# best horus heresy book?



## gwmaniac

hey guys, which book in the horus heresy series do you think is the best?


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## NoiseMarine

woulda been better as poll but so far I like... Galaxy in Flames (the 3rd one)
one I liked the least was Battle for the Abyss, (really stupid) all of a sudden Mr. Counter decides to make impossible odds that would never happen (*spoiler*) the Ultras destroying the Furious Abyss...:angry:


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## Khorne's Fist

NoiseMarine said:


> woulda been better as poll but so far I like... Galaxy in Flames (the 3rd one)
> one I liked the least was Battle for the Abyss, (really stupid) all of a sudden Mr. Counter decides to make impossible odds that would never happen (*spoiler*) the Ultras destroying the Furious Abyss...:angry:


I agree totally.

As to my favourite, I really enjoyed Flight Of the Eisenstein. Legion was very good as well.


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## Nato13

Galaxy in flames and Fulgrim are the standouts for me k:


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## normtheunsavoury

Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames really stand out to me as the only books that moved the story forward.
Fulgrim and Flight of the eisenstien were great.
The low points for me have been Descent of Angels, it just didn't seem to go anywhere and Battle for the Abyss, it was an ok book but it did absolutely nothing for the story of the Heresy.
I really hope that the next book does something with the story or I can see myself very quickly losing interest.


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## Kharnage

Galaxy in Flames, I liked the battle scenes of Emperor's Children versus Emperor's Children.


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## Unknown Primarch

descent of angels. it was a book that i thought gave us a insight into what was happening before the HH. yeah the first 3 books were good but i thought the series should have started with maybe the emperor slowly finding the primarchs and showing us his relationship with them so we can understand why some turned traitor, maybe the battle of ullanor so we can see the emperor and his sons together for the last time and show us the resentment caused by appointing horus warmaster. 

descent gave us abit of insight into cypher and his possible link with the emperor, made us see life on caliban before the emperor turned up, made us reconsider the betrayal on caliban. plus it laid the ground work for the eventual destruction of caliban.

overall i think they are making abit of a hash of the HH series, legion was a real revelation but the others have been not what i expected of the series. i thought they would give us answers to all the questions that have been asked about the heresy over the years. why arent the primarchs in the books more instead of the stories being about standard marines doing nothing of importance. we want the emperor in the books, give us a insight into what makes him tick and the job he is trying to do. 
ive not read battle of the abyss yet but what ive heard about it just proves my point about giving us fluff we dont give a shit about.

after reading a extract of mechanicum though we could be starting to get somewhere as it had the emperor visit mars and commune with a knight (one man titan) and have it heal its broken leg. stuff like that is of importance to people who read the novels not a novel with remembrancers in more most of the novel.

rant over but hope people have a view on this matter too.


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## Concrete Hero

Fulgrim.
Character developement is the best so far and the style of writing is incredible


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## revenant13

i like all the HH books, but my favorite is _Galaxy in Flames_. I love how the loyalists turn what was supposed to be a slaughter into a full blown battle.


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## p0b0y

revenant13 said:


> i like all the HH books, but my favorite is _Galaxy in Flames_. I love how the loyalists turn what was supposed to be a slaughter into a full blown battle.



agreed, but fulgirm started getting better towards the end of that 500 page epic hehe


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## SonOfHorus

I loved Fulgrim and Galaxy in Flames they to me were the best


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## Emperor'sChild88

Galaxy in Flames was my favorite. I love the idea of a small amount of loyalists holding off a lot of traitors for a while. Tragic ending tho...


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## The Sullen One

*General comments*

Overall I'd say the best book was Fulgrim, Graham McNeil is easily one of the better writers of 40K fiction, and his orchestral scene was so vividly writen I felt myself being carried along to the crescendo, though admittedly I prefered Flight of the Eisenstein, which I was able to read most of in a day.

Legion was excellent, because for once we saw Space Marines whose concerns went beyond their usual dogmatic professions. While Battle for the Abyss wasn't brilliant I like any story where the word bearers get pasted, as I really, really hate the Word Bearers. I also thought the character of Mhotep and his reception at the hands of his fellow Space Marines was insightful, especially knowing what happens to his legion.


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## RudeAwakening79

All books offer something different, but Fulgrim was my favourite.

Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in flames were all great, really liked the Garviel Loken story.

Looking forward to Mechanicum, it has the potential to be one of the better parts of the series. It finally features the Emperor, what more could we want?


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## mattmancci

I really liked Fulgrim and Galaxy in Flames.


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## Aryx

I really enjoyed Flight of the Eisenstein. Garro and Qruze were well developed. I also liked Horus Rising, False Gods and Galaxy in Flames. Kinda started to feel bad for Horus, guy just got in over his head!


