Heck yeah, I was hoping Legion would be on the list. It was my first black library book, and I was just expecting some generic franchise writing or something... I was genuinely surprised at the prose, intricate plotting, and themes. It made me laugh with its dark comedy, and It's one of the most riveting espionage stories i've read. I read a lot of fantasy and sci-fi, but I still think about these characters. They were so memorable for me. It's unfortunate that this is one of the more underrated books from what i've heard. I'm not super familiar with the black library, though.
Eisenhorn and Ravenor are both good but, The Magos and Bequin are even better. The central character of The Magos is not a designated hero like the two inquisitors, and in his short stories and novel there is an exploration of the more normal part of the Imperium. Bequin is a mad Gothic Victorian fever dream, as if Elizabeth Bennet or Jane Eyre had been educated in a combat academy of the Imperium. Abnett really lets loose here. She also has Views on Eisenhorn and Ravenor.
I waver between loving Ravenor and Eisenhorn the most. Both are amazing and would be my first 'get into 40K' books to suggest to a beginner. I had not heard of a few of these, so thank you for the suggestions
KONRAD! OMG. I loved that as a kid; I remember reading it on my Duke of Edinburgh expedition in a leaky tent. Great book. Jordan Sorcery did a book club episode on it recently too. More recent reads: I love Betrayer and Legion; really want to get to the Night Lords books - ADB really strikes me as legitimately excellent writer. I’d also recommend Day of Ascension as a rare Genestealer Cult novel that also happens to be a good description of a forge world. Also appreciate the Brass Eye ref ✊
I also really enjoyed sinners bounty. I’ve been trying to track down the rest of the Kal Jericho books for years even though I hear they pale in comparison. BL did Josh Reynolds so dirty so the point he straight up left. Shame too. He wrote some of the greatest shit BL ever turned out. The Fabius Bile novels, his AoS stuff, his Space Marine Conquest novel was the only good book of that entire series.
So far I have found the aos novels far more interesting than the regular lore. If you you are interested some of my favourites have been: Gloomspite God eaters son Dark harvest The gotrek books are also a fun romp but are not very deep.
This is odd one of the times I have to agree to disagree, I will talk Eisenhorn over Ravenor for some reason Ravenor well something about it was lackluster. Perhaps the villains seemed a bit meh. Also I personally can’t do a Black Library talk without including a Ciaphas Cain. Just love a bit of satire in a world which is well satire in its own way.
Any thoughts Honourbound (Severina Raine)? Either on it's own or in relation to the ones on the list (e.g. if you like Honourbound you might like X). The only Black Library I've read has been the free sampler, and Honourbound was the only that really piqued my interest. Really couldn't say why - the sample (1st chapter i think) had a strong emphasis on fighting, but i didn't really enjoy the fight scenes in other samples...
Legion?! Big shock…I’ve not read all the Heresy books but wow, to me this was the bottom of the pile. Just goes to show we’re all different and our fav factions affect our likes and dislikes though will add good writting will win me over to any
The path of the dark eldar book is well worth a try. It a brick of a book, i think its 3 books in one. But refreshingly from the xenos perspective. Also Trayzn the infinite its kinda quite funny at times. Even if its bolted down he will steel it. Massive theif
I'm at the last few pages of ravenor ,, after the tyranids and daemons .. the demon is just about to come out a carl thornius ... This book is crazy.. Like fever dream i can't put it down . Funny how gripping it is considering I'm only listening to the book using pdf to text to sound software
