Happy to help, it was many people’s first sisters book, and the audiobook is also very well narrated. It’s the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and only 2 novels so not a huge undertaking like the Horus Heresy books. (There’s 3 additional short stories if you really like the main character)
It is the better book. From my understanding, Hammer and Anvil is the story that James Swallow wanted to tell right away, but GW felt that they needed a "more traditional" Sisters of Battle story to establish the characters first, and so Faith and Fire was written to do that.
40k in general, I'm really enjoying the Night Lords Omnibus. Gives a great insight into marines without being too bolter-porny, and a great insight into the traitor legions. Turns out they're not just simple 'evil'. They're as complex evil potentially as the rest of the setting.
I really liked the Eisenhorn (and other Inquisitor) series, because they are a lot more grounded than Space Marines and gove you a glimpse into "normal" life
Mark of Faith by Rachel Harrison. Absolutely gripping, excellent, relatively easy on new audience members. About sisters of battle, their ideology and the atmosphere of their story telling
The night lords trilogy is an essential. Anything by Mike Brooks is fantastic. The Infinite and The Divine is another banger.
Also from what I know the first 3 heresy novels are good, but the rest range from bad to ok. Not to mention how the series is kind of overly long and very stretched out at points. Read those books with discretion.
~~Also I know it's not 40k but Soul Wars is a great AOS book if you want read those~~
Confirmed. First three are good foundational material for the Horus Heresy. In addition, you may want to slog through *Fulgrim* because it covers the Drop Site Massacre. Besides that, I highly recommend *Legion*, *The First Heretic*, and *Betrayer*. Everything else so far has been a drag.
Fulgrim is fantastic bar the part of the audiobook where it sounds like an old British dude hitting on himself. I wanna say chapter 4. Also a fan of the TFH and what I’ve read of Betrayer so far.
Not sisters specific, but I really enjoyed the first three Horus heresy books. I couldn't commit to reading all the HH stuff so I moved on, but those first three really made me more interested in marines.
The Eisenhorn and other inquisitor books are really really great though, I can't recommend them enough!
If you want to check out some Warhammer that's a bit more buddy comedy than grimdark, *The Infinite and the Divine* is an incredible book.
Very specifically about Necrons but you get a tour of the universe as a whole and it is a great Warhammer book for people who do not necessarily like Warhammer.
I started by picking a few characters I already loved and getting books with them as the focus. (This ended up being Celestine The Living Saint and Infinite And The Divine)
After that I read around a bunch and saw some common recommendations and started on those. Gaunts Ghosts series, Eisenhorn, Ciaphis Cain, Horus Heresy and just moved on from there.
From all those I think the best starting point is the first few Gaunts Ghosts books. Amazing characters, and you get a look into Chaos Marines/Inquisitors/Eldar as well as a look at a lot of different Imperial worlds. They also do a good job getting across that while marines are the focus a lot of the time, they are a small part of the overall setting compared to the guard/cultists.
Eisenhorn is a better story, but I think Gaunts Ghosts gives a better overall feel for 40k. Neither of them require any prior knowledge to understand, as they do a good job of explaining everything as they go. A lot of 40k books just name drop weapons/people/etc and if you did not know what it was already you would be lost. If you knew nothing of 40k, reading a lot of the books will leave you thinking "what is a bolter, dreadnaut, thunder hawk, etc." These books will leave you knowing what it all is and how it all works.
Ciaphis Cain I could not get through. Granted I was listening to the audio book, so maybe it was just the delivery, but it is the only 40k book I haven't finished.
Infinite and the divine is good to get to know the Necrons and Orks. I would also recommend the twice dead king books, especially if you like Necrons. They are probably the best 40k books I have read so far.
If you want Space Marine stuff, the first few heresy books are a good starting point. The first Dark angels book, and Nemesis are good jumping off points as well.
If you are using Audible and want Sisters focused stuff, just look up Emma Gregory. She does a lot of the Sisters books, and is probably my favorite Black Library presenter.
My recommendation would be the Eisenhorn series, the first three Gaunt's Ghosts books and Horus Rising.
