Good question! There are of course dozens of places on the internet where people talk about their experiences with books. Goodreads and Amazon reviews come to mind. There are also a few review sites that are more or less dedicated to 40k literature - it’s not like they would run out of material to review anytime soon. There’s also reddit, on which 40k-fans from all across the world come together to talk about stuff that interests them.

Going by reviews always has the danger of putting someone else’s opinion over one’s own. Take them with a heavy grain of salt, especially from reddit. From my own experience: Sometimes reviews are spot-on and wonderfully articulated mirrors to my own experience,  but there are also plenty of books, especially from the Heresy, that got lacking or outright scathing reviews which I really enjoyed and there are fan-favourites with which I just didn’t have a good time or that I plain disliked. It all depends on personal taste and what you look for in a story. That’s why I refrained from picking and choosing stories to go into the reading order based on my own preferences or evaluation of which stories are “good” or “bad”, because I wouldn’t want to ostracise a story or an author just because I didn’t get along with them. Each to their own.

My advice would be to find a place or a reviewer that seems to share your taste in what you like in a story and use that as a first hint as to what books to look more closely into. 

One review site I can personally recommend is [Track of Words](https://www.trackofwords.com/). Track of Words (ToW for short) has reviewed almost every Heresy novel, novella and even short story there is. What I like about ToW is especially that he is more interested in looking at the qualities of a story rather than seeking out negatives (which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t look critically at stories, mind you). This recommendation is of course also dependent on the fact that I found out over time that my own and ToW’s taste in literature overlap, which makes his review a good fit for me. That might not be true for you, so just look around yourself!

Good question! There are of course dozens of places on the internet where people talk about their experiences with books. Goodreads and Amazon reviews come to mind. There are also a few review sites that are more or less dedicated to 40k literature - it’s not like they would run out of material to review anytime soon. There’s also reddit, on which 40k-fans from all across the world come together to talk about stuff that interests them.
Going by reviews always has the danger of putting someone else’s opinion over one’s own. Take them with a heavy grain of salt, especially from reddit. From my own experience: Sometimes reviews are spot-on and wonderfully articulated mirrors to my own experience,  but there are also plenty of books, especially from the Heresy, that got lacking or outright scathing reviews which I really enjoyed and there are fan-favourites with which I just didn’t have a good time or that I plain disliked. It all depends on personal taste and what you look for in a story. That’s why I refrained from picking and choosing stories to go into the reading order based on my own preferences or evaluation of which stories are “good” or “bad”, because I wouldn’t want to ostracise a story or an author just because I didn’t get along with them. Each to their own.
My advice would be to find a place or a reviewer that seems to share your taste in what you like in a story and use that as a first hint as to what books to look more closely into.
One review site I can personally recommend is <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/">Track of Words</a>. Track of Words (ToW for short) has reviewed almost every Heresy novel, novella and even short story there is. What I like about ToW is especially that he is more interested in looking at the qualities of a story rather than seeking out negatives (which doesn’t mean that he doesn’t look critically at stories, mind you). This recommendation is of course also dependent on the fact that I found out over time that my own and ToW’s taste in literature overlap, which makes his review a good fit for me. That might not be true for you, so just look around yourself!

Pretty much anywhere that books are sold.

If you want to go to the source, you can buy Warhammer literature directly from [Black Library](https://www.blacklibrary.com/) and [Games Workshop](https://www.games-workshop.com/). Nowadays blacklibrary.com only sells the digital formats, while games-workshop.com sells the physical editions. For buying physical editions you could also visit your local Games Workshop store, if you have one of these close by. 

Games Workshop and Black Library are big, international businesses and you can find at least a few of their books in almost any well sorted book store. Barnes & Nobles, Simon & Schuster, Thalia, even local book stores usually have a few Warhammer books in their SFF section. If not, you can usually order them. 

Amazon, as it does, sells basically anything released by Black Library, except new Hardback releases which Games Workshop seems to be holding back for themselves. Amazon is a convenient place to shop for the digital formats of Black Library stories, too, but any other digital book vendor should suffice.

Pretty much anywhere that books are sold.
If you want to go to the source, you can buy Warhammer literature directly from <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/">Black Library</a> and <a href="https://www.games-workshop.com/">Games Workshop</a>. Nowadays blacklibrary.com only sells the digital formats, while games-workshop.com sells the physical editions. For buying physical editions you could also visit your local Games Workshop store, if you have one of these close by.
Games Workshop and Black Library are big, international businesses and you can find at least a few of their books in almost any well sorted book store. Barnes &amp; Nobles, Simon &amp; Schuster, Thalia, even local book stores usually have a few Warhammer books in their SFF section. If not, you can usually order them.
Amazon, as it does, sells basically anything released by Black Library, except new Hardback releases which Games Workshop seems to be holding back for themselves. Amazon is a convenient place to shop for the digital formats of Black Library stories, too, but any other digital book vendor should suffice.

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think the point is worth repeating: No, you do not have to buy whole anthologies if you’re only interested in one particular story. You can buy every short story and novella individually as an eBook, if you want to do so. It’s just more expensive: an individual eBook of a short story costs 3.50€ at blacklibrary.com, while the eBook of a whole Horus Heresy anthology costs 8.99€. The anthologies contain at least 8 and up to 21 stories (all of which you’ll encounter at some point of the Omnibus Reading Order) so it’s fair to say that Black Library’s short story eBooks are in comparison severely overpriced. Still, there are moments when an investment of 9€ is 6€ too much, so the choice is up to you."

I’ve mentioned this before, but I think the point is worth repeating: No, you do not have to buy whole anthologies if you’re only interested in one particular story. You can buy every short story and novella individually as an eBook, if you want to do so. It’s just more expensive: an individual eBook of a short story costs 3.50€ at blacklibrary.com, while the eBook of a whole Horus Heresy anthology costs 8.99€. The anthologies contain at least 8 and up to 21 stories (all of which you’ll encounter at some point of the Omnibus Reading Order) so it’s fair to say that Black Library’s short story eBooks are in comparison severely overpriced. Still, there are moments when an investment of 9€ is 6€ too much, so the choice is up to you.&quot;

The first omnibus is ***[Heresy Rising](/omnibus/i-heresy-rising)***. It contains the first five novels of the series plus three short-stories, starting with the first novel of the series *Horus Rising* by Dan Abnett.

The first omnibus is <a href="/omnibus/i-heresy-rising">Heresy Rising</a>. It contains the first five novels of the series plus three short-stories, starting with the first novel of the series Horus Rising by Dan Abnett.

It’s a valid point. The Horus Heresy is a satisfying story and 30k is almost a setting of its own, but because the conclusion of the war and the future of the setting are already known, the series plays a lot with foreshadowing, subverted expectations and dramatic irony. 

I’d say it certainly enhances your experience with the Heresy the more you know about the future that will come from it. It’s a bit like with the Star Wars Prequels: While you can watch Star Wars Episode I-III and enjoy them all on their own, they were certainly written with viewers in mind that are already familiar with Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi from Episode IV. 

BUT: Do you know the story about how bumblebees, physics-wise , shouldn't be able to fly, but are luckily ignorant of that fact and therefore just do it anyway? I know that many readers didn’t bother with reading into Warhammer 40,000 and still had a great time with the Heresy books. Some books of the Horus Heresy sold so well that they landed on the New York Times Bestseller list and I’m sure that not everyone of such a massive audience did research beforehand. 

A way to learn about the universe of Warhammer 40,000 that’s both entertaining, engaging and resource-saving are YouTube videos. Not every 40k channel can be recommended in good conscience and there are some real stinkers out there, but some are their videolength worth in gold. I’ve assembled some recommendations for those \[here](LINK to “Useful Stuff”). Those provide valuable context for the 41st millenium and the times that preceded it. If you want to start with the Heresy asap, but feel like you’re missing some context to really engage with it, these are a great way to get up-to-speed.

It’s a valid point. The Horus Heresy is a satisfying story and 30k is almost a setting of its own, but because the conclusion of the war and the future of the setting are already known, the series plays a lot with foreshadowing, subverted expectations and dramatic irony.
I’d say it certainly enhances your experience with the Heresy the more you know about the future that will come from it. It’s a bit like with the Star Wars Prequels: While you can watch Star Wars Episode I-III and enjoy them all on their own, they were certainly written with viewers in mind that are already familiar with Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi from Episode IV.
BUT: Do you know the story about how bumblebees, physics-wise , shouldn't be able to fly, but are luckily ignorant of that fact and therefore just do it anyway? I know that many readers didn’t bother with reading into Warhammer 40,000 and still had a great time with the Heresy books. Some books of the Horus Heresy sold so well that they landed on the New York Times Bestseller list and I’m sure that not everyone of such a massive audience did research beforehand.
A way to learn about the universe of Warhammer 40,000 that’s both entertaining, engaging and resource-saving are YouTube videos. Not every 40k channel can be recommended in good conscience and there are some real stinkers out there, but some are their videolength worth in gold. I’ve assembled some recommendations for those [here](LINK to “Useful Stuff”). Those provide valuable context for the 41st millenium and the times that preceded it. If you want to start with the Heresy asap, but feel like you’re missing some context to really engage with it, these are a great way to get up-to-speed.

An example of a good article about just that question is ”Getting Started with Black Library - Warhammer 40,000” by Track of Words:

* [GETTING STARTED WITH BLACK LIBRARY – WARHAMMER 40,000](https://www.trackofwords.com/2016/09/24/getting-started-with-black-library-warhammer-40000/)

It collects a lot of recommendations for good starting places, depending on what interests you about the setting. The article also looks beyond the usual Getting Started recommendations at the different formats and factions being published by Black Library. 

