Deathstalker Return [Hardcover]

Simon R. Green (Author)

Book Description

Series: Deathstalker | Publication Date: January 6, 2004

Against overwhelming odds, Lewis Deathstalker is determined to find out the truth about his famous ancestor, Owen Deathstalker, who disappeared over 200 years ago. Because Owen is the only one who can save humanity from the Terror he predicted...which has finally arrived.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Bestseller Green's latest overstuffed entry in his Deathstalker epic (after 2003's Deathstalker Legacy) tests our heroes to the limit as they seek the supposedly dead Owen Deathstalker, for they believe that only he can turn back the oncoming Terror, an evil and unstoppable force bent on destroying all the worlds in its path. Lewis Deathstalker, descendant of the Beloved Owen, on the lam with his renegade companions, runs into adventure after adventure as he seeks Owen on a variety of planets. Their archenemy, former Paragon Finn Durandal, dogs them every step of the way as he seizes power, overthrows King Douglas and dismantles the Golden Age that Owen helped create 200 years earlier. Others seek to overthrow the nasty Durandal, including the enigmatic robots of Shub, Douglas (who's not the broken man he appears to be), Paragon Emma Steel and Steel's unlikely ally, gun-toting girl reporter Nina Malapert. Green ably juggles elements of sword and sorcery, high fantasy, humorous quest and SF, with homages to authors such as Moorcock, Adams, Cordwainer Smith and Zelazny. Amazing coincidences, or the sudden appearance of powerful, supposedly long-dead heroes who give advice, save the day a few too many times, blunting the impact of the characters' actions, but it's a fun, twisty romp with surprises around every corner.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Lewis Deathstalker's troubles are many, even if he is with the woman he loves, Jessamine Flowers. The problem is that she was King Douglas' intended, and that makes Deathstalker a traitor. It is Finn Durandal, nominally a Douglas ally, who is actually hatching the highest treason, and whom Douglas and Deathstalker (the Killer Ds) really have to worry about. Deathstalker's cohorts continue to be a charming con man, an immortal female gladiator, and a reptiloid named Saturday. They and Lewis constitute a tough bunch, but what will happen should Lewis' ancestor Owen Deathstalker, thought to have been dead for two centuries, return? But then, is there anything dire enough to necessitate his return? Tune in on the next Deathstalker volume for answers to those questions, but meanwhile have fun with this one. After all, reading even one Deathstalker leaves one feeling jollier than before, for the series continues to avoid the lapses of tone so common in humorous space opera and fantasy. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Roc Hardcover; First Edition edition (January 6, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451428218
• ISBN-13: 978-0451428219
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,338,276 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

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simon R Green, still the best, January 9, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Deathstalker Return (Hardcover)

I've read every single Simon R Green book that he has published here in the States... twice. And I have thoroughly enjoyed every single one of them. He has yet to disappoint me in any of his books.
In Return, Simon throws us a couple of days into the mix after the ending of Legacy with Lewis (he throws you 2 months ahead with Finn). The story is essentially split into two parts: What Lewis is doing, and what Finn and Douglas are doing. Or, more of what Finn is doing to Douglas.

This book will keep Simon R Green fans happy. It has tons of inventive ways of killing someone, like always. It also has some wonderful politics. Although, it comes off like there isn't anything Finn can't pull off. He really makes you hate Finn in this book, and he really makes you pity Douglas.

And, the ending to this book was (for me) unexpected, and brilliant. I loved it. I cannot wait until Deathstalker Coda comes out next January... the next 12 months will seem like an eternity.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars excellence, January 11, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Deathstalker Return (Hardcover)

this book was definitely one of the best books that Simon R. Green has written - you really begin to sympathize with all the good characters and hate the bad ones. it's really a great read - it took about 3 hours for me to finish it, i was so engrossed. the ending especially, it was the most brilliant ending i have ever read, i can't wait until the next one comes out!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The much-anticipated return of Owen Deathstalker, March 5, 2005

By 

Daniel Jolley "darkgenius" (Shelby, North Carolina USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Deathstalker Return (Hardcover)