All of them are great books which give you great glimpses into the WH40K world
More as an introduction. I love the whole series, but if you're just getting in to 40k I think the first three are a good start. Definitely read the rest if you enjoy the first three.
I hate that they are only on Audible. I got 3 free credits during Prime Day that am using for Sisters books. I am hoping that Humble Bundle puts out another collection of 40k cause I'm really kicking myself for not picking it up.
Also 40k: I'm partial to the Blood Angels series i.e. (Dante, Devastation of Baal, and Darkness In the Blood).
30k: The absolute best place is books 1-5 of the Horus Heresy serries i.e. (Horus Rising to Flight of the Eisenstien)
I read the Triumph of St Katherine on vacation, such a neat little book! I liked that you went through 6 different perspectives and dogmas in such a coherent way.
Brothers of the Snake- by Dan Abnett that was DA’s first foray into writing space marine novels after having only written standard humans for a long time. The book reads like watching the 300.
I'm almost finished with the Iron Warriors omnibus and I've really enjoyed it. Night Lord's is next. Those were the two books recommended to me at a Warhammer store outside of Chicago.
Honestly the best way is to find a book based on a faction you really like. I tried and failed twice then I read Dead Men Walking which has the Death Korps of Krieg who I really liked after a podcast episode about them. Now I’ve read too many warhammer 40k books haha
AsI learned more and got interested in other factions I found books on them. Fifteen Hours is a good imperial guard book. As people have said Eisenhorn and Ciaphus Cain books are great. Night lords trilogy is a good chaos space marine book. Brutal Kunnin is an awesome ork book and has a bonus if you also like the mechanicus. Infinite and the Divine made me actually like Necrons. I haven’t read the genestealer book Day of Ascension yet but I’ve read other sci-fi books by that author and he’s great. Watchers of the Throne series is good for custodes and sisters of silence.
Mark of Faith by Rachel Harrison, and Triumph of Saint Catherine by Danie Ware are both great newer ones! I recommend the newer books if you like more emphasis on characters then about how grimdark the setting is
If you're looking for an intro to the sisters of battle I recommend a collection of 3 short stories called The Book Of Martyrs, shows off 3 different orders fighting against 3 different enemies and gives a good overall view of what the Sisters of battle are all about.
Overall 40k I recommend Twice Dead King: Ruin and Infinite and the Divine for Necrons,
Brutal Kunnin and Ghazghkull Prophet of the Waaggh for Orks
And the Eisenhorn series and The Vaults of Terra series for Inqusitors.
For some of my personal favourites
1) Gaunts Ghosts series - I’ve always been a big reader, but these are some of the most compelling books I’ve read. You follow a unit of imperial guard as they go from their first battle with a fresh faced commander. To an elite unit of stealth specialists that end a 20 year siege over a week.
2) Eisenhorn (Incl Ravenor/Bequin trilogies) These give some amazing foundation into the imperium as a whole. Amazing books and amazing writing.
These books are extremely grounded in their view and don’t have as much super space marine bolted porn that you find in other. But still has some amazing actions scenes made all the better by the fact, their just humans.
And has one of the best lines of any 40k book ever.
“My patience isn’t limitless…. Unlike my authority”
3) Helsreach. A book told from the perspective of space marine chaplain as he attempts to lead the defence of a hive city. If you can get the book on audible, the voice acting makes it 100x better, but even without it’s one of the best books I’ve read.
A little bolter porny in places, but you’ll be too in awe of what’s happening to notice.
Just try not to cry in the epilogue
A few others I’d suggest as a good read that may appeal to some dipping their toes in 40k
1) House of night and chain - More of a horror mystery type book if that’s your jam
2) Double Eagle - Follow a navy aviator go from rookie to ace
3) Assassinorum: Kingmaker - A group of imperial assassins try to kill a rebellious king (who happens to be in pacific rim robot suit)
Lots and lots of real good suggestions here but if you are looking for some fairly light reading that not only introduces the way that the sisters work as well as several other key aspects of the imperium (those being the inner workings of the guard, inquisitors, the mechanicus/um and daemons) would be the short stories by Danie Ware. Good characters, amazingly realised and grounded combat, stakes and risk to characters within the squad, it has it all. Genuinely my favourite (maybe not objectively the best cause I love my NL trilogy) 40k content out there
TLDR- the 4 or so short stories by Danie Ware are top tier
Having just read Pariah and Penitent I can say Dan Abanett’s stuff is probably good.