ToW also published some other [Black Library Guides](https://www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-guides-2/): some about specific sub-settings of 40k, some about specific kinds of books and some about the other settings of the Warhammer worlds, like the fantasy setting Age Of Sigmar. 

Those are by far not the only articles out there about these questions, though, so just google around and you should find a few. Here are some more examples:

* [Getting started with the Black Library (Part One)](https://tinyplasticpeople.com/2021/03/getting-started-with-the-black-library-part-one/)
* [WARHAMMER 40K: WHERE TO START READING](<https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/warhammer-40k-where-to-start-reading/>)
* [Beginner’s Guide to Warhammer 40,000](<https://www.wh40kbookclub.com/beginners-guide-to-warhammer-40000/>)
* [So you want to get in to 40k?](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/6xvrmu/so_you_want_to_get_in_to_40k/)

Black Library and Games Workshop themselves are surprisingly unhelpful in that regard. For completion's sake, here’s a Warhammer Community article about good starting novels for the Astra Militarum (the human armies of Regular Joe’s fighting in the trenches of 40K):

* [Getting Started With Black Library – Astra Militarum](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/03/31/getting-started-with-black-library-astra-militarum/)

An example of a good article about just that question is ”Getting Started with Black Library - Warhammer 40,000” by Track of Words:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/2016/09/24/getting-started-with-black-library-warhammer-40000/">GETTING STARTED WITH BLACK LIBRARY – WARHAMMER 40,000</a></li>
</ul>
It collects a lot of recommendations for good starting places, depending on what interests you about the setting. The article also looks beyond the usual Getting Started recommendations at the different formats and factions being published by Black Library.
ToW also published some other <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-guides-2/">Black Library Guides</a>: some about specific sub-settings of 40k, some about specific kinds of books and some about the other settings of the Warhammer worlds, like the fantasy setting Age Of Sigmar.
Those are by far not the only articles out there about these questions, though, so just google around and you should find a few. Here are some more examples:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://tinyplasticpeople.com/2021/03/getting-started-with-the-black-library-part-one/">Getting started with the Black Library (Part One)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.grimdarkmagazine.com/warhammer-40k-where-to-start-reading/">WARHAMMER 40K: WHERE TO START READING</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.wh40kbookclub.com/beginners-guide-to-warhammer-40000/">Beginner’s Guide to Warhammer 40,000</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/6xvrmu/so_you_want_to_get_in_to_40k/">So you want to get in to 40k?</a></li>
</ul>
Black Library and Games Workshop themselves are surprisingly unhelpful in that regard. For completion's sake, here’s a Warhammer Community article about good starting novels for the Astra Militarum (the human armies of Regular Joe’s fighting in the trenches of 40K):
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/03/31/getting-started-with-black-library-astra-militarum/">Getting Started With Black Library – Astra Militarum</a></li>
</ul>

Check out the [Additional References](/additional-references).

The videos I recommend there are a good, accessible and low-effort place to start. 

There are two main text-based sources for 40k lore on the internet: [Lexicanum ](https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page)and the [Warhammer Wiki by Fandom](https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000). Lexicanum is more thorough with sources and reads more like your classic Wikipedia articles, but can read a bit dry sometimes. The Warhammer Wiki looks more lively and usually reads more engaging, but sometimes isn’t as clear in the sourcing for its content. Both are great ways to have a look throughout the worlds of Warhammer. Just go on a bender and click yourself through various articles. Just keep in mind that these are still second hand sources assembled by fans, so take them with a grain of salt. 40k lore also changes over time, and sometimes different official Games Workshop publications will give conflicting accounts of the same event or character.

I think a great way to get a grip of the 41st millenium is also to just buy one of the older [Warhammer 40,000 Rulebooks](https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Game_System_Rulebooks_(List)). The 9th Edition of the tabletop game is the current one, so because the Rulebooks for the older Editions are now out-dated and irrelevant for the game they sell quite cheaply on eBay. The rules for the game themselves are of course not of interest for someone purely interested in 40k as a literary setting, but those Rulebooks are also stuffed with lore and art that are supposed to provide an overview of and wet the appetite for the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

Check out the <a href="/additional-references">Additional References</a>.
The videos I recommend there are a good, accessible and low-effort place to start.
There are two main text-based sources for 40k lore on the internet: <a href="https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page">Lexicanum </a>and the <a href="https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Warhammer_40,000">Warhammer Wiki by Fandom</a>. Lexicanum is more thorough with sources and reads more like your classic Wikipedia articles, but can read a bit dry sometimes. The Warhammer Wiki looks more lively and usually reads more engaging, but sometimes isn’t as clear in the sourcing for its content. Both are great ways to have a look throughout the worlds of Warhammer. Just go on a bender and click yourself through various articles. Just keep in mind that these are still second hand sources assembled by fans, so take them with a grain of salt. 40k lore also changes over time, and sometimes different official Games Workshop publications will give conflicting accounts of the same event or character.
I think a great way to get a grip of the 41st millenium is also to just buy one of the older <a href="https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Game_System_Rulebooks_(List)">Warhammer 40,000 Rulebooks</a>. The 9th Edition of the tabletop game is the current one, so because the Rulebooks for the older Editions are now out-dated and irrelevant for the game they sell quite cheaply on eBay. The rules for the game themselves are of course not of interest for someone purely interested in 40k as a literary setting, but those Rulebooks are also stuffed with lore and art that are supposed to provide an overview of and wet the appetite for the universe of Warhammer 40,000.

Pretty much, yeah. It’s a side-effect of being a fan of a fictional universe that’s an IP owned by an international company. Writing about “the hobby” is always also advertising for the products of Games Workshop and Black Library. I’m not getting paid by either Games Workshop or Black Library to spend my time with this site, though, if that’s your question. I'd be open to suggestions, though!

Pretty much, yeah. It’s a side-effect of being a fan of a fictional universe that’s an IP owned by an international company. Writing about “the hobby” is always also advertising for the products of Games Workshop and Black Library. I’m not getting paid by either Games Workshop or Black Library to spend my time with this site, though, if that’s your question. I'd be open to suggestions, though!

*[Track of Words](https://www.trackofwords.com/)* is a sci-fi/fantasy literature blog that has been online since 2014. Since then, there has been a continuous stream of new content on there, and a lot of it is about Black Library stories, both Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar. 

And I mean seriously continuous - the blog is updated at least weekly, sometimes daily, with new reviews, blog posts, author interviews and overview articles (the blog had 348 posts [just in 2018](https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/01/04/looking-back-at-2018-and-forward-to-2019/) and in total counts almost 1,400 Black Library related posts). That means that this blog is a *massive* archive of content related to the literary works of Warhammer - if you're interested in any of the Black Library novels released in the last 15 years, expect ToW to have a review or an interview about it available at hand.

As a navigational tool, the reviews on there are very useful, not just to get a bearing on the qualities of a certain story - you might disagree with ToW's tastes, after all - but because they also give neat, spoiler-free summaries of what a story is about as well as contextualize the story amongst the various Black Library series and imprints as well as the authors other work. 

I love [the author interviews](https://www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-interviews-2/) especially, as they give interesting insights into an authors thought processes behind a certain novel or series and provide context for what an author is trying to achieve with this or that. And then there is the occasional massive interview with titans like [Dan Abnett](https://www.trackofwords.com/2017/04/21/interview-with-dan-abnett-april-2017-part-one/), long-time editor-in-chief of the Horus Heresy [Laurie Goulding](https://www.trackofwords.com/2017/02/11/black-library-there-and-back-again-with-laurie-goulding/) or cult author [Peter Fehervari](https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/05/19/peter-fehervari-talks-40k-and-the-dark-coil-part-one/) that take a deep-dive into years of story-telling.

<a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/">Track of Words</a> is a sci-fi/fantasy literature blog that has been online since 2014. Since then, there has been a continuous stream of new content on there, and a lot of it is about Black Library stories, both Warhammer 40k, Warhammer Fantasy and Age of Sigmar.
And I mean seriously continuous - the blog is updated at least weekly, sometimes daily, with new reviews, blog posts, author interviews and overview articles (the blog had 348 posts <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/2019/01/04/looking-back-at-2018-and-forward-to-2019/">just in 2018</a> and in total counts almost 1,400 Black Library related posts). That means that this blog is a massive archive of content related to the literary works of Warhammer - if you're interested in any of the Black Library novels released in the last 15 years, expect ToW to have a review or an interview about it available at hand.
As a navigational tool, the reviews on there are very useful, not just to get a bearing on the qualities of a certain story - you might disagree with ToW's tastes, after all - but because they also give neat, spoiler-free summaries of what a story is about as well as contextualize the story amongst the various Black Library series and imprints as well as the authors other work.
I love <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/black-library/black-library-interviews-2/">the author interviews</a> especially, as they give interesting insights into an authors thought processes behind a certain novel or series and provide context for what an author is trying to achieve with this or that. And then there is the occasional massive interview with titans like <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/2017/04/21/interview-with-dan-abnett-april-2017-part-one/">Dan Abnett</a>, long-time editor-in-chief of the Horus Heresy <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/2017/02/11/black-library-there-and-back-again-with-laurie-goulding/">Laurie Goulding</a> or cult author <a href="https://www.trackofwords.com/2018/05/19/peter-fehervari-talks-40k-and-the-dark-coil-part-one/">Peter Fehervari</a> that take a deep-dive into years of story-telling.

The Horus Heresy 'Black Books' are [supplementary books for the Horus Heresy tabletop game](https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horus_Heresy_(Forge_World_Series)). 

