So I’ve heard some descriptions of the 40,000 lore from a podcast I watch, and it sounds incredible, but there’s an awful lot of options to start from, with people recommending many different book series and youtube summaries. Is there a simpler approach, like just going into one standalone book to ground yourself before a bigger series? Or from a game to a tie-in book of some kind? Many thanks.
I would recommend starting with the introduction section of one of the rulebooks. The big ass rulebooks lay it all out for beginners, from the history of the imperium to an overview of the various alien factions. From there you can dive into novels and stuff.
The 3rd and 4th edition rulebooks are my personal favorites, although those are pretty dated if you’re looking for modern lore on Primaris marines, Votann, new Eldar factions, or the return of the Emperor’s holy sons [REDACTED] and [REDACTED].
If you’re interested in a specific faction, that faction’s codex will have reams of lore.
Eisenhorn
If you’re interested in reading any of the books, I would recommend starting with the Horus Heresy novels. There are a lot of them, and some are better than others, but the first three are a good place to start. They’re sort of the bigining of everything and lay a good foundation for the lore moving forward. The Lexicanum is a good wiki to rabbit hole on if you just want to ingest raw lore.
Awesome, thank you! Seems based on the collective suggestion I should check our Horus
Click yourself randomly through lexicanum and pick a book based on which stories you find the most intriguing. Or start with the Horus Heresy, they’re not bad books and it’s chronologically in order
Another vote for Horus Rising. They’re also in audiobook format. Just keep in mind the Horus Heresy time period is 10k years before current 40k so it’s kinda WH 30k and there is not a lot of xenos/alien content in there.
Almost anything by Dan Abnett is gold. I would put Chris Wraight in a very close second place and Aaron Dempski Bowden (ADB) in a close third. There are other good authors too John French and Graham McNeil.
Good standalone stories set in current 40k are also Armageddon, Dante, Blades of Damocles, And Lords of Silence (Chaos Space Marines)
Gaunt’s Ghosts is a great series about the Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum
Eisenhorn is a good Inquisitor series written like James Bond books.
Ciaphas Cain is for some lighthearted fun in a grimdark universe