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## Gobbo

Galaxy in flames, all the way. Not only was it a great book but that last chapter in the church with abaddon, aximand, loken and tarik. 

But also I really enjoyed flight of the Eisenstein.


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## Deneris

I'd have to vote for "Legion", as I loved the bits with the IG fighting the Chaos-worshipping locals. Not so crazy about the end, though...:no:...


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## Shogun_Nate

Eh..I don't think I have a 'favorite' out of them. Each has it's good points and it's not so good points lol. _Flight of the Eisenstein_ I really enjoyed. _Legion_ was not one of my favorites. It seemed to me that the writer took a few too many liberties with it. That's just my opinion though. One that surprised me was _Descent of Angels_. I thought that I was going to plain loath it until I finished it. It turned out to be a good read if not a little out of line with the rest of them. All in all, the books that I've read have been decent to very good so it's hard to pick my favorite. I like the fact that they've finally delved into the history of the Heresy and hope that the series continues to keep me enthralled LOL!

Good luck and good gaming,

Nate


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## Captain Galus

Concrete Hero said:


> Fulgrim.
> Character developement is the best so far and the style of writing is incredible


/agreek:


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## Brother Matanbuchus

i really enjoyed the first 3 books and Legion . Just finished Mechanicum , i mostly enjoyed it .


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## War$m!7H

hmm.. I definitely agree with most of you, that BFTA was horrid. But the two that really stand out for me, are Horus Rising and Flight of the Eisenstien. Horus Rising because of that sense of brotherhood that they all shared, and maybe im too sentimental but i definitely wanted to be part of that brotherhood lols. Flight of the Eisenstien because I've always liked the Death Guard (traitor/loyal both) and im curious as to what happens to Garro after he meets the Sigilite ^^


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## Master Kashnizel

The first 3 were my favourite along with Flight of the Eisenstein and Fulgrim (even though I'm not finished). Descent of Angels and Battle for the Abyss have been said to have nothing to do with the heresy so I will pick them up after I am done reading the series (in a while). I will have to read the extract from mechanicum, sounds interesting.


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## Trevor Drake

Legion, I absolutely loved that book.


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## War$m!7H

got kinda confused at the end, or maybe i misinterpreted it wrong. But it was alright, a little too shady, but then again, that IS the Alpha Legion =)


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## Khorne's Fist

War!7H said:


> Flight of the Eisenstien because I've always liked the Death Guard (traitor/loyal both) and im curious as to what happens to Garro after he meets the Sigilite ^^


He became one of the first Inquisitors.


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## War$m!7H

O.O!

but he was a marine.. how the.. uhm.. nvm i'll figure it out =D


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## jordan_darko

Ive just finished reading Fulgrim and thought it was amazing, a very tragic tale indeed !


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## gwmaniac

jordan_darko said:


> Ive just finished reading Fulgrim and thought it was amazing, a very tragic tale indeed !


drat, i wish the bookstore would stock up on the heresy series. all they have is the crappy books, like battle for the abyss, and descent of angels. I bought descent of angels and it was crap. oh well, there's always the GW store.


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## ACoz

I've read five of them completely, so far, and am half-way through the sixth (it being _Descent of Angels_), and so far, as much as I liked the first three for being an actual trilogy of sorts, the one I've liked best is _Flight of the Eisenstein_.

_Eisenstein_ I read in the course of pretty much a single week, on the shuttles and buses down to the big V.A. hospital down at the shore (back in October, when I was bouncing back and forth thanks to my battle with kidney stones).

_Fulgrim_ I read relatively quickly, and while it was good, it just pointed out to me all the reasons why I play loyalist Imperials all the more clearly.

_Descent of Angels_ has been slow going for me, in part becasue of the holiday season, and also partly due to the first part of the book being so utterly different from anything seemingly 40K related.

Moving into the second half, last third of the book, though, it's picking up my interest again.

But, yeah, _Flight of the Eisenstein _has been my favorite so far.


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## Baron Spikey

I always try and give this advice to people reading (or about to read) Descent of Angels- read Angels of Darkness prior to or immediately after DoA.
Before you start on another in the HH series read that book and you'll appreciate Descent even more.


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## LimitingFactor

Battle for the Abyss inspired me to collect a world eaters army .
That aside, it is a great book that had me cheering everytime a word bearer got torn apart. It is more of an add on to the heresy series , with a pace similer to the movie Die hard 1.


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## Garrowan5th

HR was fantastic. FGs was great. GiF was also Great.

DoA was a great book, but completely nothing to do with anything. It let u deeper into DAs, but Heresy wise was not so good.

Fulgrim was so well written I don't know where to start, BUT wasn't one of my favorites.