The books were released by Forge World, a daughter company of Games Workshop, and are both rulebooks for the tabletop game as well as quasi-historical books about the times of the Heresy. They are written like historical texts from an in-universe source, containing vast amounts of in-depth lore about the history of the Legions from their inception towards the end of the Unification Wars through their involvement in the Great Crusade and into the civil war of the Heresy. 

Every Black Book contains extensive background texts and rules for a handful of Legions (or factions like the Custodes) as well as chosen events or battles from the Heresy. 

The Black Books add a lot of texture to the setting as a whole, but were quite expensive (70£ per book) and are, as far as I'm aware, not sold anymore by Forge World. The 'Black Books' are also *not* narrative novels and are therefore not listed in the reading order.

If you are interested in the lore contained in the books, I recommend the lore  videos by Youtuber [Oculus Imperia](https://www.youtube.com/@OculusImperia) about the times of the Heresy, as these are often adaptations of the content of the Black Books. Check out the *Videos*-section of our [Additional References](/additional-references) for a list of links.

The Horus Heresy 'Black Books' are <a href="https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/The_Horus_Heresy_(Forge_World_Series)">supplementary books for the Horus Heresy tabletop game</a>.
The books were released by Forge World, a daughter company of Games Workshop, and are both rulebooks for the tabletop game as well as quasi-historical books about the times of the Heresy. They are written like historical texts from an in-universe source, containing vast amounts of in-depth lore about the history of the Legions from their inception towards the end of the Unification Wars through their involvement in the Great Crusade and into the civil war of the Heresy.
Every Black Book contains extensive background texts and rules for a handful of Legions (or factions like the Custodes) as well as chosen events or battles from the Heresy.
The Black Books add a lot of texture to the setting as a whole, but were quite expensive (70£ per book) and are, as far as I'm aware, not sold anymore by Forge World. The 'Black Books' are also not narrative novels and are therefore not listed in the reading order.
If you are interested in the lore contained in the books, I recommend the lore videos by Youtuber <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@OculusImperia">Oculus Imperia</a> about the times of the Heresy, as these are often adaptations of the content of the Black Books. Check out the Videos-section of our <a href="/additional-references">Additional References</a> for a list of links.

About other Questions

"The Horus Heresy is a science fiction book series about an intergalactic civil war amongst a star-spanning human empire, which functions as a prequel to the dystopian science fiction setting of Warhammer 40,000. 

It’s being written by a team of authors and has been published by British publisher Black Library since 2006. The mainline series consists of fifty-four (54) books with various adjacent stories and spin-offs, starting with *Horus Rising* (2006) by Dan Abnett. 2019 saw the release of the final book released under the mainline *Horus Heresy* imprint, *The Buried Dagger*. 

There are still spin-off labels under which books are being released, though, like *The Siege of Terra, The Primarchs* or *Horus Heresy Characters*, not to mention the occasional release of short stories and eBooks. 

The *Siege of Terra* books are particularly noteworthy: The *Siege* is an eight-book mini-series that serves as the finale to the overarching story of the Horus Heresy. The first *Siege*-novel, *The Solar War* (2019) was published only shortly after *The Buried Dagger* and continued the story of the series at large into its final chapter. 

2024 saw the release of the final book of the series, *The End and the Death Volume III* by Dan Abnett, marking the true end of the *Horus Heresy* as a whole.

&quot;The Horus Heresy is a science fiction book series about an intergalactic civil war amongst a star-spanning human empire, which functions as a prequel to the dystopian science fiction setting of Warhammer 40,000.
It’s being written by a team of authors and has been published by British publisher Black Library since 2006. The mainline series consists of fifty-four (54) books with various adjacent stories and spin-offs, starting with Horus Rising (2006) by Dan Abnett. 2019 saw the release of the final book released under the mainline Horus Heresy imprint, The Buried Dagger.
There are still spin-off labels under which books are being released, though, like The Siege of Terra, The Primarchs or Horus Heresy Characters, not to mention the occasional release of short stories and eBooks.
The Siege of Terra books are particularly noteworthy: The Siege is an eight-book mini-series that serves as the finale to the overarching story of the Horus Heresy. The first Siege-novel, The Solar War (2019) was published only shortly after The Buried Dagger and continued the story of the series at large into its final chapter.
2024 saw the release of the final book of the series, The End and the Death Volume III by Dan Abnett, marking the true end of the Horus Heresy as a whole.

Warhammer 40,000 (or 40k for short) is a dystopian science fiction setting that's about the trials and tribulations of humans and aliens in the war-torn future of the 41st millenium.

The setting was invented in the late 80s as the background to a tabletop game released by the British company Games Workshop. 40k was originally an off-shoot of Games Workshop’s fantasy setting Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but since then 40k’s success as a game and the width and breadth of its lore have exponentially expanded. The tabletop game is currently in its 9th edition and 40k has been adapted across a vast range of media, primarily in video games and books. Games Workshop founded the publisher Black Library in 1997 as a part of the business designed specifically for publishing fiction set in the Warhammer worlds. Since then, hundreds of novels and short stories have been written about the various conflicts and factions of 40k.

Warhammer 40,000 (or 40k for short) is a dystopian science fiction setting that's about the trials and tribulations of humans and aliens in the war-torn future of the 41st millenium.
The setting was invented in the late 80s as the background to a tabletop game released by the British company Games Workshop. 40k was originally an off-shoot of Games Workshop’s fantasy setting Warhammer Fantasy Battles, but since then 40k’s success as a game and the width and breadth of its lore have exponentially expanded. The tabletop game is currently in its 9th edition and 40k has been adapted across a vast range of media, primarily in video games and books. Games Workshop founded the publisher Black Library in 1997 as a part of the business designed specifically for publishing fiction set in the Warhammer worlds. Since then, hundreds of novels and short stories have been written about the various conflicts and factions of 40k.

Pretty terrible, most of the time. The tagline of the setting is "In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war", which should cue you in as to how pleasant of a place it is. Grimdark is the name of the game here: the "heroes" are morally questionable at best, the "villains" range from organ-hunting gangsters to planet devouring monstrosities from beyond space and time, and to die a worthy death is pretty much the happiest ending one can hope for. 

Almost all of humanity is ruled by the Imperium of Man, a star-spanning empire that's as per [the official intro text](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Warhammer40000) "the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable". The universe is also populated by various alien races, most of which are hostile to humanity and to each other. The Imperium itself is xenophobic by culture and by law, so the relationships between most of the alien and human factions of the setting are governed by suspicion, fear or outright hatred.  The Imperium is a rotting behemoth defined by an all-encompassing militarization, a humongous bureaucratic apparatus and the state-religion of the Imperial Church. 

The central figure of faith and government of the Imperium is the God-Emperor of Mankind. The God-Emperor is the most powerful human psychic of all time and in ancient times founded the Imperium and personally led a crusade to unite humanity. The Emperor has been entombed in the life-support engine of the Golden Throne on Terra (Earth) for ten thousand years after he was mortally wounded at the end of a cataclysmic civil war. This civil war, instigated by the rebellious Warmaster Horus Lupercal, became known as The Horus Heresy.

Pretty terrible, most of the time. The tagline of the setting is &quot;In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war&quot;, which should cue you in as to how pleasant of a place it is. Grimdark is the name of the game here: the &quot;heroes&quot; are morally questionable at best, the &quot;villains&quot; range from organ-hunting gangsters to planet devouring monstrosities from beyond space and time, and to die a worthy death is pretty much the happiest ending one can hope for.
Almost all of humanity is ruled by the Imperium of Man, a star-spanning empire that's as per <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Warhammer40000">the official intro text</a> &quot;the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable&quot;. The universe is also populated by various alien races, most of which are hostile to humanity and to each other. The Imperium itself is xenophobic by culture and by law, so the relationships between most of the alien and human factions of the setting are governed by suspicion, fear or outright hatred.  The Imperium is a rotting behemoth defined by an all-encompassing militarization, a humongous bureaucratic apparatus and the state-religion of the Imperial Church.
The central figure of faith and government of the Imperium is the God-Emperor of Mankind. The God-Emperor is the most powerful human psychic of all time and in ancient times founded the Imperium and personally led a crusade to unite humanity. The Emperor has been entombed in the life-support engine of the Golden Throne on Terra (Earth) for ten thousand years after he was mortally wounded at the end of a cataclysmic civil war. This civil war, instigated by the rebellious Warmaster Horus Lupercal, became known as The Horus Heresy.

To answer that, let me quote the first paragraph of 40k's [classic intro text](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Warhammer40000): 

> It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.

Sounds pretty grim, huh? Well, the short answer to the question above is that the Horus Heresy is the reason why the Emperor ended up sitting "immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth" in the first place.

To answer that, let me quote the first paragraph of 40k's <a href="https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Quotes/Warhammer40000">classic intro text</a>:
<blockquote>
It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries The Emperor has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the Master of Mankind by the will of the gods, and master of a million worlds by the might of his inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the Imperium for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day, so that he may never truly die.
</blockquote>
Sounds pretty grim, huh? Well, the short answer to the question above is that the Horus Heresy is the reason why the Emperor ended up sitting &quot;immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth&quot; in the first place.

While the "current times" of Warhammer 40,000 are set in the 41st millenium (hence the title), the Horus Heresy is set in the 31st millenium, so 10.000 years earlier. Shorthand for the time-era of the Heresy among fans is "30k" to distinguish it from “40k”.

At that time, the Emperor was still alive and well. He was leading "the Great Crusade", an effort to conquer every one of the thousands of scattered human colonies across the universe. To do this, he had created twenty Legions of Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who famously "know no fear". Each of the Legions was being led by a singular being: a primarch. The primarchs were the pinnacle of the Emperor’s genetic experiments, demigods created in a fusion of science and magic. The primarchs were known and considered themselves as "the sons of the Emperor", although the degree to which they were actually biologically related to the Emperor is up for debate. 

