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The horus heresy series at 25

Created your own background storyline for your army? Want to discuss the 40k history?

The horus heresy series at 25

Postby killmaimburn » Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:39 am

Rank/rate the horus heresy series (within the context of black library not hur duur not war and peace/1984)

I’m rereading them, LH hit a row of bad ones in a row and I believe now on balance dislikes more than he likes..
I seem to get to the end of the book and then go “oh yeah..shouldn’t have read that one..”

For summaries, I reckon Written /5 Plot /5 system. But I’ve got a load of gaps need filing.

For reference I’m following the order here- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horus_Heresy_%28novels%29


First 4, the fall of horus, the fleeing of the loyal deathguard all remembrancer centric for the outsider view (C3P0 role). Written 4 Plot 4.
The cash in of loose end of garro having 4 audio plays is a bit weird but satisfactory compared to for example tron 2 relying on you playing a computer game to understand the character development etc.. the way they totally veer off and don’t continue the story line is a bit frustrating.

5 Fulgrim..Plot sex fun, a smaller version of first 4.. with just the giant gaping.. ohh I have pride.. walks into room.next chapter ‘I R demon prince whoops’.

6. First really slooow one, dark angels as a chivalric fantasy era order all brooding all about something unwritten.. I can’t even score this one.

7 Dan abnett doing alpha legion.. so of course he does a really good guard book. I reread this one a couple of weeks back and it is V sexy we have fairly tightly written, Odd plot and because there are only 8 castrates involved it actually involves differences of opinion (something that a series about rebellion really ought to have more of)

8. Battle for the abyss -LH said “I hated that one about the ultramarines”, and totally had no idea what he meant. I remember this one being just a load of behind the scenes power play by the wordbearers.(kind of long dialogue whilst boring car chase, so they could say they'd had walk ons from everyone (like 2 did a bit more subtely with all the primarchs??)). but I barely remember it, and I skipped it this time round.. anyone rate it?

9 Mechanicum- or as LH refers to it.. “the sex”. Did I even read this?? I get it totally confused with memories of half of 11 (*see below)- looking through the forum I see conscriptboris called it weak.

10 Tales of heresy- has a nice one about sisters of silence putting down a rebellion of pskers squished together..Secularists wet dream of just the emperor telling a priest why faith is mental (mary sue). And has another showing the emperor is a total tool.. [meets angron, angron pitfighter apecrap mentalist..kills custodes] ‘FFFFFFffff who is that, best just teleport him onto his battlebarge’ [kills entire hierarchy of legion so only people under the 8th captain are left] ‘ no problem, I see no heresy or gene probs there’.

11 Second fallen angels.. actually has stuff happen in it. However the decision to alternate chapters between the 2 completely seperate never intersecting stories just kills any momentum or tension that the otherwise fairly well written thing generates.(I understand the idea of alternating paragraphs etc, but here it’s the worst thing about the book) Reading them one at a time, the Lionel JoJo taking on heresy through tactical genius is pretty cool.. the librarians discovery of the homeworld taint is awesome in premise but in the end prematurely stopped (due to nothing in 40k ever progressing).

12-thousand sons.. nice pros, we know whats happening everystep of the way though..and its about 80 pages too long..other than that a lovely book.

13- I just remember this book being about the custodes having a row with the sigelette, that its supposed to be assasssins killing everyone everywhere totally skipped my memory. It doesn’t help that this one merged in my head with the audio play which is about the interrogation of an assassin.and possibly the short story called blood games from 10.

14 I must have read this one..this (like 12) is a ‘do anything you want just don’t eat that apple’ thingy.Its all about how the worlds they bring into compliance aren’t brought into compliance the right way (like 12) about how the emperor keeps whupping their arse for their style (like 12) the primarch then 180s..I remember it being all about how emoly fanatical lorgar is about everything.. but don’t remember much more..
(which is the book where 1st chaplin of wordbearers actually steals the anathema (/chaos ssword) from the elder is that this one??)