Two hundred years have passed since Owen Deathstalker and his companions overthrew a corrupt Empire and saved humanity from the seemingly insurmountable threat of the Recreated. Owen Deathstalker, Hazel D'Ark, Jack Random, Ruby Journey - they are just legends now, the details of their exploits removed from the historical record because the new king and queen thought that the people would be more inspired by legend than a history that revealed their human weaknesses. Thanks to Owen, the Empire did indeed enter into a Golden Age, the enemies of Humanity either defeated or incorporated as newly established allies. Now that great era of peace and interspecies cooperation is falling apart, eaten away from within by a power-hungry former enforcer of justice and threatened from without by the prophesied arrival of the Terror. Owen Deathstalker warned of the coming danger in his final message, and now everyone in the Empire looks to him to return and save the day once again, for legend decrees that he alone can defeat the apocalyptic menace of the Terror.

Owen Deathstalker's story was told over the course of five incredibly exciting novels. Deathstalker Legacy took up the story two hundred years later, introducing us to a new Deathstalker in Lewis, a noble Paragon who was named King Douglas' Champion and then branded a traitor when he ran off with the king's intended bride Jesamine Flowers. Outlawed just like his famous predecessor, Lewis eventually teamed up with a most unusual team of individuals and set off to find - he hoped - the blessed Owen Deathstalker. The new gang of heroes does not even begin to compare with the legendary heroes of the past. Lewis is yet to prove himself a true Deathstalker in my eyes; his great love Jesamine Flowers is a spoiled and shallow diva who goes on and on about the comforts she has given up for her love of Lewis; Brett Random, who claims to be descended from both Jack Random and Ruby Journey (although no one believes it but him) is an insult to the very name of Random, a sniveling con man and complainer who deals with every danger by running away from it; Rose Constantine is a bloodthirsty killer from the Arenas who keeps trying to be human - usually failing miserably at it; and Saturday is a giant reptiloid alien who comes along just to kill as many people as possible.

Then there's the traitorous, power-hungry villain, Finn Durandal. Empress Lionstone was a worthy opponent, the kind of evil dictator you could at least respect for her calculating inhumanity. Durandal is just a closet sociopath who betrayed everything he used to be as a noble Paragon in order to scheme his way to power, triggered mainly by the jealousy he felt when Lewis Deathstalker was chosen over him as King Douglas' Champion. Durandal is a great schemer, a far-thinking man who manages to exploit both friends and enemies for his own purposes, but he's really just an extremely petty man whose path to power is just ridiculously easy given all of the infamous deeds he goes about doing.

Deathstalker Return is in some ways a return trip down memory lane. Lewis Deathstalker and his ill-sorted allies retrace much of the path followed by the legendary Owen himself, stopping off on Lachrymose Christi and Shandrakor before proceeding to Haden, the home of the Madness Maze which gave Owen Deathstalker and his companions the superhuman powers that helped them become the venerated saviors of humanity. The trip to Haden isn't always that enjoyable; the constant bickering back and forth between our new heroes falls far short of recapturing the sort of give and take that made earlier Deathstalker novels so entertaining. Everything that worked so well for Simon R. Green in the past really rings hollow now. Green seemingly needs Owen Deathstalker to return just as badly as the crumbling Empire does - in Owen mode, Green's story immediately transforms itself into the captivating space opera that made me such a huge Deathstalker fan to begin with.

One thing Green never fails to deliver is a litany of shocking surprises. You have to wait a little longer than usual this time around, but Deathstalker Return has a host of monkey wrenches to throw into the inner workings of the ongoing Deathstalker saga, including a final revelation that will have fans waiting with baited breath for the next installment in this incredible series.

You don't necessarily need to read the first five volumes of the life and times of Owen Deathstalker (Deathstalker, Deathstalker Rebellion, Deathstalker War, Deathstalker Honor, and Deathstalker Destiny) in order to enjoy this novel (although you will miss out on a lot without the background those novels provide), but you will certainly want to read Deathstalker Legacy before immersing yourself in the complex plot of Deathstalker Return. There is just too much going on here for you to jump in unprepared.