Big thanks to commenter Arcade on my first 40K article back in April for recommending these books to me. Much obliged, brother.
Warhammer 40,000 has quickly become one of my favorite fictional settings. There are so many cool stories with so many interesting alien factions with intriguing and horrifying settings; no matter how far into the rabbit hole you go, there is always more to discover. Like the world’s largest and most disturbing candy shop.
Across all the lore videos and deep-dives I’ve watched, a good majority of them have mentioned the Horus Heresy. Understandable; it would be more surprising if a fifty book long series written by multiple different authors didn’t have a strong affect on the setting. It’s one of the biggest and most important events in the Imperium’s long history. If you want to understand 40K, you need to understand the Heresy.
Luckily for those of you not willing to commit to fifty-plus books, it’s not a difficult concept to wrap your head around. If you want the short version, here’s a two minute cinematic by Games Workshop that will give you the general gist. But I’m a bookworm and a lore nerd. Sign me up for the long version, please.
Today, we’ll be covering the first three books of the Horus Heresy. These are:
- ‘Horus Rising‘ by Dan Abnett
- ‘False Gods‘ by Graham McNeill
- ‘Galaxy in Flames‘ by Ben Counter
It is the 31st Millennium. The Emperor of Mankind, beloved by all, has returned to Terra, leaving the Great Crusade to his son Horus, Primarch of the Luna Wolves and War Master of the Imperium. Under the leadership of the charismatic and powerful Horus, humanity continues to expand across the stars, assimilating lesser human civilizations and eradicating any alien scum to cross their paths.
Standing beside the War Master is the Mournival, his most elite soldiers and trusted brothers. There’s Ezekyle Abaddon, ‘Little Horus’ Aximand, Tarik Torgaddon, and our primary protagonist: Garviel Loken. With their guidance, Horus stays honest and honorable while driving the machine of war and politics forward.
The members of the Mournival make for an excellent ensemble cast. While every one is a badass super soldier, they also feel like genuine brothers. They bicker, they poke fun at each other, tell jokes together, and fight together. Even Horus, whom they all but worship as a divine figure, occasionally joins in on their shenanigans.
On the subject: Horus is a truly awe-inspiring character. He’s as charismatic as he is cunning and powerful. Yet beneath his massive form, inflated ego, and near god-like presence, there beats a heart of gold. Horus imagines a better Imperium, one that does not wage war across the stars but spreads peace and acceptance. But an empire is a heavy burden to bear, even for a mighty Primarch, and every failure hurts him worse than any battle scar. While obviously a flawed character, Horus struck me as a decent man with good intentions.
But we all know that good intentions pave the road to hell. Besides, the title of the series kind of spoils it all.
Accompanying the soldiers of the Great Crusade are the Remembrancers, those who document the ongoing war across the stars. Through them, we get a more human view of events in all their glory and horror. But as events begin to spiral downwards, they begin to more openly criticize the Astartes, bringing an interesting question into light: how does one apply human justice to an angel of death?
The simple answer is: you don’t.
Before we continue on with the plot, I want to highlight how good the world building is in this little trilogy. The Imperium is a society based around logic; its people aren’t blood thirsty sycophants out of blind belief (yet) but because the ideals of the Emperor, cruel and brutal as they are, simply make too much sense. Yet even logic may be twisted into faith under the right circumstances. By all leaps of logic, the Emperor is God, contrary to what he’d have you believe.
While the Imperium is a society of logic, its greatest threat comes from the chaos lurking within. As well as without. Enter the Warp, your #1 method of travel that definitely won’t expose you to cosmic beings beyond human comprehension.
Across these first three books, the Great Crusade travels across many worlds and faces many foes. Most dangerous of all being the dark temptations of the Chaos gods. Though humanity denies the existence of demons or gods, such entities indeed exist, hiding within the Warp and preying on the minds of humans. Should one fall under their seduction, they will be warped into a vicious monster out of their own worst nightmares. Be they man, Space Marine, or even a Primarch.
This is where the character of Horus truly shines. You know right from the outset that he’s going to do a heresy. But the series humanizes Horus so well that you start to wonder: is his fall truly the work of the Chaos gods? Or was Horus, so proud and thoughtful and ambitious, always going to rebel against his father with or without any their intervention?
When the inevitable betrayal does finally occur, it’s truly a sight to behold. Much of the series was spent highlighting the close-knit brotherhood within the Mournival. Such a bond does not dissolve instantly; it slowly unravels until the hammer falls and all hell breaks loose.
And in true 40K fashion, the destruction is as horrifying as it is complete. Virus bombs that melt through all organic matter, orbital bombardments that leave the landscape desolated, finished by a brutal war between brothers. Everything in the trilogy leads up to this one betrayal, and it feels like a true landmark event.
I’m reviewing these three books together because they feel less like a trilogy and more like the first chapter in the utterly massive Horus Heresy. By the end, almost all of the characters I had come to know and love had either died painfully or disappeared to meet an unknown fate. Yet as conclusive as that is, it sets the stage for the entire series to come perfectly.
In terms of overall writing quality, the three books are mostly equal to one another. All three writers have their own distinct flare, but the trilogy is remarkably cohesive as a whole. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be ‘Horus Rising‘; that one was perfectly paced, served as a strong introduction to the setting and characters, and gave us a delicious serving of both over-the-top Space Marine action, disturbing Chaos-demon cosmic horror, and interesting sci-fi philosophy. In any case, all three books are good reads in their own right.
With them done and dusted, I’m excited to see what else the Horus Heresy series has in store. Do I expect every single one to be a gem? No; with this many, there are bound to be more than a few duds. Nevertheless, I’m more than willing to give them all a fair shot.
Particularly ‘Vulkan Lives‘ because the Salamanders are my favorite Space Marine chapter. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.
These books make for a fantastic introductory point to Warhammer 40K lore. It does a great job of bringing in newbies like myself and explaining much of the setting. That said, it is a human-focused story, so if you want to know more about the other factions, like Necrons, Eldari, Orks, or Tyranids, you won’t find that here.
Altogether, I had a great time with these books! They’re strong grim-dark sci-fi stories with great characters and intriguing themes, with just enough charm and humor to not utterly depress you with its darker elements. It’s a fun read and a great starting point for Warhammer lore. Not to mention they’re short reads you can get for cheap, so they won’t consume your time or the contents of your wallet.
Completely unlike actual Warhammer 40,000.
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