Warhammer 40K: 10 Essential Reads From The Black Library
1. Master Of Mankind By Aaron Dembski-Bowden
Following the Dark Age of Technology, humanity was scattered across the Galaxy disconnected and isolated from itself. The Emperor began to forge a new humanity out of the remnants of the old. Thus, began the Great Crusade. This has been a central aspect of the lore of Warhammer but until this book was released no one had looked at the Emperor in such depth.
The story is focused around “Magnus’s Folly”. A Warp tear in the heart of the Imperial Palace, caused by Magnus the Red in a foolish attempt to contact the Emperor about his wayward brother, Horus. This Warp tear threatens the very existence of the homeworld of humanity and the Emperor himself is attempting to contain it with the help of the Sisters of Silence and his own personal guard, the Custodians.
Although, the story itself is not the primary reason this is such an essential read. This book allows you to see the Emperor as fallible not just a God like entity. The man described in this book is extremely flawed. He viewed his children, the Primarchs, as weapons and would sacrifice them for his personal gain.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden successfully makes you question who, if anyone is the good guy in this Universe. If you can’t trust the Emperor, who can you trust?