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Warhammer 40,000
Star of Damocles
Rogue trader patriarch Lucian Gerrit and his family get swept up in an Imperial Crusade to track down and exterminate the alien tau. Having crossed the desolate area of space known as the Damocles Gulf, the fleet arrives on the borders of the tau empire. Can Gerrit's resourcefulness save the day when the Imperial forces find themselves outnumbered and outgunned, thousands of light years from home?
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 28, 2007
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
September 11, 2018
Very much a "middle third of a trilogy" book, but there's nothing wrong with that.
Brielle defects to the tau, but does she have something up her sleeve?
Korvane (dammit, is that his name? I feel I might be a little off there - Lucian's son) is dead-set on proving himself to his father and the Empire.
Lucian juggles politics while questioning his daughter's motives, and which way he'll fall once that situation comes to a boil.
A great examination of the beginning of the Damocles Gulf conflict (I assume). The characters stay interesting. I did wish for more with Brielle, and I get that Hoare wanted to keep her intentions obscured, but yeesh, it got a bit tiring wondering which way she's going to jump.
Cannot believe it was like six years till the culmination of this story. I will most likely forget all this by the time I get there.
Brielle defects to the tau, but does she have something up her sleeve?
Korvane (dammit, is that his name? I feel I might be a little off there - Lucian's son) is dead-set on proving himself to his father and the Empire.
Lucian juggles politics while questioning his daughter's motives, and which way he'll fall once that situation comes to a boil.
A great examination of the beginning of the Damocles Gulf conflict (I assume). The characters stay interesting. I did wish for more with Brielle, and I get that Hoare wanted to keep her intentions obscured, but yeesh, it got a bit tiring wondering which way she's going to jump.
Cannot believe it was like six years till the culmination of this story. I will most likely forget all this by the time I get there.
March 24, 2025
The second 40k Rogue Trader book, not very good. This one covered the beginning of the crusade in the Damocles Gulf, but didn't have enough content. Two fleet actions lackluster political intrigue, and a lot of filler. Might have been a little better if the children of the Rogue Trader (Brielle and Korvane) were given motivations for their inexplicable actions. Honestly, it kind of feels like the whole trilogy should have been a single novel, with its length trimmed by a third at least.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 19, 2023
Well, I don't really know what to make of this book. Sometimes it was exciting and other times boring. All in all I think it was a good read.
September 1, 2023
Quite boring.
February 22, 2024
Old Warhammer that is more opressive and you fill the strugle for each day !
July 31, 2024
compelling book with exciting ship to ship space battles and warp horror stories
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 6, 2025
Not as good as the previous one. Not terrible but it was very short, unsatisfying, and ended suddenly.
January 13, 2015
Not my favorite 40k author. His plot outlines are probably great, but his writing is boring. I keep reading because I like the plot, but the wordsmithing, pacing, and characters all suck.
October 31, 2022
Me ha gustado mucho más que el anterior. Muestra ciertos aspectos de la Civilización T'au desde la perspectiva imperial. Y muchas batallas espaciales.
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February 25, 2018I was not the world's hugest fan of the first book in this series, but I love 40k in general and Rogue Traders in particular, so I thought I'd give the second a try.
Overall, I think that it expands on both the strengths and the flaws of the first book. Voidships feel ancient and storied, with long histories and their own subcultures, and Rogue Traders in the novel do a fair bit of exploring and fighting. We get to see the terrors of the warp, both daemons and bizarre knots in the timeline, which are interesting. The fights in this book have more consequences to them, which is good, even if Lucian always ends up doing most of the work and most others are in the background.
I wanted more depth from the characters, though, and more reasons to like them. The head of the Arcadius clan is a moderately reasonable person, which helps, but he's not as charismatic as he thinks he is. His son's an ass, and it's hard to root for him. His daughter is figuring out where her allegiances lie, but she bides her time a lot, and we don't see much of the weight of her decisions.
The antagonists are shallower by a good bit. The Imperial baddies are one-dimensional, either psychotically xenocidal or sadistic, and it's hard to feel too much about them. The Tau don't get room to develop as characters. Overall Lucian isn't testing himself against his equals or betters.
The rest of the characters are not treated with depth, either. We get a lot of names, but few of the characters have moments that truly define them as people - they're almost all bit players in the story of the Arcadius, and their sacrifices don't feel meaningful.
While the first book stood on its own, this one is clearly leading into a third installment. This does mean that it feels incomplete in some respects. I think that the Tau are some of the least-bad people in the 40k universe, and it could be interesting to see the moral implications of picking a fight with them while the Tyranids are closing in, but that's not really explored here. Overall, I thought it was alright but not great.
Overall, I think that it expands on both the strengths and the flaws of the first book. Voidships feel ancient and storied, with long histories and their own subcultures, and Rogue Traders in the novel do a fair bit of exploring and fighting. We get to see the terrors of the warp, both daemons and bizarre knots in the timeline, which are interesting. The fights in this book have more consequences to them, which is good, even if Lucian always ends up doing most of the work and most others are in the background.
I wanted more depth from the characters, though, and more reasons to like them. The head of the Arcadius clan is a moderately reasonable person, which helps, but he's not as charismatic as he thinks he is. His son's an ass, and it's hard to root for him. His daughter is figuring out where her allegiances lie, but she bides her time a lot, and we don't see much of the weight of her decisions.
The antagonists are shallower by a good bit. The Imperial baddies are one-dimensional, either psychotically xenocidal or sadistic, and it's hard to feel too much about them. The Tau don't get room to develop as characters. Overall Lucian isn't testing himself against his equals or betters.
The rest of the characters are not treated with depth, either. We get a lot of names, but few of the characters have moments that truly define them as people - they're almost all bit players in the story of the Arcadius, and their sacrifices don't feel meaningful.
While the first book stood on its own, this one is clearly leading into a third installment. This does mean that it feels incomplete in some respects. I think that the Tau are some of the least-bad people in the 40k universe, and it could be interesting to see the moral implications of picking a fight with them while the Tyranids are closing in, but that's not really explored here. Overall, I thought it was alright but not great.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews