Roomsky

Dawn of Fire either fizzled out or was never good in the first place, depending on who you ask. Avenging Son is, at least, a decent snapshot at the state of the Imperium in the current setting. Here are some highlights from what I've read since 2020: Ashes of the Imperium is a great start to the post-Heresy era. Twice-Dead King duology - The best Necron book(s) yet published. Dropsite Massacre - A good fill-in-the-gaps book for Heresy fans Interceptor City - Fantastic sequel to Double Eagle Elemental Council - The best-ever Tau novel Outgunned and Above and Beyond - Excellent aeronautica novels, with Above and Beyond especially being absolutely fantastic. All things Warhammer Crime - A consistently great range of books that was taken too soon. Ghazghkull Thraka: Prophet of the Waaagh! - Probably the best-ever Ork novel Sea of Souls - A dawn of Fire novel, but it can be read on its own. Great Navy story. Assassinorum: Kingmaker - Imperial Knights, politics, and assassins, oh my! There's plenty more, but those are top of mind. I haven't read Voidscarred yet, but those who enjoy Brooks' writing seem to find it's a very good eldar novel.

How nice of them, giving us 1 week a year where they're up to their old standard of reporting on Black Library. It's just like old times! Who's gonna tell him?

Maybe if enough of us vote Eye of Medusa, they'll let Guymer write a third book... Not one but TWO trilogies they haven't bothered to finish is WILD though. "Which of these fan favourites that failed to sell enough to commission a third do YOU think should get a reprint?" Bloodborn sweep for fantasy, please.

Fulgrim: The Perfect Son - Jude Reid If this was a Space Marine Battles book called The Fires of Crucible or something, I think it would have been widely liked. It's a fine fightan' book if you're into that sort of thing; as always Reid's medical experience means we get some gnarly injuries throughout. For me, it only really gets interesting in the last third or so, when Tamaris and Berengar both need to keep going after the worst thing either could imagine happens to them. It's exactly the sort of thing you should do when writing astartes, in my opinion: find a crutch the character leans on and knock it out from under them. "Will they survive!? Will they be victorious!?" is just not enough when writing about war machines. You gotta hit their pride, their sense of self-worth. But before that lovely last third (isn't that ironic), it's pretty dull. It reminded me a lot of the worst Annandale books in some parts, being an intriguing story smothered by obligatory fighting. I think everyone would have been happier if one of those early action set pieces was replaced by Fulgrim discussing his thoughts on Guilliman's return. As-is, it could honestly have taken place pre-Gathering Storm by changing a line or two. Fulgrim does appear more than Angron does in The Red Angel, but Angron's not a character who does much pondering or chatting. Fulgrim loves to hear himself talk, yet this doesn't offer anything new regarding his character. He's neurotic and evil, what else is new? It honours McNeill's version of the character to a fault. Honestly, it wasn't long before my only desire to actually see this version of the character was when Tamaris was struggling for recognition. Sort of like Of Honour and Iron, I think this does a good job at representing the mood of 40k while struggling to actually be a good read. The Imperium is murderously harsh on its people, needlessly so, and thus forces people into the arms of Slaanesh. The Slaaneshi cultists, meanwhile, don't realize that they're essentially cannon fodder and fuel for rituals until its too late. Idealism is met with a punch in the gut; expected for malitiawoman Sekundur, a surprise but a welcome one for Tamaris. Tamaris being a genuine believer in the pursuit of perfection, and thus (barely) clinging to dead ideas of honour and mercy that Fulgrim himself has long since strangled out of the legion, is a good premise for a protagonist. Unfortunately for this book, the elements I like still only add up to worse versions of other Emperor's Children books. I prefer Eidolon for an action-heavy work about a characters relationship with Fulgrim. I prefer Lord of Excess as an exploration of the legion's delusions of grandeur. I prefer the Heresy for books for when Fulgrim is an irredeemable bastard. Don't even get me started on how excellent the Bile trilogy is. I think a 6/10 is fair. I give it a pass and a little extra, mostly thanks to a final act most Black Library books should be taking notes from. I see the author who wrote Ashes of Cadia trapped in there, but her prison cell is barred with bolter porn. Let the woman write books without obligatory fighting, please.

@wecanhaveallthree But what is your pick of 12, sir?

But if we keep Flight of the Eisenstein we don't skip Isstvan III at all. Loken's fate becomes a question mark instead of a death that feels like a retcon when it's undone. If we're compressing the Heresy into 12 books, we don't have time to kill and resurrect the man. Plus, the characterization in Vengeful Spirit carries on far more organically from False Gods than it does Galaxy in Flames. Galaxy in Flames frankly does a ton of stuff that needs to be walked back as the series goes on.

I will slander Galaxy in Flames at every opportunity. Having a set limit on how many books to list just makes it easier to sell!

