Ok what are some of the best 40k novels you'd care to recommend?

I'd go with the eisenhorn trilogy for starters, great look at one of the most powerful characters in the 40k universe, an imperial inquisitor and how to be one without being a fanatical xxxhole.

I really liked "Lord of the night" as a good look at a chaos marine as a person, not a cardboard cutout. I pity it never had a sequel.

"Storm of iron" was good if you like iron warriors. I do. It was basically a "Kid from the wrong part of town overcomes prejudice and succeeds thru hard work, talent, guts and tenacity" from an evil point of view.

The "Caiaphas Caine" novels were good as a look at a very atypical character in the 40k universe. A commissar who is completely out of the keeping with the stereotypical image of same

"Gaunt's ghost" explores the most human of all 40k characters, the imperial guard. Also, it makes a truly stereotypical commissar a real human being.

"15 hours" was not a cheerful novel but again puts a very human face on the faceless masses of the imperial guard.

"Titanicus" shows a variety of imperial forces in all their human glory, from a squad of lowly IG recruits to a tank crew who've lost their tank and all the way up to the crews of several Titans.

"Adeptus mechanicus" takes a good look at the adeptus mechanicus and makes it clear they are generally not human, but are still people with some human traits and feelings.

So what novels do you recommend? NO trolling on other people's choices, just say what you think are good 40k novels.

If you like you can also list some novels you'd like to see but haven't been written yet as far as you know.

I'd like to see some based on "the savlar chemdogs" as a perspective on people who pretty much don't embrace the imperial creed to any degree and are basically fighting for themselves only.

A sequel to "lord of the night" would interest me greatly.

I'd sort of like to see an inquisitor character who was more like Caiaphas caine, a sort of "accidental hero" who at heart wasn't exactly the model inquisitor any more than caine was the model commissar behind the myth and legend he wandered into.

Ravenor's a good novel for the team dynamic of an Inquisitorial retinue.

Shira Calpurnia is good for Arbites dealing with other Adeptus involving themselves in Arbites investigations, not to mention great stuff about Rogue Trader Warrant of Trade successions.

Inquisition War is only good for the description of the universe. The story itself is pretty poor overall.

First and Only (but only for Necropolis) I haven't been grabbed by The Saint nor have I gotten to The Lost yet.

I'd like to see the rest of the Bequin Trilogy, and maybe Gaunt's Ghosts end (apparently there's stuff after Warmaster that'll compose a fifth arc). Good news is that Warmaster is supposed to come out Dec 2017.

11 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

Ok what are some of the best 40k novels you'd care to recommend?

I t depends on what you are looking for . More or less decent texts? Abnett only. Universe information? It depends...

Horus heresy series. ADB FTW!

The Beast arises seems good so far.

Path of the Eldar novels by Gav Thorpe. Very good if you wanna see how the Eldar live and fight. (The exarch almost speaking in Haiku's is awesome!)

I'm not a big Gaunt's Ghosts fan, but I do like Necropolis. (At moments it almost goes into history documentary mode, wich is interesting)

Eisenhorn is good . Also Ravenor, but Eisenhorn wins out for me.

Speaking of inquisitors: Inquisition war. It's way off canon (Squat character helloooo!) but definatly an interesting read.

The last chancers by Gav Thorpe: The dirty dozen in 40k. 'Nuff said.

Not technically 40k, but still by GW and they mention the chaos gods: the Dark Future series by Jack Yeovil.

And as a bonus : Fire caste, because: confederate imperial guard

20 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

I'd like to see some based on "the savlar chemdogs" as a perspective on people who pretty much don't embrace the imperial creed to any degree and are basically fighting for themselves only.

There are Savlar Chem Dogs (characters) in Baneblade by Guy Haley.

19 hours ago, ThenDoctor said:

Ravenor's a good novel for the team dynamic of an Inquisitorial retinue.

Shira Calpurnia is good for Arbites dealing with other Adeptus involving themselves in Arbites investigations, not to mention great stuff about Rogue Trader Warrant of Trade successions.

Inquisition War is only good for the description of the universe. The story itself is pretty poor overall.

First and Only (but only for Necropolis) I haven't been grabbed by The Saint nor have I gotten to The Lost yet.

I'd like to see the rest of the Bequin Trilogy, and maybe Gaunt's Ghosts end (apparently there's stuff after Warmaster that'll compose a fifth arc). Good news is that Warmaster is supposed to come out Dec 2017.

Yes I have read the last 2 books of ravenor and liked them, doubt i'll get the first one since i know who dies now.

I notice that the two big name character inquisitors, eisenhorn and ravenor, are both high level psykers. Makes me wonder about a non psy inquisitor and what kind of a chance in hell he'd stand when two high level psys barely survive their adventures.

Maybe they could do a novel about an inquisitor named Obiwan Sherlock Clouseau and make him a non psy in the conventional sense that has phenomenal powers of recollection, deduction and intuition. Maybe also cyber augmented out the ass.

4 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

I notice that the two big name character inquisitors, eisenhorn and ravenor, are both high level psykers. Makes me wonder about a non psy inquisitor and what kind of a chance in hell he'd stand when two high level psys barely survive their adventures.

