‘What’s the best first step into Warhammer 40k?’ is a question we see all the time at Wargamer HQ, and every Warhammer fan started off by asking it. Well, as someone who fell down the 40k rabbit hole in 1999 and never came out, I’m confident in my recommendation: listen to a Warhammer 40k audiobook.
They’re generally excellent, and some of the very best books in the setting are available on Audible – meaning you can grab your first book on a free trial for zero dollars. If that sounds good to you, here are my top picks for your, er, ‘inaugural’ listen.
Audiobooks are wildly popular with us hobbyists, because they let you take in an entire full-length novel while keeping your hands and eyes free to build and paint your minis! If you prefer to read physical novels, try our guide to the best Warhammer 40k books instead; or get fully immersed in the best Warhammer 40k games for PC and console – videogames would be my second recommendation for the best way in.
The other excellent reason to try a 40k audiobook first is that, with an Audible free trial, you can get one for nothing and keep it forever, whether you continue to a paid subscription or not. Decide you don’t like the militaristic escapades of those Space Marines after all? Well, nothing lost – no harm, no foul!
And why should you listen to my recommendations? Well, according to my Audible profile, I’ve listened to 83 different Warhammer audiobooks (including 33 Horus Heresy books and just four Age of Sigmar fantasy novels), ranging in length between about 10 and 20 hours each. Several of them I’ve listened to twice.
By my extremely scientific calculations, that’s six squillion hours I’ve spent listening to wonderful Games Workshop voice actors like Toby Longworth and Jonathan Keeble telling me tales of the grim darkness of the far future. And of all those, these are the ones I think make the best entry points to the universe.
Xenos (Eisenhorn Book 1) – Dan Abnett
For an expertly written novel that also just happens to smoothly immerse you in 40k’s unique dystopian soup of politics, philosophy, war, and magic, there’s no finer option than Xenos – book one of Dan Abnett’s celebrated Eisenhorn trilogy of detective thrillers.
The center of the Warhammer 40,000 universe is the Imperium of Man – humanity’s sprawling, totalitarian galactic empire, constantly besieged from without by aliens (called the 40k Xenos races) and from within by cults worshipping the 40k Chaos gods. This audiobook, read by the inimitable Toby Longworth, shows you this twisted futuristic human society at its best and worst – a fantastic introduction to the setting.
Gregor Eisenhorn is a member of the 40k Inquisition (a kind of cross between medieval religious justiciars and the Gestapo) tasked with uncovering a huge Chaos conspiracy lurking beneath the surface of Imperial high society, aided by his crack team of operatives. Pacy, atmospheric, and accessible, Xenos may well be Warhammer 40k’s best starting point, period.
Horus Rising – Dan Abnett
If you want to get into Warhammer 40k, at some point you’ll need to dip at least a toe or two into the Horus Heresy prequel series – and the audiobook version of Dan Abnett’s gripping opening novel Horus Rising is the place to start.
As an entry point to the 40k universe, this enormous series won’t suit everyone. Instead of depicting the diverse Warhammer 40k factions you can play in the main tabletop game, it follows a cataclysmic civil war between armies of Space Marines that happened 10,000 years earlier – and with a whopping 64 books, the full series is a mountain to climb, even with our Horus Heresy book order to guide you through.
But Horus Rising is a thrilling, robust, self-contained story that includes, in microcosm, everything that makes the Horus Heresy saga so compelling: the fascinating psychology of immortal transhuman soldiers; the tragic vainglory of an empire on the rise; and the dramatic foreshadowing of its inevitable fall from grace.
The Lords of Silence – Chris Wraight
One of Warhammer 40,000’s great strengths as a science fantasy universe is its endlessly debatable moral landscape – there are famously no good guys in 40k, and its villains tend to be at least as complex and interesting as its so-called heroes. If that angle grabs you more than the Imperials, Chris Wraight’s 2018 novel The Lords of Silence, read for you by John Banks, is a superb choice.
Here, we follow characters from the Death Guard – a Space Marine legion that fell into the service of Nurgle, Chaos god of plague and corruption, during the Horus Heresy war, and in the 10 millennia since have evolved into grotesque ‘plague marines’, each one infested with the worst diseases imaginable, and given life and strength by Chaos magic alone.
Despite their foulness, though, the Death Guard have their own motivations and personalities, their own backstories, allegiances, and internecine politics between competing warbands and leaders – some going back thousands of years. Exploring that weird world made this one of my favorite 40k audiobooks, and I heartily recommend it.
The Talon of Horus – Aaron Dembski-Bowden
If you’ve seen pictures of Games Workshop’s Chaos Space Marines miniatures, they were probably decked out in the black and gold colors of the Black Legion: a huge, resurgent army led by the ancient warlord Abaddon the Despoiler. These guys are important to the broader narrative of modern 40k, constantly leading Black Crusades against the Imperium and brewing dastardly plots to bring down the Emperor of Mankind.
That’s one reason Aaron Dembski-Bowden’s The Talon of Horus is such a good pick for your first audiobook: it recounts the Black Legion’s perilous origin story, and how Abaddon came to be the new Warmaster of Chaos. More importantly, though, through its main characters – especially its protagonist, the renegade Thousand Sons sorcerer Iskandar Khayon – it lays bare the complexities of the diverse mix of characters lumped under the banner of ‘heretic astartes’, or traitor marines.
They’re horrible, they do evil things, and they absolutely are villains – but they’re more interesting than their deeds; like ogres, they have layers. They remember being proud and honorable soldiers; they remember having a cause they felt was just; they crave brotherhood, comradeship, and humanity. Listening to these bad men create some order out of chaos – even if it’s a bad order – makes for a brilliant audiobook.
First and Only (Gaunt’s Ghosts Book 1) – Dan Abnett
Warhammer is, first and foremost, about war – and there’s no better traditional war story in all of Warhammer 40k than the epic Gaunt’s Ghosts series, starting with Dan Abnett’s bombastic opener First and Only.
Instead of power-armored giants or weirdo aliens, this story centers on the Astra Militarum – the Imperium’s standing army of regular humans – so immediately our heroes are more vulnerable and relatable, and before long we’re introduced to a magnetic cast of plucky dog soldiers, with all their quirks, dysfunction, wit, bravery, and human limitations.
In this opening novel, Colonel Commissar Ibram Gaunt has taken over his fresh command – the newly formed Tanith First regiment – right before the planet Tanith is wiped out by a surprise attack. Seething with rage and grief, Gaunt’s troopers resent him for leaving their homeworld to die – but he’ll have to pull them in line, because there’s a crusade on. The Imperial Guard are going to war against a huge Chaos uprising, and the Tanith First, grimly nicknamed the ‘Ghosts’, are going right into the dark heart of it.
Engaging and action oriented, yet genuinely endearing and character driven, the Gaunt’s Ghosts novels – now all available to listen on Audible – are a fantastic start into Warhammer 40k. But do start with First and Only; the clue’s in the name.
And that’s it for my top five (though the list could go on, of course – if you’re anything like me you’ll find it hard to stop at one audiobook). For more grimdark reading material, check out our guide to the latest and upcoming Warhammer 40k codex rulebooks – they contain up to date lore as well as current game rules. Or if you want to give the wargame a try, we can recommend the best Warhammer 40k starter set for you.
Source: Wargamer