It seems to me the goal is to make a loose narrative that sets up the Siege of Terra (people on Reddit certainly like to ask for this instead of using the search function.) As such, I'll take a crack at it from that lens. To be clear, these are not what I'd consider my personal dozen essential Heresy reads, I'm not basing this list on quality. It's just what I think best fits the above purpose. Horus Rising - Intended to be an introduction, obviously works well for this purpose. False Gods - Horus' fall, the Heresy "begins" Flight of the Eisenstein - Isstvan III. Skipping Galaxy in Flames means we don't need to explain resurrecting Loken Fulgrim - Dropsite Massacre, very public primarch death, a more straightforward account than The First Heretic A Thousand Sons - A more straightforward account than Prospero Burns Scars - Establishes Jaghatai, deals with the fallout of Prospero Legion - Establishes John Grammaticus and why the Alpha Legion are the way they are Know no Fear - Establishes Ollanius Fear to Tread - Introduces Sanguinius and his relationship with Horus. Erebus is kicked to the curb Master of Mankind - Establishes where the Emperor was during all this. Establishes Terra as a setting Vengeful Spirit - Following up with the "core" cast, major development for Horus and Loken Wolfsbane - Paying off Vengeful Spirit. Establishing Horus' doubts during the Siege I guess, having made this, I'd call 12 fairly insufficient for this purpose, I would have preferred 15. (For the record, my personal 12 essential reads are: Horus Rising, Legion, Prospero Burns, Know no Fear, The First Heretic, Betrayer, Master of Mankind, Shadows of Treachery, Scars, The Path of Heaven, Praetorian of Dorn, Slaves to Darkness.)

I would say I won't stand for Rachel Harrison erasure, but clearly Black Library itself does since she wrote 2 fantastic books and then turned into sand or something.

The Aestred cover looks rad as hell, at least. No idea who she is, either, though. Ghost Legion cover still looks better than Harrowmaster's, don't @ me.

There was also that AoS multi-author quadrilogy in the Horror imprint, which got cut off at the third book because they canned Horror/nobody bought them. One could argue no one's done a (lengthy) multi-author series that's good all the way through. AFAIK, it's always a decision made for practical reasons rather than the preferred outcome. Star Wars Legends had a few, and they all suffered from the same inconsistencies 40k series have (much as I personally enjoyed New Jedi Order) The Heresy has the best books, by virtue of having most of the best authors contribute to it. The Beast Arises is probably the best as a series, as for all its issues it doesn't fly off on random tangents and (for a Black Library series) stays relatively focussed. Considering Dawn of Fire didn't really lead to anything coherent, I'd argue it's the worst of both worlds (despite a few stand out entries.)

I mean I don't have much to add to your post; though I was tickled that Ashes of the Imperium confirmed most of what we agreed on. I think it speaks in The Beast Arises' favor that a well-liked, organic, immediate continuation of the Heresy series has no trouble setting up the troubles that would come to a head in TBA. Once again, if you want Imperial politicking that is both enlightening and entertaining, go read The Beast Arises if you haven't already. Can't wait for people to drool all over the politicking in The Scouring that directly leads to it but still treat it like the worst thing ever. Me, I'm just waiting to see whether or not Oriax Dantalion still exists.

Re: Harrowmaster sequel, I actually like that cover better. It has a lot more depth, I thought Harrowmaster's looked quite flat.

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/dgunipgk/pages-from-the-black-books-the-night-lords/ Well, this is surprisingly pro-consumer.

Most excellent That does make things clearer to me, without just glazing the guy, thank you. I am honest in wanting to discuss Thorpe's virtues as well as his shortcomings (even if the thread's creation was influenced by my sheer irritation at Azrael.) Here's some more! Angels of Caliban is probably my favourite Horus Heresy Dark Angels book, even if I could take or leave the half following The Lion. This is Luther at his most believable, and the tangle of plots and conflicting motivations makes it a joy to experience most of the way through. The Imperium Secundus plot outdid Lee's Lion plot in Fallen Angels as well, if for no other reason than the glimpses of the broken promise of Imperium Secundus shining through here and there. Angels of Darkness is a classic; straight up, no caveats. It's interesting, it's well-told, and it set up years of discussion and debate mercifully unrelated to power scaling. It’s also, arguably, the template for the best 40k-era astartes fiction ever since, creating the ever lauded “perhaps my space dad is not who I thought he was” genre. Master of Sanctity is just... bonkers. Asmodai is delightfully insane! A terminator falls through the stairs and can’t get up! It moves fast as hell and sort of feels like Angels of Darkness 2, regarding the subject matter and how it handles it. Gods, I wish all his Dark Angels fiction had this energy. So, uh, yeah. Man is fully capable of writing a good book. I loved Rogal Dorn, and that was quite recent. But much like MCNEIIIILLLLL... I’m wary. I’d rather a lock of an author. An all-star to complete the lay-up. I like the Dark Angels premise, but reading their books, I don’t know if even their best ones (excluding, perhaps, Angels of Darkness) would have won over someone who wasn’t already invested in the chapter. But hey, that one sort-of exception is Thorpe. Maybe he’ll do it again?