Counterfeit Kings [Paperback]

Adam Connell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 2004

A science fiction transcends the genre and stands with the best new American novels of this decade. The central character is Horrocks, a man determined to preserve a way of life that is horrifying, yet which he is afraid to lose.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Rich in detail and surprising incident, Connell's SF debut takes a grim look at the twisted machinery of collective government and the individual spirit often at odds with ruling political systems. When an assassination attempt on a mining colony in a distant universe forces retired bodyguard Horrocks on a search for the colony's leader (aka "the king") and his Ringers (mechanical look-alikes), he begins to question the system of life that he's fighting to protect. People take precedence over mechanical marvels in this intense drama. Married and expecting a child, Horrocks is the perfect character through which to explore the ambiguous moral issues involved in leadership and big-business exploitation. Struggle for identity and self-sacrifice are just a few of the powerful stories beneath an action-packed surface plot that provokes as it dazzles. Featuring shattered characters whose souls are as dirtied as their deteriorated surroundings, Connell's novel boldly challenges the rigid moral conservatism so often found in traditional space opera, and is sure to both please and anger readers of this particular subgenre.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Paperback: 380 pages
• Publisher: Phobos Books; First Edition edition (May 13, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0972002642
• ISBN-13: 978-0972002646
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,997,781 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars A really bad book, June 28, 2005

By 

Chuckpa "Sci-reader" (Philadelphia, PA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Counterfeit Kings (Paperback)

Okay. The last time I tried to review this I guess I was so harsh that Amazon pulled my review, so I will not berate the reviewers who praise this thing. The bood is bad, the writer has no clue to writing science fiction. Sometimes that's a good thing, it means a fresh perspective. In this case it means that character's go into the "basement" of a starship to check the "boiler", or check the ship's "dashboard". And that's just the terminology. Really this is way beyond silly, it is just typing disguised as a story. Personally, I believe the author should be sat down and told that whenever they have the need to write they should stick a needle in their eye until the feeling passes and editor of this mess should be fired. But hey, I just have this thing about not wasting my money on bad writing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Morticians in Space, August 12, 2005

By 

Mithradates (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Counterfeit Kings (Paperback)

I never would have thought that spacefarers would keep large stocks of embalming fluid in their ships, but what do I know. I also wonder at the clear sense of up and down that exists aboard these spaceships, and how they seem to come to a dead stop when their drives are busted. I give Connell high marks for narrative drive; that's what enabled me to finish, and even enjoy the book despite being revolted by the violence, the characters, the society described and nearly everything else in the book. If an alien race had arrived and exterminated humanity, I would have called it a happy ending. In the end, I give it a qualified recommendation to space-opera fans with strong stomachs.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adam Connell is the real deal, June 28, 2004

By 

Robert M. Fahy (Massapequa, NY United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Counterfeit Kings (Paperback)

Awesome, awesome, awesome!!

If Alfred Bester, David Mamet and Kate Chopin had a voodoo love-child, their
punk-rock offspring would be Adam Connell.

Counterfeit Kings is a daring debut on par with Mieville's and Stephenson's.

Connell surprises, delights and amazes. All the things science fiction was
meant to do, and Connell does them better than most.