Being a Warhammer 40,000 fan is tough. Not only are there all of the tabletop materials to read through, like army codexes and campaign books, there’s also the vast expanded universe in comics, video games, and books. Games Workshop commissions authors to write under the Black Library publishing arm, and there are hundreds of books delving into the grimdark future of the sci-fi setting. This includes the massively popular Horus Heresy novels, a prequel series including more than 60 books, along with assorted novellas, audio dramas, and anthologies.
While you could technically look up a list of all these stories and read them in order of release, that’s practically impossible. Several books are out of print, so you’d have to hunt down used editions. And many books in the Horus Heresy series simply aren’t worth your time. Reddit user cd8d has shared a guide to the Horus Heresy that explains the main stories, cleanly separates the arcs into their own sections, and provides a list of books that are worth skipping. There’s even supplementary reading set in the 41st millennium, which continues some dangling plot threads and explores some consequences of the Heresy.
The Horus Heresy books culminate in the Siege of Terra, an eight-novel series. Cd8d has shared two lists — one that provides a comprehensive overview of the entire series, and a minimalist version that cuts the reading down to about 25 books total.
It took a great deal of research for cd8d to be able to compile the list; he began reading the Horus Heresy books in 2008. “I had been walking through the warhammer section of a Barnes and Noble in 2007 when I picked up my first Warhammer 40k novel and enjoyed them,” he told Polygon via Reddit DM. “After devouring a few of the 40k series, I discovered the Horus Heresy series and it took off from there.”
The list began as notes in a notebook, as cd8d navigated the series and cross-checked it with various other fans on social media platforms and forums. After trial and error, cd8d eventually organized the list in such a way that it reads like a TV series, with different seasons dedicated to different Space Marine legions and their stories.
Some readers will likely never tackle the Horus Heresy series — even with the abbreviated list, it’s still a lot of reading. But with the success of Space Marine 2 and the upcoming Amazon series helmed by Henry Cavill, some fans are eager to bone up on their fictional history. In that case, there’s no better place to start than this impeccably organized list. Here’s cd8d’s Horus Heresy reading guide, in full. Numbered titles are part of the Heresy, and the number signifies their release order. Part 0 requires you to pick one of four factions: the Inquisition, or one of three Space Marine legions.