The Monthly 40k Book Club!

[Grephaun]

Heyla all, and welcome to the Monthly 40k Book Club on behalf of the esteemed Fluff Masters’ Clan.

Welcome to the Book Club
You are perhaps wondering what this is all about. The point of this thread, and indeed of the Book Club itself, is to inspire other members to read more of the excellent Warhammer 40,000 fluff that has been written over the years. The fluff of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is what makes the tabletop game so interesting, and over the past ten years it has with the ever-expanding series of Black Library publications become something of a hobby in its own right. The fluff provides what the hard-line crunch lacks; inspiration for new and interesting armies, role-playing games, and writing of fan fiction, and the fluff novels themselves make for some excellent entertainment.

What we will be reading
The Book Club will primarily be reading Black Library novels, which are easily found and cheaply bought or borrowed at the local library, but other types of fluff such as background and art books are also welcome and might be touched upon in the future, depending on the members’ interests.

To ensure that the books being read by the Book Club are some that appeal to most participants, I would kindly ask members to send me suggestions for books they would like the Book Club to read. Everyone can send in suggestions for books. Please include in your submission:

• The title of the book.
• The name of the author.
• Your reason for suggesting that particular book. It doesn’t need to be more than a few lines, but please let me and the other Book Club participants know why your suggestion in particular is a good choice for the monthly reading.

Received suggestions will be posted in this thread each month, and a book chosen by common poll. Whichever title gets the most votes will be the chosen book for that month, to be announced by me in this post. Whoever feels like participating then have one month to pick up the book, read it, ask questions about it, praise it, complain about it, discuss it, etc. All comments and questions on the chosen book are welcome here. Next month a new book is chosen the same way, and so on.

Please send in suggestions!
Since this is the very beginning of our Book Club I very much need suggestions for books! So please send me a PM with suggestions for your favourite Black Library novels, or that new title you’re just dying to get your hands on, or that book you got for Christmas by your aunt but never bothered to open, or something your friends recommended you to read. Anything is valid, as long as it’s Warhammer 40,000.

Inspiration can be found at Black Library's homepage: www.blacklibrary.com

This is your chance to learn more about the fluff of Warhammer 40,000! And read some great books too. Welcome aboard!

~Grephaun.

[Mikhail The Heretic]

Well first up i would like to suggest Storm Of Iron written by Graham McNeil. A good book set before the 13th black crusade about a Company of Iron Warriors who are besieging an Adaptus Mechanicus ruled world the story is good and it is well written.

[BrokenWingZ]

I say we start with any CS Goto book.. let just get the guy everyone hates out of the way.

[Pancakes]

Bok Name: Dead Sky Black Sun
Author: Graham McNiel...I think
Whats it about: DSBS is about two Ultramarienes who are banished from thier chapter, but they are attacked while in the SPace Ship and a Demon tells them to aquaire that Heart Of Blood and sends them to Medrengard, Planet of the Iron Warriors. And Blah blah blah its well written and gots lots of action.

[darkreever]

Come now BrokenWingZ, while Goto's DoW novels aren't worldwide best sellers like Abnett's or McNeil they are fairly interesting. I admit I didnt like DoW or ascension but I loved Warrior Brood and can't wait for the next one to come out...

Warrior Brood
C.S. Goto
Very few books make mention of either the deathwatch or anything having to do with the Badab war, WB however includes both with only a few errors as far as fluff went. The portrayal of how the Mantis Warriors were closely watched regardless of how good their actions was a big hit on the infallalable elite super-human demi gods of the imperium that marines normally portray. Then of course there were the tyranids, and how absorbing the mind of an intellegent being affects them as a whole.

Warrior Brood is excellently written, always hinting to something else but keeping the truth a secret the whole time truly builds up for good character to character suspense.

[BrokenWingZ]

I didnt say i didnt like his books.. but if you look around he is one of the most hates BL wrtites because of his lack of Wh40k fluff. I totaly agree WB was an awesome book.. you just have to replace his messed up fluff for what you know is right

[Silver Wings]

Darkreever makes a good pitch on Warrior Brood, which I had previously discounted.

Nominate the Firewarrior book, because we all love how a single Firewarrior can kill everything n.p. Maybe not then.

Or any Gaunts Ghost-read one read em all. Or is that a bit harsh? (i've only read 6 or so).

Cool idea on a book club Grephaun.

[Grephaun]

I think both ’Storm of Iron’ and ’Warrior Brood’ are excellent suggestions. Pancakes, while ‘Dead Sky, Black Sun’ is also a good read, it’s actually part of not only one but two series, and unfortunately it doesn’t stand alone very well in my opinion; however, I will keep your suggestion in mind for later, when we hopefully have read the prequels and know enough of the background to understand the finer points of the book.

Thank you for submitting your suggestions, and please do keep them coming, we need a few different books to choose from come voting time.

Also, in light of Silver Wings’ post, I think I must shamefully admit that I actually enjoyed reading both ‘Dawn of War: Ascension’ and ‘Fire Warrior’. :blush: The former appealed to me because I for some odd reason have taken a liking towards the Blood Ravens (and because of the obvious but unfortunately entirely platonic relationship between Jonas and Meritia. Maybe I am just a silly girl craving romance here, but Space Marines don’t get nearly enough lovin’ in my opinion :rolleyes, whereas the latter, while suffering somewhat from being converted to fiction from a first-person shooter game, was written by Simon Spurrier who has one of the most beautiful narrative styles I’ve ever encountered. I consider his books small works of art, really; it’s like I can almost taste the words, and I find the flavour very appealing. ‘Fire Warrior’ had me hooked on his books, ‘Lord of the Night’ swept me off my feet, and after ‘Xenology’ I’m willing to sell him my soul for a sequel to either of those books. ^_^

I am actually re-reading ‘Fire Warrior’ at the moment, after a discussion we had in the Fluff Masters’ Clan thread about whether or not Farsight is Mont’au; now, some 150 pages into the book, I’m coming to like that explanation more and more. The Mont’au also explains why the main character seems so overpowered; while he’s a Tau, he’s also something else, much more primitive and brutal than your average Tau. Anyway, now I’m babbling, and this isn’t the thread for that (unless of course we’re going to read ‘Fire Warrior’, that is. )

Additional suggestions on books are very welcome!

~Greph.

[Brother Ares]

May i suggest maybe Grey Knigts. this book shows you what it is like to be a grey knight and just how messed up the =I= can be at time or maybe Firewarrior ar even Warrior Brood( I really like this book, becuase I like the mantis warriors and the quest to destroy the Astral Claws)

[BDThrall89]

Hello everyone, and now since we have a book club, I just want to recommend the following books.

Fifteen Hours by Mitchel Scanlon, the main reason is it's the closest book out there that shows how a simple guardsman's life is and how short a life can be.

And the series Deus Encarmine and Deus Sanguinius by James Swallow, the main reasons is that both are very good books and unique in how the Inquisiton, abiet a evil member, can have power over marines, as well it helps show the inhumanity at times both chaos and the Imperium both show to it's followers/enemies.