Customer Reviews

Deathstalker Coda

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Deathstalkers are legends in the universe they inhabit and Greeen should be a legend of Sci-fi. He has managed to end a series in a way that is both satisfying and fitting, one of the things many authors simply cannot seem to do. OK, there could be more, but this is definitely a great book, tying together more in its few pages than we fans have a right to expect.

No spoiler here, just a recommendation that if you have read and enjoyed any of the other DS books, you need to read the rest!!

I love everything Green writes and this was no exception.

There's hardly a bigger problem to imagine the hero having to face than the very existence of the galaxy itself. But that's the problem that Owen Deathstalker has to face in this the conclusion to Simon Green's Deathstalker series. I make this the eighth book in the Deathstalker series. It promises to be the last. All the story lines are wrapped up in a tidy little bundle. There will be no more.

But then again, Deathstalker Destiny was billed as the Fifth and Last Part of the Life and Times of Owen Deathstalker. I guess the public just wouldn't let Mr. Green end it so easily.

As with all the series, this book is filled with swash buckling action, covers a bunch of territory (as well as a lot of time as Owen goes back a couple of hundred years), and you know that good has to triumph over evil.

If you are new to the Deathstalker series, you're in for a real treat.

Fans of Simon R. Green's "Deathstalker" series will find the latest a 'must have' conclusion to the series: here Owen Deathstalker has survived his confrontation with the Terror - only to discover its real, shocking identity. To stop his former love, he must prevent her transformation even as political forces vie for power. Deathstalker Coda is a highly recommended pick and essential reading for any prior Deathstalker fan.

I've read every book SRG has written... twice. And, let me tell you, this book will not disappoint.

It beings with a sentence as shocking as the last sentence in Return. And I know SRG had a little smirk on his face when he wrote it, knowing how it would drive his fans who have been waiting so long for this book crazy. The book starts right in the thick of things, with no one knowing exactly what to do. Owen leaves Lewis's group, much to their chagrine, and goes back in time to find Hazel. All the way back to the first Empire.

Meanwhile, King Douglas goes to the Rookery to start his rebellion. And everytime something goes right for Douglas, something seems to go wrong for Emperor Finn.

Lewis travels to different planets with his gang to try to amass an army to go to Logres and fight Finn. He gets his army, and an epic war is in the making.

Owen's time travels play a real havoc with your mind, setting paradox after paradox, and the series ends with another question mark, at least in my mind.

Simon said that this is the last word in the Deathstalker Series, but I think this universe is too much to just throw away. I smell a couple of spinoffs based in the First Empire.

Overall, this is a fitting end to one of the most amazing sci-fi series I have ever read. If you've read any of the Deathstalker series, you have to read this book.

Coda is a satisfying ending to a long and enjoyable space opera. As in all of the Deathstalker books there is copious amounts of action and bloodletting that is so violent it is almost comedic.

This is light space opera and action at its best.

I have read the entire series... and while I have been used the occasional bad bit of writing and plot tie ups in the series ( usually only in sections of a book ) I was very saddened to see that almost the entire book was cliched and ( I really hate to say this ) badly written. Dialogue between characters was weak almost as if I was reading a rough draft. And it appeared that the writer was just trying to finish the book with as few loose ends as possible.

I almost really hope that Mr. Green did not write this book but someone else finished it for him, it would explain many of the amauterish mistakes I would catch.

Simon R. Green's books are among my many favorite's. I still reread the first Deathstalker book and Blue Moon Rising. The Hawk and Fisher series is excellent light reading. I am just sad to see such a conclusion to a story that swept me up in its mythos and took me along for a ride.

This third instalment of Simon R Greens latest Deathstalker books provides as much 'over the top' gung-ho mayhem and downright fun as the previous novels.
The 'Blessed Owen' has returned and is travelling back through time to try and stop The Terror, aka Hazel D'Ark his former love. The Emperor Finn is meeting opposition to his evil regime and is trying to create a Clone army to counteract the rebellion (Hmmmm...Wonder where that idea came from). Meanwhile resistance is coming from the previous ruler, Douglas and his former soldier Stuart along with Lewis Deathstalker and his entourage.
Simon R Green is a master at combining a fast paced adventure story with a good balance of humour. His humour is somewhat 'off the wall' and blood and gore abound, but look beyond this and you have a wickedly funny space opera. This is a 'must buy' for any fan of his.

