Reddit reviews Gaunt's Ghosts: The Founding

War40k is a pretty intense universe.

I enjoy the books a lot, and there are a lot out there.

I recommend an omnibus to start off, like this one or Gaunts Ghosts if you want to read up on it from a different perspective.

My buddy gave me a copy of Gaunt's Ghosts for my first read. I'd recommend you do the same.

They're brilliantly written, paint a rich picture of the 40k universe, and Ibram Gaunt is among the most bad ass people (IMO) you'll ever read about.

However, the entire 40k universe is full of incredible characters.

Alright lets do this.

Fantasy:

You like friendship and grimdark? You get the Slayer series:
http://www.amazon.com/Gotrek-Felix-First-Omnibus-Novels/dp/1844163741/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426257019&sr=1-1&keywords=gotrek+and+felix+omnibus

You like malice and conniving and plot twists? You get the Darkblade Series:
http://www.amazon.com/Chronicle-Malus-Darkblade-Warhammer-Anthology/dp/1844165639/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426257058&sr=1-1&keywords=darkblade+omnibus

You like the Empire n shit? They did a whole series about every "part" of the army:
http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Omnibus-Warhammer-Chris-Wraight/dp/1849705879/ref=pd_sim_b_3?ie=UTF8&refRID=15PKR46KZZN2847VPRMN

The omnibus contains the arty, pikemen, and 2handed swords companies. There is also a Reiksguard book and some others.


40k:

You like comedy? You get Ciaphus Cain (currently 2 omnibus, books getting a bit stale now but the early ones are good):
http://www.amazon.com/Ciaphas-Cain-Hero-Imperium-Novels/dp/1844164667

You like philosophy (kinda)? You get the Night Lords series:
http://www.amazon.com/Night-Lords-Aaron-Dembski-Bowden/dp/184970676X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426256834&sr=1-1&keywords=night+lords+omnibus

You like pure bloody action? You get any of the Gaunts Ghosts:
http://www.amazon.com/Gaunts-Ghosts-Founding-Dan-Abnett/dp/1844163695/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426256866&sr=1-2&keywords=gaunts+ghost+omnibus

You like the movie The Dirty Dozen? You get The Last Chancers:
http://www.amazon.com/Last-Chancers-Warhammer-000-Novels/dp/1844163008/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426256913&sr=1-1&keywords=last+chancers+omnibus

You want all the pre-lore in the game? You start collecting the Horus Heresy books (up to like 30 of em):
http://www.amazon.com/Horus-Heresy-Box-Volumes-1-12/dp/1849708290/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426256963&sr=1-2&keywords=horus+heresy



I got plenty more. But these are good places to start. If you like one race in particular over others, let me know and I can recommend some race specific books for you.

If you like his comics work then you are going to love his WH40K novels. Start here

He also does the Inquisitor Eisenhorn series too.

Pick up a few of the books. I would read, in order:

Caiphas Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM

Gaunt's Ghosts

Eisenhorn

Ravenor

Those 4 will give you a fairly firm grounding of the lore and a feel for the universe. The first two are war books, the latter two focus on the inquisition.

Maybe start with his Gaunt's Ghosts series, it's pretty easy to read and awesome! :D

There are anthologies available now like this one: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Founding-Warhammer-40-000/dp/1844163695

which I think includes the first three books.

EDIT - Sorry Wappba, I didn't see you'd already replied with the same info. I agree, the Horus Heresy is also a must read! A selection of warhammer authors take it in turns to write the books so it makes for interestingly contrasting styles, I should go back and re-read that series!

For Warhammer 40k, I'd suggest Dan Abnett's Gaunts Ghosts series. It follows an Imperial guard regiment, i.e. regular guys like you and me, fighting the multitude of horrors and bad shit that comes from the 40k universe. Great look into the universe from a normal humans eyes, plus the writing is top notch. Here's an Amazon link to the first "omnibus" book that has the first three novels. There is like 12+ books so far.

Read the Gaunt's Ghosts books.

Here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Gaunts-Ghosts-Founding-Dan-Abnett/dp/1844163695/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1493099737&sr=8-2&keywords=gaunts+ghost+the+founding

Eisenhorn is probably the best possible place to start in 40k. You get every possible angle of 40k explored in this omnibus as well as a some fantastic characters. Add Ravenor for flavor.

After that, dive into the military side of things with Gaunt's Ghosts. This covers primarily the Imperium vs Chaos side of the conflict, but also the internal conflicts the Imperium suffers from.

Now that you're thoroughly acquainted with the human side, view the universe through the eyes of the super-human Space Marines in The Ultramarines Omnibus. This series shows the strengths (and weaknesses) of the Space Marines as well as introducing the terrifying Chaos Space Marines more thoroughly.

Cry for death to the False Emperor with Soul Hunter. Follow up with the sequels in Void Stalker and Blood Reaver to get a very interesting perspectives from the Renegades.

Finally, finish your introductory odyssey with The Horus Heresy. You'll be reading how the modern universe came to be.

This is a "fuck-ton" of reading and will keep you busy for 6 months to a year or more before you finish. These series are the best of the best in the novel side of things. There are huge amounts more in the Army Codexes ^^that ^^you ^^should ^^be ^^able ^^to ^^find ^^for ^^$0 ^^on ^^"sharing" ^^sites and other excellent novels. PM me anytime and I'll happily answer questions/suggestions.

Get the Ghost's novels in the Omnibuses, each has 3-4 novels in one for like $15. This is the first, followed by The Saint and The Lost. The last one isn't finished yet, Abnett's still writing the series.

I really like Dan Abnett's Warhammer books (you don't have to know the miniatures game to enjoy them). Gaunt's Ghosts, Eisenhorn, and Ravenor are all really good. They're pretty much non-stop action/war books. I look for the omnibus books on Amazon and get them used (3 books in one).

There are other Warhammer books in the Black Library, but I haven't tried the other authors.

For (currently) free Kindle books, David Weber's On Basilisk Station is the first book in the space-opera Honor Harrington series. The second book The Honor of the Queen, is one of my favorites in the entire series. Eric Flint's 1632 turned into a massive and awesome alternate-history series. If you'd like to delve into Alaskan-based murder mysteries, give Dana Stabenow's A Cold Day For Murder a try as the first in the some eighteen book Kate Shugak series.

For paid Kindle books, there's Hugh Howey's Wool Omnibus is the beginning of the dystopian Silo series; the followup Shift Omnibus is actually a prequel trilogy that I haven't gotten yet but is very readable. Naomi Novik's first novel in the alt-history Temeraire series, His Majesty's Dragon, is currently $.99.

In print, Elizabeth Moon's military fantasy The Deed of Paksenarrion is available used for a very affordable price and is an epic series. The Cage was my introduction to a fantasy universe written by SM Stirling, Shirley Meier, and Karen Wehrstein. Diana Gabaldon's Outlander is a sort of alternate history/light romance series set in Scotland that I've thoroughly enjoyed. Brent Weeks' assassin-based (excuse me, wetboy) fantasy Night Angel Trilogy was recently released as an omnibus edition. Empire from the Ashes collects Weber's Dahak sci-fi trilogy into an omnibus edition. Weber and John Ringo co-wrote March Upcountry and the other three novels in the sci-fi Prince Roger quadrilogy. If you haven't tried Harry Turtledove's alt-history sci-fi WW2 'Worldwar' series, In the Balance starts off a little slow plot-wise but picks up good speed. EE Knight's sci-fi/futuristic fantasy Vampire Earth starts off with Way of the Wolf. Mercedes Lackey wrote the modern-fantasy Born to Run with Larry Dixon, and the rest of the SERRAted Edge books with various other authors. Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk and slightly dystopian Snow Crash is hilarious and awesome. Maggie Furey's Aurian is the first of a fantasy quadrilogy that I enjoyed many years ago.

If you're at all familiar with the Warhammer 40k universe, the Eisenhorn Omnibus is Dan Abnett's wonderful look into the life of an Imperial Inquisitor. He's also written a popular series about the Tanith First-and-Only Imperial Guard regiment starting with The Founding Omnibus. He also wrote the first book in the Horus Heresy series, Horus Rising (I highly recommend reading the first three novels together as a trilogy and then cherry-picking the rest).

... and if you've read all that already, I'll be impressed.

Edit: Why yes, I do read a lot. Why do you ask?

Gaunt's Ghosts. An amazing book series. It showcases the universe from the perspective of a group of ordinary humans (in the sense that the group has a core that is similar to what a space-age sealteam 6 would be). It helps make it much more relatable by putting the other races in perspective, and benefits from some amazing writing.

http://www.amazon.com/Gaunts-Ghosts-Founding-Dan-Abnett/dp/1844163695

Can't recommend it enough.