Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Andy Hoare dabbles on both sides of Games Workshop's product lines: game development for the Warhammer 40,000 (W40K) tabletop miniatures game, and in the Black Library fiction upon which it's based. He's done numerous short pieces, and this is his second novel, though clearly the first of a series. This work is more of a lengthy prolog to the series than a stand-alone book. The main characters include: Lucian Gerrit, the brash and insensitive dynastic father; Korvane, the bookish obedient son; and Brielle, the rebellious intuitive daughter.
The book abruptly, some might say inelegantly, thrusts the characters into their assigned roles. You know the personalities of the main characters before finishing the first chapter, and they don't deviate from those patterns for the rest of the work, even when there's clear evidence that to do so would be in their best interest. They form what is clearly the most dysfunctional family in the Imperium. The father blusters, issuing orders without any explanation, and even revels in the concept that his children won't understand his commands. The son, the heir apparent of the dynasty, is blindly obedient to his father and sullenly hostile towards his sister. The daughter is overtly rebellious and completely without consideration for anyone beside herself.
Action scenes provide welcome respite from the Gerrit family affairs, and both the personal- and starship-level conflicts are well written and agreeably paced. However, M. Hoare seems to have based much of his starship terminology from the age of sail, slightly at odds with previous 40K material. The helmsman turns the wheel to steer; Lucian is constantly referring to the drives as "the mains." Any reader of either Horatio Hornblower or Jack Aubrey novels will begin to wonder if they're in the 40K universe or somewhere else.
The plot flows loosely from event to event without building much of a climax, which given the book's purpose as a lengthy prolog to latter works might be forgiven. The "resolution" at the end only serves to prepare the reader for the next installment: Star of Damocles. However, if you're looking for a satisfying, stand-alone story without having to read the rest of the series when it comes out, you might want to look elsewhere.
In short: somewhat clumsy in execution, it does have redeeming features. 40K completists will want to own a copy, but others might wait to see if the rest of the series proves any better than the prolog.
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Rogue Trader Lucian Gerrit learns the true meaning of profit and loss! Andy Hoare presents an epic adventure in his debut novel for the Black Library. Lucian Gerrit is a rogue trader - a starship captain granted ancient trading rights along the Eastern Fringe of Imperial space. But his family's fortunes have been steadily declining for many generations and his inheritance amounts to little more than a pile of debt and misery. In a final desperate gamble to restore his family's former glory, Gerrit strikes a deal on a forgotten Imperial world to aid its commander in a long-standing war with his rival. As Gerrit commits his family's assets to the escalating conflict, he may lose more than his livelihood!
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