What makes Horus Rising so special is that much of the narrative is delivered through the eyes of remembrancers - human analogs to modern-day writers, artists, and journalists - who are tasked with following along on a deployment of the Luna Wolves Space Marine chapter. Also written by Dan Abnett, it takes place around the year 30,000 and begins the story of the internecine conflict that will give birth to the eternal war of the 41st millennium. Horus Rising is the first book in the massive 60-plus-volume series known as the Horus Heresy, and as far as I’m concerned, the most important novel in the entire series.

Like the Inquisition series that follows, and many other books on this list, the Audible version is performed spectacularly by Toby Longworth who, for all intents and purposes, is the modern voice of the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Standout titles include Necropolis, Honour Guard, and Straight Silver. The central character is Imperial commissar Ibram Gaunt, a political officer who is also a military leader, in the vein of the classic Russian commissars.

Written by Dan Abnett ( Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, Alien: Isolation), the books are inspired by the Sharpe series of novels by Bernard Cornwell, as well as a 1993 television series adaptation starring Sean Bean. If you’re looking for blood-and-guts close-quarters fighting with lots of bayonet charges, look no further. These common folk are thrust Hobbit-like into one of the most treacherous frontlines: the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.

The Tanith First are a group of skilled Imperial Guard soldiers from a rural, relatively peaceful world. Image: Games Workshopįirst and Only kicks off the multi-volume Gaunt’s Ghosts series, one that tells the story of the Tanith First and Only. Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and several of the Tanith First and Only.

Horus heresy order