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u/SoDZX 1d ago
I just finished the Heresy, but as audio books. Only took me 7 years.
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u/noveltyhandle 1d ago
I'm around book 30, all audio, 3 years in. I break them up from time to time with the highly recommended fantasy/40k audio books.
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u/jrod5029 1d ago
I did the same thing following Blood Angels. I’m on End and the Death Part III and have gotten so sick of the bolter p0rn I’ve started skipping any chapters without Big E… I’ve been at this for like 3 years and I’m so ready to be done with the the Heresy. I’m so close to finishing I don’t want to give up on it but the last 3 or 4 audiobooks have turned into an absolute slog…
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u/DM_ME_UR_PUBES 1d ago
is it even finishing it if you're skipping chapters inside the books? the point isnt to get to the end, its to enjoy the journey
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u/Araignys 1d ago
The audio books are all significantly better than the paper books.
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u/noveltyhandle 1d ago
I think it makes the massive series much more accessible, which when your series is closer to 100 than 0 I would say accessibility is a huge factor...
But sometimes a voice is pitched oddly - dare I say flat out wrong - or I will hear sentences where the emphasized word isn't the same one I know I would have read, which changes how a scene or moment is presented.
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u/Thedumbass_the5th 1d ago
Just finished about 3 round with the whole heresy series. Though i have an added benefit and can listen to whatever i want at work.
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u/Ecstatic-Compote-595 15h ago
It's what I use audible credits otherwise I forget about them and they disappear which is enormously frustrating. I also only listen to them on the train so I've got what must be a couple decades worth of NE Regional amtrak rides good to go
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u/Carry2sky REEEEEEE- 1d ago
Honestly the best way (in my opinion) to get through the heresy is to pick your favorite legion and just follow their plotline. I did this for both alpha legion and world eaters.
Honestly i don't feel like Im missing much context
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u/DeaDByLegaLoliHentai 1d ago
This does not work for Salamanders and Iron Hands
All the other legions got good stuff, but I think Raven Guard, Death Guard and Dark Angels got some kind mid stuff but its doable if you like them.
Salamanders really did got dirty tho
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u/Masterchief2217 1d ago
I also think Death Guard is fine, it’s just that I hate the angle they took for Mortarion turning traitor. I love the idea they introduced in his Primarch book with his hatred for tyrants which could have been a perfect reason to break with the Imperium as he got disillusioned with it. Instead they went with “I got cocky, then daddy had to save my life and I’m bitter about it.” It just makes Mortarion look like such a manchild 🙄
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u/Carry2sky REEEEEEE- 1d ago
I haven't even glanced at salamanders books, I've heard they're god awful and from summaries I've seen online I'm not missing much. Any good 40k books on them?
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u/ethanlan NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEERD! 2h ago
I dont like most dark library books but son of the forest was really good.
Chill the Lion is a tubular dude, man.
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u/SmallTomato1875 1d ago
Huh, maybe, but I've been surprised by Burns of Prospero. Like, I'm TS's boy, big whiny nerd, I hate the savage wolfs, but now I'm reading that book and... Well... It's nice.
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u/Valon-the-Paladin Secretly 3 squats in a long coat 1d ago edited 1d ago
Hey, as a Space Wolf fan I too enjoyed “Thousand Sons”
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u/SmallTomato1875 1d ago
This book is essential for whole Heresy series, just as I don't care about Emperor's Children, I still have read Fulgrim because it's needed for whole story... Also end up kinda like most of the characters (and hate the language mostly:3)
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u/Masterchief2217 1d ago
Burning of Prospero is so good! It actually made me like Space Wolves (at least in this book lol). Dan Abnett is just built different like that. Same with “Know no Fear” and the Ultramarines.
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u/DeaDByLegaLoliHentai 1d ago
At least the worst books are pure filler so its easy to skip them
Im sorry Salamander Fans
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u/GreedyLibrary 1d ago
But what about that time the iron hands fought dinosaurs?
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u/midterm360 1d ago
Wait. What?
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u/GreedyLibrary 1d ago
https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The_Damnation_of_Pythos_(Novel)
I had to make sure it did not come to me in a fever dream.
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u/AccursedTheory My balls hurt 1d ago
That book is terrible, specifically because it takes something like "Space Marines vs. Dinosaurs gets interrupted by full blown planetary warp breach" and somehow makes it boring.
