Customer Reviews

Deathstalker

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you like your science fiction short and sweet, Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series is not for you. This is space opera in the grand tradition, filled with sweeping turns and possibilities extending across an Empire of worlds and centuries, featuring a cast of human aristocrats, clones, espers (mutants with varying ESP capabilities), monstrous aliens, augmented men, genetically-enhanced creatures, legends and heroes from the past, and outlaws. The newest outlaw is none other than Owen Deathstalker, de facto leader of the Deathstalker clan ever since the imperial murder of his father. All Owen wanted was to be left alone to pursue his history studies, but destiny has a way of finding its chosen victims wherever they may be. Queen Lionstone XIV declares Owen an outlaw, and in an instant he is running for his life. Thus are sown the seeds of a rebellion that will change the Empire forever. Of course, that story only begins to be told in this first volume of the exploits of Owen Deathstalker.

Deathstalker first escapes - barely - to Mistworld, a cold stink-hole of a planet that serves as the one and only refuge of outlaws all across the Empire. In the company of fellow outlaw Hazel D'Ark, to whom he literally owes his life, Owen seeks out the Empire's most legendary rebel, Jack Random, to join his nascent little rebellion. Throw in a sassy female bounty hunter and one of the Hadenmen (augmented men who once sought to wipe out the inferior human race), and you've got quite an eclectic bunch of revolutionaries. Things only get weirder from here, as upcoming destinations for Owen include Shandrakor, the legendary planet where the founder of the Deathstalker clan reportedly lies in stasis, and - deep within the confines of the Dark Rim - the Wolfling World, home of the Tomb of the Hadenmen, the Madness Maze, and the Darkvoid Device, destroyer of worlds.

Strangely enough, however, especially given all of the action Owen Deathstalker and his allies see - and, brother, they see all kinds of fierce, bloody action - at least half of this novel takes place back on the home world of the Empire. Here we see just how big a mess the Empire is really in. Besides the Queen's constantly dastardly plans, we see an aristocracy run amuck with intrigues, secret deals, betrayals, murderous vendettas, and all kinds of juicy stuff that truly reeks of decadence. No one is really who they seem, especially the likes of Valentine Wolfe, the Empire's most famous drug addict, and Finlay Campbell, a comical little fop whose secret identity as the Empire's greatest fighter is unknown to everyone but the woman he loves, a woman who just so happens to be a clone - but that is only one of many other secrets that slowly reveal themselves as this epic novel proceeds. Several personal roads lead us deep into the underground, where a secret alliance of clones, espers, and humans plan their own revolution against the Iron Throne. I found this aspect of the novel even more fascinating than Owen Deathstalker's remarkable story, and the rebel assault on the esper prison known as Wormboy Hell proves even more exciting than the novel's closing engagement on the Wolfling World.

Brimming with intrigue, harboring a number of significant and genuinely shocking surprises along the way, and filled with fascinating characters of all sorts, Deathstalker is quite an exhilarating read. It's a rather long read, as well, and you should keep in mind that it is really just the beginning. This is a story that will play out over literally thousands of pages, and Deathstalker represents only an initial plunge into the vast ocean of Simon R. Green's creative genius. The book has a few shortcomings in terms of specific plot events, and it can be disconcerting to see how much of the novel does not involve the main character, but this is awe-inspiring science fiction played out on an epic scale. Only a select few writers can realistically give life to such a large and complex world, but Green proves himself to be a master juggler of words and ideas - best of all, he seems to have a full bag of startling surprises and plot twists at his disposal that promises to make the Deathstalker series something really special and vastly entertaining.

It's a true pity that only one thousand words are available for me to describe how passionate I am about this book and about the Deathstalker books in general. Lucky for me, I can summarize my feelings in just one simple sentence:

DEATHSTALKER RULES.

(My temptation is to add a "supreme" at the end of that, but such a majestic addition is reserved in my heart for the Mack Bolan books by Don Pendleton, et. al).

I originally discovered Green's Deathstalker while travelling abroad in Europe, and I still consider Deathstalker the ultimate European travel book. The super-cool and super-intense sci-fi space opera drama is a great complement to the dusty museums and memorials of Berlin, the mouth-watering restaurants of Warsaw, or even the charming bridges of Sweden. Simon R. Green has done a down-right astonishing job capturing, with great accuracy and consistency, the technology and lifestyles humankind may face in the distant future. Faster that the eye can see, you will be caught up in his world, a world Tolkien-like in scope but a lot less boring and stupid.

One last thing- The super-gorgeous hottie evil witch queen of the universe-- she who sends the very deathsquads against the mighty battle-hardened yet sensitive Owen D.S.-- is the best arch-villian since Moriarty's goons stalked Victorian London in search of the great Sherlock Holmes. Anything more would be a terrible spoiler...

Having cut my teeth as an adolescent on E.E. Doc Smith's space operas, I still have a sweet tooth for the guilty pleasures of space opera. And this one's a doozy. Owen Deathstalker is a historian forced to become a hero; once the world falls apart for him, the action never stops. Filled with an astonishing blend of every cliche you've ever heard of in science fiction (rogue AIs, espers, aliens, gladiators, an evil empress, corrupt lords, and genetic engineering, just to name a few), the novel keeps moving like there's no tomorrow. I got down in the mud and had a good wallow with this one. My only caveat about the novel is that the dialogue tends to be somewhat jarringly reminiscent of half-remembered lines from Hollywood movies at times, with sayings better suited to the 1990s coming out as if they were newly minted. Fortunately, Green's use of these sayings declines in his sequels, which are actually even better than the first one.