When the Great Crusade was close to achieving its ultimate goal, the Emperor retired from leading the Crusade personally. To be able to focus on His secret projects on Terra, He gave the title of Warmaster to the primarch Horus Lupercal. Horus should from then on be first among equals amongst his primarch-brothers and lead the Great Crusade in his father's stead.

It's at this point where the first Horus Heresy novel, *Horus Rising* (2006), starts off. 

For reasons that will become apparent while reading the Horus Heresy books, the Warmaster will turn against his father and declare war on the Imperium he helped to build. Horus starts a rebellion that will see half of his brothers and their Space Marine Legions assembled under his banner. An apocalyptic civil war between traitors and loyalists breaks out which tears the Imperium apart. The climax of the war is the Siege of Terra, in which nine traitor Legions under Horus himself lay siege to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. It's there that the fate of humanity, the Emperor and the galaxy will ultimately be decided. It's there when the "grim darkness of the far future" of the 41st millenium will be born.

While the &quot;current times&quot; of Warhammer 40,000 are set in the 41st millenium (hence the title), the Horus Heresy is set in the 31st millenium, so 10.000 years earlier. Shorthand for the time-era of the Heresy among fans is &quot;30k&quot; to distinguish it from “40k”.
At that time, the Emperor was still alive and well. He was leading &quot;the Great Crusade&quot;, an effort to conquer every one of the thousands of scattered human colonies across the universe. To do this, he had created twenty Legions of Space Marines, genetically enhanced super-soldiers who famously &quot;know no fear&quot;. Each of the Legions was being led by a singular being: a primarch. The primarchs were the pinnacle of the Emperor’s genetic experiments, demigods created in a fusion of science and magic. The primarchs were known and considered themselves as &quot;the sons of the Emperor&quot;, although the degree to which they were actually biologically related to the Emperor is up for debate.
When the Great Crusade was close to achieving its ultimate goal, the Emperor retired from leading the Crusade personally. To be able to focus on His secret projects on Terra, He gave the title of Warmaster to the primarch Horus Lupercal. Horus should from then on be first among equals amongst his primarch-brothers and lead the Great Crusade in his father's stead.
It's at this point where the first Horus Heresy novel, Horus Rising (2006), starts off.
For reasons that will become apparent while reading the Horus Heresy books, the Warmaster will turn against his father and declare war on the Imperium he helped to build. Horus starts a rebellion that will see half of his brothers and their Space Marine Legions assembled under his banner. An apocalyptic civil war between traitors and loyalists breaks out which tears the Imperium apart. The climax of the war is the Siege of Terra, in which nine traitor Legions under Horus himself lay siege to the Imperial Palace on Old Earth. It's there that the fate of humanity, the Emperor and the galaxy will ultimately be decided. It's there when the &quot;grim darkness of the far future&quot; of the 41st millenium will be born.

About the Horus Heresy

Did I already mention that the Horus Heresy is a *massive* series? 

The mainline series consists of fifty-four (54) books, starting with *Horus Rising* (2006) and ending with *The Buried Dagger* (2019). Sixteen of these books are anthologies which in sum contain, if my count is right, one-hundred and forty (140) short-stories and twenty-five (21) novellas. And that’s not the end of it: the *Siege of Terra*-series adds a further ten novels and three novellas to that number, the *Primarchs*-novels are scheduled to count eighteen when all have been written, there are books being released under the *Horus Heresy Characters*-imprint *and* there are still scattered Horus Heresy short stories and novellas that so far haven’t been bundled in an anthology.

It’s *a lot*.

The Horus Heresy is a huge, branching narrative with lots and lots of characters, armies and factions. There are eighteen Space Marine Legions alone, all of which have individual reasons for entering the war on the side that they do, have their own story and experience an arc over the years of the conflict. So the books of the series, by necessity, jump around a lot between times, places and characters to account for all the various players, theatres of war and stories-yet-to-be-told. 

So it’s not just a particularly long series, it’s also told in a non-linear fashion from book to book, which can lead to some issues while reading it. More on that below.

Did I already mention that the Horus Heresy is a massive series?
The mainline series consists of fifty-four (54) books, starting with Horus Rising (2006) and ending with The Buried Dagger (2019). Sixteen of these books are anthologies which in sum contain, if my count is right, one-hundred and forty (140) short-stories and twenty-five (21) novellas. And that’s not the end of it: the Siege of Terra-series adds a further ten novels and three novellas to that number, the Primarchs-novels are scheduled to count eighteen when all have been written, there are books being released under the Horus Heresy Characters-imprint and there are still scattered Horus Heresy short stories and novellas that so far haven’t been bundled in an anthology.
It’s a lot.
The Horus Heresy is a huge, branching narrative with lots and lots of characters, armies and factions. There are eighteen Space Marine Legions alone, all of which have individual reasons for entering the war on the side that they do, have their own story and experience an arc over the years of the conflict. So the books of the series, by necessity, jump around a lot between times, places and characters to account for all the various players, theatres of war and stories-yet-to-be-told.
So it’s not just a particularly long series, it’s also told in a non-linear fashion from book to book, which can lead to some issues while reading it. More on that below.

No, I don't think there's an objectively "best'' or "right" way to read the series. There are various ways to approach this, each with their own  upsides and downsides. Different readers have different wants and needs when it comes to approaching a series like this, so there's no reading order that'll work for everyone. 

There are for example reading orders that reduce the amount of books one “has” to read to get to the end, while others zero in on particular story-threads to avoid confusion and seemingly unnecessary tangents. I think they all have their merit and will be the right choice for some readers. I hope the same is true of my own reading order that’s being presented here. I’ll talk more in-depth about different reading orders below.

No, I don't think there's an objectively &quot;best'' or &quot;right&quot; way to read the series. There are various ways to approach this, each with their own upsides and downsides. Different readers have different wants and needs when it comes to approaching a series like this, so there's no reading order that'll work for everyone.
There are for example reading orders that reduce the amount of books one “has” to read to get to the end, while others zero in on particular story-threads to avoid confusion and seemingly unnecessary tangents. I think they all have their merit and will be the right choice for some readers. I hope the same is true of my own reading order that’s being presented here. I’ll talk more in-depth about different reading orders below.

Of course, you could. All of the original readers who read along with the series from 2006 onwards did, after all. *I* did. One of the reasons there are so many different opinions and recommendations for Horus Heresy reading orders, including my own one, is that reading the series in order of publication can lead to a few downsides and potential issues along the way."

Of course, you could. All of the original readers who read along with the series from 2006 onwards did, after all. I did. One of the reasons there are so many different opinions and recommendations for Horus Heresy reading orders, including my own one, is that reading the series in order of publication can lead to a few downsides and potential issues along the way.&quot;

I think the major issue of approaching the series by following the books purely in sequence of publication is the danger of “Heresy Burnout”. All the non-linear jumping between factions, timelines and characters from book to book can become tiresome after a while. Quite often you come out of the exciting ending to a novel, are eager for what comes next and then the series has to go "so next up we look at this altogether different faction, and for that we have to dial the clock all the way back to…”. Worst case is when the series starts to feel random and like it's spinning its wheels. 

Another issue: An upside of reading the series in the "classic way" should be that at least you’re not in danger of missing anything important because you won’t be jumping around between stories, right? Unfortunately, that's also only partly true. 

The problem arises because short-stories and novellas weren’t necessarily written for the anthology in which they were eventually released in with the numbered books. For example: The novella *Aurelian* by Aaron Dembski-Bowden was originally released in 2011 as a premium limited edition release to tie in with his novel *The First Heretic*, Book 14 of the series. After it sold out, the limited edition novella wasn’t regularly available until it was finally re-released five years later in the anthology *Eye of Terra*, Book 35 of the series. So a reader just following along with the numbered books would only encounter this tie-in to novel #14 over twenty books "too late".

Issues like this can tax a reader and lead to the effect of “right novel at the wrong time”. There are certain novels that just aren’t interested in moving the overarching story of the Heresy into its next phase, but just want to tell an entertaining story about a specific theatre of war or a certain aspect of the setting. There are also novels that move away from the faction that a given reader is right then really invested in and instead look at someone or something entirely different. An already impatient reader who has already read through a few books just because "it was their turn" might not be receptive to such a novel at that moment and discard it when it doesn’t immediately click for them. That novel, which the reader might have enjoyed if read "at the right moment”, will probably never be touched again while the reader moves on, even more impatient with the next instalment.

It’s here that the various reading orders come into play, which try to avoid these and other potential problems and guide the reader along and between the branching story-lines of the series. The great thing is that now that all of the mainline Heresy books have already been released and are regularly available, new readers are free to choose which books to buy and in which order to approach them.

