Leave behind the big guns.

[Grailkeeper]

Which Black Library books would you all recommend as being good?

Don't rush out to tell me about Dan Abnett's latest work, I;m asking Which Black Library books would you all recommend as being good, other than those by BL's BIG GUNS

So, outside of Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, Aaron Massive-Surname, Sandy Mitchell and the Horus Heresy Series , what is worth reading?

There's some great books out there (and many terrible ones)

What would you all recommend?

[orkward2.0]

not sure who wrote it but i really enjoyed the word bearers triology

[gcsmith]

Fire Warrior I found to be rather good. It was my first BL book and it did a nice portrayal of Tau. It also disproves the BB of tau and marines.

[Grailkeeper]

Fire Warrior the CS Goto Book that was a tie-in with the Computer game? I don't want to come across an internet bigot, but thats the worst BL book I've ever read. Possibly the worst book I've ever read. But you're entitled to your own opinion. Then again I liked the last chancers series which most people hate.

The word bearers series is ok. The first is the best in my opinion.

I liked Dead men walking.

[The AKH]

Execution Hour was one of the first BL books I read, and re-reading it recently it's still quite enjoyable.

Last Chancers were good too, and Fire Warrior was better than a darn lot of other things that CS Goto has written. Eldar Prophecy was absolute rubbish, nevermind the Dawn of War tie-ins.

[DarkLink]

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan. Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. Joker One, Donovan Campbell's memoir of the Iraq war.

Because, frankly, there is better stuff out there than the Black Library.

[fuzzbuket]

if you can find any of the old BL comics such as redeemer, dictato or kal jericio those are a good read :D

@akh

what i like my magical transformin predetors-rhinos-LR's and my lasguns, layzguns and lahsssssguns

[Kawauso]

Your question is kind of...odd...because you're looking for (presumably) 40k works from Black Library...that are worth reading...outside of all of the ones that people regard as being the best (including the best authors and one of their biggest and best series).

So...outside of the good stuff, which 40k books from Black Library are good? Ummm...

While I haven't read quite as much BL stuff as I'd like, what little I have read outside of the top authors/Horus Heresy (which has its share of 'meh' and sucky books/stories as well) has not impressed me.

There's probably a reason all the ones you listed are regarded as the 'good stuff'.

[Grailkeeper]

I suppose it is a little odd, but those guys get most of the attention. I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations outside of that sphere of writers. There are a few good books that don't come from any of them and I wanted to see which ones people would recommend. I'll have to track down execution hour.

[Wildeybeast]

C.L. Werner does some good stuff, you may want to check out his works. If you want to venture into fantasy, Mike Lee and Gav Thorpe did some good work with the Time of Legends series. And Bill King is pretty highly rated for Gotrek and Felix, his new book on Macharius might be worth a read.

[gcsmith]

Blood quest is a good comic thing as well. :D

[Wildeybeast]

Blood quest is a good comic thing as well. :D

Yeah it really is. Actually, Warhammer monthly did quite a bit of good stuff, some of which is now available as collected editions.

[JamesP]

I'd second the mention of Execution Hour, and also its sequel Shadow Point.

Fire Warrior was by Simon Spurrier, not CS Goto, and I quite liked it - I thought it gave a good depiction of the Tau though Kais' internal 'war is hell' monologues did get very tedious quite quickly.

The short stories in Deathwing are good, as is Bill King's Farseer. I also like some of his Space Wolf series, the first and third ones as the others didn't seem as good for some reason.

[gcsmith]

Yeah it really is. Actually, Warhammer monthly did quite a bit of good stuff, some of which is now available as collected editions.

wait you mean blood quest is worth something? :D

[SotonShades]

If you can get hold of them, Gav Thorpe's Last chancer's trilogy is a decent read. The last books gets a little wierd, but still fun enough. Kill Team was also the first source to have proper Tau/human interactions that weren't purely one fighting the other.

[razcalking]

American Gods, by Neil Gaiman. Mistborn, by Brandon Sanderson. Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss. Altered Carbon by Richard K Morgan. Heroes Die by Matthew Stover. Joker One, Donovan Campbell's memoir of the Iraq war.

Because, frankly, there is better stuff out there than the Black Library.

Rock music? Oh deeeear. Have you tried classical, my good friend? So much better.

[Eberk]

not sure who wrote it but i really enjoyed the word bearers triology

I second that

[Mr Mystery]

Anything by C L Werner!

[DarkLink]

Rock music? Oh deeeear. Have you tried classical, my good friend? So much better.

Nothing on that list had anything to do with music... but even if it didn't I don't think pulp sci-fi would qualify as a classic.

[Deadlift]

Which Black Library books would you all recommend as being good?

Don't rush out to tell me about Dan Abnett's latest work, I;m asking Which Black Library books would you all recommend as being good, other than those by BL's BIG GUNS

So, outside of Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill, Aaron Massive-Surname, Sandy Mitchell and the Horus Heresy Series , what is worth reading?

There's some great books out there (and many terrible ones)

What would you all recommend?

Brotherhood of the snake, its my favourite space marine book of all time.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Nothing on that list had anything to do with music... but even if it didn't I don't think pulp sci-fi would qualify as a classic.

I just kinda saw that guy's post and went "the actual f**k?"

Seriously, how could what DarkLink said be even remotely confused with Rock music?

On topic:
I know it's against what you said, but you REALLY need to read The Emperor's Gift by Aaron Dembski-Bowdon, it's EPIC.

[eldargal]

I think it was a jab at perceived literary snobbery, likening BL to rock music and Other Literature to classical. I don't think anyone claims BL is high literature but as fun, entertaining fiction it really is quite good.

If you have any interest in Xenos/Eldar and/or the Inquisition I'd recommend the Path series' By Gav Thorpe and Andy Chambers and Atlas Infernal by Rob Sanders.

[Tzeentch's Dark Agent]

Ah, so that person was a "dick"... Fair play...

I listened to Butcher's Nails last night, it was so fun! :D

[DarkLink]

Yeah, I'm not saying the BL is terrible, just that if I'm going to recommend a book I'm going to recommend the best books I know, and from what BL I've read that's a whole different league.

I assumed he was just a hipster making an overly obscure reference or something. "Well, American Gods is actually this great little band, but you've probably never heard of them. I wouldn't expect you to be that cool.";)