Deathstalker Rebellion: Being the Second Part of the Life and Times of Owen Deathstalker [Mass Market Paperback]

Simon R. Green (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 4, 2008

The sequel to the best-selling Deathstalker follows outlaw Owen Deathstalker and his band of washed-up warriors, pirates, and aliens, as he battles the tyrannical Queen Lionstone XIV to preserve the galaxy's freedom.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Superbly performed and highly recommended series of science fiction audiobooks." -- Library Bookwatch --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

About the Author

Simon R. Green is a New York Times bestselling author whose works include Drinking Midnight Wine, Beyond the Blue Moon, Blue Moon Rising, The Adventures of Hawk & Fisher, and the Deathstalker series. A resident of Bradford-on-Avon in England, he is currently working on the next Deathstalker novel.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 508 pages
• Publisher: Roc (March 4, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451455525
• ISBN-13: 978-0451455529
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #446,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Simon Green is the author of the bestselling DEATHSTALKER cycle, the New York Times bestseller ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES, and many other novels. He lives in Bradford-upon-Avon in Wiltshire.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Let's get this slightly campy rebellion started, January 1, 2005

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deathstalker Rebellion: Being the Second Part of the Life and Times of Owen Deathstalker (Mass Market Paperback)

While this second entry in the life and times of Owen Deathstalker retains all of the action and fun of the first novel, an element of camp seems to have set in to make the series less fulfilling. Greene, every so often, seems to set the story aside momentarily in an effort to be funny, and the introduction of characters such as Half a Man indicates to me that Greene has decided to embrace some of the campiness of space opera and just run with it. Perhaps the most interesting thing about Deathstalker Rebellion is the fact that Owen Deathstalker, the main character by default, is the least interesting person in this entire drama. Outlawed by Lionstone XIV, this historian and aristocrat turned reluctant hero has set the rebellion against the Empire in motion, but - at least at this early stage of the game - he has become all but irrelevant. His close comrades - legendary rebel Jack Random, pirate and clonelegger Helen D'Ark, and bounty hunter Ruby Journey - are much more prominent and intriguing than he is.

The first real blow Deathstalker delivers to the Empire is an assault on the Income Tax and Tithe Headquarters on Golgotha, seat of the imperial government. He succeeds in throwing the Empire's finances into disarray, but the resulting blow to the planet's defenses allows an unknown alien ship to pop in and lay waste to the starport and other prominent facilities. This poses a problem, as the underground of rebels (including a number of fascinating aristocrats alongside hackers, clones, and individuals with esp abilities) already plotting their own rebellion on Golgotha itself aren't exactly happy about staging a rebellion that promises to just open up the way for their own annihilation by aliens. In the aftermath, however, all the rebel groups throughout the Empire come together for the first time in order to make plans to work together. Lionstone XIV, meanwhile, has to lay plans for a threat from within as well as without. Captain Silence and Investigator Frost (my favorite characters) somehow manage to avoid execution for their failures once again and end up out on the Rim shoring up planetary support. While there, they encounter a lost ship from two centuries earlier which turns out to be full of Ghost Warriors; these are animated, computer-enhanced corpses controlled by the dastardly AI from the planet Shub, known enemies who now bear watching - along with the Hadenmen, or Enemies of Humanity, who have joined up with Owen's forces after the Deathstalker freed them from their Tomb on the lost planet Haden.

The main action in this novel, though, focuses on the inhospitable planet Technos III, where the Wolfe Family is in charge of producing new stardrives for the imperial navy. Family clans are very complicated in this imperial universe, with each Family conspiring for greater power while individual Family members constantly plot against one another. Thus it is that several groups, not just the rebels, do not want to see the Wolfes produce a single new stardrive. Random and Ruby travel to the harsh environment to lead the rebel forces fighting for their planet, but the biggest surprises are laid by folks ostensibly loyal to the empire - it all comes together to make the ultimate climax quite interesting, to say the least.

Deathstalker Rebellion seems much longer than its 500+ pages. There are some redundancies built in to the story, characters have a knack for somehow managing to engage in pages of private dialogue in the midst of frantic activity going on all around them, and there are some real "oh, come on" moments in the story. You've got one character who returned 200 years ago from alien capture with only one side of his body - his other half is some sort of alien energy field. You've got heroes capable of doing all kinds of miracles thanks to an earlier trip through a mysterious maze of unknown alien origins, and that sometimes provides an easy out for Greene when characters find themselves in real trouble (sort of an alien ex machina). You have a civilization that has manufactured a weapon capable of wiping out a galaxy of worlds instantaneously, yet no one can invent a blaster that doesn't require two minutes to recharge between shots. Perhaps the biggest problem is the fact that events and characters are spread quite thin across the novel - you can go 100 pages without encountering the protagonist, for example. As the rebel efforts begin to coalesce in the future, though, I would expect this problem to diminish.

Despite the negatives, Deathstalker Rebellion is a fun, action-packed, sometimes slightly wacky, read; it's pure space opera and seemingly proud of it. The encounter with the Ghost Warriors is an especially intriguing, momentarily creepy, episode. I wouldn't recommend starting this series with this or any other sequel, though; there is just far too much going on in too many different places. If you enjoy space opera, you should enjoy the Deathstalker series; if you can take it or leave it when it comes to space opera, you may find yourself frustrated by the seemingly slow progression of events in these pages.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars there's no getting enough of this stuff!, February 20, 1999

By 

Steve (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Deathstalker Rebellion: Being the Second Part of the Life and Times of Owen Deathstalker (Mass Market Paperback)

Space opera doesn't get any better than this. With his grand, sweeping style, his memorable characters, his complex and involving storyline, his suspenseful and riveting action sequences, and his absolute mastery of the art of drama, Simon R. Green has truly shaped a masterpiece of modern fiction. Deathstalker Rebellion is the second in a series of five, and continues to build up the complexity of the series. The more Deathstalker you read, the better it gets.

4.0 out of 5 stars Certainly enjoyable even if it does drag in places, June 12, 2009

By 

General Pete (SC) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Deathstalker Rebellion: Being the Second Part of the Life and Times of Owen Deathstalker (Mass Market Paperback)

This series was ostensibly written as a homage to a simpler time where good guys were good and bad guys weren't all that complicated. I personally find the characters in the book Oz, Owen, Hazel, and Ruby and Ransom, the Stevie Blues and Augmented men to be refreshing I am sick of those 20 book long series where it is revealed slowly over the course of time that the evil emperor/empress really isn't such a bad person after all.

This time it is different the bad guy (or in this case bad woman) really is that bad kind of like a comically evil Ming the Merciless this series is amazing not for its quality which frankly isn't that great once you step a pace back think about it for a few seconds but rather for its similarities intentional and not so intentional to Doc Savage, Flash Gordon, Perry Rhodon and John Carter of Mars the series is what it is and most of the time that is not necessarily a bad thing.

Overall-while most the action is still on Deathstalker and his gang fighting the empire by degrees Captain Silence and his gang travel around the rim a little visiting some (for once) very inhuman aliens. My favorite characters this time are the more minor ones David Deathstalker, Kid Death and don't forget Finly Cambbel the masked gladiator. As much as convenient plot devices and repetitive dialog make me want to give this series up I like the characters to much to do that and you will too.