The Price of the Stars: Book One of Mageworlds (Mass Market Paperback)

by Debra Doyle (Author), James D. Macdonald (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Freebooter at heart, spacer by trade, Beka Rosselin-Metadi doesn't want to hear about her father whose rugged generalship held back the Mageworlds--or her highborn mother whose leadership has held the galaxy together ever since. Beka pilots spacecraft--as far from her famous family as possible, thanks very much.

Then Beka's mother is assassinated on the Senate floor, and her father offers her Warhammer, prize ship from his own freebooting youth--if she'll use it to deliver the assassins to him "off the books."

Looking for assassins has a tendency to make assassins look for you. In short order Beka's arranged her own very public death and adopted a new identity; now all she has to do is leave a trail of kidnappings and corpses across five star systems, and blow the roof off the strongest private fortress in the Galaxy. If her own family can just get off her case long enough...!

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Tor Science Fiction (October 15, 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812517040
• ISBN-13: 978-0812517040
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #319,540 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Annnnd They're Off!, September 22, 2000

By	Michael Weber "fairportfan" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Kicking off my second-favourite on-going space-opera series (aside from my brother's books, which i am *required* to like), this was a refreshing find back when i first pulled it down off the shelf and read the first couple pages... and discovered that i had to finish it that same day.While, as someone has pointed out, this *could* be read as a stand-alone book, unlike the first books in some series, a reader who stops here will be missing a lot of fun in the sequels and prequels that follow.The Rosselin-Matadi clan and their friends and enemies are all marvellous characters, but Beka's mentor and co-pilot, known only as "the Professor" is the most amusing and frustrating of the lot, as it becomes more and more obvious that he, somehow, is manipulating history itself.What sets this series aside from more ordinary space opera, i think, is the concept of the Adepts and the Mages -- both posessors of great power, who both sense and utilise what, for want of a better word, we might call "the Force", but in completely different and mutually-conflicting manners. The three Rossellin-Metadi siblings, Beka, Owen and Ari, so different superficially but so similar in their drive and inability to admit defeat are worth getting to know, and the associates and enemies that they pick up along the way are a marvellously-assorted crew (not all of whom are even *nearly* what they appear to be). But i must admit that the villains -- as opposed to adversaries, an important distinction in these books -- are just a bit *too* slimy and odious. {If i ever run into the authors, though, i intend to ask them if they were thinking of "Rio Lobo" or of "Assault on Precinct 13" when they wrote one important sequence...}Recommended -- both this book and the entire series.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Ships and guns and badguys, oh my!, June 23, 2001

By	Mrs. Busick "busick family" (Athens, AL USA) - See all my reviews

There is a scene in this book where the protagonist steps into the middle of a corridor under fire, raises her blaster, and calmly picks off the enemy one shot at a time. It may well be my favorite scene in any space opera, written or filmed. I pick up this book on occasion just to reread that scene.

The thing is, the whole book is like that. "Price of the Stars" is a throat-grabber from word one, a book I could not put down. If you're looking for Grand Canvas adventure in the classic swashbuckling style, you can't do better than this book.

My one complaint, and it's minor, is that the romance gets short-shrift and seems abrupt when it's brought full circle. I felt that way about the romance in all of the Mageworlds books, but since that's not what I'm reading them for, I'm not too bothered. Certainly it hasn't stopped me buying all the Mageworlds books and devouring them!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOOKS ALL-TIME, August 26, 1999

By	Samantha M. ([e-mail]) (Ohio, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews

I greatly enjoyed reading "Price of the Stars" i found it to be a great combination of magic and technology. i think i can best compare it to the STAR WARS trilogy, one of my all-time favorite stories. the fast-paced adventure and realistic, original characters made for a great reading experience. i couldnt put the book down, the first or second time. and, i think the best part was the fact that the protaganist was a female. :) great job all around. i look forward to reading the rest of the Mageworlds books.