Horus Heresy (novels) - Overview

Overview

The Horus Heresy is a dark, far future military space opera that takes place during the Horus Heresy, a cornerstone event of the dystopian science fantasy Warhammer 40,000 universe. The Horus Heresy is presented as a major chapter of conflict in the Warhammer 40,000 lore: it is caused by a Chaos plot to foil the Emperor by fomenting rebellion and internecine warfare in the expanding Imperium of Man.

The shared universe was originally created in 1987 by Games Workshop, parent company of series publisher Black Library, as the campaign setting for the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures wargame and in 2006 Black Library began publishing The Horus Heresy series. The series consists of full-length novels, and novel-length compilations of novellas or short stories, written by a number of authors. The series includes new characters as well as establishing the background of previously-established Warhammer 40,000 characters who play an important role in the post-Heresy fictional universe.

The first three novels in The Horus Heresy are an opening book trilogy. This trilogy presents some of the background and causes of the Heresy, and describes the start of the conflict. The arc's focus is on Warmaster Horus, the principal antagonist, and covers about two years in the overall Heresy timeline; most of this period elapses before the rebellion begins. Following the trilogy, the narrative is not strictly sequential and is often presented in nonlinear fashion from book to book. Apart from the initial trilogy, the stories often concern events that happen earlier or later than their position in the series would suggest, or may include time periods already covered in other series titles.

The majority of stories in The Horus Heresy are set around the start of the fictional universe's 31st millennium, in contrast to most Warhammer 40,000 material, which takes place in the 41st millennium. The stories in The Horus Heresy routinely cover the conflict's background, with some going back centuries before the war (and the 31st millennium) begins. In narrower scope, the entire conflict (including the Heresy proper and its proximate formative period), is depicted as having lasted less than a decade. With few exceptions, the sequence and dating of Heresy events is implied rather than stated in The Horus Heresy stories.