I think the major issue of approaching the series by following the books purely in sequence of publication is the danger of “Heresy Burnout”. All the non-linear jumping between factions, timelines and characters from book to book can become tiresome after a while. Quite often you come out of the exciting ending to a novel, are eager for what comes next and then the series has to go &quot;so next up we look at this altogether different faction, and for that we have to dial the clock all the way back to…”. Worst case is when the series starts to feel random and like it's spinning its wheels.
Another issue: An upside of reading the series in the &quot;classic way&quot; should be that at least you’re not in danger of missing anything important because you won’t be jumping around between stories, right? Unfortunately, that's also only partly true.
The problem arises because short-stories and novellas weren’t necessarily written for the anthology in which they were eventually released in with the numbered books. For example: The novella Aurelian by Aaron Dembski-Bowden was originally released in 2011 as a premium limited edition release to tie in with his novel The First Heretic, Book 14 of the series. After it sold out, the limited edition novella wasn’t regularly available until it was finally re-released five years later in the anthology Eye of Terra, Book 35 of the series. So a reader just following along with the numbered books would only encounter this tie-in to novel #14 over twenty books &quot;too late&quot;.
Issues like this can tax a reader and lead to the effect of “right novel at the wrong time”. There are certain novels that just aren’t interested in moving the overarching story of the Heresy into its next phase, but just want to tell an entertaining story about a specific theatre of war or a certain aspect of the setting. There are also novels that move away from the faction that a given reader is right then really invested in and instead look at someone or something entirely different. An already impatient reader who has already read through a few books just because &quot;it was their turn&quot; might not be receptive to such a novel at that moment and discard it when it doesn’t immediately click for them. That novel, which the reader might have enjoyed if read &quot;at the right moment”, will probably never be touched again while the reader moves on, even more impatient with the next instalment.
It’s here that the various reading orders come into play, which try to avoid these and other potential problems and guide the reader along and between the branching story-lines of the series. The great thing is that now that all of the mainline Heresy books have already been released and are regularly available, new readers are free to choose which books to buy and in which order to approach them.

I think recommendations for reading orders can broadly be grouped into several types. 

The classic way, as mentioned above, is not to bother with any reading order at all and just read the books in order of publication, starting with *Horus Rising* all the way through to *The Buried Dagger* and then onward to the *Siege of Terra*. 

The second type of reading order are versions of “Just the Essentials”. They are basically the answer to questions like “What are must-reads of the Heresy?”, “Which books do I have to read to get to the Siege asap?” or “Which books can I skip?”. 

A third type are basically answers to “Which stories are about X?”. The resulting reading orders might, for example, pick out one of the eighteen Legions or a particularly noteworthy character, assemble every story that’s relevant to them and put them in sequence. Black Library themselves actually did release one of these at one point, but split them over several issues of the magazine *White Dwarf* and didn't make them available anywhere else since then.

A noteworthy fourth mention is the reading order assembled by Black Librarium. Members of this French 40k fan forum have created [a gigantic flowchart](<https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nmceq5/horus_heresy_spoilerfree_reading_order_v30_black/>) which puts every single Horus Heresy novel, novella and short-story in sequence to each other. It’s seriously impressive and I can only tip my hat to them. 

And then there's of course our own version of a Horus Heresy reading order, the omnibus reading order, which combines elements of all the reading orders above.

I think recommendations for reading orders can broadly be grouped into several types.
The classic way, as mentioned above, is not to bother with any reading order at all and just read the books in order of publication, starting with Horus Rising all the way through to The Buried Dagger and then onward to the Siege of Terra.
The second type of reading order are versions of “Just the Essentials”. They are basically the answer to questions like “What are must-reads of the Heresy?”, “Which books do I have to read to get to the Siege asap?” or “Which books can I skip?”.
A third type are basically answers to “Which stories are about X?”. The resulting reading orders might, for example, pick out one of the eighteen Legions or a particularly noteworthy character, assemble every story that’s relevant to them and put them in sequence. Black Library themselves actually did release one of these at one point, but split them over several issues of the magazine White Dwarf and didn't make them available anywhere else since then.
A noteworthy fourth mention is the reading order assembled by Black Librarium. Members of this French 40k fan forum have created <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nmceq5/horus_heresy_spoilerfree_reading_order_v30_black/">a gigantic flowchart</a> which puts every single Horus Heresy novel, novella and short-story in sequence to each other. It’s seriously impressive and I can only tip my hat to them.
And then there's of course our own version of a Horus Heresy reading order, the omnibus reading order, which combines elements of all the reading orders above.

I’ve already talked about the pros and cons of reading the series in publication order above.

The “Just the Essentials" orders have the advantage of, ideally, protecting a reader from Heresy Burnout by just playing all the hits and reducing the daunting size of the series into something that seems more manageable. Their disadvantage is that many good stories as well as most of the anthologies usually fall through the cracks because they don't cover major events of "move the story forward". Books like *Damnation Of Pythos* or *Battle For The Abyss* might not be to everyone's taste, but they are a joy to some and should have their place somewhere. 

Picking individual arcs and following them from A to Z has the advantage of sticking with something a reader is interested in, but will soon run into problems because of the interconnectivity of the series. If you just stick with one character or faction all the way through, there’s at some point bound to happen some crossover or important event left or right from your chosen story-line that directly affects it. This missing context lessens the impact of story-lines and might lead to those irritating “Wait, did I miss something?”- and “Sorry, am I supposed to know you?”-moments.

[The Black Librarium flowchart](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nmceq5/horus_heresy_spoilerfree_reading_order_v30_black/) is an impressive achievement and was an invaluable source for my own reading order project. The flowchart has the advantage of accounting for every single story, but is in my opinion too cumbersome, vast and intimidating to work as an actual reading guide especially for beginners. I think it can occasionally also be a downside that the flowchart arranges stories mostly alongside the in-universe time-flow rather than narrative reasoning behind the order. Sometimes a prequel is better read *after* the original story.

I’ve already talked about the pros and cons of reading the series in publication order above.
The “Just the Essentials&quot; orders have the advantage of, ideally, protecting a reader from Heresy Burnout by just playing all the hits and reducing the daunting size of the series into something that seems more manageable. Their disadvantage is that many good stories as well as most of the anthologies usually fall through the cracks because they don't cover major events of &quot;move the story forward&quot;. Books like Damnation Of Pythos or Battle For The Abyss might not be to everyone's taste, but they are a joy to some and should have their place somewhere.
Picking individual arcs and following them from A to Z has the advantage of sticking with something a reader is interested in, but will soon run into problems because of the interconnectivity of the series. If you just stick with one character or faction all the way through, there’s at some point bound to happen some crossover or important event left or right from your chosen story-line that directly affects it. This missing context lessens the impact of story-lines and might lead to those irritating “Wait, did I miss something?”- and “Sorry, am I supposed to know you?”-moments.
<a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/nmceq5/horus_heresy_spoilerfree_reading_order_v30_black/">The Black Librarium flowchart</a> is an impressive achievement and was an invaluable source for my own reading order project. The flowchart has the advantage of accounting for every single story, but is in my opinion too cumbersome, vast and intimidating to work as an actual reading guide especially for beginners. I think it can occasionally also be a downside that the flowchart arranges stories mostly alongside the in-universe time-flow rather than narrative reasoning behind the order. Sometimes a prequel is better read after the original story.

An “omnibus” (pl. omnibuses) is “an anthology of previously released material linked together by theme or author, especially in book form” (<https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnibus>). In the context of Black Library releases, they’re large-scale anthologies that usually collect several previously released novels alongside accompanying short stories or novellas. Just type in “omnibus” in the search engine of blacklibrary.com and you’ll find dozens of releases.

Black Library originally released three Horus Heresy omnibuses of their own: *Crusade’s End, The Last Phoenix* and *The Razing of Prospero*. Each of these collected 2-3 novels plus a few short stories or novellas that link the novels or expand on their characters or themes. Black Library stopped releasing more of the Horus Heresy omnibuses after the third one and has at some point stopped selling them altogether, even in digital formats.

I really liked what Black Library did with these books, because I think they are neat ways of arranging the series and can account for many of the potential problems of other reading orders. Thus, the idea for the Omnibus Reading Order was born. 

The Omnibus Reading Order assembles every novel, novella and short story of the mainline Heresy series into twenty-one omnibus-anthologies. While the omnibuses arrange a selection of stories into a linear order, there’s not a unilateral chronological order in which the omnibuses themselves have to be read in. I put all the omnibuses into a flowchart a.k.a. [Omnibus Map](/reading-order) which guides a reader along potential ways to move from omnibus to omnibus. I also explain potential sequels in the *Follow-Up* section of each omnibus subsite. 

Mind you: “our” omnibuses are only conceptual, not actually available physical or digital products. We do not work with Black Library or Games Workshop and do not sell any of these stories of our own. The Omnibus Reading Order is supposed to be a guide to reading the various Horus Heresy stories in satisfying, comprehensive and thematically fitting ‘story-packages’. To assemble and actually read one of the omnibuses for yourself, you have to buy the ‘Required Books' which I’ve listed for each of the omnibuses from Black Library, Games Workshop or an independent book vendor.

An “omnibus” (pl. omnibuses) is “an anthology of previously released material linked together by theme or author, especially in book form” (<a href="https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnibus">https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/omnibus</a>). In the context of Black Library releases, they’re large-scale anthologies that usually collect several previously released novels alongside accompanying short stories or novellas. Just type in “omnibus” in the search engine of blacklibrary.com and you’ll find dozens of releases.
Black Library originally released three Horus Heresy omnibuses of their own: Crusade’s End, The Last Phoenix and The Razing of Prospero. Each of these collected 2-3 novels plus a few short stories or novellas that link the novels or expand on their characters or themes. Black Library stopped releasing more of the Horus Heresy omnibuses after the third one and has at some point stopped selling them altogether, even in digital formats.
I really liked what Black Library did with these books, because I think they are neat ways of arranging the series and can account for many of the potential problems of other reading orders. Thus, the idea for the Omnibus Reading Order was born.
The Omnibus Reading Order assembles every novel, novella and short story of the mainline Heresy series into twenty-one omnibus-anthologies. While the omnibuses arrange a selection of stories into a linear order, there’s not a unilateral chronological order in which the omnibuses themselves have to be read in. I put all the omnibuses into a flowchart a.k.a. <a href="/reading-order">Omnibus Map</a> which guides a reader along potential ways to move from omnibus to omnibus. I also explain potential sequels in the Follow-Up section of each omnibus subsite.
Mind you: “our” omnibuses are only conceptual, not actually available physical or digital products. We do not work with Black Library or Games Workshop and do not sell any of these stories of our own. The Omnibus Reading Order is supposed to be a guide to reading the various Horus Heresy stories in satisfying, comprehensive and thematically fitting ‘story-packages’. To assemble and actually read one of the omnibuses for yourself, you have to buy the ‘Required Books' which I’ve listed for each of the omnibuses from Black Library, Games Workshop or an independent book vendor.