Legion was....confusing. But I liked the Imp Army

Battle for the Abyss.......why........whhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy????????????????????????????????????:cray:

Mechanicum was really good. Slow to get into, but once you got started, it rocked.

Ah, FotE. I leave this out of sequence deliberately. It had the first battle of the Heresy from DG perspective, which was okay. It had the back story of the saintly woman.
And it had a great, rip-roaring desperate hero theme going, deserving of any such fiction before.
And what's more(i'm soooo bias) Garro is obviously Scottish. The word Garrow means rugged mountains, Garro runs about with basically a claymore, he says 'aye' an aweful lot, he is from Albia on Terra (Alba is the Gaelic of scotland) and a few other little references led me here.

SO for me it makes FotE the best in the series!


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## Alex

I have yet to read Mechanicum so cannot say whether I like that yet, but so far my favourite has been FotE. Battle for the Abyss was quite slow to reach the inevitable points, but when it did I really liked the last few fights on the Furious Abyss and Mhoteps battle with Wsoric.


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## War$m!7H

Mechanicum was SO good. just finished it. and i thought Titanicus was epic, holy hell! Mechanicum rawked that book lol. only part i dont understand is what was that woman tasked to guard at the end?


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## Garrowan5th

War!7H said:


> Mechanicum was SO good. just finished it. and i thought Titanicus was epic, holy hell! Mechanicum rawked that book lol. only part i dont understand is what was that woman tasked to guard at the end?


It was, wasn't it?

She was guarding the Void Dragon, keeping others out.


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## Dirge Eterna

I'm partial to Mechanicum. Very happy to see Knights play a part.


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## War$m!7H

im going to have to re-read the end of it again, because i dont fully understand it =x


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## Unknown Primarch

im not sure exactly what the book was but it had something to do with the essence of the void dragon i think, i could be wrong. that book went missing and the big question is who took it and what its role will be in the 40k setting. i thought that one of the traitors took it and if so then its either to gain the knowledge of the void dragon like the emperor did or maybe for chaos to stop a powerful enemy from rising. 
what ever the answers its gonna make for some good future novels from black library.


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## War$m!7H

but what exactly is the void dragon?


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## Garrowan5th

War!7H said:


> but what exactly is the void dragon?


One of the four remaining C'tan, and what the mechanicum believe is the machine god


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## War$m!7H

so they harbor a c'tan star god and claim its the Omnissah?(sp) well, that seems a bit out of whack IMO. oh well. thank you for the info =)


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## Garrowan5th

War!7H said:


> so they harbor a c'tan star god and claim its the Omnissah?(sp) well, that seems a bit out of whack IMO. oh well. thank you for the info =)


Most of them don't actually know. They just thinks he's a god of machines.
There was a Necron attempt to land on mars a while back. Failed, but they even made the surface before they were obliterated.


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## Heretic1979

Enjoyed all books really, two standouts, False Gods and Galaxy in flames.


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## The Sullen One

Personally I really liked Flight Of The Eisenstein, Nathaniel Garro is a really likeable character and it's a brilliant struggle against the odds story, plus Rogal Dorn and the Imperial Fists rule! (Yes I'm that sad). That said both Graham Mcneil and Dan Abnett really stand out with Fulgrim and Legion respectively, the first simply for the opera scene, and the second for really making the Alpha Legion stand out.


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## Nemesis-The-Warlock

my fave so far has to be Fulgrim, very good characterisation and it felt quite epic,
least fave so far was descent of angels tied with battle for the abyss,
although both were readable


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## ckcrawford

Fulgrim. A lot of Characters details. Known to that of Loken. But you really get fulgrim's side to things


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## deathbringer

i loved false gods 
it was the book that made me fall in love with the thousand sons
i thought the sorcery of magnus was brilliant
and it was such a good book
but i really want to read fulgrim
apparently it is brilliant


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## Garrowan5th

deathbringer said:


> i loved false gods
> it was the book that made me fall in love with the thousand sons
> i thought the sorcery of magnus was brilliant
> and it was such a good book
> but i really want to read fulgrim
> apparently it is brilliant


It is probably the best book of the lot. It's not my favourite, but it is the best written


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## Major Strombardt

*Tough One!!!*



gwmaniac said:


> hey guys, which book in the horus heresy series do you think is the best?


This one is a tough one!!! Aside from Gaunt's Ghosts, The Horus Heresy has supplied me with the most new energy for this game in the last twenty years or so. That means it's impact is important...at least for me!

I have liked all the books so far and loved some more then others. Who am I to be a critic of history?...:biggrin:

The first four books were of the type to catch the readers attention and advance the story as far as possible...but NOT to bring it to a head too quick as I see it. Great Drama and Tragedy as well as Triumph (at least in small doses...).

