Books I have read
Books I have read and my thoughts on them. I have read more books than this; this list was started some time after I gained basic literacy. New entries added at the top. I probably won't add books I really didn't like.
As most nerds, I have read a lot of fantasy. Some good, most mediocre (but might have seemed good at the time). Today I mostly prefer modern hard sci-fi, although I am also trying to make my way through the classics of literature.
In contrast to some, I don't enjoy sci-fi when it is an allegory over current events or society, or whatnot. I like it best when it is a particularly elaborate what-if story.
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
As I suppose is the case for most people, I was well aware of the basic plot of Moby Dick, as well as its surface interpretations. Yet I had never actually read it, and I was curious to see if it was really a "dense symbolist tome" as it was called in media I am more familiar with. To my surprise, it's actually a rather pleasant and even somewhat funny read. The narrator (call him Ishmael) comes off as supremely neurotic, stating on the very first page that he goes to sea every time he feels the urge to kill himself. Almost everyone in this tale is highly quirky and speaks in hilariously flowery language. The infamous Ahab doesn't even come across as that unusual among this crew, and doesn't interfere much with the plot until the very abrupt end. While I have no doubt that I missed a lot of the deeper symbolism and such, Moby Dick is worth reading simply because it is an amusing and well-told story. The actual plot is pretty unimportant (you know what it is already, and how it ends); but the writing is just so elaborate that even chapters were nothing happens are delightful to read. And speaking of chapters, the fact that the book is split into literally 135 chapters makes it quite easy to pick up and put down for short reading sessions.
Oh, and the chapters that go off on tangents about the specifics of whaling, and whale biology as it was understood in the mid 19th century, are amusing all on their own.
Dune by Frank Herbert
The following concerns only the original Dune and the three sequels Dune Messiah, Children of Dune, and God Emperor of Dune. I have heard that the ones after this are dreadful. I must admit I was a bit disappointed in all of them. While by no means bad books, I think they are eclipsed by the later installments in the genre they helped create; many of which I read before their progenitor. While the books were quite atmospheric, I felt they began to increasingly depend on sheer weirdness, and lack of explanation of the universe. I often had the feeling that the ideas under discussion were simple enough, but obscured with strange jargon. While not my favourite way of storytelling, it can work (see Ancillary Justice). I just don't think it did here. (The later books are the worst at this - but definitely read the original Dune.)
Ancillary {Justice, Sword, Mercy} by Ann Leckie
While I was initially put off by Ancillary Justice as it relied heavily on its setting simply being inexplicably weird, something about the writing kept me reading, and the trilogy is now one of my absolute favourites. The books are fairly short and the plot is quite tight. Everything in this story just feels polished. The basic premise of the book is simply how a military dictatorship is run through distributed natural and artificial intelligence, and what might happen when that starts to break down, although such a description doesn't give much justice to the richness and atmosphere of the books.
Black Library books
These are novels that take place in the Warhammer universe and they are my guilty pleasure. There are a lot of these. Partially writing this for my own sake so I can remember them. The quality varies dramatically, but if you are interested in the universe they take place in, then that is a pretty decent boost to their readability. Otherwise be careful. Pretty much everything by Dan Abnett or Aaron Dembski-Bowden is good.
Warlord: Fury of the God Machine by David Annandale
Bolter porn, except the bolters are really big. This is a not particularly memorable story about Titans fighting other Titans, and what it is like to be a human running around when that happens. It is actually quite good if you are interested in depictions of Titans - I particularly like the exposition of how Titans relate to their supporting forces - but the plot is basically unimportant. Some enemy Titans drop down on the planet, and now the protagonists are in for a fight. The final battle is so over-the-top absurd (fighting on city wreckage floating in a lake of lava) that I don't know whether to laugh or heer.
Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah by Gav Thorpe
Another Titan book, and again gives a nice idea of how Titans interact with their escorts. Actually, this is really a maritime story: the tituluar Imperator Titan is hijacked by scoundrels, and a motley band drawn from its crew has to make their way to the wheelhouse and recover control before its guns are turned on the Imperium. While I think the plot assumes that Imperator Titans are a lot bigger than they are supposed to be (about 50m), I can live with that. It's a decent book for what it is.
