The Black Library discussion

Has anyone taken to the new Dawn of Fire series? I’ve just finished Dark Imperium I, which acts effectively of a prequel to the new series and I’m thinking of starting. Especially excited for The Silent King novel.

I haven't heard much about it, but I'm still a baby here. Guy Haley writes the first one, and I loved his work on Glorious Tomb. Really chilling stuff. I'll be adding this to my reading list now you have mentioned it.

I’m trying to buy into the paperbacks of DOF before they get too far ahead of me. Black Library doesn’t like to keep novels in production, rather they churn out new novels for money. So already, DOF novels are hard to find and are pricey.

I really wanted to get into Horus Heresy, as I have a decent number of the paperbacks, but I literally cannot find some of the novels since they aren’t in production. So DOF, here I come.

I have fully embraced the ebook game. I find I'm able to read more on my Kindle. All of the novels are also available too! I used to be strictly paperback, but the comfort of a Kindle is hard to beat.

Yeah I think the only reason im not on the ebook game is cause I like trophies on the shelf lol. I suppose that’s what Goodreads is for. But you make a good point, I should try one.

Have you got an e-reader of some description?

I am fully addicted to logging everything on here. I wouldn't have enough space for all the books I've bought I think. They also tend to be a little cheaper than the paperback and the dictionary function (at least for me) is very helpful.

I’m not a fan of Amazon, so when I dive into the Horus Heresy, I’ll probably go with a different eReader brand. That series alone is a massive commitment, and there’s no way I could manage the sheer volume of paperbacks on my shelf (let alone the price). An eBook setup makes way more sense; I’ll just need to find a solid reading order and get rolling. Plugging this awesome site:

https://www.heresyomnibus.com/article

Just be wary that I think I read somewhere if you get the ebooks from the Black Library, they have some funny formatting. Although I have not seen them myself. The Kindle ones I have got are all good as gold so far.

That website is pretty neat!

This might also help you if you are going into the Heresy:

https://gaming.kylebb.com/hhtimeline/

I'm at the back end of the Heresy now, after starting about 4? years ago. I'm hoping to start Siege of Terra by Christmas :)

I've been painstakingly putting together my own reading order spreadsheet that tries to make the best match of...
- Chronological
- Story beats / Flow
- Keeping anthologies together

I started pure chronological but that got really difficult to follow with narrative leaps all over the place - some parts are better "clumped".

There's a great graphic someone put together online somewhere which flow chart's the whole thing - It's not perfect, but it's about 90% there - maybe a bit more.

@Keit, gratz. That’s quite the undertaking

At what point would you start dipping into the Heresy? I've heard some say after reading a lot of the 40K novels so you know the world fully. Or would you say jump in?

I'm only on Eisenhorn currently.

I started Horus Rising after having read the Eisenhorn and Ravenor trilogies, and spending slow time at work crawling around in the Lexicanum. I caught up to the new publications of the Heresy around Master of Mankind.

The nice thing about Horus Rising is it assumes you don't have much knowledge beyond space marines, the Emperor, and heresy :) A lot of the terminology and background is explained in media res.

I went straight into the Heresy after Eisenhorn and a few others - I already knew the world well anyway (because I'm old and have followed the lore on and off for 30 odd years - ouch!). I think Eisenhorn gives you enough to start the Heresy with then the Heresy feeds In to what comes later - If you didn't know the world at all then you probably want to read a few Space Marine books first but beyond that, I'd go straight to Horus Rising.