To reiterate: I don’t presume that collecting the Horus Heresy in omnibuses is The Best Way To Read The Series™, because I don't think there is an unanimous "best way". 

My reasoning is that it accounts for many of the downsides of the other reading orders: It accounts for the diversity of the series, because every story is included somewhere. It gives the reader flexible choices to take breaks from certain arcs and follow a route that interests them. It's also a more manageable arrangement, in my opinion, because instead of forcing a reader to decide after each individual story what they would like to read next, the omnibus arrangement provides a linear line of stories and only makes the reader decide where to go next after they have finished a whole package of stories. 

I’ve also tried to put stories in spots where their qualities should be able to shine the most: many novels profit from closeness to related prequels and sequels as well as stories that underline and contrast their themes, sometimes from stories that seem disparate at first glance. 

Ideally, every Omnibus should be a satisfying story-collection that works more or less on its own, centered around a certain theme, event, arc or faction. So every omnibus should be a satisfying “story package” which, I hope, can offer an inclined reader a good time.

To reiterate: I don’t presume that collecting the Horus Heresy in omnibuses is The Best Way To Read The Series™, because I don't think there is an unanimous &quot;best way&quot;.
My reasoning is that it accounts for many of the downsides of the other reading orders: It accounts for the diversity of the series, because every story is included somewhere. It gives the reader flexible choices to take breaks from certain arcs and follow a route that interests them. It's also a more manageable arrangement, in my opinion, because instead of forcing a reader to decide after each individual story what they would like to read next, the omnibus arrangement provides a linear line of stories and only makes the reader decide where to go next after they have finished a whole package of stories.
I’ve also tried to put stories in spots where their qualities should be able to shine the most: many novels profit from closeness to related prequels and sequels as well as stories that underline and contrast their themes, sometimes from stories that seem disparate at first glance.
Ideally, every Omnibus should be a satisfying story-collection that works more or less on its own, centered around a certain theme, event, arc or faction. So every omnibus should be a satisfying “story package” which, I hope, can offer an inclined reader a good time.

Because I set myself the goal to account for every one of the 38 novels, 25 novellas and 140 short stories from the numbered Horus Heresy books (and then some), my reading order includes *a lot* of stories. This might not be to every reader's taste, either because they don’t have the motivation, the time, the endurance or (an important point) the financial resources to invest in all of these stories.

And I don't want to suggest that you *have* to read every single story of a Reading Order to enjoy the following parts of the series. You will be fine if you skip a few stories or even a whole omnibus, you will just miss out on some context, character developments and potentially fun stories. And hey, if you feel lost, you can always google a summary of a certain novel or short story you decided to skip, but which seems to have contained some information or development turns out to be important for the story you're currently reading. 

I hope that for all those readers that aren't completionists which plan to ready every single story published under the Heresy banner (and let's be real, this will be most of them, including myself) , my reading order can still be a useful navigational tool to pick and choose stories to read and in what order to approach them, even if they decide to skip across some or even most of the recommended stories. 

Another point that relates to how the Omnibus Reading Order is structured: I can imagine that the delayed gratification of buying anthologies and only reading selected stories from them might be a big hurdle for some. Buying an anthology, maybe even several, and then just reading a story or two before laying it to the side and buying the next novel might seem counterintuitive, frustrating and unreasonably expensive. Again, my Omnibus Reading Order is just a suggested path. I’m not your boss - feel free to skip over whatever part of the reading order doesn’t fit for you at a given moment! I think this buy-in hurdle of anthologies becomes softer and easier the further you get into the reading order, because you will encounter more and more stories for which you already own the respective anthology.

Because I set myself the goal to account for every one of the 38 novels, 25 novellas and 140 short stories from the numbered Horus Heresy books (and then some), my reading order includes a lot of stories. This might not be to every reader's taste, either because they don’t have the motivation, the time, the endurance or (an important point) the financial resources to invest in all of these stories.
And I don't want to suggest that you have to read every single story of a Reading Order to enjoy the following parts of the series. You will be fine if you skip a few stories or even a whole omnibus, you will just miss out on some context, character developments and potentially fun stories. And hey, if you feel lost, you can always google a summary of a certain novel or short story you decided to skip, but which seems to have contained some information or development turns out to be important for the story you're currently reading.
I hope that for all those readers that aren't completionists which plan to ready every single story published under the Heresy banner (and let's be real, this will be most of them, including myself) , my reading order can still be a useful navigational tool to pick and choose stories to read and in what order to approach them, even if they decide to skip across some or even most of the recommended stories.
Another point that relates to how the Omnibus Reading Order is structured: I can imagine that the delayed gratification of buying anthologies and only reading selected stories from them might be a big hurdle for some. Buying an anthology, maybe even several, and then just reading a story or two before laying it to the side and buying the next novel might seem counterintuitive, frustrating and unreasonably expensive. Again, my Omnibus Reading Order is just a suggested path. I’m not your boss - feel free to skip over whatever part of the reading order doesn’t fit for you at a given moment! I think this buy-in hurdle of anthologies becomes softer and easier the further you get into the reading order, because you will encounter more and more stories for which you already own the respective anthology.

Short stories and novellas are placed across the reading order in the places where I decided they would fit best into the omnibus-structure that I envisioned for the series. I’ve put a lot of thought into the placing of each of the assembled stories, so I hope the result gives as many readers as possible a satisfying reading experience. I talk about my thought process and explain my reasoning behind the decisions in each of the “Why this order?” sections of the omnibus-subsites. 

Most omnibuses include short stories and novellas out of several different anthologies. Whenever a short story appears in the reading order of an omnibus, I will tell you in which anthology it is collected: There’s an abbreviation of the anthology name in brackets behind the short story title in the “Reading Order” section of the omnibus-pages, e.g. *Savage Weapons (AoD)*, which shows you which anthology from the “Required books” section further below contains the story, e.g. *Age of Darkness (AoD)*. Black Library also sells Horus Heresy short-stories and novellas as seperate eBooks, so it’s up to you whether you want to buy the story as an individual eBook or as part of the anthology. 

A note on pricing: eBooks of individual short stories and novellas for 3,50€ upwards, the eBooks of whole Horus Heresy anthologies for ~9€. Horus Heresy anthologies contain a dozen stories or more, so I think it’s fair to say that individual short story eBooks are quite overpriced.

Short stories and novellas are placed across the reading order in the places where I decided they would fit best into the omnibus-structure that I envisioned for the series. I’ve put a lot of thought into the placing of each of the assembled stories, so I hope the result gives as many readers as possible a satisfying reading experience. I talk about my thought process and explain my reasoning behind the decisions in each of the “Why this order?” sections of the omnibus-subsites.
Most omnibuses include short stories and novellas out of several different anthologies. Whenever a short story appears in the reading order of an omnibus, I will tell you in which anthology it is collected: There’s an abbreviation of the anthology name in brackets behind the short story title in the “Reading Order” section of the omnibus-pages, e.g. Savage Weapons (AoD), which shows you which anthology from the “Required books” section further below contains the story, e.g. Age of Darkness (AoD). Black Library also sells Horus Heresy short-stories and novellas as seperate eBooks, so it’s up to you whether you want to buy the story as an individual eBook or as part of the anthology.
A note on pricing: eBooks of individual short stories and novellas for 3,50€ upwards, the eBooks of whole Horus Heresy anthologies for ~9€. Horus Heresy anthologies contain a dozen stories or more, so I think it’s fair to say that individual short story eBooks are quite overpriced.

“eShorts” are short stories or novellas that are (so far) only available as digital products. They haven’t been bundled in any Horus Heresy anthology and have therefore to be bought seperately. I haven’t included all of the available *Horus Heresy*-eShorts in the omnibus reading order so far, but will keep working through them.

“eShorts” are short stories or novellas that are (so far) only available as digital products. They haven’t been bundled in any Horus Heresy anthology and have therefore to be bought seperately. I haven’t included all of the available Horus Heresy-eShorts in the omnibus reading order so far, but will keep working through them.

My self-set goal for the omnibuses is that they should succeed on two standards, a two-fold goal that mirrors the task the authors had when writing the novels themselves: every instalment should work as a piece of the wider puzzle of the series, but should also tell a satisfying story of its own. 

So while I give all these instructions about required reading, fitting follow-ups and the whole flow-chart with good reason, I think the omnibuses should also be worthwhile reads if picked out-of-order. If a reader has heard about a certain battle of the Heresy or is just very interested in a particular Legion or primarch, they might decide to just jump straight into a given omnibus that’s explicitly about that topic without bothering with recommended prequels. I'd like to make it worth their while, and some stories simply aren’t complete without certain novels, for example the Battle of Calth without the novel Know No Fear. 

If you have already read a novel that you come across a second time, you can of course just ignore the second inclusion and go straight for the following stories.