I think a lot of readers felt that the deviation from the first four books slowed things down a bit. I think so as well...for the better! I will go against the grain here and say that Fulgrim was the one I enjoyed least (although I still liked it!) Well written but not my cup of tea.

I really got into The Dark Angels book (enough to start a Dark Angels Successor Chapter!) and like the idea that this story will have a sequal and even MORE development (they ARE listed as the FIRST Legion after all...)!

Evenmore against the grain is that I enjoyed "The Battle..." immensly! Especially the ending. This would make the best film as well I think...

Legion was SUPERB and I enjoyed the IG part of the book. Not only do Space Marines have make a choice but so do normal men...that is the thing that hits home for me. The Heresy is NOT just about the Space Marine Legions but of ALL the Imperium making the stakes EVER so high!

Which leads to Mechanicum. Reading through the thread I have to say I am really disappointed for those who were hopeing the Emperor was to play a greater part in the series finally...but it was not to be. Again...the Heresy series proves that the stakes are far higher for entire Galaxy/Universe as this equally SUPERB episode shows. Favourite concept: The One-Man War Machines known as Knights...seeing out their last useful days in the shadow of Titans...but STILL having a HUGE role to play!

Verdict: TIE!!! Legion/Mechanicum...nothing between them!!!

:grin:


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## ajizzal

I really really liked alot already mentioned but i have have to make a shout out to the book that really got me reading the black library,Nightbringer.Warriors of Ultramar was also good along with dead sky,black sun(especially if you read strom of iron.)


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## 1001st Son

Gawd this is tough. False Gods was amazing fuel for my Tsons addiction, Fulgrim was a great POV for the Heresy to be seen from, Legion gave some much-needed fluff to the AL, and Battle for the Abyss had Mhotep. That's right. Mhotep.

Least favorite? Definitely Descent of Angels. No really new fluff, the main character was bland and one-dimensional, and there were no real plot twists to keep me reeled in. I practically had to drag myself through it. I was also really disappointed not to see the Battle for Caliban in it, but that would have had to be slightly post-heresy... But I have a quick test: Does anyone else's copy of DoA have three chapter 6's? They're all different chapters, but they're all named chapter 6.


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## War$m!7H

I am now going to look to satisfy my curiosity lol

..and now that ive looked in my book, ive only got two chapter 6's, not three =/


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## xiawujing

Best is Fulgrim. The writing was intense, and also if I was going to fall to Chaos, I'd choose Slaanesh, wouldn't you?

Worst is Descent of Angels... OH MY FRICKEN LORD THAT TOOK FOREVER TO DRAG MYSELF THROUGH! The sequel might be ok, but that was such a long and boring piece of "meh". NEVER AGAIN!


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## gwmaniac

xiawujing said:


> Worst is Descent of Angels... OH MY FRICKEN LORD THAT TOOK FOREVER TO DRAG MYSELF THROUGH! The sequel might be ok, but that was such a long and boring piece of "meh". NEVER AGAIN!


Agreed, the book was such a waste of my money, good thing I used a coupon on it! I forced myself to finish it so I could continue with the series!


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## TrentLanthier

For best its hard for me to choose, I loved many of these books... my favorites being the first 3, Fulgrim and Legion.

Worst... Decent of Angels... it was so bad it turned me off of DA and made me look for another chapter to play...(I'm a fluff fan)


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## bitsandkits

loved the first 4 ,decent of angels and fulgrim were dire,legion was very good,loved how no one was the "hero" or the "villan" style,plus it was nice no to see the wider imperial army have more of a role in the plot.


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## dark angel

galaxy in flames was the best one so far, mechanicum was also good, wasnt to fussed on the rest thought prospero burns is going to be epic......i hope


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## War$m!7H

psh forget prospero. xD

lets see the IW sack their own homeworld. :suicide:


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## MyI)arkness

Fulgrim all the way, that book is just packed with awesomness. Hadnt read descent yet but i heard its quite bad, battle for abys was not so interesting, but that world eater's infiltration action i loved xD


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## Big Dave

The best book was Fulgrim, which showed that even primarchs have frailties.
Mechanicum, Flight of the Eisenstine and Legion were all good and well worth a read


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## Shaun_wi

The first three stick in my mind as the story spans all three books rather than just the one but I also enjoyed Flight and Fulgrim. Up to mechanicum now.


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## WarLexa

I think that the galaxy in fire the best!
Loken the best spacemarime!


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## Guilliman_40k

I absolutely loved Fulgrim, it is by far my favorite Horus Heresy book. The Mechanicum was my second favorite.


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## Brother Subtle

fulgrim for me, i loved the fall of the EC into chaos, starting subtle, then spiraling quickly until there was no turning back, i also loved the inner battle of fulgrim vs the chaos daemon.