15 I stopped reading somewhere here.. could be dislike of the legion fluff.Can’t remember.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Baragash » Tue Jul 30, 2013 11:40 am

I just couldn't take any more Space Marine versus Space Marine stories. I guess the problem is if bolter-porn doesn't do it for you then in most books the main interest is any key "reveals" for the heresy, and the actions of the ancilliary unusual characters.

Legion and Mechanicum are the only ones that really stand out for me, I also liked Outcast Dead.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Spack » Tue Jul 30, 2013 12:06 pm

I stopped reading last year, I've been meaning to pick up the ones I've missed (got as far as Know No Fear).
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby killmaimburn » Tue Jul 30, 2013 1:59 pm

Thats like 5 more books you've read than I've attempted.. pick one as bestest besttest and one I should dodge. (Can't believe the one you didn't buy was "primarchs"(F^%& yeah..comin to save the m^&%&trucking day yeah!!).. I mean as a title alone I'd buy it.

I started listening to the completely unabridged audio of outcast dead --was it one of the first totally full audio conversions?? (I think it was the only full audio I got).. when I realised it was 20 hours long (or so) and I couldn't remember the first 20 minutes I realised I don't listen even half as well as I read. the 30-60 minute stories are awesome.. the completely unabridged ones.. gahh it scares me that there is a market for them :lol:
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Ljundhammer » Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:23 pm

Mechanicum & Titanicus need to be read together - it shows the difference 10k years makes to the Mechanicus.

The series is rather tedious for the most part. Although I agree that the first 4/5 are good as a fluff fan.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby jlong05 » Tue Jul 30, 2013 3:46 pm

I think I read up to part of 12, but never finished 12 as I had other books on the reading list that took priority. I guess I should pick it up and finish it. The first 5 were the best. 7 and 9 were both good, but the DA books just made it so slow and bland.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby killmaimburn » Tue Jul 30, 2013 4:38 pm

I wonder if anyone even loosely affiliated with this site made it to 24/25?
We should run an ad campaign just to find someone to tell us ALL, if the remaining lot pick up and are worth a dabble or not.

(Didn't king psudo hire someone specifically to do book reviews for here)
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Socaddict » Tue Jul 30, 2013 6:24 pm

I have read pretty much all of them, and I still enjoy them. Got a couple of the novellas to read still though.

There's been some really interesting ones in my opinion, now if only there were more books my Sandy Mitchell, both Cain and not Cain...
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby DaBoss » Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:04 pm

I must confess that I'm a Horus Heresy junkie - have just finished Book 23 Angel Exterminatus. So I might be a bit biased; agree that the quality of the books varies from author to author.
Agree Book 1-5 are brilliant, so many great characters not just Primarchs.
Book 6 - how boring can a story get, but I got through it....
Book 7 - Legion, such a great way to explore a very misunderstood legion, love the strangeness of the Imperial Guard.
Book 8 - average, Ultramarines and Word Bearers but why do the hate each other?
Book 9 - Mechanicum, awesome, spot on for imagination and getting the otherworldness of the Mechanicum; had to go and build a force.
Book 10 & 11 - nothing too exciting, Dark Angels bit of a flop again.
Book 12 - 1000 Son's been waiting for this, really gets the style and substance right.
Book 13 - Assassins, interesting spin but kind of hard to believe?
Book 14 - now we know why Lorgar hates the Ultramarines, starts good then kind of looses it by the end
Book 15 - back on form, Wolves & Psykers and a great big Titan; entranced to the last page - rates in my top 5 stories.
Book 16 - quick short stories, time filler
Book 17 - The Outcast Dead - intriguing story, Thunder Warrior as Gang leader and Custodes.
Book 18 & 19 - Raven Guard & Ultramarines have their own books, interesting stories filling in what happened on the other fronts of the Heresy.
Book 20 - great short stories based round the Primarchs
Book 21 - the Blood Angels and what happened in Signus, start slow and then builds into a great story
Book 22 - more short stories, quick but fun and flesh out areas of interest.
Book 23 - Angel Exterminatus, just finished, now there's two Primarchs with issues, Fulgrim finally becomes Mr Snake-Boy, while Perturabo is really emo; starts slow and grew into a brilliant story. I want to make a Wraith army of Idris.