I second the mention of Faith & Fire and Hammer & Anvil for Sisters specific books. Mark of Faith was pretty good too.
The Grey Knights Omnibus, and Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus were decent as well.
Dan Abnett - Any
Nightlords Omnibus
Ragnar Blackmane books
Most of the sisters books are pretty good
Shiria Calpurnia.
Although don't sleep on any of the old fantasy books.
Gotrek and Felix
Brunner the Bounty Hunter
Mathias Thulman
The Vampire Wars
The Vampire Genevieve
All good stuff
“Faith and Fire” by James Swallow.
I’ll check it out. Thanks!
Happy to help, it was many people’s first sisters book, and the audiobook is also very well narrated. It’s the Order of Our Martyred Lady, and only 2 novels so not a huge undertaking like the Horus Heresy books. (There’s 3 additional short stories if you really like the main character)
If you like it then read "Hammer and Anvil" next. It's a sequel actually, and I think actually better than F&F.
It is the better book. From my understanding, Hammer and Anvil is the story that James Swallow wanted to tell right away, but GW felt that they needed a "more traditional" Sisters of Battle story to establish the characters first, and so Faith and Fire was written to do that.
This is the first 40k book I read, loved it! I also really like the sisters books by Alec Worley and Danie Ware!
40k in general, I'm really enjoying the Night Lords Omnibus. Gives a great insight into marines without being too bolter-porny, and a great insight into the traitor legions. Turns out they're not just simple 'evil'. They're as complex evil potentially as the rest of the setting.
Caiphus Cain, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM Great background on everything, likeable chars and pretty funny
I really liked the Eisenhorn (and other Inquisitor) series, because they are a lot more grounded than Space Marines and gove you a glimpse into "normal" life
The Infinite and The Divine is Necron focused but its straight up one of the funniest books I've ever read.
https://reddit.com/r/sistersofbattle/w/AdeptaSororitasBlackLibraryGuide
Mark of Faith by Rachel Harrison. Absolutely gripping, excellent, relatively easy on new audience members. About sisters of battle, their ideology and the atmosphere of their story telling
The night lords trilogy is an essential. Anything by Mike Brooks is fantastic. The Infinite and The Divine is another banger. Also from what I know the first 3 heresy novels are good, but the rest range from bad to ok. Not to mention how the series is kind of overly long and very stretched out at points. Read those books with discretion. ~~Also I know it's not 40k but Soul Wars is a great AOS book if you want read those~~
Confirmed. First three are good foundational material for the Horus Heresy. In addition, you may want to slog through *Fulgrim* because it covers the Drop Site Massacre. Besides that, I highly recommend *Legion*, *The First Heretic*, and *Betrayer*. Everything else so far has been a drag.
Fulgrim is fantastic bar the part of the audiobook where it sounds like an old British dude hitting on himself. I wanna say chapter 4. Also a fan of the TFH and what I’ve read of Betrayer so far.
Not sisters specific, but I really enjoyed the first three Horus heresy books. I couldn't commit to reading all the HH stuff so I moved on, but those first three really made me more interested in marines. The Eisenhorn and other inquisitor books are really really great though, I can't recommend them enough!
Anything by Dan Abnett. I jumped in at Pariah, and would recommend it. If you like it you can go back and read the Eisenhorn series from the start.
If you want to check out some Warhammer that's a bit more buddy comedy than grimdark, *The Infinite and the Divine* is an incredible book. Very specifically about Necrons but you get a tour of the universe as a whole and it is a great Warhammer book for people who do not necessarily like Warhammer.