2nd best was legion, i loved all the cloak and dagger of it.

3rd best was horus rising, as its the first time we meet loken and get a taste of pre heresy imperium.


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## Guilliman_40k

Ah yes Loken...one of my favorite Space Marine characters thus far. Unlike most SM's he actually has a head on his shoulders lol

Fulgrim was just a psychological thriller for me it showed people battling their daemons from withing just like Serena or whatever her name was when she killed all of those people just to 'perfect' her painting.


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## Brother Subtle

i love that bit! where she starts killing them and using their body juices to paint with!
and she ends up throwing them all in vat up the back. well i dont 'technically' love it, 
i just liked it how far choas took her to losing it all.


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## Guilliman_40k

I know! It was grotesquely wonderful in an extremely morbid way lmao


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## chromedog

The only one I can vote for is Mechanicum. It's the only one I could be bothered finishing.
The rest were just so ... meh (imho).


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## Guilliman_40k

Then please bother finishing them lol, dude trust me its worth it


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## Graf Spee

chromedog said:


> The only one I can vote for is Mechanicum. It's the only one I could be bothered finishing.
> The rest were just so ... meh (imho).


this is funny as i think mechanicum and battle for the abyss are the worst in the whole series. they do absolutely nothing for the story of the heresy and are so badly written i could have cried. no style, no character development and the most stupid ideas i've read so far. i was about to throw them to the trash more than once. these two are neatly followed by descent of angels.

the best imho are the first three. full of character, depth, perfectly believable inside views and tension. i almost wanted to choke the life out of erebus after horus rising. and they took time to develop the story and did not simply rush over it. fulgrim was also pretty good. as was legion (though the end was a bit hasty and not very convincing). dan abnett is the best writer so far i'd say..


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## Sgt Bilko

Darn this is a hard one but for me its either the 1st 3 or Fulgirm. 
To be honest if i had to pick i would go with Fulgrim as i love the back ground to the 
Emperors Children.


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## Alpha and Omega

Hmmm. I'd have to say that the best books were Fulgrim, Galaxy in Flames, and Legion. Fulgrim had a really good story and it developed what happened on Istavan. (Don't know if I spelled that right.) Galaxy in Flames had the best fighting and end out of all the books. Finally I just love Legion cus well I like the Alpha Legion. XD But the twist that there is actually 21 Primarchs is definately interesting. 

The worst in my opinion was Battle for the Abyss by far. The idea of as someone put it earlier "against all odds win" was retarded and not just because the Ultra Marines suck and didn't do anything in the Heresy. I did however thing that it was funny that all my favorite characters were the captains of the other Legions, Skrall, Mhotep, and Brygnar. I could care less about Ultra Marines. Bleh...:angry: Not to mention (still up for speculation) Alpharias was not killed by Roboute Guillaume. :victory:

Anyways just my opinion. :so_happy:


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## Guilliman_40k

Alpha and Omega said:


> The worst in my opinion was Battle for the Abyss by far. The idea of as someone put it earlier "against all odds win" was retarded and not just because the Ultra Marines suck and didn't do anything in the Heresy. I did however thing that it was funny that all my favorite characters were the captains of the other Legions, Skrall, Mhotep, and Brygnar. I could care less about Ultra Marines. Bleh...:angry: Not to mention (still up for speculation) Alpharias was not killed by Roboute Guillaume. :victory:
> 
> Anyways just my opinion. :so_happy:



I beg to differ....the Ultramarines may not have had that big of a role in the Horus Heresy, but neither did the Dark Angels, Space Wolves, because they had their own battles. The Dark Angels had their own internal problems with Luther and the Fallen ones. The Space Wolves had just finished the battle of Prospero when Horus attacked Terra. And the Ultramarines were attacked by the Word Bearers who they absolutely crushed. Now at the climax of the Siege of Terra those three legions were inroute to Terra. After the Horus Heresy ended most of the Space Marine legions were devestated and had suffered horrid casualties. So when Roboute Guilliman decreed that the Codex Astartes be implemented in all legions he became the Lord Commander of the Imperium and most of his legion was split to fill in for new chapters. So most of the SM chapters are made up of alot of Ultramarines. So yes the Ultramarines did alot for the Imperium after the Heresy.

And yes Guilliman DID kill Alpharius, he may not have killed Omegon but he did kill Alpharius.


