# Newbie Book recommendation



## Ravenswild (Jul 4, 2012)

Hi There. 

New to the forum, so hi to you all 

I'm about to run a game of 'Dark Heresy', and I'm really looking forward to it, none of the players are really knowledgeable about the 40k universe and I'm excited to introduce them to it, and hopefully it will lead them on the path that we've all followed getting immersed in such a cool setting!

My question is, one of the players would like to do some reading to get a reasonable knowledge of the feel and setting of the game and asked what book i would suggest to him.

I wasn't too sure on the answer, my initial thoughts were either Eisenhorn or The Inquisition Wars, do you guys have any better suggestions?


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## Kelann08 (Nov 22, 2011)

My personal favorite series is the Gaunt's Ghosts series. The first book is meh but I think the second one is a flashback during a battle to Gaunt meeting his regiment (and why they're called Ghosts). _Grey Knights_ is an excellent representation of the "grim dark" aspect of the game. You meet Imperial Guard, Sisters of Battle, Grey Knights, Demons, the Inquisition and the Administratum. More than most books I've read, it really gives you a feel for the truly oppressive nature of the universe and how futile it makes you feel. Its a great read, as well.


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## bitsandkits (Mar 18, 2008)

i would say the 40k rule book fluff sections would be the best book to read to get a feel for the universe, plus the photos of the minis and the art work will help visualise the races and such.


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## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

Well I definitely recommend you give him Eisenhorn (especially if you will play Dark Heresy). After that, well the rulebook does a very good job of showing you the factions and such but if you want to take it farther:

- Emperor's Gift (Grey Knights, Inquisition and general grim darkness)
- Helsreach (Space Marine and Orks)
- The Night Lords Trilogy (to show him Chaos)
- Gaunt's Ghosts (for the IG but if you have to pick just one from here it should be Necropolis)
- Titanicus (because Titans)
- Dead Men Walking (for that extreme brand of IG i.e. the Death Korps of Krieg)
- Caves of Ice (Cain and Necrons)


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## Vitarus (Apr 9, 2012)

I'd recommend Eisenhorn, followed by Ravenor, and Grey Knights. Not only are they great reads, but they introduced me to a lot of major aspects of 40K.


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## Ravenswild (Jul 4, 2012)

Thanks for the links guys, I think I'll go with Eisenhorn as I have a copy that i can lend him 

Some great books listed and a few I haven't heard off that i intend to pick up 

As an aside, I don't play the tabletop game (wish i had the time and talent to paint the minis!) But I love reading all the 40k fluff i can get, so I'm wondering if its worth picking up the new core rulebook, just for the fluff sections, are they fairly substantial or just little bits that are known elsewhere?


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## Dînadan (Mar 7, 2009)

I'd recommend staying away from the Inquisition War trilogy if you're aiming for something to give people the feel of the setting as it was writting a couple of decades ago and as such the feel is slightly different to the current stuff (not saying it's bad - it just different).


I'd recommend the Ciaphas Cain series, as it's written from an in universe point of view and has in universe notations from an Inquisitor scattered throughout aswell as excerts from inuniverse texts scattered throughout.


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## Garrak (Jun 18, 2012)

I agrree about reading Ciaphas Cain but just don't read them one after the other - the author tends to recycle some phrases and it might grate on you a bit. 



> As an aside, I don't play the tabletop game (wish i had the time and talent to paint the minis!) But I love reading all the 40k fluff i can get, so I'm wondering if its worth picking up the new core rulebook, just for the fluff sections, are they fairly substantial or just little bits that are known elsewhere?


In that case forget about the rulebook and go here: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Categories#.T_UjrJGObRQ You can find pretty much anything you want there in regards to fluff (more or less anyways).


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## Captain_Daerys_Arrun (Jan 9, 2012)

I'd also recomend the Lexicanum, I enjoy just hitting random and reading articles. It helped me fill in some of the blanks about the Calixis sector for my own game. If you see something in the rulebook that sounds cool, look it up on there to see if there is more info.


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Just smash lexicanum. You can learn so much from there. 

My first book was Space Wolf by William King.


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