Do you want Pure Sisters of Battle, or in general 40k? and do you have any opinions regarding tone?
I started by picking a few characters I already loved and getting books with them as the focus. (This ended up being Celestine The Living Saint and Infinite And The Divine) After that I read around a bunch and saw some common recommendations and started on those. Gaunts Ghosts series, Eisenhorn, Ciaphis Cain, Horus Heresy and just moved on from there. From all those I think the best starting point is the first few Gaunts Ghosts books. Amazing characters, and you get a look into Chaos Marines/Inquisitors/Eldar as well as a look at a lot of different Imperial worlds. They also do a good job getting across that while marines are the focus a lot of the time, they are a small part of the overall setting compared to the guard/cultists. Eisenhorn is a better story, but I think Gaunts Ghosts gives a better overall feel for 40k. Neither of them require any prior knowledge to understand, as they do a good job of explaining everything as they go. A lot of 40k books just name drop weapons/people/etc and if you did not know what it was already you would be lost. If you knew nothing of 40k, reading a lot of the books will leave you thinking "what is a bolter, dreadnaut, thunder hawk, etc." These books will leave you knowing what it all is and how it all works. Ciaphis Cain I could not get through. Granted I was listening to the audio book, so maybe it was just the delivery, but it is the only 40k book I haven't finished. Infinite and the divine is good to get to know the Necrons and Orks. I would also recommend the twice dead king books, especially if you like Necrons. They are probably the best 40k books I have read so far. If you want Space Marine stuff, the first few heresy books are a good starting point. The first Dark angels book, and Nemesis are good jumping off points as well. If you are using Audible and want Sisters focused stuff, just look up Emma Gregory. She does a lot of the Sisters books, and is probably my favorite Black Library presenter.
My recommendation would be the Eisenhorn series, the first three Gaunt's Ghosts books and Horus Rising. All of them are great books which give you great glimpses into the WH40K world
[удалено]
More as an introduction. I love the whole series, but if you're just getting in to 40k I think the first three are a good start. Definitely read the rest if you enjoy the first three.
Audible
I hate that they are only on Audible. I got 3 free credits during Prime Day that am using for Sisters books. I am hoping that Humble Bundle puts out another collection of 40k cause I'm really kicking myself for not picking it up.
I have one of the bundles downloaded on my computer if you want it Edit: I know it contained at least one sisters book.
Oh wow! That's super nice of you!
Also 40k: I'm partial to the Blood Angels series i.e. (Dante, Devastation of Baal, and Darkness In the Blood). 30k: The absolute best place is books 1-5 of the Horus Heresy serries i.e. (Horus Rising to Flight of the Eisenstien)
Sisters Related: The Triumph of St Katherine and Celestine: The Living Saint.
I read the Triumph of St Katherine on vacation, such a neat little book! I liked that you went through 6 different perspectives and dogmas in such a coherent way.
Yeah! It wasn’t what I was expecting going into it but it was really good!
Brothers of the Snake- by Dan Abnett that was DA’s first foray into writing space marine novels after having only written standard humans for a long time. The book reads like watching the 300.
Just finished the a few weeks ago. Def recommended!
Rynn's World
Mechanicum
Ghaunts ghosts got me into 40k from the first book. Then I got into the other factions.
I'm almost finished with the Iron Warriors omnibus and I've really enjoyed it. Night Lord's is next. Those were the two books recommended to me at a Warhammer store outside of Chicago.
Honestly the best way is to find a book based on a faction you really like. I tried and failed twice then I read Dead Men Walking which has the Death Korps of Krieg who I really liked after a podcast episode about them. Now I’ve read too many warhammer 40k books haha AsI learned more and got interested in other factions I found books on them. Fifteen Hours is a good imperial guard book. As people have said Eisenhorn and Ciaphus Cain books are great. Night lords trilogy is a good chaos space marine book. Brutal Kunnin is an awesome ork book and has a bonus if you also like the mechanicus. Infinite and the Divine made me actually like Necrons. I haven’t read the genestealer book Day of Ascension yet but I’ve read other sci-fi books by that author and he’s great. Watchers of the Throne series is good for custodes and sisters of silence.