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## deathbringer

Just read the first three and each one has stepped it up a notch
horus rising was a nice intro second one bettered it and
galaxy in flames was superb in parts
i loved the political sub plots more than the fighting 
thought the death of tarik torgaddon really didn't do it for me and the fact that nero vipus didnt get a tragic death was a tragedy 
though the accounts of lucius were fantastic and the ending was dramatic
and of course it made me realise how fucking awesome magnus is
he was the only primarch Horus feared
Cant wait for abnett to finish the real book
it is going to be awesome


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## bloodied sword

i liked a galxy in flames the most, fulgrim was average annd false gods was alright. i dont like the ultramarines cause they are a bunch of pretty boys who care more about how they look then the battles they fight. Omegon was killed by guilliman


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## Unforgiven302

For me the first three stand out because they actually had continuity and were directly involved with the main storyline of the series. Flight was an entertaining book, very fun to read but didn't stay on target with the first three. Same goes with Fulgrim. Long winded and at many times a chore to read but finished strong albeit not on course with the series really. Legion was not about the Alpha legion enough to even call the book Legion. It was an imperial army book that used the worst character titles and names that just added to the confusion of a poorly written book that went in no direction at all. I passed up Descent of Angels on the recommendation of a few people I know so I cannot comment. I am currently reading Battle for the Abyss and after 150+/- pages I am not too encouraged with the writing or the plot to be excited about finishing it. So far it is fairly poor.

My personal favorite that I would read again would be Galaxy in Flames. Really was written they way they all should be, gripping, entertaining and keeping the momentum of the storyline progressing forward.


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## RavenGuard123

loved fulgrim beacuse it showed how primarchs have their flaws
thought decsent of angels gave us a look at worlds before the imperium
my overall favourite has to be filight of the einstein i didnt like the look of it but it jus shows you cant judge a book by its cover


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## LimitingFactor

I have had to rethink this subject 

I posted earlier praising Battle for the abyss. It should be noted that i read this just after reading a very poor space wolf book...the lee lightner one  - as well as book one of the horus heresy.

compared with the space wolf book... bfta has charactors that spring from the page.... their armour / the colours, smells and so on. 

Compared with horus rising the pace is frantic.

It is a good book. For people very fresh to warhammer , or for certain younger readers perhaps, it is a very good book. because it is pacey.

i have now read horus rising, false gods, galaxy in flames, flight of the eisenstien and fulgrim.

i think ...so far that the 1st 4 books are the best. (horus rising becomes a great book once you have read the books that follow it because it creates tension).

books 2 and 3 are fantastic... they share books ones high quality writing and deliver on what book one promised. I found that they made me feel emotions beyond the simple enjoyment of reading about space marines.... anger, hatred, brotherhood and so on...

f.o.t.e - was a nice one .... Garo and His medic were well rendered.

Fulgrim... was not much better than battle for the abyss until that is... the final scene when certain marines turned into noisemarines (i would love to see that part made into a movie scene...very dark and funny). fabius bile was less fleshed out on paper than most charactors in battle for the abyss.

the best book so far then...(for me) , is book 3 , although it would not be so fun to read had i not read books 1 and 2.

the first 3 books drum home the humanity of the space marines and at times their demi god / tyrant aspects surface to leave the reader slightly shocked.

BFTA ... i read it again.. it is true it is not great but if your a world eater fan like me you would still enjoy skrall's exploits and you may finish the book happier than you will be when you finish fulgrim. In the book Fulgrim , the loyalists display of tactical/strategical suicide....could never be explained or satisfy.... why did the loyalists not virus bomb the party? where were their titans? why were the super heavy tanks not shooting at the chaos titan, instead of shooting at walls.... why didnt the loyalists crash a starship into the massed chaos defence?

dont read BFTA if your a word bearer fan. It is true...they seem to be inept at key moments.

my fav marine in the series just has to be Saul Tarvitz


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## Son of Russ

So far I have enjoyed the series...while the writing has been lackluster on a few books and in most at a few moments...all in all it just the begining of the Series, and while it did kick off with some great writing and build up - it has to come down and reflect on alot of the Imperiums views (not everyone are walking Gods); and the Word Bearers have indeed made themselves inept in there devout following of the Word even before there turn to Chaos....it is a well played out writing very similiar in the singlemindedness of modern day cult following...not the best written book in the series but BFTA was what it was a piece of the HH and merely a small part in the broader picture. The DoA was by far my biggest disappointment, felt it went too far back in setting up the Dark Angels, but again it is a small part of the bigger picture. I hope that as it progresses and response from readers help the writers and GW/BL create one Hell of A Series!


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## Marcus Vine

Without a doubt Horus Rising, the first one. What the book does so well is introducing you to the story and the characters so you really come to care about them and then suddenly in the second and thirth book you feel betrayed yourself. It´s also really epic with the battles


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## Unforgiven302

Just finished Battle for the Abyss and Mechanicum to round out the series for now. 