The Eisenhorn Omnibus by Dan Abnett
Dan Abnett is a legitimately good author, and all of his Black Library novels are worth reading, most of them even if you are not specifically interested in Warhammer. The Eisenhorn books, collected in an omnibus edition, are in the latter category - they are a very nice tale of an Inquisitor exploring a weird universe and gradually becoming more and more radical out of necessity. What I like about this series is the world actually feels plausible - many 40k books lean so far into the grimdarkness that it seems implausible that the depicted societies can exist at all. In Abnett's books, the Imperium is certainly dystopic and despotic, but not every single planet is a full-time torment factory. People are people and they try to have a good time, and there are bars and cafés and parties where humans try to enjoy their lives. And then sometimes there are Chaos cults, too.
The Ravenor Omnibus by Dan Abnett
Exactly like the Eisenhorn books, except now the inquisitor is crippled and enclosed in a life support chair. It's a pretty interesting contrast to Eisenhorn, who is heavily defined by his physicality. The worst part about the Ravenor books is that the (unfortunately) recurring villain is boring and mostly defined by being good at everything and also really smart, and his motivation is to be evil.
Night Lords Omnibus by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
A collection of three books about the Night Lords, a Chaos Space Marine legion that is evil in the way that evil is imagined by a 12 year old. These books are great. Told mostly from the perspective of the Night Lords themselves, as well as occasionally their slaves, they make a good job of making the Night Lords seem both powerful, pathetic, frightening, and most of all interesting. I like many things about these books, but what I like the most is perhaps the feeling of desperation and paranoia that is an everpresent part of the life of the Chaos Space Marine. In most depictions, these fellows arrive united and with heavy weaponry because they serve as the antagonists. In this depiction, we see just how hard it is to maintain allies and cooperation when everyone is at best a traitorous bastard, many are literally insane and borderline daemon-possessed, and there is no civilian industrial base to draw on. Highly recommended, not least because I never expected you could tell good stories about these almost embarrassingly lame Space Marines.
Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work by Guy Haley
Arch-Magos Belisarius Cawl and a bunch of misfit space marines investigate the remains of a planet that was gobbled up by the Tyranid recently. That by itself is a fairly enjoyable romp into dark and eldritch secrets best left forgotten, as is tradition, but the point of the book is actually the telling of Cawl's backstory through various flashbacks. It is good, and I wish there was more of it. In particular, it is light on the details of the 10k years after the Horus Heresy and when Cawl returned to the galactic stage. On reflection, the book is mostly worth reading for the dungeon crawl, and the parts that deal with Cawl (enjoyable though they are) do not give any real insight beyond what can be obtained by skimming his Lexicanum page.
Forge of Mars Omnibus by Graham McNeill
This is the trilogy of stories about what life is like aboard a Mechanicus expedition, and it is worth reading for that reason alone. The overall plot is fine, but as is often the case for these books, is not truly the point, although the central mystery was interesting enough to keep my attention. I consider these books to be a slice-of-life tale, where life aboard an Ark Mechanicus is told from a lot of different perspectives. I originally read this mostly for the Titan action, which is decent, although the Legio in this book has some really weird traditions. (And as usual the scale is wonky - there is no way you can climb around inside a Warhound leg!) Read this if you are interested in the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Titanicus by Dan Abnett
It's an Abnett book, so of course it is good. The plot is completely unimportant, which seems to be a trend for Titan books. Plot summary: a bunch of mean Titans invade the planet, and some good guy Titans show up to chase them out. But this is still an excellent slice-of-life narrative. Just what is it like to be a burned-out ex-moderati? A tank commander in a conflict between Titans? The second-in-command of a Titan whose new Princeps is a fresh youth? A tech priest who discovers things best left forgotten? A toymaker trying to take advantage of the sudden demand for Titan trinkets? As usual, Abnett is great at making the world feel plausible. Yes, it is a despotic theocracy, and yes there are a bunch of evil chaos robots coming to kill you, and yes there is mandatory conscription and your job sucks and your apartment is ratty and small. But you still have friends, you still make jokes, there are still shops and bars, and you still try to enjoy life the best you can.
God-Machines Omnibus by various authors
Look, it's a collection of Titan and Knightq stories, including Imperator and Warlord. The short stories (in particular the one by Gav Thorpe) is excellent, and shows how Titans and Titan crews can carry weird grudges for a long time. These are, after all, warriors in the sense of being a distinct social class with their own mores, rather than professional soldiers. The omnibus also has several Knight-focused stories, in particular Knightsblade and Kingsblade, which focus on, respectively, the liberation and defense of Imperial planets. The latter features orks, which is always a hoot. If you like Titans and/or Knights, then this Omnibus is worth reading, but most of what's in here is fairly generic plot-wise, and doesn't tell you a whole lot about the universe. It focuses entirely on the people piloting the big robots.
