Hiero's Journey [Mass Market Paperback]

Sterling E. Lanier (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 12, 1983

Per Hiero Desteen was a priest, a telepath -- and a highly trained killer. Together with his great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on an extraordinary mission. For this was five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death. Now the evil Brotherhood of the Unclean was waging all-out war against the few remnants of normal humanity, determined to wipe out all traces of its emerging civilization. Hiero's task was to bring back a lost secret of the ancients that might save the humans. But his path lay through the very heart of the territory ruled by the Unclean and their hordes of mutated, intelligent, savage beast followers. And the Unclean were waiting for him!

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Per Hiero Desteen was a priest, a telepath -- and a highly trained killer. Together with his great riding moose and the young bear who was his friend, he was on an extraordinary mission. For this was five thousand years after the holocaust known as The Death. Now the evil Brotherhood of the Unclean was waging all-out war against the few remnants of normal humanity, determined to wipe out all traces of its emerging civilization. Hiero's task was to bring back a lost secret of the ancients that might save the humans. But his path lay through the very heart of the territory ruled by the Unclean and their hordes of mutated, intelligent, savage beast followers. And the Unclean were waiting for him!

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 35 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (April 12, 1983)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345308417
• ISBN-13: 978-0345308412
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,960 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Beware Kindle version - poorly formatted, April 17, 2011

By 

dissimulo - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Hiero's Journey (Kindle Edition)

Update Dec. 24 2011: The Kindle book was recently updated and the new version is improved. Unfortunately, it is also still terrible. Many of the OCR problems were resolved, but not all of them. Improper paragraph breaks and missing or incorrect punctuation still abound. Italics have not been restored. Overall, it is better, but still bad. It would be so trivial to fix the problems that it is really inexcusable for the publisher to be asking $10. It is obvious that nobody who gives a damn has read through the text.

Original Review:

As Hiero's Journey is one of my favorite books, I was happy to see a Kindle version available. Unfortunately, it is a big disappointment.

The formatting is terrible, with line breaks in the middle of paragraphs, missing punctuation, many bad-OCR character substitutions, and none of the italics used to identify mental communication in the original version.

For ten dollars, this is a complete rip off. I'll stick with my old paper copy.

The publisher should either reduce the price to 99 cents or fix the text. Preferably the latter since I already wasted $10 on it. Don't make the same mistake I did.

(I see that Sterling Media Group LLC has recently released all of Lanier's books other than Menace Under Marswood. I would happily have repurchased all of his books for the Kindle if this one had been well done. Hopefully they will release a fixed version. Until this one is corrected, there is no way I will be taking a risk on the others.)

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Of the thousands of sci-fi books I've read-one of best, July 9, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiero's Journey (Mass Market Paperback)

Believable, imaginative, engaging. An extremely satisfying read from start to finish. I've read the book at least ten times, each more enjoyable. While based on a world atomic disaster this is an uplifting, feel-good story. The next volume, Unforsaken Hiero, keeps up the pace and adds more dimensions to Per Hiero, our hero. While each book tells a complete story, the saga is incomplete. It has been frustrating waiting for years for the third volume. Despite the lack, the two books are incredible.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This journey is worth the trip, November 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Hiero's Journey (Mass Market Paperback)

If science fiction/fantasy is your genre of literature, do yourself a favor and take a weekend to read this excellent story by Lanier.

His lead character, Per Hiero Desteen is an instantly likeable warrior/priest who must undertake a critical mission in unknown and forbidden territory in a post-apocalyptic North America 5,000 years in the future. The story is a real page-turner with dozens of believable plot twists and supporting ideas that make for a fun and fantastic read. The typical good vs. evil sub plot takes a fresh approach in Laniers world with many diverse characters including dozens of grotesque, nuclear-spawned mutations, some intelligent and allied to humans..others maelevelant but equally intelligent aligned with evil humans known as the Unclean. This unholy alliance is dedicated to the resurrection of the nuclear technology that decimated the Earth 5 millenia in the past, as well as the total subjigation of normal humankind.

All these things become quite plausible thanks to Laniers excellent literary style and flair for creating believable, likeable characters. He is a master storyteller with a gift that so few authors have. Ultimately, this book is pure fantasy that is extremely fun! The sequel, Unforsaken Hiero is equally entertaining and a must-read once you gobble up this first book.

Sadly, Mr. Lanier has never written the third and final book in the trilogy and it appears he may never do so. For the many Hiero fans left waiting, we can only hope Lanier may someday rekindle his passion for this series and finish the story. Or perhaps authorize a third book by a young upcoming writer in the sci fi/fantasy industry. I've been waiting for book three for over ten years.

Regardless, please take Hiero's Journey. You won't be sorry.