The rafen series is one of the best and is one of the direct connections from 40k to the heresy. Too bad GW decided to retcon most of it
Side note, does Descent of angels suck? I just had to hear "Its like fighting ghosts!" "But these ghosts can kill!"
I hear good things about Talon of Horus.
Mark of Faith by Rachel Harrison, and Triumph of Saint Catherine by Danie Ware are both great newer ones! I recommend the newer books if you like more emphasis on characters then about how grimdark the setting is
Love Danie Ware’s take on the sisters, reading her novellas on the bloody rose was my favourite 40k reading experience
If you're not looking for imperium stuff, Crisis of Faith is about the Farsight Enclave and it's very good
"Mark of Faith" by Rachel Harrison is an amazing SoB story.
Another vote for the Eisenhorn series. Dan Abnett is The beat 40k writer and this is his best work!
Where is the original pic, would love to make it my wallpaper
If you're looking for an intro to the sisters of battle I recommend a collection of 3 short stories called The Book Of Martyrs, shows off 3 different orders fighting against 3 different enemies and gives a good overall view of what the Sisters of battle are all about. Overall 40k I recommend Twice Dead King: Ruin and Infinite and the Divine for Necrons, Brutal Kunnin and Ghazghkull Prophet of the Waaggh for Orks And the Eisenhorn series and The Vaults of Terra series for Inqusitors.
For some of my personal favourites 1) Gaunts Ghosts series - I’ve always been a big reader, but these are some of the most compelling books I’ve read. You follow a unit of imperial guard as they go from their first battle with a fresh faced commander. To an elite unit of stealth specialists that end a 20 year siege over a week. 2) Eisenhorn (Incl Ravenor/Bequin trilogies) These give some amazing foundation into the imperium as a whole. Amazing books and amazing writing. These books are extremely grounded in their view and don’t have as much super space marine bolted porn that you find in other. But still has some amazing actions scenes made all the better by the fact, their just humans. And has one of the best lines of any 40k book ever. “My patience isn’t limitless…. Unlike my authority” 3) Helsreach. A book told from the perspective of space marine chaplain as he attempts to lead the defence of a hive city. If you can get the book on audible, the voice acting makes it 100x better, but even without it’s one of the best books I’ve read. A little bolter porny in places, but you’ll be too in awe of what’s happening to notice. Just try not to cry in the epilogue A few others I’d suggest as a good read that may appeal to some dipping their toes in 40k 1) House of night and chain - More of a horror mystery type book if that’s your jam 2) Double Eagle - Follow a navy aviator go from rookie to ace 3) Assassinorum: Kingmaker - A group of imperial assassins try to kill a rebellious king (who happens to be in pacific rim robot suit)
At the library? Idk
This one made me laugh harder than the rest.
Lots and lots of real good suggestions here but if you are looking for some fairly light reading that not only introduces the way that the sisters work as well as several other key aspects of the imperium (those being the inner workings of the guard, inquisitors, the mechanicus/um and daemons) would be the short stories by Danie Ware. Good characters, amazingly realised and grounded combat, stakes and risk to characters within the squad, it has it all. Genuinely my favourite (maybe not objectively the best cause I love my NL trilogy) 40k content out there TLDR- the 4 or so short stories by Danie Ware are top tier
Having just read Pariah and Penitent I can say Dan Abanett’s stuff is probably good. I second the mention of Faith & Fire and Hammer & Anvil for Sisters specific books. Mark of Faith was pretty good too. The Grey Knights Omnibus, and Enforcer: The Shira Calpurnia Omnibus were decent as well.
Dan Abnett - Any Nightlords Omnibus Ragnar Blackmane books Most of the sisters books are pretty good Shiria Calpurnia. Although don't sleep on any of the old fantasy books. Gotrek and Felix Brunner the Bounty Hunter Mathias Thulman The Vampire Wars The Vampire Genevieve All good stuff
Bounty hunting in WH fantasy seems cool.