I'll start with Battle for the Abyss:

I thought it was a fairly good story, not too great but finished better then it started. It isn't a re-read by my standards but it does get an honorable mention. It does make me wonder why the Word Bearer's were shown as incompetent and almost tripping over there own feet throughout the entire book. I mean, One dude evades the entire crew of the biggest ship in the fleet for weeks on end, come on now. These are the guys who setup the entire civil war and they can't find one guy let alone get rid of a small frigate that's tailing them? It just didn't make them feel too evil. It reminded me of Scoobie Doo cartoons when they catch the bad guy at the end and unmask him, "If it wasn't for those meddling kids..." It really was a good plan that was derailed by a little group that shouldn't have had a chance. Ya know what I mean?

Mechanicum:

Now Mechanicum was entertaining and was a huge step forward with the Heresy. I mean now that the war is out in the open and "close to home" we see that the Emperor is still able to dismiss the actions on Mars and turn his back on the Mechanicum and his allies. Hum, just one more reason to dislike the imperial forces and understand the reasoning behind Horus and the others. You also see the Imperial Fists show there priorities in the defense of Mars from civil war. Yeah, land, hold the foundries so we can save our equipment first and if we have time we might help a little... oh, wait, we are under attack? Run for it and loot what you can! More like the Imperial "Middle Fingers" than the "Fists." 
I enjoyed the battles which were well described and did give a feel for enormous machines dominating the field of battle. I also rather enjoyed the character details that were presented. I could picture the characters and that was enjoyable more so than just space marines in battle armor or robes. So, I liked the book and thought it was entertaining albeit very predictable and straight forward.


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## kstills

Unforgiven302 said:


> Just finished Battle for the Abyss and Mechanicum to round out the series for now.
> 
> I'll start with Battle for the Abyss:
> 
> I thought it was a fairly good story, not too great but finished better then it started. It isn't a re-read by my standards but it does get an honorable mention. It does make me wonder why the Word Bearer's were shown as incompetent and almost tripping over there own feet throughout the entire book. I mean, One dude evades the entire crew of the biggest ship in the fleet for weeks on end, come on now. These are the guys who setup the entire civil war and they can't find one guy let alone get rid of a small frigate that's tailing them? It just didn't make them feel too evil. It reminded me of Scoobie Doo cartoons when they catch the bad guy at the end and unmask him, "If it wasn't for those meddling kids..." It really was a good plan that was derailed by a little group that shouldn't have had a chance. Ya know what I mean?
> 
> Mechanicum:
> *
> Now Mechanicum was entertaining and was a huge step forward with the Heresy. I mean now that the war is out in the open and "close to home" we see that the Emperor is still able to dismiss the actions on Mars and turn his back on the Mechanicum and his allies. Hum, just one more reason to dislike the imperial forces and understand the reasoning behind Horus and the others. You also see the Imperial Fists show there priorities in the defense of Mars from civil war. Yeah, land, hold the foundries so we can save our equipment first and if we have time we might help a little... oh, wait, we are under attack? Run for it and loot what you can! More like the Imperial "Middle Fingers" than the "Fists." *
> I enjoyed the battles which were well described and did give a feel for enormous machines dominating the field of battle. I also rather enjoyed the character details that were presented. I could picture the characters and that was enjoyable more so than just space marines in battle armor or robes. So, I liked the book and thought it was entertaining albeit very predictable and straight forward.


Ok, here's where the entire series falls apart for me. 

I understand the need to write stories like soap operas in order to gin up more book sales, however I'm absolutely stunned and disgusted by the lack of logic evidenced by any of the writers beside Abnett wrt this series. 

Mars, the home of all the ordinance that the Emperor will need to fight Horus, is abandoned? In fact at one point in the story, the author notes that the Imperial battle fleet retreats from orbit as the pro imperial and anti imperial Mechanicum forces battle it out above Mars.... 

I mean, wtf? 

I kept reading this series thinking that there was some cosmic reason that would be revealed, that all of the moronic inconsistencies would be finally drawn together into some kind of coherent plot line. I would have accepted the Emperor as a Chaos agent at this point, but more and more this series by comittee approach to writing this history is not only maddeningly illogical, but it's becoming increasingly unreadable.


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## dradcliffe09

Galaxy in Flames. Where else do you get to witness an Exterminatus? I'm waiting for the graphic novel, it's only a matter of time. Also, a HH book done Liber Chaotic style would be killer.


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## ChapterMaster22

i loved the dark angels books but galaxy in flames is an awsome book


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## Atsuno11

My favorite so far was definetly Galaxy in Flames. I really enjoyed seeing Horus' slip into Chaos really hit a high note. I also really enjoyed how they painted the loyalist marines. Betrayed and attacked by their brothers, they stood up and turned what should have been a slaughter into a war that slowed up Horus and gave humanity hope. 