My self-set goal for the omnibuses is that they should succeed on two standards, a two-fold goal that mirrors the task the authors had when writing the novels themselves: every instalment should work as a piece of the wider puzzle of the series, but should also tell a satisfying story of its own.
So while I give all these instructions about required reading, fitting follow-ups and the whole flow-chart with good reason, I think the omnibuses should also be worthwhile reads if picked out-of-order. If a reader has heard about a certain battle of the Heresy or is just very interested in a particular Legion or primarch, they might decide to just jump straight into a given omnibus that’s explicitly about that topic without bothering with recommended prequels. I'd like to make it worth their while, and some stories simply aren’t complete without certain novels, for example the Battle of Calth without the novel Know No Fear.
If you have already read a novel that you come across a second time, you can of course just ignore the second inclusion and go straight for the following stories.

Of course not. 

Full disclosure: even *I* haven't read every single Horus Heresy story, not even every single Horus Heresy novel. It's just too much, and to be honest, I'm not interested in every faction or like the style or quality of every Black Library author. And that's fine. Your reading should be fun *for you* and your reading should be affordable *for you*, both time- and money-wise. Read as much as you want and read only what you want. 

If there's a certain faction, character or author you don't want to read about right now, hey, no one can stop you from skipping a few stories or even a whole omnibus. Worst that can happen is that you run into a confusing moment in a following story or that you miss out on context for certain developments.

You *will* miss out on a certain part of the enjoyment of a story if you haven't read a relevant prequel, but that shouldn't mean that you have to *work* through stories that you don't enjoy. The authors usually do a good job of presenting a particular character or conflict in a given story in such a way that you get the gist of it, even if you missed some prequels preceding the story. 

For example, I'm fully aware that I missed out on a lot of context for the *Siege of Terra*-novel *Mortis* because I haven't yet read *Titandeath,* a book from which I know that *Mortis* picks up a few hanging story-threads and surviving characters. I still had a very good time with *Mortis*, though, and enjoyed the characters that I knew were originally introduced in *Titandeath*, despite being aware that certain scenes or character-moments would have had a bigger impact on me if I'd have read the prequel.

Of course not.
Full disclosure: even I haven't read every single Horus Heresy story, not even every single Horus Heresy novel. It's just too much, and to be honest, I'm not interested in every faction or like the style or quality of every Black Library author. And that's fine. Your reading should be fun for you and your reading should be affordable for you, both time- and money-wise. Read as much as you want and read only what you want.
If there's a certain faction, character or author you don't want to read about right now, hey, no one can stop you from skipping a few stories or even a whole omnibus. Worst that can happen is that you run into a confusing moment in a following story or that you miss out on context for certain developments.
You will miss out on a certain part of the enjoyment of a story if you haven't read a relevant prequel, but that shouldn't mean that you have to work through stories that you don't enjoy. The authors usually do a good job of presenting a particular character or conflict in a given story in such a way that you get the gist of it, even if you missed some prequels preceding the story.
For example, I'm fully aware that I missed out on a lot of context for the Siege of Terra-novel Mortis because I haven't yet read Titandeath, a book from which I know that Mortis picks up a few hanging story-threads and surviving characters. I still had a very good time with Mortis, though, and enjoyed the characters that I knew were originally introduced in Titandeath, despite being aware that certain scenes or character-moments would have had a bigger impact on me if I'd have read the prequel.

*The Primarchs* is a spin-off series to the mainline *Horus Heresy* that focuses on, you guessed it, the primarchs. Each primarch will get his own *Primarchs*-novel, so there will be eighteen in total (the two Lost Primarchs will, for obvious reasons, not get their own novel). As I'm writing this in July 2022, fifteen of the books have already been released and two further author-book-combinations have been announced, so only one (Horus Lupercal) is still missing. 

Most of the novels have been written by different authors, altough some authors did double- or triple-duty on the series. Some of the primarchs kept "their" author that already was primarily responsible for them on the pages of the *Horus Heresy* (like Jaghatai Khan with Chris Wraight), while in other cases the primarchs were paired with new voices (like Angron with Ian St. Martin instead of Aaron Dembski-Bowden).

Here's a [rundown of the whole range](https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Horus_Heresy:_The_Primarchs). 

The first *Primarchs*-novel, *Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar* by David Annandale, was released April 2016. At this time, the *Heresy* had just had its 36th book release (*The Path of Heaven*). 

Unlike the *Horus Heresy*-books, the *Primarchs*-novels do not tell a continuous story but each cover parts of a chosen primarchs' lives from before the Heresy (but sometimes also during or even after the Heresy). Many are set during the Great Crusade or even earlier. While the novels seem primarily to be intended as character studies of the primarch in question, offering their characters a chance to present themselves in different times and hidherto unseen circumstances, some also fill narrative gaps  left by the *Heresy*-novels. An example for this is the fate of Perturabo's home-world Olympia, which has major ramifications for his evolution as a character, but is only mentioned in passing in the *Heresy*-novel *Angel Exterminatus;* this event finally gets detailed in *Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia* by Guy Haley.

In addition to the fixed number of *Primarch*-novels, Black Library has also kept releasing short stories under the *Primarchs*-label. These can be quite broadly themed and are often more loosely connected to a specific primarch than the novels, but offer the authors more flexibility in tackling further stories from the Heresy and before. 

The *Primarchs*-short stories were either released as stand-alone eShorts or as part of one of the *Primarchs*-anthologies: [Sons of the Emperor](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/sons-of-the-emperor-eng-2019.html) (2019), [Scions of the Emperor](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/scions-of-the-emperor-ebook-2020.html) (2020) and [Blood of the Emperor](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/blood-of-the-emperor-ebook-2021.html) (2021). Comparatively cheap alternatives to these anthologies are the digital short story collections [Loyal Sons](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/ebundle-the-horus-heresy-loyal-sons-2021.html) and [Traitorous Scions](https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/ebundle-the-horus-heresy-traitorous-scions-2021.html), which offer twice the amount of short stories for the same price. Christman 2022 will also see the release of [Heirs of the Empero](https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/02/wrap-yourself-up-in-words-with-christmas-releases-from-black-library/)r, a book that bundles all of the short stories from *Sons*, *Scions* and *Blood* together with five addional short stories to a number of 27 stories in total.

Regarding *The Primarchs* and the Omnibus Reading Order: I wanted to avoid bloating the omnibus reading order even further - the mainline *Horus Heresy* stories are already enough to arrange and chew through - so I decided to not include *Primarchs*-shorts and -novels in the regular Reading Order but instead discuss them in their own section on the omnibus subsites: "Additions from *The Primarchs* & *Horus Heresy Characters*".

The Primarchs is a spin-off series to the mainline Horus Heresy that focuses on, you guessed it, the primarchs. Each primarch will get his own Primarchs-novel, so there will be eighteen in total (the two Lost Primarchs will, for obvious reasons, not get their own novel). As I'm writing this in July 2022, fifteen of the books have already been released and two further author-book-combinations have been announced, so only one (Horus Lupercal) is still missing.
Most of the novels have been written by different authors, altough some authors did double- or triple-duty on the series. Some of the primarchs kept &quot;their&quot; author that already was primarily responsible for them on the pages of the Horus Heresy (like Jaghatai Khan with Chris Wraight), while in other cases the primarchs were paired with new voices (like Angron with Ian St. Martin instead of Aaron Dembski-Bowden).
Here's a <a href="https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Horus_Heresy:_The_Primarchs">rundown of the whole range</a>.
The first Primarchs-novel, Roboute Guilliman: Lord of Ultramar by David Annandale, was released April 2016. At this time, the Heresy had just had its 36th book release (The Path of Heaven).
Unlike the Horus Heresy-books, the Primarchs-novels do not tell a continuous story but each cover parts of a chosen primarchs' lives from before the Heresy (but sometimes also during or even after the Heresy). Many are set during the Great Crusade or even earlier. While the novels seem primarily to be intended as character studies of the primarch in question, offering their characters a chance to present themselves in different times and hidherto unseen circumstances, some also fill narrative gaps left by the Heresy-novels. An example for this is the fate of Perturabo's home-world Olympia, which has major ramifications for his evolution as a character, but is only mentioned in passing in the Heresy-novel Angel Exterminatus; this event finally gets detailed in Perturabo: Hammer of Olympia by Guy Haley.
In addition to the fixed number of Primarch-novels, Black Library has also kept releasing short stories under the Primarchs-label. These can be quite broadly themed and are often more loosely connected to a specific primarch than the novels, but offer the authors more flexibility in tackling further stories from the Heresy and before.
The Primarchs-short stories were either released as stand-alone eShorts or as part of one of the Primarchs-anthologies: <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/sons-of-the-emperor-eng-2019.html">Sons of the Emperor</a> (2019), <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/novels/scions-of-the-emperor-ebook-2020.html">Scions of the Emperor</a> (2020) and <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/blood-of-the-emperor-ebook-2021.html">Blood of the Emperor</a> (2021). Comparatively cheap alternatives to these anthologies are the digital short story collections <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/ebundle-the-horus-heresy-loyal-sons-2021.html">Loyal Sons</a> and <a href="https://www.blacklibrary.com/the-horus-heresy/featured/ebundle-the-horus-heresy-traitorous-scions-2021.html">Traitorous Scions</a>, which offer twice the amount of short stories for the same price. Christman 2022 will also see the release of <a href="https://www.warhammer-community.com/2022/11/02/wrap-yourself-up-in-words-with-christmas-releases-from-black-library/">Heirs of the Empero</a>r, a book that bundles all of the short stories from Sons, Scions and Blood together with five addional short stories to a number of 27 stories in total.
Regarding The Primarchs and the Omnibus Reading Order: I wanted to avoid bloating the omnibus reading order even further - the mainline Horus Heresy stories are already enough to arrange and chew through - so I decided to not include Primarchs-shorts and -novels in the regular Reading Order but instead discuss them in their own section on the omnibus subsites: &quot;Additions from The Primarchs &amp; Horus Heresy Characters&quot;.

