'Warhammer 40K' Book Review: 'Vaults Of Terra: The Omnibus'
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Released in 2025 and collecting a narrative that began being told in 2017, Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus features a trilogy of novels and a trilogy of short stories all written by Chris Wraight that provides a removed perspective from one of the most momentous shifts in the Imperium of Man’s history and recent Warhammer 40K storytelling. The story focuses on the exploits of one Inquisitor and various members of his retinue as they begin to pull on a thread that leads them into a mind-boggling rabbit hole of secrets, where questions of faith, adaptability, and survival in a hard universe are frequently asked but rarely answered.
WARNING: This review contains LIGHT SPOILERS for Vaults of Terra: The Omnibus.
Organized with the three original novels first, followed by the short stories (the first two short stories initially released after the first novel, so this is a change in release order), the omnibus includes The Carrion Throne, The Hollow Mountain, and The Dark City alongside “Argent,” “Sanguine,” and “Okira.” The trilogy’s main characters are Inquisitor Erasmus Crowl with his faithful servoskull Gorgias at his side and Interrogator Luce Spinoza, who has a deep religious faith and dedication to those she serves. Meanwhile, a subset of other characters exists to fill out the retinue with several initially introduced as secondary characters in the first novel and growing to primary characters at the end of the series. Of note is the assassin Niir Khazad, trained to specifically serve Inquisitors via a Deathworld for lethal killers from a population purposefully kept in the dark about the wider galaxy, as well as Maldo Revus, a Stormtrooper Captain and responsible for both the protection of the retinue and investigation on its behalf.
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Crowl is an interesting main character, as are others in the series, due to the nature of the Imperium of Man and the Inquisition. They will do terrible things, both to their own people who are loyal citizens and others at the fringes of its society, in the name of order and stability as determined by whoever has the most power at that particular time. The same is true of the story’s villains, who, without spoiling anything huge, are Imperial officials whose plot has been hatched in the name of the Imperium.
As a result, Crowl and Spinoza are multifaceted characters with flaws and shortcomings affecting their view of a fracturing world where they do their best, by their understanding, to protect and safeguard the only way of life they know to have value and safety from a whole host of threats. Those they surround themselves with are similar characters, working in service to the Inquisition and the goals of this particular shard of the Imperium, though some have unique outlooks.
Hopefully, we get a follow-up on the events of this novel in the near future or further explorations of its characters in stories set before the events of the omnibus. As it stands now, Vaults of Terra is an interesting deep dive into the time period and happenings on Terra during a very particular time in galactic history. Its characters are complex, from the protagonists to the antagonists, and Chris Wraight is to be applauded for such a stupendous series of stories.
Rating: 9/10
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