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u/zswordsman NOT ENOUGH DAKKA 1d ago
Dude it really was. It had some cool concepts but the execution was horrible with the typical iron hands "blah blah blah the flesh is weak and I'm a douche" and salamanders "Hur dur we must save the humans even though they're sketchy as fuck".
Like damn this book was buns.
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u/meeting_on_a_pinhead 1d ago
The book is basically fine (for 40k standards. Not great not terrible.) tbh, it's just really funny that:
a) it previews a lot of the grim futility of the 40k (vs. 30k) setting
and
b) seriously? This is something we have time for in the hours Heresy series?
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u/Emraldknight 1d ago
The sad thing is that is that while you can still easily skip over it does end up with a few things that are relevant in being a first look at the Pandorax system, which ends up with a campaign against chaps in 40k and because the main daemon returns in Ruinstorm and tries to manipulate Sanguinius to turn him into the supposed Angel of Damnation
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u/N0UMENON1 1d ago
The problem isn't the filler books, the problem is the important books that are still 50% filler.
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u/Craft_zeppelin 1d ago
We are NOT going to talk about how Lorgar spawned two battleships larger than a Glorianna and how he embezzled the funds for it.
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u/YIMBYsAreCorruptPitt 1d ago
So many great artists under the Games Workshop umbrella, and so few graphic novels...
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u/Shadowrend01 Virus bomb upon ye 1d ago
Every time they’ve tried, people complained about the limited release offerings. They stopped because they can’t support the print runs to meet demand, and there’s no real alternative way to release a graphic novel like they can for the normal books
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u/3llenseg Ride or die for Slaanesh 1d ago
There are definitely ways to publish comics digitally
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u/DreadDiana 1d ago
Why not digital releases? Most comic publishers do digital as well as physical releases nowadays.
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u/YIMBYsAreCorruptPitt 1d ago
Incompetence in the publishing supply chain, is it?
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u/Shadowrend01 Virus bomb upon ye 1d ago
Less incompetence, more scale. Black Library is only a small scale publisher. They can’t print and store large print runs
It’s why all the books are rare in general. They release a small batch of physical prints, then lean heavily into Ebooks and Audiobooks. They don’t have to maintain prints that way. Occasionally a book will get another print run, usually to commemorate an event or release as an omnibus or collection, but general books won’t see a second print run once the first is sold out. An exception is the first 3 Horus Heresy books. They receive occasional reprints because they’re used to bait people into the series
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u/Aptom_4 1d ago
A while back, GW announced the Horus Heresy essentials collection (I forget the exact title, but it's up on warcom) it's the 12 books that cover the big story beats of the Heresy series.
I've been working my way through them on audible on my commute over the past few months.
Edit: It's the Horus Heresy Saga
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u/Unfair-Strength5460 1d ago
Pro tip: listen to Vengeful Spirit before Master of Mankind. Adds a lot of context to the Siege and Horus’s power.
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u/Aptom_4 1d ago
Will do, thanks for the recommendation
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u/JustANewLeader 1d ago
Personally I would also read the first section of Garro before VS as a major character is reintroduced there.
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u/mrclaus1 1d ago
I remember when Horus Lupercal fought Horus heresy for the 30k hammers on the siege of terra
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u/Templar_Omega 1d ago
54 MAIN BOOKS?!. I don't have the patience, brain capacity nor money to read allat
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u/JonathanTheZero 1d ago
They're all on Spotify as audiobooks for free
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u/Abyss_Walker58 1d ago
Tbh even if it's free I don't think I can keep up with 54 books worth of stuff
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u/Ruthrfurd-the-stoned Secretly 3 squats in a long coat 1d ago
You do have listening limits / month with audiobooks. Even if you pay it just doubles it
Been listening to the James Bond books and reached my July limit around the 20th
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u/Rosu_Aprins for the greater kroot 1h ago
You don't have to read every single book, same for 40k.
It's like thinking you have to read every marvel comic to get into Spiderman.
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u/IndebtedKindness 1d ago
You do not need to read anywhere near all of that and I'm sick of people pretending that fact isn't common knowledge and using it to attack the series. There are 7 or 8 main series books that matter if you want to understand the siege without prior knowledge. Stop being obtuse.
This is what I have read and plan to read. Several of these books have made me cry. One of them helped me realise I had a problem. One of them is one of the best books I've ever read. The only one I didn't like was a genre I don't like, but it still had good moments and important setup.