This range is similar to *The Primarchs* (see above). 

These books dive into the character of particularly significant characters from the 31st millenium that aren't the primarchs. As of November 2022, books about three of these characters have been released: Sigismund, Constantin Valdor and Luther. Here's a [rundown of the range](https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Horus_Heresy_Characters). 

The three novels that have been released so far are all set in vastly different time-frames: While *Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader* is most "conservative" and is set during the Great Crusade, *Valdor: Birth of the Imperium* is the first Black Library novel ever to be set during the Unifications Wars, while *Luther: First of the Fallen* spans a time-span of almost ten-thousand years, being an account of the various interrogations of the imprisoned Luther at the hands of different generations of Dark Angels over the millenia.

Again, I mention the books where fitting in the "Additions from *The Primarchs* & *Horus Heresy Characters*"-section of the omnibus subsites.

This range is similar to The Primarchs (see above).
These books dive into the character of particularly significant characters from the 31st millenium that aren't the primarchs. As of November 2022, books about three of these characters have been released: Sigismund, Constantin Valdor and Luther. Here's a <a href="https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Horus_Heresy_Characters">rundown of the range</a>.
The three novels that have been released so far are all set in vastly different time-frames: While Sigismund: The Eternal Crusader is most &quot;conservative&quot; and is set during the Great Crusade, Valdor: Birth of the Imperium is the first Black Library novel ever to be set during the Unifications Wars, while Luther: First of the Fallen spans a time-span of almost ten-thousand years, being an account of the various interrogations of the imprisoned Luther at the hands of different generations of Dark Angels over the millenia.
Again, I mention the books where fitting in the &quot;Additions from The Primarchs &amp; Horus Heresy Characters&quot;-section of the omnibus subsites.

About the Reading Order

This website is a reading order guide to the *Horus Heresy,* a literary science fiction series (see below) that ran from 2006 to 2024. This reading order structures the novels, novellas and short-stories of the 64+ books of the series into twenty-one story-packages that we call 'omnibuses'. 

Each omnibus is a themed anthology compiled around certain characters, factions or events from the series. Each omnibus consists of a recommended reading order for a selection of novels, novellas and short stories from the archives of the Horus Heresy. Taken together, the omnibuses account for every one of the novels, novellas and short stories that were published in one of the numbered Horus Heresy books (plus most of its spin-offs).

To avoid misunderstandings: "Our" omnibuses are structural/navigational tools only. They do not exist in physical or electronic form and are not for sale here or anywhere else. If you want to read one of our omnibuses, you have to buy the individual stories from Black Library, Games Workshop or independent book vendors. 

Black Library, the publisher of the Horus Heresy series, published three actual Horus Heresy omnibuses in physical form at some point, but has stopped selling them since. These three books (*Crusade's End*, *The Razing of Prospero* & *The Last Phoenix*) were the inspiration for trying to think up what this format might have looked like if extended across the whole series instead of just the first parts.

I explain the logic behind this reading order in more detail further down in the FAQ.

This website is a reading order guide to the Horus Heresy, a literary science fiction series (see below) that ran from 2006 to 2024. This reading order structures the novels, novellas and short-stories of the 64+ books of the series into twenty-one story-packages that we call 'omnibuses'.
Each omnibus is a themed anthology compiled around certain characters, factions or events from the series. Each omnibus consists of a recommended reading order for a selection of novels, novellas and short stories from the archives of the Horus Heresy. Taken together, the omnibuses account for every one of the novels, novellas and short stories that were published in one of the numbered Horus Heresy books (plus most of its spin-offs).
To avoid misunderstandings: &quot;Our&quot; omnibuses are structural/navigational tools only. They do not exist in physical or electronic form and are not for sale here or anywhere else. If you want to read one of our omnibuses, you have to buy the individual stories from Black Library, Games Workshop or independent book vendors.
Black Library, the publisher of the Horus Heresy series, published three actual Horus Heresy omnibuses in physical form at some point, but has stopped selling them since. These three books (Crusade's End, The Razing of Prospero &amp; The Last Phoenix) were the inspiration for trying to think up what this format might have looked like if extended across the whole series instead of just the first parts.
I explain the logic behind this reading order in more detail further down in the FAQ.

The website arranges all the novels, novellas and short-stories of the Horus Heresy-series into twenty-one story-packages, called 'omnibuses'.

Each omnibus is a recommended reading order for a selection of stories from the series. Each omnibus has its own subsite [like this one](/omnibus/i-heresy-rising). Each omnibus usually contains around a dozen stories out of a mixture of novels, novellas and short-stories. 

Sixteen of the Horus Heresy books are not novels, but anthologies. The first published Horus Heresy anthology was *Tales of Heresy* (2009), the last one *Heralds of the Siege* (2018). These anthologies contain a mixture of short stories and novellas. Whenever a short story or novella appears as part of an omnibus reading order, I'll mention in which of the anthologies it can be found. If you want to read the story, you can decide whether you want to buy the story as an individual eBook or as part of the anthology alongside other stories. See *How does the Omnibus Reading Order deal with short stories and novellas from anthologies?* further below in the FAQ.

On the omnibus subsites you'll find, beside the reading order itself, also a text about my reasoning behind recommending this specific reading order for this specific selection of stories. Because you don't have to read the omnibuses in numerological order, each omnibus site also contains information about what the recommended/required prequels for the omnibus in question are as well as recommendations for which omnibuses you could tackle afterwards. Another way to navigate between the various ommibuses is to use the [Omnibus Map](/reading-order) (see below).

I'll also recommend other stories from beyond the Horus Heresy series that you might like if you liked the stories from that omnibus. 

You can find links to the twenty-one omnibuses in the drop-down menu. To help with navigating the network of omnibuses, we also arranged the omnibuses into the aforementioned flowchart a.k.a. [the Omnibus Map](/reading-order): The Map is supposed to help visualise all the ways that you can take while reading the series of omnibuses from [I. Heresy Rising](/omnibus/i-heresy-rising) (all the way to the left) to [XXI. The Siege of Terra](/omnibus/xxi-the-siege-of-terra) (all the way to the right).

The website arranges all the novels, novellas and short-stories of the Horus Heresy-series into twenty-one story-packages, called 'omnibuses'.
Each omnibus is a recommended reading order for a selection of stories from the series. Each omnibus has its own subsite <a href="/omnibus/i-heresy-rising">like this one</a>. Each omnibus usually contains around a dozen stories out of a mixture of novels, novellas and short-stories.
Sixteen of the Horus Heresy books are not novels, but anthologies. The first published Horus Heresy anthology was Tales of Heresy (2009), the last one Heralds of the Siege (2018). These anthologies contain a mixture of short stories and novellas. Whenever a short story or novella appears as part of an omnibus reading order, I'll mention in which of the anthologies it can be found. If you want to read the story, you can decide whether you want to buy the story as an individual eBook or as part of the anthology alongside other stories. See How does the Omnibus Reading Order deal with short stories and novellas from anthologies? further below in the FAQ.
On the omnibus subsites you'll find, beside the reading order itself, also a text about my reasoning behind recommending this specific reading order for this specific selection of stories. Because you don't have to read the omnibuses in numerological order, each omnibus site also contains information about what the recommended/required prequels for the omnibus in question are as well as recommendations for which omnibuses you could tackle afterwards. Another way to navigate between the various ommibuses is to use the <a href="/reading-order">Omnibus Map</a> (see below).
I'll also recommend other stories from beyond the Horus Heresy series that you might like if you liked the stories from that omnibus.
You can find links to the twenty-one omnibuses in the drop-down menu. To help with navigating the network of omnibuses, we also arranged the omnibuses into the aforementioned flowchart a.k.a. <a href="/reading-order">the Omnibus Map</a>: The Map is supposed to help visualise all the ways that you can take while reading the series of omnibuses from <a href="/omnibus/i-heresy-rising">I. Heresy Rising</a> (all the way to the left) to <a href="/omnibus/xxi-the-siege-of-terra">XXI. The Siege of Terra</a> (all the way to the right).

The art on this website is the work of pixel artist Eric Alloway. You can find Eric on Twitter [@iscaneus](https://twitter.com/iscaneus) and on DeviantArt as [Iscaneus](https://www.deviantart.com/iscaneus/gallery).

Eric [started posting pixel versions of Horus Heresy characters on Twitter](https://twitter.com/Iscaneus/status/1459706755533975563) during the time that I started working on this project. I started following his posts and at some point reached out to him to ask whether it would be okay for him if I’d use some of his artworks for my own Horus Heresy project. Eric not only gave me permission to do so, but suggested that we should just straight-up collaborate on the project. 

I of course jumped at the chance, which is why this site is now stuffed with all this wonderful pixel art (I didn’t draw any of that, so I’m allowed to make as many compliments about it as I like). I’m very grateful for the opportunity and all the work that Eric put into it.

The art on this website is the work of pixel artist Eric Alloway. You can find Eric on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/iscaneus">@iscaneus</a> and on DeviantArt as <a href="https://www.deviantart.com/iscaneus/gallery">Iscaneus</a>.
Eric <a href="https://twitter.com/Iscaneus/status/1459706755533975563">started posting pixel versions of Horus Heresy characters on Twitter</a> during the time that I started working on this project. I started following his posts and at some point reached out to him to ask whether it would be okay for him if I’d use some of his artworks for my own Horus Heresy project. Eric not only gave me permission to do so, but suggested that we should just straight-up collaborate on the project.
I of course jumped at the chance, which is why this site is now stuffed with all this wonderful pixel art (I didn’t draw any of that, so I’m allowed to make as many compliments about it as I like). I’m very grateful for the opportunity and all the work that Eric put into it.

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