I am sorry I bought it. This book was horrible, from beginning to end. It was nothing more then a rehash of the first books and provided nothing original at all. I am embarrassed to even claim to have read it. I hope Mr. Green, who has written some very fine pieces of science fiction, goes back to the drawing board and figures out what to do with his career. If no one will buy any of his books unless the word, "Deathstalker" is in the title, then I feel for him, because he is a much better author then he let on in this book or the two that proceeded it.

After seven previous novels totaling thousands of pages, two intergalactic revolutions, the deaths of billions of people across a vast spectrum of home worlds, the apocalyptic threat of two all-but-unstoppable alien forces, and heaven only knows how many humorous remarks by a succession of over-the-top characters, the Deathstalker saga finally comes to an end, I am sad to report, in Deathstalker Coda. I'm hoping Simon R. Green will pull another Deathstalker rabbit out of his hat at some point, but it really looks like Deathstalker Coda brings one of the most frolicking space opera series of all time to its completion. It should come as no surprise when I suggest to you that you shouldn't start your Deathstalker journey here - at a minimum, you should first read Deathstalker Legacy and Deathstalker Return because those two novels chronicle the final chapter in the life of the universe's greatest hero. For the full back-story to the climactic events of Deathstalker Coda, however, you really should read all of the Deathstalker novels. I promise it won't hurt a bit, as they are all incredibly entertaining and quite addictive.

As this novel opens, more than two centuries have passed since Owen Deathstalker, quiet historian turned intergalactic hero, and his band of unforgettable rebels overthrew the despicable Empress Lionstone XIV, stopped the galaxy-destroying power of a mysterious alien force called The Revenant, and ushered in (after a lot more fighting) a new era of peace throughout the galaxy. The golden age ended, however, when the power-hungry Finn Durandal betrayed basically everyone and usurped the throne from the rightful King Douglas. (One thing that has not changed over the years, however, is the Deathstalker luck, as Owen's ancestor Lewis has been branded an outlaw after running off with Douglas' beautiful fiancée.) Under Durandal's capriciously iron rule, the worlds' enforcers of justice have been decimated, and billions of citizens once again suffer under the megalomaniacal despotism of a royal fiend. And that's not even the bad news. All of these woes tend to pale in comparison to the approaching threat of the Terror, a destructive, world-eating force that dwarfs even the unparalleled horrors of The Revenant. Since Owen's disappearance two centuries earlier, legend has said that the Deathstalker would return when his people desperately needed him. It seemed pretty unlikely to those of us who witnessed his death, but return he has - just in time to get the shock of his life (upon learning just who and what the Terror really is).

There is no shortage of heroes and fiends in the world of the Deathstalker, and virtually every single character is larger than life. This is space opera pushed to its extremes, which makes for a wild and bloody ride all the way to the very end. I must admit, however, that there's a sort of a dual nature to this story. On the one hand, you have Lewis Deathstalker and his allies fighting to overthrow self-proclaimed emperor Finn Durandal, while on the other hand you have Owen Deathstalker setting out alone to stop the threat of The Terror. These two narrative streams don't truly flow together until the very end, which makes this novel a little less enjoyable than Green's earlier efforts, but the conclusion really does tie everything together nicely. Those who have read the first five novels know that the end of that original series lacked a sense of closure, with the fates of two beloved characters ringing a little less than true. With Deathstalker Coda, that sense of closure is finally achieved, making for a conclusion that does not disappoint the devoted Deathstalker fan.

Green's ability to keep so many characters and so much history straight across such an extensive, action-packed series is an achievement in and of itself, as is his remarkable ability to keep the story moving at a brisk pace with nary a moment to rest along the way. Owen's story in its totality requires quite a commitment from the reader, but all the thousands of pages making up the complete saga seem far too few for those of us who would love to see the Deathstalker story go on indefinitely. It's been an extended adrenaline rush, as I can honestly say I've never enjoyed a series as much as I have flat-out enjoyed every single minute of the Deathstalker saga. Owen, you will be missed - but you will certainly never be forgotten.

For as many problems as I had with Lewis and his compatriots (sorry people Owen was cooler and he did it first) I will say that this (hopefully) last installment of the Deathstalker saga does the best job of anything I have ever read of tying up all the loose ends. Important questions that have been nagging me since the very beginning of the series are finally resolved such as whatever happened to David Wolfe and just who exactly created the madness maze and why? For those of you who have stuck with the series for a long time you will not be disappointed with this installment.

I will however have to start charging the characters for every time they use the words "blessed Owen"