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I'm currently going through the Heresy books using a combination of audible and other audio books I got in Humble Bundles.

So far I've listened to the following and my views on them:

Horus Rising - It was excellent
False Gods - Necessary but quite dull
Galaxy in Flames - Surprisingly good despite being a Ben Counter novel
Flight of the Eisenstein - I enjoyed it
Fulgrim - I didn't enjoy it
Descent of Angels - Gave up after 6 chapters, I have nothing positive to say about it
Legion - On chapter 7 and I'm struggling to put up with it.

Based on the current hit rate of liking 3 out of 7, is it worth me carrying on with the series? Does it get better than this earlier stuff? Are there any books I can read alone that are very good if you do think I should give up?

Yes for sure.

Decent of Angels is often agree'd as one of the worst early ones. Fallen Angels much better.

But as you read on and get to the ones like Thousand Sons etc they only go up.

If you plan on reading all 52 books or whatever it is kudos, but they are worth continuing.

I stopped reading after a while because I thought the quality was going down, not up (Legion being a particular low point, especially the ending).
So, different strokes for different folks, I guess? If you keep disliking more of them than you like, it may not be worth your time to continue slogging through them. In the end, it's your decision.

there are standouts that are definitely worth reading if you like the lore. betrayer, first heretic, scars, and the buried dagger come to mind immediately..there are a couple more too.

It is vitally important that people not treat the Horus Heresy as a linear series of novels, like Gaunt's Ghosts. It was intended to be treated as an entire setting in itself, with plenty of independent stories and narratives. You should not feel obligated to read the novels in order.

I highly recommend this chart for following narratives you're interested in:
http://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.html (interactive version)
https://www.kylebb.com/HH/HHSeriesOrder.jpeg (simple jpeg version)

And not skipping short stories along the way. Quite of few of them become vital for explaining some pretty unusual character changes in later books.

That said, I would rip my ears off if i had to listen to a Graham McNeil novel, rather than read it. I only find his works palatable when I can skim the paragraph after paragraph of vapid descriptions.

First Heretic, and Betrayer are excellent.

You can definitely give "Battle for the Abyss" and "Nemesis" as miss as they add virtually nothing to the big picture and are not especially readable. "Outcast Dead" was also pretty mediocre. Most of the other books are average or better IMHO and there are some real gems in there.

One thing to be aware is that the last few books are not really in chronological order since "Titandeath" was held back to be released alongside Adeptus Titanicus. While may books can be read out of order, these ones do feed into each other so make less sense if read in the published order. The best order to read them is:

53 Titandeath
51 Slaves to Darkness
52 Heralds of the Siege.

You’ll get different opinions but some seemingly odd books get more meaning as you read other titles. Drivers how much you enjoy the fluff ?

For example ; Outcast Dead has info on Thunder Warriors and pre Heresy Terra along with the first info on some characters that will become key to the future Imperium. Nemesis has details on the early Imperial Cult. Descent of Angels is the literal root of the fate of the Dark Angels.

Even now , events in Legion give more meaning to parts of the Siege series.

 TwilightSparkles wrote:

Even now , events in Legion give more meaning to parts of the Siege series.

although this has lead to a bit of an annoying problem in that the whole "SUPRISE! THIS CHARACTER YOU'VE BEEN FOLLOWING WAS A SECRET SERVANT OF THE ALPHA LEGION ALL ALONG" bit has become so over used it's not a suprise anymore. the plot twist in the latest Siege of terra novel was, ultimately predictable, to the hope where I would have been suprised if it WASN'T the twist

It sounds like it worth continuing, although I like the idea of following narratives from start to finish. I might give that a try rather than trying to get through the books all over the place because they were released in that order.

Thanks all for your input

I'm a big Horus Heresy fan, and I get where you're coming from. The series can be a bit hit or miss.

Please do not commit acts of thread necromancy, locking now.