterested in 40k as a human can possibly be, and I convinced her to try the first chapter of Prospero Burns. She was hooked. It's much more than 'just' a Warhammer story; it really is an anthropolgic study into a culture, and she really enjoyed that.