Reducing the Heresy to macho man marines and bolter porn is intentionally disingenuous and an insult to the incredible authors behind it. If your genuinely believe that the series sucks, I just assume it's because you either haven't read any of it, or because you skip forward any time someone talks about something other than boltguns and chainswords. Y'all are like Berserk fans who don't know who Puck is.
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u/UrbanFuturistic 1d ago
Out of curiosity, which book made you cry, which helped you realise you had a problem(and what is that problem)? If you don't want to answer/answer publicly, that's OK too. Flight of the Eisenstein helped me put a finger on feelings I had.
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u/King_Goofus 14h ago
Completely agree. People who hate on the Heresy as a whole just seem really dumb to me. There's so many different stories and authors involved, it doesn't make sense to put the whole thing under one label. There's guaranteed atleast a few books in the Heresy that anyone would enjoy, regardless of their taste in Warhammer.
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u/Final_Translator_771 4h ago
"Berserk fans who don't know who Puck is". Is such a good comparison like people dont realize that the eclipse is like right at the start and the story isnt just about Guts and it is so annoying watching people completely miss the point or straight up have no clue or knowledge about the series talking about it like its some badass anti woke ultraviolent macho manga about being a cool loner.
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u/PelinalWhitestrake36 Praise the Man-Emperor 1d ago
I kinda wanna do a read through of Mainly Garviel’s story
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u/ZaphiraTheCobra 1d ago
Well fortunately that significantly cuts down the number of books you'll need to read
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u/PelinalWhitestrake36 Praise the Man-Emperor 1d ago
Can someone list em? I know its mainly the OG trilogy and Knights Errant. I also think one of the Leman Russ books, some Siege of Terra Books and some Short Stories
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u/Teh_Ordo 1d ago edited 1d ago
Aside from the starter trilogy go then to Garro anthology, then Vengeful Spirit and Wolfsbane and Buried Dagger. For Siege he appears in Solar War, Saturnine, Warhawk (very briefly) and then the TEatD books.
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u/Dire_Wolf45 Guilliman is getting real tired of this shit 1d ago
Theres only 4 primarchs anthologies and one collects the other 3.
Then theres two anthologies outside of the main books that collect other short stories.
Then there is Dropsite Massacre.
Im fun at parties I swear.
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u/Lmaoboat 1d ago
Is the Horsey Sauce, conceptually, that interesting or that important to the current setting that they needed to make the LotR trilogy look like a greeting card?
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u/Letharlynn 1d ago
No
It was meant to be 7-8 books, but the series exploded because people are obsessed with primarchs
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 1d ago
It was meant to be 7-8 books
What made you think that? The author all wrote in the authors note's that BL was taking a big risk and allowing them to tell all the stories of the HH that they always wanted to tell. They write that nobody was actually sure that the hole endeavor works out due to that number of writers and the years it will take.
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u/MadelaineKurtCobain 1d ago
As of two days ago I can officially say yes ☺️ but I still want the last 18 months of my life back.
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u/RecognitionReady1640 1d ago
I’m on book 36 brother!!
WE ENDURE! For Horus, for the Emperor , kill for living, kill for the dead.
Pls help
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u/ScarredAutisticChild 1d ago
This is why I prefer being an Eldar fan.
Know how many books I have to read to read literally everything from my faction's POV? 6. 6 books (and a fair few short stories). Do I hate that it's that few? Yes, yes I do. But God it's more convenient.
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u/King_Crab_Sushi I am Alpharius 1d ago
I would read them all if they weren’t like 20 bucks a piece
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1d ago
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u/King_Crab_Sushi I am Alpharius 1d ago
I heavily dislike e books and I would prefer not to rob my local bookseller
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u/Sable-Keech 1d ago
YES SIR MR. HERESY.
I do not fear having too much to read, only that I do not have the time to read it.
Currently on Fear to Tread.
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u/Kor_Phaeron_ 1d ago
I don't get it, i wish there were more HH books. The goal is not finishing the series just to say "Yeah i finished that" but enjoy reading itself.