Eisenhorn isn't high level actually. He's pretty tame all things considered, his sorcery is just quite powerful.

Ravenor is only high level because of his current physical state.

Ravenor was described as very powerful psyker even before incident at Gates.

2 hours ago, Jargal said:

Ravenor was described as very powerful psyker even before incident at Gates.

Yeah, but he jumped a couple levels after the incident. Not to mention Xenos training.

And yet Eisenhorn's the heretic here. /s

Well, dealings with Xenos it is what Ordo Xenos do. Making demonhosts from your agents is a little different thing.

You know, an inquisitor's duty is to serve and pr otect the imperium . Above and beyond all else. Period.

We all know that inquisitors routinely torture innocent people and casually kill the innocent en masse "just to be sure". There's the whole thing about killing 10 billion people due to one genestealer siting, etc. An inquisitor is empowered and obligated to do anything and everything to defend the imperium. So yeah, killing and torturing innocent people is part of that deal that most inquisitors, hopefully , don't like much.

But it also means is playing nice with eldar is in the imperium's interests , you fething do it!

If creating a daemonhost and using it to stop a chaos titan or a chaos cult leader is in the imperium's best interests, you fething doi it! (Now to be honest I'm pretty sure revenge against cherubael had at least a little bit to do with eisenhorn's making him a daemonhost, but in the most part he did it to serve the imperium and stop greater menaces to it. Mostly. )


The whole poinht of an inquisitor is he or she has proven to be of extraordinary levels of competence, faith, wisdom, strength, etc, and is entrusted with the right to do things that normal people are not allowed to do. So if he makes a deal with the eldar or creates a daemonhost it's assumed s/he had **** good reason. Now there may be an inquisitorial review that will likely be unpleasant, but the inquisitor in question will be allowed to state a case and be judged by a panel of peers.

So i woudn't call eisonhorn a heretic, he's one of the most faithful servants the throne ever had. Ditto for his excellent student, Ravenor.

1 hour ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

So i woudn't call eisonhorn a heretic, he's one of the most faithful servants the throne ever had. Ditto for his excellent student, Ravenor.

Eisenhorn is a radical and heretic by definition of the term. Regardless of where his loyalties lie he uses the craft of the enemy against itself. It makes him a heretic and he's accepted that about himself.

Ravenor is really only a heretic if you're overly puritanical. Admittedly using those wraithbone charms might be going a little too far for some, but he's tame and most of his conclave is alright with it too.

Being a traitor is worse than a heretic. If eisenhorn didn't fufill his duty to protect the imperium he'd be a traitor. He is loyal enough to do what2fermhe needs to do to fulfill his duty. Can a heretic be loyal?

8 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

Can a heretic be loyal?

Yes, but it doesn't stop him from being a heretic.

21 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

You know, an inquisitor's duty is to serve and pr otect the imperium . Above and beyond all else. Period.

We all know that inquisitors routinely torture innocent people and casually kill the innocent en masse "just to be sure". There's the whole thing about killing 10 billion people due to one genestealer siting, etc. An inquisitor is empowered and obligated to do anything and everything to defend the imperium. So yeah, killing and torturing innocent people is part of that deal that most inquisitors, hopefully , don't like much.

But it also means is playing nice with eldar is in the imperium's interests , you fething do it!

If creating a daemonhost and using it to stop a chaos titan or a chaos cult leader is in the imperium's best interests, you fething doi it! (Now to be honest I'm pretty sure revenge against cherubael had at least a little bit to do with eisenhorn's making him a daemonhost, but in the most part he did it to serve the imperium and stop greater menaces to it. Mostly. )


The whole poinht of an inquisitor is he or she has proven to be of extraordinary levels of competence, faith, wisdom, strength, etc, and is entrusted with the right to do things that normal people are not allowed to do. So if he makes a deal with the eldar or creates a daemonhost it's assumed s/he had **** good reason. Now there may be an inquisitorial review that will likely be unpleasant, but the inquisitor in question will be allowed to state a case and be judged by a panel of peers.

So i woudn't call eisonhorn a heretic, he's one of the most faithful servants the throne ever had. Ditto for his excellent student, Ravenor.

He's a heretic by his own defination (consorting with and using the tools of, the enemy) I think quite early on in the trilogy he even says that "he could never see himself doing such things" but towards the end he ends up doing them just the same.

19 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

Being a traitor is worse than a heretic. If eisenhorn didn't fufill his duty to protect the imperium he'd be a traitor. He is loyal enough to do what2fermhe needs to do to fulfill his duty. Can a heretic be loyal?

He's a heretic, but not a traitor.

Similar things have happened with the Relictors and Souldrinkers chapters. The relictors used chaos weapons against their foe (and had the bad luck of not being a famous 1st founding chapter that can get away with that- Space wolves and Ultramarines) and they got excomunicated and extermiantused, altough I believe some or all of that got retconned. And the Souldrinkers just got on the wrong side of the admech and got decalred traitors aswell, despite being loyal.

