The Best of the BL, What to (or not to) read from the BL

I have yet to come across any really bad warhammer 40k book and considering I have about 40+ wh40k books thats really somthing! Now of course, Eisenhorn and Gaunts Ghosts are always good, and the Ravenor books are also good. They are all fairly good books so far, I think Fifteen Hours is one of my by far favorite books. But now, the WORST book I have ever read was a SoB book called Faith and Fire ...Wow that book was...a forced read at best, the only reason I read the entire thing is because I had NOTHING else to do...that book just lacked the wh40k feel to it, it was just so distant from all the other wh40k books I have read.

I'm considering reading some of the WFB books, mainly Inheritance and Dominion, I just love WFB Vampires! As I've said, the Vampire Geneveive omnibus was amazing, so I'm hoping these two won't let me down.

Yep, I've started reading the Vampire Genevieve omnibus again! But this time, I'm for some reason looking for inconsitencies with current WFB history. Drachenfels was written in 1989, not long after the introduction of the Vampire Bloodline, and before the rules for them I think. A guy at GW Portsmouth didn't know what bloodline Genevieve was, I found out! Go me! So, if I ever want to use her, like we expected, she is a Lahmian vampire...

Also, got my copy of Inheritence reserved, so I'll be looking forward to that. And I'm strongly considering reading the Horus Heresy novels, purely to see what the fuss is about.

Read the first 2 Horus Heresy novels. Third lying in wait.
Read the last 2 Malus Darkblade novels. (magnificent series)
And have the Ultramarines Omnibus lying in wait... which looks good and complementary to Storm of Iron.

So far I have read...

Excecution Hour (twice)
Storm of Iron
Dead Sky Black Sun
Drachenfels (starting to read it again)
Genevieve Undead
Beasts In Velvet
Silver Nails
Ambassador
Fire Warrior
Dawn of War
First Soul Drinker novel

But my favourite by far is Drachenfels, my worst is definatley Ambassador, it was just so boring.

I've read:
Storm of Iron
Lord of the Night
The Eisenhorn Trilogy
The original Inquisitor Trilogy (Inquisitor, Harlequin and Chaos Child)
Ravenor Returned
Ghostmaker

And a few others that don't spring to mind easily.
Want to read:
Nightbringer
Dead Sky Black Sun
more Gaunt's Ghosts novels

As far as character development, narration and atmosphere goes, Lord of the Night wins hands-down.
Overall storytelling goes to Dan Abnett, the man's amazing.

Just finished Drachenfels again, and wow. Drachcenfels is so powerful, why don't tey mention him anymore? The only person to defeat him (before the book itself) was Sigmar himself. So, I got bored (yet again) and quickly made Drachfels a possibility!

Drachcenfels (Vampire Counts Vampire Lord) 430 Points

Wargear: Hand Weapon, Ring of the Night
Blood Line: Necrach, Nehekara's Noble Blood, Master of the Black Arts
Magic: Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Death

Reason he is a Vampire Lord and not a Master Necromancer is because he rips a Dwarf's arm off with ease, twice.

Drachenfels (Chaos Exalted Sorceror)

Wargear: Mark of Chaos Undivided, Troll Hide Armour, Gaze of the Gods, Staff of Sorcery
Magic: Level 4 Wizard, Lore of Death

Reason he is a Chaos Sorceror now is because it never mentions that Drachenfels is a Necromancer, only an Enchanter, andhe does summon Daemons...

Best 40k books in my opinion are the horus heresy books:
Horus rising
False gods
Galaxy in flames
Flight of the Eisenstein

Ciaphis cain books are good, as well as the space wolf omnibus and the eisonhorn trilogy.

I've got Fulgrim for my birthday, but I haven't read any other Heresy books, do I really need to?

Well it's definitely a worthwhile read.
I really enjoyed the first 2 (still need to start reading the third).
It actually adds to the fluff so to speak more so than any other novel as it shows how things truly began. The peak of the Imperium and the Space Marines and than the very deep fall... .

Ok, been a while, but I'mupdating ym list on which books I've read!

Excecution Hour (twice, started reading it a third time)
Storm of Iron
Dead Sky Black Sun
Drachenfels (twice)
Genevieve Undead
Beasts In Velvet
Silver Nails
Ambassador
Fire Warrior
Dawn of War
First Soul Drinker novel
Horus Rising
False Gods
Galaxy In Flames
Flight of the Eisenstein
Fulgrim
Inheritence
Dominion

And on my 'To Get' list are

Descent of Angels
Legion (when released)
Retribution
Shadow Point

The next Heresy novel comming seems to be Prospero Burns featuring the Space Wolfs vs. the Thousand Sons.

Have any of you heard anything about future Heresy releases?

I am hoping very much that a Heresy book featuring Iron Warriors vs. Imperial Fist will be published.

I've read the Storm of Iron (the whole book's one damn battle report, goes hand in hand with all the comments about how boring IW are ), next to all Horus Heresy books (they're nice), Almost all Gaunt's Ghosts novels (great) and many others. The only Black Library novel I've read so far and can say is really bad is Blind. That book is downright boring and stupid. The one I really really liked are: Daemon World (on of my top 3 books ever, it's just fantastic), Annihilation Squad (Last Chancers novel) and the Space Wolves series. And Soul Drinkers, they're just awesome.

Apart from that, Frank Herbert is really cool (Dune) and his son too, altough a bit less. H. G. Wells (The Invisible Man, War of the Worlds, Time Machine, Island of Doctor Moreau,...), ofc Tolkien and Salvatore + all who wrote ''for'' him. He created Drizzt, Bruenor, Wulfgar, Cattie-brie and Regis, along with many others and fantastically describes Forgotten Realms.

I've read Storm of Iron (of course), the Ultramarines Omnibus, and a few Gaunts Ghosts, maybe two...
but the best i ever read from BL is absolutly the Horus Heresy, of which i read the first four and was amazed. Galaxy in Flames is my fauvorite so far, but can't wait to get on with the others. They're just epic.
And further they have an atmosphere a bit different from 40k. None less war and blood, but somehow clearer, simpler, the Imperium is not splintered yet, marines are fighting in Legions, not in tiny chapters, primarchs walking around and so on... and this whole God-Emperor religion is only beginning, not ruling over the Imperium. Oh, and the plot is far more tragic than anything else i've read from BL.
I can only recommend them
And someone playing with chaos marines should know of their origin anyway

The worst i encountered so far was Down of War the novel, it was very far from good Warhammer 40k feeling - can't tell why.

Samus

Yeah, the Dawn of War series of books are some of the worst I've read.

And I'll agree that the Horus Heresy is one of the best series. Fulgrim's been my favourite so far, but then again, I'm getting picky on which ones I read now.