I'll be honest. I thought Know No Fear sucked. The first person point of view and enormous amounts of said points of view just made it rough imo. But that's not why I'm posting this.
Calth is obviously a big part of the Heresy. And Know No Fear made me want to just skip it. So I did. No Mark of Calth. Battle for the Abyss was in the past. On to the aftermath in Ultramar. It was after Unremembered Empire and Pharos I felt I was missing depth. At this poin, I was amost to the Siege. I could see it. A year of reading behind me and maybe a few more month, and it'd all be done. But I stopped.
I realized you only get 1 first time through the Heresy. Why not embrace the whole damn thing? So I did. A lot of talk is made of reading order etc. I was attempting to read it in chronological order. Skipping the Anthologies. It was fluf, right? I found the Omnibus. Started back at the beginning. This time, adding in all the short stories and the novellas (skimming the books I'd already read just to refresh) and a funny thing happened, I discovered Calth. The Mark of Calth. Went all-in. Took some time. There's a lot going on. And then I hit 2 of the best books in the ENTIRE Heresy.
The Honoured and the Unburdened.
After spending a week or two emerged in Calth, it hit me finally. The weight of it. The sacrifice of it. The betrayal. Maybe more emotionally impactful than the Dropsite Massacre. I mean the damn Word Bearers almost won the rebellion in 1 move! Wild.
Point I'm making to all Heresy newbies is don't rush it. Read it all. You only get 1 first time. The Siege will be there.
Anyway. 🫠