This book (and indeed series) is definitely for you if you like sci-fi/fantasy and bigger than life characters. The Deathstalker series basically can be summed up by the following metaphor: you the audience are watching a magician perform his tricks. After each trick you are awed and impressed by what you see but in order to continue to be impressed the tricks have to get bigger and even more implausible. That's really all there is to this series. I have to note that there are a lot of grammatical errors, and an incredible amout of repetition in this book. This was a very huge editing oversight as I literally counted the same phrases being used over 50 times. This is definitely not comparable to something from Robert Jordan or Frank Herbert but then Green doesn't take his characters too seriously either. He recognizes that what he is writing is pure entertainment. If that is all you're looking for you'll be satisfied.

This is the first book I've read by Simon Green, and I've already purchased the sequel to this book and also another of Green's books. I like his writing style, the humor, the action, and more importantly his imagination. Mr. Green was able to dream up a world and convey it so clearly that I could see the action as I read it. I'll be sorry when I'm done with this series, because I've grown to like the Deathstalker and his companions.

Let me start with, Simon R Green is one of my favorite authors. That being said, this book just wore me down. Space Opera is not my thing. And while this is a well written book of the type, it was tough. I read it cover to cover and was just worn out at the end.

If Space Opera is your thing, definitely pick this up. If not, Pick up Simon R Green's Secret Histories, Nightside, and fantasy series! Actually, just pick up any of his other works, they are all pretty much top of their genre.

Deathstalker is an interesting series. It has a lot of flaws, but at the same time, I wouldn't say it was a boring series. And that at least puts it above quite a few books I've read. While certain parts of the book were really well written, I think the main problem I had with it was the logic behind some of the situations.

For one thing, I don't understand why, if the author wanted the audience to identify with Owen by making him a "bookworm historian," he decided to make Owen so freaking strong right from the beginning. I never got any feeling of suspense or felt worried about Owen. For almost every battle involving him, it pretty much boiled down to Owen thinking to himself, "I am, after all, a Deathstalker. Therefore, I'm superior to all these enemies who probably could rip the heads off of anyone else. Haha!" And then he wins the fight and that's that. There was never any feeling of vulnerability, and Owen came off as something of a James Bond. (Heck, when we first see Owen and his mistress and the events that follow, it's almost identical to what happens to Bond occasionally.)

For another, despite the series being named "Deathstalker," Owen shows up remarkably few times compared to many of the characters from the royal court. I would say more than half of this long book was dedicated to the different people in Lionstone's court, and their detailed thoughts on politics. While some of the viewpoints were interesting, it got a bit tedious when there lacked action. I also think that the author made a rather common mistake of making Empress Lionstone be too much of a horrid monster. I realize this is a fantasy series, but it makes it hard to believe that she ruled for hundreds of years with no successful rebellion until Owen came along. The last straw for me was when she had her entire royal court go through horrific conditions just to get to report to her - including several royalty getting eaten by monsters, and her laughing gleefully at it. How could she possibly be "adored" by everyone? Even if she was beautiful? It's amazing that both the common people and the royalty didn't just kill her.

One of the more regrettable things about Deathstalker is the lack of a consistent feel regarding the fantasy / scifi world that they live in. In some moments, I feel like I'm reading a medieval fantasy story where the only weapon anyone has at their disposal are swords and magical psychic powers. And in other moments, it feels like a Star Wars movie with futuristic guns and storm trooper-like armies. I know the author wanted a world with a mix of both, but I think he did a rather poor job of mixing them. It instead felt like some parts of the story were completely separate from others. Perhaps what really threw me off was the fact that several characters favored using plain old swords (yes, not lightsabers) over using super-futuristic guns. That just felt so wrong to me.

On the other hand, I would say that the most suspenseful and exciting scenes were the ones having to do with Captain Silence (yes, I will always snicker whenever I see that name) and Investigator Frost. The best parts in the book were the ones where those two went to strange alien lands and had to deal with the horrors there. I felt anticipation and couldn't stop flipping the pages when it got to those parts. Those parts were the most worth it, for me at least.

If you're a science fiction fan who craves hard science or high-tech, "Deathstalker" was not written with you in mind. If you prefer social commentary, metaphysics, or brooding, introspective anti-heroes, you will not find "Deathstalker" to be a very satisfying read.

If you enjoy a good, old-fashioned, space adventure story; good vs. evil; sympathetic characters; rayguns, starships, cyborgs, clones, and psychic warriors; cliffhangers and suspense; and action scenes you can't read fast enough ... then this series just might be for you.

Once I started reading 'Deathstalker' it became almost impossible to put down. The characters and situations are taken from similar stories, yet are combined in a new way to form a creation of startling originality. There is a Star Wars side to the story, replete with an Evil Empire and evil henchman, yet there are Melrose Place-type social situations that are quite humorous. Green's humor adds an element that gives the story some zing, and the action scenes are fast and furious. This book is really a prologue to the rest of the series, and I am eager to read the next book.

As I read the first half of this book, I was facinated by the world that Simon R. Green had created. On style I would rate this first book in this series a five. It manages to combine A Romanesque emipire and mix it with 16th century Europe, and adds in in modern punk culture. Amazingly he makes this work somehow. On the surface the characters are just really neat.

This alone carries the series through the first two books. Unfortuantly the storyline lets the rest of the series down. The more I read this book the more it became clear that there were no real characters just a bunch of odd fighting machines that seemed to choose sides almost at random. But even with this the world kept me enthralled enough that I managed to read through the third book. The only reason I couldn't read on was because the characters just simply became too strong. By the second bood six people are attacking armies and winning without breaking a sweat.

Too bad, this had the makings of a trully great pulp action sereis.