a,) Eisenhorn as good, but you also have to take Goto's Dawn of WAr novels. Actually I dont think they're that bad, save the last one, but since Goto is universeally reviled..
b.) All of Bill King's 40K novels I've read, which means the four Space Wolf novels and Farseer. Yes I know Farseer is a heretic tome, but I wrote it out and I'm going to fucking post it. I posted Space Marine after all. Besides, Farseer was a damn good novel and its a pity it never got a sequel. To balance this out, you will be forced to endure the truly abominable Soul Drinkers novels. Or, put another way "The answer to the question of what would happen if you converted the mentally handicapped into Space Marines." Note that since I have not read any stories past hellforged, nor am I sure I want to (I know it was continued in Bolter and Chainsword) you won't have to endure past five novels.
c.) Angels of Darkness by Gav Thorpe teamed up with Daemon World by ben Counter. Daemon world actually isn't a wholly bad novel, but the fact is that alot of it reads basically as a fantasy novel (and a boring one at that) means you have to slog through much of the crap to get to the good bits. To be fair, I do think the ending was worth the slog, but the bulk of the novel is still crappy filler. Angels of Darkness is perhaps as good as or better than the LAst Chancers novels.. it features truly complex and likeable Dark Angels, a good look at Heresy vs Modern Era space Marines, and is just generally well written and conceived.
d.) Brothers of the Snake coupled with Eldar Prophecy. Since I haven't rad Titanicus and I know there are lots of abnett fans, I figured why the hell not cover this since I had no other plans to. But to get this one, you have to put up with the one Goto novel I find truly abominable - Eldar Prophecy. Or also known as "Why CS Goto should never be allowed near Eldar, ever." It reads like a really crappy re-write of Dune with pointy eared spider characters, and is the first canonical mention of Craftworld KAelor, which is better knwon as the craftworld in much of the FFG 40K RPG book material. I will admit, this choice probably is the most favorable, as you get a lengthy update of Abnett along with a brief, very brief update on Goto. I literally skimmed through this book just to get through it, and it was one of the few novels I absolutely refused to re-read to "update" my notes on.
I will accept "write in" votes on the condition that they be accompanied by a book of equal but inverse value. I will also not be doing Ghosts, Cain, or anything like that. I also have not done the Dark HEresy novels, otherwise I might accept (for example) those two paired with the first two Blood angels novels.
![Razz :P](./images/smilies/icon_razz.gif)
so, go ahead and vote. I'm in no hurry to update so this will probably last around a good few months.
Edit: Oh yeah and feel free to post comments as well as vote, or to provide general commentary/criticism/whatever about how the general progress of things are doing, make requests, or whatever.