Now to read Book 24 - Betrayer - Worldeaters my favourite Legion.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby mattjgilbert » Tue Jul 30, 2013 9:56 pm

There are some great books (the Dan Abnett s[ace wolf one and his alpha legion book) and some dire ones (Battle for the Abyss has to be one of the worst books I have ever read).
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Red Devil » Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:01 pm

I think I'm up to Angel Exterminatus, but will need the Baragash Library to confirm for me (I think I have read 22)

I've enjoyed them all. The first DA one was slow going, but have loved the Alpha Legion stories.

I am now confused by GW. I had a look on their site to see where we are up to... WTF with the pricing structure on the recent books!? I am assuming:
£20 is limited edition Hardback
£12.99 is hardback
£8.99 is paperback

I am also frustrated by all the limited edition Novellas. This will cost Baragash Library a fortune!? That said, seeing as I am working on a Salamanders army, I might cave and get the Salamanders one that stops selling in 5 days...
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Socaddict » Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:11 pm

12.99 is larger format paperback. Same size as a hardback.
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Baragash » Tue Jul 30, 2013 10:38 pm

Red Devil wrote:I think I'm up to Angel Exterminatus, but will need the Baragash Library to confirm for me (I think I have read 22)


Is 22 The Primarchs? I think that's correct if so (lulz, didn't realise I'd read that many).

Red Devil wrote:I am also frustrated by all the limited edition Novellas. This will cost Baragash Library a fortune!? That said, seeing as I am working on a Salamanders army, I might cave and get the Salamanders one that stops selling in 5 days...


They appear in compilations at least 2 years after the original printing.

The bad news is:
a) I cba to buy any at the moment because as I said, I'm a little bored of marine-on-marine action, been reading the HP Lovecraft omnibi (?....Omnibuses?), in between reading Winnie-the-Pooh and the Little Mermaid to my wife's tummy, and I'm looking at going for some other Sci-fi after (maybe Dune again, Ringworld, perhaps Foundation, Tomorrow's War so many options....)
b) I'm only buying physical books if I absolutely can't get it as an e-book (which so far is none, though the recommended first read for Ringworld is not available as an e-book so that might force my hand)
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby ruffian4 » Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:59 am

Baragash wrote:been reading the HP Lovecraft omnibi (?....Omnibuses?)

Single or double deckers?
Collected works are omnibula ( :oops: ).

Lovecraft = excellent stuff, though his verbose descriptions have me reaching for the dictionary more often than not.

In that sort of vein, have you read William Hope Hodgson?

The only 40k thing I have ever read was utterly dire.
A palatial train and loads of civilians darting about in anti-grav vehicles was totally jarring for my image of 40k "reality."
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Re: The horus heresy series at 25

Postby Baragash » Wed Jul 31, 2013 8:39 am

ruffian4 wrote:
Baragash wrote:been reading the HP Lovecraft omnibi (?....Omnibuses?)

Single or double deckers?
Collected works are omnibula ( :oops: ).


I wanted to do a bus joke :( :oops:

It is now my mission to slide "omnibula" into an everyday conversation.

ruffian4 wrote:Lovecraft = excellent stuff, though his verbose descriptions have me reaching for the dictionary more often than not.


Aye, the beauty of reading it on my phone is being able to tap for definitions (though some words being from a different era don't show up) means my flow of reading isn't broken generally.

ruffian4 wrote:In that sort of vein, have you read William Hope Hodgson?


No, I'll stick him on the list of things I must get round to reading, which probably requires some of the technology used in these books in order to live long enough to actually make a dent in.
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