Many years later in 2006, the Black Library – the publishing arm of Games Workshop – decided to expand this short story into an ambitious novel series that hugely elaborated upon the original premise. The bare bones of heresy were assembled in 1987 as little more than a short back-story to add flavour to a Games Workshop campaign setting.

Set 10,000 years before those events, the start of the series finds the Emperor at the height of his power, ushering in a golden age for mankind dubbed ‘ The Great Crusade ‘. The Horus Heresy foreshadows the dystopian, war-torn narrative of Warhammer 40,000, where the immortal Emperor of Mankind sits clinging to life as a mangled and broken corpse upon the Golden Throne of Terra (an archaic device powered by constant human sacrifice).

It doesn’t register on most radars but manages to dwarf the aforementioned in terms of longevity and scale. There is one series however, that is often overlooked, despite having multiple books frequently hit the New York Times bestseller list over the years. The above share the fact they are long-running narratives, describing beautiful and immersive worlds, steeped in lore and character development. Perhaps the collected high fantasy works of Tolkein or Robert Jordan’s epic Wheel of Time saga might spring to mind. If you were to contemplate the most prolific novel series of all time, you might consider the eccentric tales of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld or Stephen King’s Dark Tower multiverse. DISCLAIMER: This article details key plot points within the Horus Heresy and as such may contain spoilers. Starting life as an expansion of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the tale of the Horus Heresy has grown vastly since its inception in 1987.

Horus heresy read order