Per Usual: Images and links are from Lexicanum 

I know I was going to go over Ork Technology for this post but after reading the Right Rev’s post last night I wanted to share some easier series to start with, no because of length, but because they may be a bit easier to “ease” your self into the lore instead of landing in a drop pod like an Astartes.  There are actually genres within the Warhammer literary library, they have thrillers, action, mysteries, comedy, and horror (and that last one is a very scary thought).  The books I am going to recommend are not short nor is the series only a few books (except for Isenhorn), but they do focus on a smaller cast of characters and help to build up the universe a bit at a time.  Instead of focusing on the Imperium as a whole like the Rev is, these focus on groups of people just trying to complete a task, stay alive, or follow orders.

To me one of the best ways to start is Gaunt’s Ghosts series.  It starts with “First and Only” by Dan Abnett (who does all of the Gaunt’s Ghosts books) which is about the founding of new legion that goes horribly awry when Chaos crashes the founding.  The legion becomes a very small one and details their struggle to survive within the Munitorium’s brobnagian bureaucracy.  A very good series that starts with a group of soldiers trying to find a way to survive and grow.  The books (in order) are: First and Only, Ghostmaker, Necropolis, Honour Guard, The Guns of Tanith, Straight Silver, Sabbat Martyr, Traitor General, His Last Command, The Armour of Contempt, Only in Death, Blood Pact, Salvation’s Reach, The Warmaster, The Anarch, and The Vincula Insurgency.

To be honest my favorite series because it has a lot of humor, lots of action, and a very relatable hero(?).  I am not sure how many of you are familiar with The Flashman series, which had the first book published in 1969 (and are a good read themselves), but Commisar Ciphas Cain is very similar to the anti-hero in the Flashman series.  He is self deprecating, a self professed coward, but is also a deft shot, very handy with a chainsword, and knows how to use the troops he is leading to make himself look good.  The books are presented as presented as memoirs by his Inquisitorial lover with lots of footnotes which are often funny and give more background on the overall situation.  The audiobooks are fantastic as the voice actors (the job they do is so good I do not call it narration) is very British and is perfect for the characters.  Also, Cain faces basically all of the Imperium’s enemies so you get a feel for each faction.

Again in order: For the Emperor, Caves of Ice, The Traitor’s Hand, Death or Glory, Duty Calls, Cain’s Last Stand, The Emperor’s Finest, The Last Ditch, The Greater Good, Traitor’s Gambit, Choose Your Enemies, and Vainglorious.  There are 3 Omnibuses – Hero of the Imperium (books 1-3), Defender of the Imperium (books 4-6), and Savior of the Imperium (books 7-9).  I bought the ominbus editions and gave my individual books away to spread the love.

The complete list of novels, audiobooks, audio dramas, novellas, series and such can be found here.  If you scroll down it breaks it down by series, individual novels, and even which ones are anthologies.  It is a great resource to find your next read.

Now about Rev’s list:

1. Emperor’s a douchebag. He’s been was born 10,000 years before now (like, real now) and can’t be bothered to have his shit in order. He reads like Highlander fan-fiction had a baby with King Lear. Ain’t care, dude got what he deserved.  Yep, he was trying to get humanities shit in order but couldn’t take care of his own shit.  Any more up his own asshole and his skin would be on the inside. 
2. Orks would be perfect if not for the game designers/writer’s insistence on misspelling everything with a “z” and talkin’ like drunk chav ol da toim. ORK RIGHTS NOW!  Yep, but the bigger the Waaagggghhhh, the smarter and more erudite the upper orks become.  At their height they could build armor and weapons that could leave the Space Marines in the dust.  The leader of such a Waaagggghhhhh, is the size of a titan (about 200 feet tall) and the ork engineers can build incredible ships and structures.  It is all built into their DNA, but their has to be enough psychic energy to support such a level, which is why the Imperium makes a point of killing Warbosses before they can get a bit enough Waaagggghhhhh together to evolve.
3. Roboute Guilliman and the Ultramarines really are the complete buzzkills I was told.
4. Chaos Gods get a bad rap. Like, the stuff in these novels is so cartoonishly disgusting, evil and over the top that I can’t help but wonder what’s really going on. False flag, etc.  Maybe, but Nurgle is disgusting and look into how demons and Chaos marines are born/made, very disgusting.
5. All Space Marines are male, and yet there is no gay or trans Space Marines? Even when you’re a giant genetically-enhanced nightmare whose Life is Combat, you started out as the same shitty pre-pubescent stock that we as a society currently struggle to contain and sequester until they are at least somewhat tame. Something must persist.  When the kids come in, they very first thing that is done is basically a re-education camp, plus selective mind wipe, and lots of drugs to mold their psyches.
6. The setting gets a lot of (deserved) shit for being overly self-serious, but “World Eaters” is just a great name for a military unit. Or a band. Whatever.  Have you run across the Chao’s Noise Marines?  That is a fun group.

Next week we will do what the orks call technology but is more the psychic power of belief.