I’ve seen a bit of it around but know nothing about it. I do love large world building with extensive story lines (I really enjoyed the entire Dune series, even the prequels his son wrote). So if I wanted to start reading WH books, where should I start?
40k can seem overwhelming because of the sheer amount of lore, but keep in mind this is a universe that’s been added to but by bit over many years, and that you don’t need to be an expert in every recessed detail of it. You can jump in from pretty much any angle, and you’ll learn bits and pieces. The universe was designed in a way where not knowing certain deep rabbit holes is itself part of the universe, which is full of ignorance, garbled retellings of events, and outright myth.
Novels aren’t the only way to dive into the 40k universe. It is a universe that really works when presented with a combination of art, tabletop photos, short stories, lore snippets, and the occasional longer form.
3rd through 5th edition codexes and the main rulebook are a gateway into the universe even if you don’t plan on using any of the rules. All codexes and books have lore, but I personally love this era of 40k and the rulebooks for it can be found relatively cheaply.