Vaults of Terra trilogy by Chris Wraight
This series comprises three books (The Carrion Throne, The Hollow Mountain, The Dark City) that I am treating in their entirety, because they basically form different acts of the same tale. Really good books, taking place on Terra itself, which is not so common. The depiction of Terra is hopelessly grim, to the extent that it feels almost implausible. No-one is having a good time here. However, it does make sense from an in-universe perspective - Terra, as the imperial centre, really is special, and does not really have to be sustainable on its own, as it is propped up through exploitation of its empire. The story centres on the activities of an Inquisitor, much like the Eisenhorn and Ravenor series, and is basically a detective story. The Adeptus Custodes also show up, and the tension arising from this interaction between two normally ultimate powers (both nominally only taking orders from the Emperor) is quite interesting. These books are generally good and worth reading, particularly if you are interested in the ramifications of the opening of the Great Rift at the conclusion of the 13th Black Crusade, and what the implications are in the Imperial centre.
Black Legion series by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Although supposed to be a trilogy, only two books have come out by the time I am writing this. This series tells the story of how Abaddon became The Despoiler and the big boogyman of the Imperium (although he took so long that both the Necron and the Tyranid may be stealing his thunder, but anyway...). This series is a good companion to the Night Lords book - while the Night Lords are largely pathetic and undirected, the (eventual) Black Legion is much more focused, but they share the same hopeless material conditions and paranoia. Together, they give a pretty good idea of what life is like as a Chaos Space Marine. While these books are really good, I think they are only worth reading if you are invested in 40k - otherwise the references are too obscure, and too much background is left implied.
Horus Heresy
The Horus Heresy series has so many books, of so varying quality, that I felt it best to give them their own subsection.
Book 9: Mechanicum by Graham McNeill
Rebellion has come to Mars, and this is the book that explains how it goes down. Lots of Titan and Knight action. I was a little disappointed in this book, as I hoped it would spend more time on how Mars and Terra came to be united in the first place. While there is an excellent scene of the Emperor arriving and healing a faulty joint in a Knight with a mere touch, as well as an important plot point about how the Emperor has hidden ancient eldritch horrors on Mars in the distant past, the political and societal machinations that formed the alliance are left mostly unstated.
I like the depiction of Mars as a quasi-feudal system is semi-independent forges that in rivalry with each other. While not unique to this book, most other books focus only on a single tech priest at a time. One of the tech priests is depicted in a somewhat tedious way, as the one who wants to do real science, with the subtext that the death (least surprising spoiler!) of this tech priest is the reason the Imperium ended up stagnating. This tries a bit too hard to be tragic, but it's a minor complaint.
This book can be read independently of the other Horus Heresy books. Some Space Marines show up at the end to steal supplies once Mars is lost, but that is the totality of the involvement in the main series.
Book 53: Titandeath by Guy Haley
If you like depictions of Titans, including what it feels like to be a princeps, how you interact with the machine spirit, how the Legios were founded, what their internal and external politics and rituals are like, and of course how they fight and die, then this is the book for you. Otherwise there isn't really much in it. (But let me emphasise that the Titan action is good! Although I am very biased because Titans are great.) The book advances the plot of the Heresy a little bit, in that "now this star system has fallen and Horus can reach Terra, and also a lot of Titans are now dead", but you do not really need the details in order for the subsequent stories to make sense. A few survivors from this book does show up in the Siege of Terra, though. Also, this book has a sex scene - perhaps the only one in the entire Horus Heresy.
The Siege of Terra
The sub-series depicting the final battle of the Horus Heresy. For some reason, Black Library restarted the numbering here, so I guess it deserved a new section. This is an extremely slow boil, even by the standards of the Horus Heresy, and the pace of the plot slows progressively throughout the series. During the latter books, it is an explicit plot point that time no longer flows normally on Terra, which I suspect may be self-deprecating humor. The quality of the books varies, but I think they are worth reading for the sheer epic scale - in particular the number of characters and ways they interact is quite interesting.
Book 1: The Solar War by John French
Horus's fleet arrives in the solar system, and there's a bunch of ambushes, tricks, maneuvers, and battles. Pretty decent action. I found some of the character-driven conflicts a bit hard to grasp, as I had not yet read so much of the main series when I read this book, but it is not terribly important. The pacing in this book is fine, and there is a clear progression: by the end, Horus's fleet has reached Terra and begun the siege. You should read this book if you want to read The Siege of Terra.