A man with hope is a dangerous being indeed. (No quotes cause i don't think that's exact XD)


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## fatmantis

i agree with you guys the first three were excellent! the following books are ok but i would like to more of horus and his story but after the third book the stroy doesnt really move forward. its a shame as the first three were hard to put down, everyhting else is kinda yeah yeah read a few pages and put i down, real shame


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## Lord of the Night

Ive only read Fulgrim but I thought that was great. Eldrad Ulthran's appearance was very nice and thought Fulgrim himself was cool until he killed Vespasian, I hated him after that.

Im hoping that the Night Lords get a heresy series book soon, I want to see Konrad Curze's childhood and about the Night Lord actions during the crusade. Perhaps the end can show his death at the assassin's hand.


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## Mossy Toes

dradcliffe09 said:


> Also, a HH book done Liber Chaotic style would be killer.


Do you have _Horus Heresy: Collected Visions_? I think that that's the closest thing you'll get to the Liber Chaotica, for the HH.


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## dotalchemy

Fulgrim and Legion, purely because of the endings for both of them. I'm a dead sucker for books which hit home, and Fulgrim realizing the magnitude of what he'd done / the Cabal representative (forgotten his name) walking out the airlock of his own accord really made the books hit home.

So very well written, both of them.


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## Lord of the Night

dotalchemy said:


> Fulgrim and Legion, purely because of the endings for both of them. I'm a dead sucker for books which hit home, and Fulgrim realizing the magnitude of what he'd done / the Cabal representative (forgotten his name) walking out the airlock of his own accord really made the books hit home.
> 
> So very well written, both of them.


Definitely, when I read Fulgrim's ending I could picture Fulgrim in chains with a door of light ahead, then the Daemon closing that door and the light obscuring Fulgrim bit by bit until its just darkness.

An epic ending.


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## Sigmatus

Galaxy in Flames, hands down.

Though I have a suspicion Prospero Burns will be something special.


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## Lord of the Night

Sigmatus said:


> Though I have a suspicion Prospero Burns will be something special.


That and One Thousand Sons, both of those will be very good.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor

kstills said:


> Ok, here's where the entire series falls apart for me.
> 
> I understand the need to write stories like soap operas in order to gin up more book sales, however I'm absolutely stunned and disgusted by the lack of logic evidenced by any of the writers beside Abnett wrt this series.
> 
> Mars, the home of all the ordinance that the Emperor will need to fight Horus, is abandoned? In fact at one point in the story, the author notes that the Imperial battle fleet retreats from orbit as the pro imperial and anti imperial Mechanicum forces battle it out above Mars....
> 
> I mean, wtf?
> 
> I kept reading this series thinking that there was some cosmic reason that would be revealed, that all of the moronic inconsistencies would be finally drawn together into some kind of coherent plot line. I would have accepted the Emperor as a Chaos agent at this point, but more and more this series by comittee approach to writing this history is not only maddeningly illogical, but it's becoming increasingly unreadable.


Ok well here is how I rationalise it 

By the time of the civil war on Mars (the result being a victory for Horus) - The Emperor is strapped to the Golden Throne, basically unable to do anything, but keep the Imperial Webway conduit sealed, so he isn't in direct command. Malcador/Dorn is acting as regent.

There is not a particually heavy concentration of Imperial Forces in the Sol System at this time, although Dorn has recalled several Legions to make ready the defense of Terra (but they havn't arrived yet):

The Space Wolves were on Prospero.
The Ultramarines were at Calth.
The Raven Guard, Iron Hands and Salamanders had been decimated.
The Imperial Fists had garrisoned Terra.
The White Scars were acting in the Chondax System (near Prospero).
The Dark Angels were acting in the Shield Worlds.
The Blood Angels were getting massacred in the Signus Cluster (Signus Prime).

At the time of the fall of Mars, Dorn couldn't really launch a full scale invasion of Mars to reclaim it, he had only part of his legion (the rest having been ambushed by the Iron Warriors en route to Isstvan V) - and invading Mars would probably have crippled his legion. They were needed as close to full strength as possible for upcoming Siege of the Imperial Palace.

Mars was totally and utterly lost, and the Dark Mechanicum was in complete control. With everything else going on and resources at this point stretched thin, Dorn (sensibly in my opinion) orders a few companies of Imperial Fists to secure certain factories/forges on the surface of Mars and make off with vital equipment/supplies. Tactically this was the right thing to do and it would be a waste of Astartes and resources to attempt to help any remaining loyalist members of the Mechanicum on Mars.


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## Brother Subtle

^ dont worry about kstills COTE, its his way or no way. a bit like arguing with a door, except the door would have more intelligence.


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## sonofchaotica

for me so far its between horus rising and galaxy in flames, though i have high expectations for prospero burns as the ingenious mr abnett has penned it :grin:


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