During the Horus heresy the Alpha legion even managed to be both traitor and loyal at the same time. Altough, wouldn't that make them double traitors? Ugh I love the AL, but they make my head hurt.

21 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

You know, an inquisitor's duty is to serve and pr otect the imperium .

The whole poinht of an inquisitor is he or she has proven to be of extraordinary levels of competence, faith, wisdom, strength, etc, and is entrusted with the right to do things that normal people are not allowed to do. So if he makes a deal with the eldar or creates a daemonhost it's assumed s/he had **** good reason. Now there may be an inquisitorial review that will likely be unpleasant, but the inquisitor in question will be allowed to state a case and be judged by a panel of peers.

You have been told of the inquisition.

Everything you've been told is a lie.

It must be hard for the imperium to deal with the truth a man can be a truly loyal citizen if the imperium, a highly effective warrior for makindhs survival and a heretic all at once. My my, can't you just hear the heads a'poppin' all over imperial space if this ever got out?

1 hour ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

It must be hard for the imperium to deal with the truth a man can be a truly loyal citizen if the imperium, a highly effective warrior for makindhs survival and a heretic all at once. My my, can't you just hear the heads a'poppin' all over imperial space if this ever got out?

...Which is the exact purpose of the Inquisition. To suppress and destroy such information and people.

2 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

It must be hard for the imperium to deal with the truth a man can be a truly loyal citizen if the imperium, a highly effective warrior for makindhs survival and a heretic all at once. My my, can't you just hear the heads a'poppin' all over imperial space if this ever got out?

You need to start thinking before posting dude, before you continue embarrassing yourself with bits of stupidity like this. I can't even find either rhyme nor reason in that post.

Take a step back, get your <TRIGGERED> shirt off, take a shower, and join again when you're presentable.

Well, personally, I'd call all heretics traitors by definition, but that's just me (so yes I would call Eisenhorn a traitor because of the very fact of his heresy), but I like to keep things pretty Puritan in my Grimdark

Traitors, xeno, witches . . . it's all heresy to me. In my personal view of the fluff, it is better to fight to the end and lose than to sacrifice your "morals" by using xenotech or other radical implements and defeat the enemy. There are inquisitors who do their jobs without being radicals. If daemons overrun the world, you can always take a step back and dial up an Exterminatus.

Of course, personal opinion will vary.

21 minutes ago, Servant of Dante said:

Well, personally, I'd call all heretics traitors by definition, but that's just me (so yes I would call Eisenhorn a traitor because of the very fact of his heresy), but I like to keep things pretty Puritan in my Grimdark

Traitors, xeno, witches . . . it's all heresy to me. In my personal view of the fluff, it is better to fight to the end and lose than to sacrifice your "morals" by using xenotech or other radical implements and defeat the enemy. There are inquisitors who do their jobs without being radicals. If daemons overrun the world, you can always take a step back and dial up an Exterminatus.

Of course, personal opinion will vary.

What makes the imperium so funny is just how much xeno/chaos tech get's used without anybody knowing/giving a dam about. We got two 1st founding chapter masters with (repurposed) chaos weapons, Commisar yarrick with his power klaw, The blackstone fortressess (before Abby stol them), Callidus c'tan phase swords, The Emperor building an off ramp to the webway on Terra, Psi- titan weapons. and that's just the ones off the top of my head.

Also in Wrath of Magnus, the daemon primarch had an enchantment on him that made him immune to imperial weapons. (and that included orbital lance strikes!) luckily for the space wolves the axe Morkai used to be a khornate axe, and so Magnus got his ass kicked (and Khorne laughed his head off.)

10 hours ago, Professor Tanhauser said:

It must be hard for the imperium to deal with the truth a man can be a truly loyal citizen if the imperium, a highly effective warrior for makindhs survival and a heretic all at once. My my, can't you just hear the heads a'poppin' all over imperial space if this ever got out?

That's not how the ordos (especially malleus) roll. If they find out that you are a "loyal, puritanical, combat master who says his prayers at night with a chaos weapon." Then all they care about is "Chaos weapon". And they'll kill you.

Their motto is "innocence proves nothing" for god sake. And the ordo hereticus will just execute you for being less pure than a SOB.

"Trust no one, trust not even yourself. It's better to die in vain then live an abomination."

There is no innocence, only varying degrees of guilt

2 hours ago, Robin Graves said:

What makes the imperium so funny is just how much xeno/chaos tech get's used without anybody knowing/giving a dam about. We got two 1st founding chapter masters with (repurposed) chaos weapons, Commisar yarrick with his power klaw, The blackstone fortressess (before Abby stol them), Callidus c'tan phase swords, The Emperor building an off ramp to the webway on Terra, Psi- titan weapons. and that's just the ones off the top of my head.

Also in Wrath of Magnus, the daemon primarch had an enchantment on him that made him immune to imperial weapons. (and that included orbital lance strikes!) luckily for the space wolves the axe Morkai used to be a khornate axe, and so Magnus got his ass kicked (and Khorne laughed his head off.)

And all those people are heretics. Except the Emperor, of course.