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The Books of the Wars [Mass Market Paperback]

Mark Geston (Author)
3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)

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Book Description

January 27, 2009
Complete in one volume for the first time: Three novels making up a saga of the distant future, when the Earth and its inhabitants have transformed almost beyond recognition, science has all but become sorcery, and humanity is threatened by creatures out of the past’s darkest legends.

Lords of the Starship: The spaceship Victory was to be seven miles long, a third of a mile in diameter, and have a wingspread of three and a half miles. It would have been a daunting undertaking even for the high-tech civilization that had collapsed centuries ago, but the heroic project had caught the imagination of a decadent nation, becoming an almost religious obsession. But who were the shadowy figures behind the project, and what was the real goal of the herculean project?

Out of the Mouth of the Dragon: The prophets agreed that the world, with its decaying cities and hopelessly corrupt people, was doomed. But then came the call to the final Armageddon, in which the forces of Good and the forces of Evil would meet in the final battle and decide whether Creation would either be renewed or end, like a dying candle flame. And Amon VanRoark knew he must follow that call.  

The Siege of Wonder: For centuries, the crumbling civilization built on science had battled the opposing realm of wizardry without victory. Then the Special Office sent Aden, with an electronic eye in place of his own, to plant a spy transmitter in a legendary unicorn, the talisman of the most powerful wizard, to spy upon the highest councils of sorcery itself. 

      A critically-praised epic trilogy of science and sorcery and the twilight realm between them.


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About the Author

Geston was born in Atlantic City, New Jersey. He graduated from from Kenyon College in Ohio with a degree in history, and received his law degree from New York University Law School in 1971. His first science fiction novel, Lords of the Starship, written when he was 20 and still in college, was widely praised, as were its two sequels, Out of the Mouth of the Dragon and The Siege of Wonder. He has also published the novels The Day Star (DAW) and Mirror to the Sky (AvoNova), as well as short fiction in such magazines as Amazing Stories and the annual collections The Year’s Best SF #4 and The Year’s Best Short Fiction (HarperCollins, 1991). He is a full time lawyer, practicing in Boise, Idaho.

 


Product Details

  • Mass Market Paperback: 688 pages
  • Publisher: Baen; Original edition (January 27, 2009)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1416591524
  • ISBN-13: 978-1416591528
  • Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,790,396 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
5 star:
 (2)
4 star:    (0)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
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Average Customer Review
3.2 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Fires far away, May 5, 2010
This review is from: The Books of the Wars (Mass Market Paperback)
Geston writes very little today, but the late 60's saw a brief efflorescence of his work. OUT OF THE MOUTH OF THE DRAGON and its clumsier predecessor LORDS OF THE STARSHIP are set in approximately the same future history - one where humanity has retreated from the stars to a crippled Earth and now fights repeated apocalyptic battles, False Armageddons, in a futile attempt to end creation.

The brutality of this scenario is set off and framed by images of great sadness and beauty: angels scarred by napalm, dead prophets speaking with prosthetic voiceboxes, ancient machines of nearly sentient cunning, and a maddening not-quite-engagement with the authentic supernatural which reflects the existential torment of the prophets and pilgrims who move through this darkening world.

THE SIEGE OF WONDER is unconnected except thematically: on an Earth divided between science and magic, science scents triumph, dissolving the mantichores and demons with a solvent understanding more destructive than any weapon. The book focuses on an agent become a refugee, now ground between the two opposing sides, seeking some lost reconciliation.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book now!, June 2, 2009
This review is from: The Books of the Wars (Mass Market Paperback)
I could not believe after all these years Lords of the Starship and Out of the Mouth of the Dragon are finally available. I have had used original paperbacks of both for over ten years and I have had to read them carefully because they are so old. I consider these the two great unknown SF novels and either is well worth the price of this book. Siege of Wonder is just a bonus.
In some ways it is similar to Lord of the Rings as an original work of the imagination and while I will not put it quite in the same company as that masterpiece, I feel what Geston has done in far fewer words is create a world with an ancient, mysterious, fascinating history, with some great battle scenes and a true sense of wonder.
Highly recommended!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Siege of Wonder is a minor classic..., September 19, 2009
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This review is from: The Books of the Wars (Mass Market Paperback)
Almost 20 years ago, I happened to read Geston's novel, the Day Star, because an old copy was in the college sf collection. The book made very little sense to me but I never forgot about it because of the beautiful title and the poetic prose style.

So I decided to give the Book of Wars a try, which reprints 3/5 of Geston's novels. As a previous reviewer noted, the 3 books are a mixed bag but they do show steady improvement. (The first 2 were written while the author was in college.) I would consider only the 3rd book, the Siege of Wonder (1976) to have enduring value because it shows Geston was on the verge of becoming a top-notch writer. First of all, it's beautifully written and Geston had greatly improved his dialogue and characterization, which was quite weak in the first two novels. (Unfortunately, Geston would write only one more novel in 1991.)
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