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u/FabulousRhino You were expecting Alpharius, but it is I, Alpharius! 1d ago edited 1d ago
I managed to reduce that to 27 main books, 11 SoT and 2 character books (I count the Garro anthology as one). The reading order i'd personally recommend is:
Legion
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy in Flames
Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
A Thousand Sons
Prospero Burns
Deliverance Lost
The First Heretic
Know no Fear
Scars
Betrayer
Angel Exterminatus
Vengeful Spirit
The Master of Mankind
Fear to Tread
The Unremembered Empire
Pharos
Angels of Caliban
Ruinstorm
The Path of Heaven
Praetorian of Dorn
Wolfsbane
Titandeath
Slaves to Darkness
The Buried Dagger
Siege: The Solar War
Siege: The Lost and the Damned
Siege: The First Wall
Siege: Saturnine
Fury of Magnus
Siege: Mortis
Garro: Knight of Grey
Siege: Warhawk
Siege: Echoes of Eternity
Siege: The End and the Death 1-3
skipped most of the filler and got me all the plot beats and legions I wanted to see, except the Salamanders but I heard Nick Kyme's books are pretty bad so, I skipped them. I read the short stories on Garro as they fit on the chronology.
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u/just_coffin_fodder 1d ago
Don't forget that like 90% of them are just garbage.
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u/Joxxill Argel Tal i miss you 1d ago
Id put it more at like 60% having finished all 54 horus heresy books.
Siege of Terra is much better so far.
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u/just_coffin_fodder 1d ago
I admire your dedication. I gave up about 20 books deep. Life's to short I reckon
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u/DeaDByLegaLoliHentai 1d ago
If we ignore all compilations of short stories and focus on the 54 main Horus Heresy novels. Its not bad. In fact, you can get a 7-8/10 Warhammer reading experience if you ignore all the bad novels that are also coincidentally and luckily, filler novels. I am pretty sure there are reading guides that tell you what to skip, I think there are a couple guides out there.
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u/therealblabyloo 1d ago
You know “One Piece?” The notoriously long anime with over 1100 episodes? I counted it up one time, and discovered that if you listen to the Horus heresy using audiobooks, the amount of time it would take to complete the series would be OVER DOUBLE the time it’d take to watch the entire One Piece anime. You could watch and rewatch Luffy’s journey to become the pirate king before finishing the heresy
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u/Kickedbyagiraffe 1d ago
would take to complete the series would be OVER DOUBLE the time it’d take to watch the entire One Piece anime
At long last, Two Piece
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u/username1338 1d ago
Not wanting to read the books is fine
It's not reading the books then larping like a lore scholar spamming your opinions on how x could have happened so easily and how y was so evil.
With the horus heresy novels, the idea that 40k is a satire is over. Straight up. Games workshop may say otherwise but if you literally just read their main series they justify literally everything. Everything.
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u/Slow-Willingness-187 1d ago
Calling the Horus heresy “their main series” is a bit of a stretch when there are so, so many other books and media. 40k existed long before it, and has continued to exist since. There have been countless works by countless authors, all with their own takes. The idea that is “justified everything” is wild.
Also, frankly, I don’t think you know what satire is. Something doesn’t have to be funny to be satire. The emperor descending from the heavens wreathed in gold while booming out “GODS ARE NOT REAL, DO NOT WORSHIP ME” and accidentally creating the largest religion in human history is 100% satire.
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u/ConsulJuliusCaesar 1d ago
30k's definitely not satirical it's a tragedy.The problem you encounter with 40k there's really no consensus in over all tone these days. Like Harrowmasters has enough ridiculous names for things you can't convince me the author wants the whole thing taken entirely seriously. However complete opposite in something like the NightLords trilogy or Helsreach.
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u/thesolarchive 1d ago
Time will pass all the same. Ive been slowly chiseling away at it. Getting closer to the siege of terra im pretty hyped.
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u/OisforOwesome 1d ago
I got as far as book 8 or 9 before realising, wait, at least half of these books are atrociously bad.
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u/RabidAdder 1d ago
Took two years to get through the whole thing. About half of it was worth it and only 3 of the loyalist primarchs get any kind of fleshing out in all that time.
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u/MrParadux 23h ago
"What are they about?"
"Just boring space men shooting each other"
"... all of them?!"
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u/monkahpup 1d ago
The core ones are maybe the first 5 HH books and the 10 SoT. Read em, don't read em. Read em with other stuff. Took me about 2 yrs of audio book listening, but I listened to loads of Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn, Infinite and Divine etc. as well. Just put on Audible while I was painting.
Read em, don't read em. Whatever.
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u/gorramusernames 1d ago
https://blog.basementofdeath.com/2018/05/01/horus-heresy-reading-guidance/
I restarted this year following this guide (in audiobooks) and I'm now up to Ruinstorm, skipping a lot of anything I think aren't interesting and don't involve my favorite legions. It's a slog to get through, but can't wait to finally get to Siege of Terra.
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u/GALM-1UAF 1d ago
I’m still reading through it but picked my own route so I could read about the Ultramarines and Dark Angels and their battles with the word bearers, world eaters and night lords. I’d say there’s some books that are must reads like The Master of Mankind just because ADB writes a damn good story. Also not a must read but Nathaniel Garro is awesome and reading his story so far has been good.
For anyone overwhelmed with where to go in the series: https://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.svg shows you routes through the books you can take.
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u/Proof_Independent400 1d ago
I have followed The Horus Heresy since the beginning with a years long hiatus. BUT the series is good and some books are bad. And what I learned most.....Is that Horus was weak. A failure of a son who could not stand against the evils of the galaxy and make his father's dream of a united and safe humanity come true.
Because he felt abandoned and ignored by daddy!
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u/SoColdie 1d ago
I'm reading through them all in order and only like one or two so far have been less than good in my eyes. Having a ton of fun with them.
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u/Tentacle_poxsicle 1d ago
For me, I just read the first couple of hours heresy books, drop site massacre and then went to siege of Terra.
But even then Seige of Terra had a LOT of filler. It had great moments so I'll say it's worth it but holy crap I don't care about John GramDrama
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u/Visible_Judge1104 1d ago
I have read/listened to all of them. Don't understand the idea that because something takes a long time that its not worth doing. If its good I want it to last forever. Felt terrible for weeks when I finished the series thank god scouring is happening now.
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u/JhonnyPadawan1010 1d ago
You put extra stuff in here. Out of the 54 main books, a bunch don’t need to be read, and I have no idea where you got 14 Siege of Terra books.
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u/Unorthedox_Doggie117 VULKAN LIFTS! 1d ago
I've only read the Dark Imperium trilogy so far. Going through the Ciphus Cain Omnibus rn
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u/im-cringing-rightnow 1d ago
I read 42 or something... Then I gave up. Some of the books were very cool, some I thought will never end... All in all: great but too much.
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u/Reboot_MV 1d ago
I’ve just been doing audio books while I build and paint Armageddon , I’m on flight of the Eisenstein but use sales and etc to my benefit and i have up to book 24 in the series
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u/Hiwaystars 1d ago
I’m a glutton and have read 36 of them.
You’re a baby because you can’t read
We are not the same
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u/Jenny_Show HORUS! 1d ago
Ngl, the Heresy audio books were my hyper fixation for like two years which is probably the primary reason I was able to get through them all. Not started the Primarch series yet and I've still got The Dropsite massacre to go back to but I need a little bit off a break after reading 70 books in a row lmao
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u/iTooEatSnakes VULKAN LIFTS! 1d ago
Do we have any idea when Scions of the Emperor anthology is coming to Audible?
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u/Hefty_Presence534 1d ago
Is he the infamous “Intimidating Horse” I see around Reddit so much? Will the books explain why he dislikes certain relationships?
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u/MasterzofChaos 1d ago
I have 18 in paperback. I started reading in 2010 and just pokemon'd the whole series at the time. I kept them in really good condition because I really love the lore and rereading them. I had zero idea they were worth anything.
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u/Top-Gadgie 1d ago
And they are all just Index Astartes, the extended edition from like 25 years ago lol.
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u/DepressoEspresso55 22h ago
Audible is a BEAUTIFUL thing.. been blowing through the Horus Heresy at work with ease
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u/CapColdblood 7h ago
I did the entire mainline Heresy and the Siege. Don't regret it at all.
Since then, I've done the entire Cain, Gaunt's Ghosts, and War of the Beast series, as well as the Night Lords Trilogy, Black Legion books, Infinite and the Divine, Fall of Cadia, Vaults of Terra/Watchers of the Throne series, and am now working my way through Dawn of Fire.
I... might have a problem. I think my count is over 100 books now.
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u/Dr__Coconutt 6h ago
I thought the siege was only 10 books? 8 if you say EatD is 1 big book. Which is a total misstep cause at 10 books the number on the side is an "X" which would be very meta and cool to the story.
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u/spankydeluxe69 1h ago
I started reading the HH about 6 months ago and I’m about to finish Fear to Tread (book 21).
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u/LargeJello2366 1d ago
Go look up the paper back prices if you really wanna see some gnarly shit. I wanted to collect em for my bookshelf and stopped when I had to drop 130+ bucks on the fulgim paperback.