The Phoenix in Flight (Exordium, Book 1) [Paperback]

Sherwood Smith (Author), Dave Trowbridge (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1993 | Series: Exordium, Book 1

Brandon nyr-Arkad, the Emperor's scapegrace youngest son, defies protocol and evades a ceremonial duty, a defiance punishable by death. Original.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Tom Doherty Assoc Llc; First Edition edition (February 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812520246
• ISBN-13: 978-0812520248
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (24 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,239,392 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original Space Opera with High Style, April 14, 1998

By 

Jennifer Busick ([e-mail]) (Noblesville, Indiana) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Phoenix in Flight (Exordium, Book 1) (Paperback)

Jerrode Eusabian of Dol'jhar has waited twenty years to complete his vengeance against Gelasaar hai-Arkad, the Panarch of the Thousand Suns. Eusabian's takeover goes according to plan until Gelasaar's wastrel third son, Brandon, commits the unthinkable, unforgivable sin of refusing to show up for his own coming-of-age ceremony, where Eusabian planned to have him killed. With both his brothers dead and Gelasaar captured, Brandon -- a drunken womanizer and naval academy washout -- becomes the Panarchy's last hope. Thus begins a vast and wonderful original space opera. Smith and Trowbridge have gone beyond the usual, thinly created, loosely imagined trappings of an interstellar society to create a fully realized political, social, economic and military system. It takes a little time to get into this series because of the complexity of the setting, but readers will be richly rewarded for their effort. The characters are deliciously complex, headed up by the implacable villain Eusabian, the unpredictable Prince Brandon, and the cold, inscrutable Rifter captain Vi'ya. The space battles are the best I have ever read, making great use of relativistic possibilities. The alien species of the Kelly, the Eya'a, and the Ur are more than humans-in-costume or afterthought set decoration, which was a pleasant surprise. The action is gripping, hair-raising, edge-of-your-seat as Brandon is harried across space, an unlikely hero in improbable company. More, it's laugh aloud *funny* in places -- something else that was a nice surprise. Kudos to Smith and Trowbridge. This is how space opera should be done.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dunnett-style space opera, August 22, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Phoenix in Flight (Exordium, Book 1) (Paperback)

.... Well this is not young adult fiction but it's the best space opera I have ever read : funny, exciting, intelligent. The characterization is very good, and if characters are not exactly what they appear at first sight, there are quite enough clues for the carefull reader, and it's part of what makes the books so vivid and intelligent.

The only problem with this series is how ridiculously difficult it is to get all 5 of these books. A reissue would be nice, a book 6 even nicer - book 5 wrapps up almost everything, but there is definite room for another sequel.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Classic Just Got Better, June 1, 2011

By 

Alfred D. Byrd (Lexington, KY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Phoenix in Flight (Exordium) (Kindle Edition)

When I read that Smith and Trowbridge were revising The Exordium for the e book market, I wondered at first whether they might take some of the edge from a series that is unique, complex, captivating, and thrilling. If The Phoenix in Flight is any indication of how the rest of the series will go, one of the best vehicles of Space Opera is running better than ever.

The Exordium is a complicated story that, in lesser hands than those of the authors, could have become hopelessly confusing. It comprises many fully developed levels of a galactic society, well realized alien cultures, multiple exotic worlds, and strange, elaborate customs. The story's strength is that, in telling it, the authors focused, not on their immense labor of world-building, but solidly on their characters. There is, as some critics of the story have noted, a phone-book full of them, but each of them is fully realized and vivid, with a voice clearly his or her own. Even for the most despicable villains, you'll find yourself caring.

Even more fundamentally, the authors have focused on characters in conflict. Vengeance, greed, honor, and duty carry this along at a pace that, despite the story's complexity, is as fast as you could hope to read. The first novel is likely three times as long as the average action-adventure novel, yet it astounded me how quickly I reached its end.

Having read The Exordium years ago in its paperback release, I was looking for what the authors might have left our, but noticed nothing missing in a tightly flowing narrative. Happily, as far as I could tell, all of the story's glorious comic relief -- sometimes desperately needed in a moment-by-moment life-and-death plot -- is intact. The authors have also woven new threads into their tight tapestry of a plot. Most intriguing of these is the appearance of the intelligent dogs of the Panarchic Palace. I am eager to see what role these will play in the four upcoming revised novels.

Over all, how can one resist a future in which, thousands of years from now, and unknown light-years away, the wise are still quoting William Butler Yeats?