So I’ve heard some descriptions of the 40,000 lore from a podcast I watch, and it sounds incredible, but there’s an awful lot of options to start from, with people recommending many different book series and youtube summaries. Is there a simpler approach, like just going into one standalone book to ground yourself before a bigger series? Or from a game to a tie-in book of some kind? Many thanks.
Another vote for Horus Rising. They’re also in audiobook format. Just keep in mind the Horus Heresy time period is 10k years before current 40k so it’s kinda WH 30k and there is not a lot of xenos/alien content in there.
Almost anything by Dan Abnett is gold. I would put Chris Wraight in a very close second place and Aaron Dempski Bowden (ADB) in a close third. There are other good authors too John French and Graham McNeil.
Good standalone stories set in current 40k are also Armageddon, Dante, Blades of Damocles, And Lords of Silence (Chaos Space Marines)
Gaunt’s Ghosts is a great series about the Imperial Guard/Astra Militarum
Eisenhorn is a good Inquisitor series written like James Bond books.
Ciaphas Cain is for some lighthearted fun in a grimdark universe