Rogue Trader: The Omnibus

Warhammer 40,000

by Andy Hoare

Explore the stars and the farthest reaches of the galaxy with the complete Rogue Trader omnibus, containing the novels Rogue Star , Star of Damocles and Savage Scars .

Licensed by ancient charter, Rogue Traders explore the uncharted regions of the galaxy, seeking new worlds to exploit on behalf of the Imperium. The fortunes of Rogue Trader Lucian Gerrit and his family are in decline, 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 in the Eastern Fringe, but his timing could not be worse. The alien tau are seeking to expand their empire across the Damocles Gulf, and soon Gerrit is caught in the middle of a clash between two mighty star-spanning empires, neither of which is willing to back down.

Genres: Science Fiction, 40k, Fiction, Horror

800 pages, Paperback

Published January 23, 2018

Reviews

[Sud666 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rogue Traders are among the most interesting people in the Imperium of Man. Generally, they are the scions of great Trading Houses who struck out independently of the Great Crusade to act as scouts, initial representatives of the Empire, and, of course, businessmen. Given an unusual amount of freedom, due to the Warrant of Trade from the Emperor himself, Rogue Traders are often the first contact with xenos species.

The Rogue Trader omnibus is a collection of stories centered around the Arcadius Clan. The stories, all linked together, are as follows:
Rogue Star
Cold Trade
Star of Damocles
Ambition Knows No Bounds
Savage Scars

This is a fascinating story, as this is the record of the first time the Imperium faces the Tau Empire. The Arcadius Clan must join forces with a fanatic Cardinal and a dark-hearted Inquisitor who intend to bring death and destruction to the hated xenos. Yet, the Rogue Traders and Space Marine contingent have other ideas. This will cause a great deal of conflict as the Imperium faces the Tau during what will be called the Damocles Gulf Crusade.

Great stories and very cool "history" as the meeting of the Tau and the Imperium of Man is one for the ages.

[Martin Jørgensen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mediocre trilogy of books. Not a terribly interesting set of main characters. The only really good thing is the look into Tau culture.

[Frank · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked up the omnibus at a Games Workshop event to try it out. The writing style is very jarring to my taste, and I'd prefer a faster-paced story, but it gives a view of what life can be like at the edges of the Imperium, encountering new alien races and working with Imperial agents and military. I think possibly it attempts to be too far-reaching, going from massive space combats to negotiating with newly discovered alien empires, but that's the background of the rogue traders I guess. The action sequences are enjoyable but the internal family dynamic is at times too in-your-face. The short stories that are included helped clarify things here and there, though. For me it was the strange wording and sentence structure that took me out of the story too often to rate it higher, I had to take longer breaks than usual between reading all the stories - whereas with the Gaunt's Ghosts stories for example I was happy to read straight into the next one, with this omnibus I had to read other non-40K books to recharge my batteries so I could start the next novel.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

Warhammer 40K books are almost always fun to read just for the universe they're written in. Rogue Trader is like many WH40K novels in that the story is of only mild interest compared to that universe. In this particular case, the novels are unevenly paced; plots and characters are dropped with no resolution; and the entire trilogy is simply cut short at the last moment in favor of an entirely new storyline (which is continued in other books). Still, there is just enough going on to hold the reader's interest across 800 pages.

[Tom Fishwick · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first book was something of what I would imagine a Rogue Trader of the Imperium would get up to. Politics and trade deals with Imperial Commanders on the outer rim of the Imperium.
The second book became more of a generic book about the Imperial Navy, you could easily swap Lucian's title of Rogue Trader for Admiral/Commodore and that would be the extent of the changes needed.
Savage Scars was effectively a book about the White Scars space marines, with a bit of fleet action too.

[Derek Swanson · Rating 1 out of 5]

spotty and inconsistent

The best elements of this story are the space marines and imperial guard. The rogue trader family is a ridiculous joke. Their character development is non existent and they become less likable and more ridiculous as the story progresses. A wasted opportunity with some good parts. Really missed on the rogue trader potential.

[Dev S · Rating 4 out of 5]

This omnibus is a fun read. Hefty and long but still very enjoyable. I was a little disappointed that there seemed a need to include space marines as they are the least interesting part of the universe but otherwise great fodder for a rogue trader or Inq28 game.

[Joanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+++

[Ulzeta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fun.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out great and was a fast read until the last book. It seemed like the story was forced and written with long breaks because the author seemed to forget details of the story as time went on. The name of the battle operation changing a couple times and characters added that were not the before and then disappearing just as fast.
Read the first three stories and skip the last and you will love this omnibus.

[stuart wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good perspectives

A four star because it was written well with good interludes and character formation but I did tend to skip some of the action and non dialogue pages by the end of the book to get to the political sections of the power struggle which were my favourite sections.