Rogue Star

Lucian Gerrit is a rogue trader. The starship captain has ancient trading rights granted along the Eastern Rim. Over the generations, the family's fortunes have been declining. Now the family has a pile of debt. Desperate, Lucian strikes a deal with Culpepper Luneberg, Imperial Commander of Mundus Chasmata - a backwater Imperial world. Korvane, Lucian's son, and Brielle, Lucian's daughter, are to help carry out the deal with their father. Word has it that Luneberg had come into a supply of ancient technological artifacts. Luneberg needs Lucian's team as a broker. Brielle knows that things that seem too easy usually are. When she learns what they really picked up for Luneberg, she realizes that she must keep her father from sealing the deal. She also knows that her father and brother will not thank her for it. Yet should Brielle succeed, they must still manage to flee with their lives and hope they do not end up in an even worse position. ***** Author Andy Hoare shows the strength of a trader family, as well as, the shortcomings. Though the Gerrit family works well as a team, the siblings are direct opposites of each other and may yet come to blows as to who eventually inherits the family charter. The author goes beyond dealing with a madman who controls an entire world, he also gives the family a second world ruled by insanity and possible Alien Fleet take-over of the whole sector. Trust me when I say you will never expect all the twists that appear, nor all the surprises. An outstanding novel that I hope to see a sequel to someday soon. ***** Reviewed by Detra Fitch of Huntress Reviews.

This book, the first in what appears be a good ongoing series, follows the travels of Rogue Trader Lucian Gerrit and his family as they attempt to salvage the dynasty of their fleet and family. Lucian enters into a somewhat risky arrangement to keep the family fortune afloat, and ends up being caught in the middle of a budding interstellar war. This entry of Black Library was very well done, and a blessed deviation in tone from the grittier and more gothica language of other authors works. It pays homage to all of the standard 40k mystic, with praises to the machine spirit and the Astropathica, but its still grounded firmly in space physics, with naval warfare references of crossing the T and commands being given in a form and diction that would be required to fight in a 3d field. The author glides through some of these sections a bit quickly for my tastes, but the action is intense and well written, with some wonderful scenes of politika and familial backstabbing. Equipment descriptions are a bit awkward, as I knew what he was trying to describe in some instances, but his language to do so was very different from what I'd seen used previously. His attention to detail in regards to ship armaments and personal weaponry is very well done, as his the political undertone of the meetings the main character has with the ruler he encounters at the beginning of the book. The two children of Lucian are a bit flat, rarely deviating from their assigned roles of obedient son and rebillious daughter, but given the story was almost 1st person from Lucians perspective, this can be forgiven, seeing as how they have many opportunities to be fleshed out in Star of Damocles. 40k philes will see the story coming a mile away though, and may be a touch disappointed on the delivery, but I personally was not. That it slides neatly into 40k canon is also impressive, as it provides a third person view of a well established event, again, only really known if you know 40k canon. Especially given that the book is much shorter than normal BL fare, this was a good opening for the series.

In an effort to regain his fortunes and familial glory the rogue trader Lucien Garrit stikes a deal on a forgotten Imperial World in the backwater of space. Unfortunately for him so far from the Imperium things aren't quite what they seem and he finds himself in grave danger. It doesnt help that his two children are fierce rivals for the inheritance he hopes to leave them. Worth the read but not quite long enough to delve too deeply into any real intrigue.