Book 2: The Lost and the Damned by Guy Haley
World War I on Terra, as Horus starts bombarding the palace while also sending cannon fodder against the outer trenches. The introduction of the character Katsuhiro, a conscript of no particular skill, who serves as a human point-of-view character through the remainder of the siege. Through this character, the book (and the following ones) give a pretty good grasp of what it's like to be mortal when the gods are fighting around you. There's also a bunch of Space Marines that do stuff.
Book 3: The First Wall by Gav Thorpe
I had to look at the plot summary to remember this one. The war continues, and a big spaceport falls, which leads to an improvement in Horus's logistics. Daemons making their appearance. Not truly memorable, this one.
Book 4: Saturnine by Dan Abnett
Perturabo, who has mostly been running the war for Horus so far, attempts a sneaky attack to penetrate the palace defenses. Most of the book is about the politics, drama, ego, and pride that leads to this attack, the actual events during the attack, and the aftermath. This sounds generic, but it isn't - while the plot is not greatly advanced here, it is a very readable book full of space marine action. Has a fight between Rogal Dorn and Fulgrim.
Book 5: Mortis by John French
Titan action! This book seems to have a poor reputation, but if you like Titans, you will like this book. The last meaningful Titan action of the Horus Heresy. There are also non-Titan parts, but they are not quite so memorable. It is my impression that this book has a poor reputation for its plodding pace, but I did not find it meaningfully slower than the others in the series.
Book 6: Warhawk by Chris Wraight
The White Scars reclaim the space port lost in book 3. This is worth reading for the depiction of a combined charge of White Scars and tanks, covered (physically!) by an orbital plate. I also really like the depiction of the tank crews trying to survive for days inside their tanks, while fighting in a place infested with corruption and disease. They can't leave their tanks without dying, and so have to rely on the allied space marines to bring supplies such as water and fuel. It's a grueling tale, but in a good way - and in a nice contrast to most other books, it is the Loyalists that actually take offensive action here. Has a fight between Jaghatai Khan and Mortarion.
Book 7: Echoes of Eternity by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Sanguinius fights a bloodthirster and also Angron. Apart from that, this is the book where the defenses truly fall. It is a hopeless massacre of the loyalists. Grim stuff, even by the standards of this series.
Book 8: The End and the Death by Dan Abnett
Published in three volumes, but I will treat them as a single book of about 2000 pages. I think this is an experiment into what happens if you just do not assign Dan Abnett an editor. By far the most bloated piece of Warhammer fiction I have ever read. Not a lot truly happens, and if you are schooled in even the basic 40k mysteries you know them: Horus lowers the shields on his flagship, the Emperor and friends teleports aboard, Horus kills Sanguinius, the Emperor kills Horus while being mortally wounded in the attempt, and the Emperor is put on the Golden Throne.
Era of Ruin by various authors
A collection of short stories about just what it is like on Terra after the conclusion of the greatest and most destructive wars (as opposed to Vaults of Terra, which is about what it is like after another 10000 years have passed). The purpose of these short stories is mostly to give closure to characters whose fates were left open after the conclusion of the main series, and it is not worth reading this book unless you have (at least) read the Siege of Terra sub-series. When I read this book I had not yet read all Horus Heresy books, and there were some characters I did not recognise, but overall I found it enjoyable. Warhammer really does thrive best with short stories.
The Scouring
The sequel series to Horus Heresy (or Siege of Terra), depending on how you see it. I was reading these books as they came out - a first for me.
Book 1: Ashes of the Imperium by Chris Wraight
Chris Wraight's best books are really good. This is not his best book, but it is overall fine. This is one of those books that are not worth reading on their own, but are a worthy installment if you are invested in the series. The central theme is supposed to be the conflict between the surviving loyalist primarchs, although it does not take up that much part of the narrative. The power struggle between the nascent post-Heresy bureaucracy and the Primarchs also starts to appear, although in very subtle ways - I'm not sure the Primarchs have even noticed there is a conflict yet. This is good - sometimes these prequel books are a bit too eager to show how the Imperium of 10,000 years later came about; ignoring that those 10,000 years were spent on something, too. This book mostly just feels like the next one, which can be good or bad, depending on your perspective. The most inelegant part of this book is the ham-fisted way in which some characters explain their inner motivations - to such an extent, in fact, that I wonder if Chris Wraight was going for some explicitly hammy Flash Gordon-like writing.