Deathstalker

This review is written with a GPL 3.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at Bookstooge.booklikes.blogspot.wordpress.leafmarks.com & Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road Facebook Group by Bookstooge's Exalted Permission. Title: Deathstalker Series: Deathstalker Author: Simon Green Rating: 4 of 5 Stars Genre: SFF Pages: 531 Synopsis: Took this from the book page itself: Owen Deathstalker, last of his line, is a quiet man, a historian, remote from the stench of corruption and intrigue surrounding the Iron Throne at the head of the galaxy-spanning, tyrannical Empire. And then, inexplicably, show more Deathstalker is outlawed, forced to flee from one end of the Empire to the other. And as he does so, he discovers that resistance is growing, everywhere, to the Iron Bitch on the Iron Throne. That is actually a really good summary. My Thoughts: Space Opera! Pure, unalloyed, unadulterated, unashamed, Space Opera! Corrupt Human Empire. Telepaths, other ESP'ers, clones, all without rights. Feuding lords. Rebels and Rebellion. Laser guns AND swords. And just to make sure this was completely over the top, a spaceship that was also a stone castle. A Castle, In Spaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace! This was just fun to read. I did have to laugh, as the cover said something like "huge novel" or something [this was originally published in '95] and it was just over 500 pages. Story-wise, this moved along very nicely from viewpoint to viewpoint and kept things fresh. Solid writing and good ideas made for a very good start to this series. And the revelations along the way promise to make the future books interesting as well. I'm very satisfied with my read of this. " show less

The blurb makes it seem like the book is mostly about Owen, but really there are quite a few major characters. It's a little hard to keep track of them all at first until they all start to come together. The empire is comprised of the aristocrats- rich families, that look down on the less desirables-the clones, aliens, espers (mind readers), and anyone else that is outside the upper class. It's a story about the sons and daughters in these families starting to find their place in the world and determining which side of the rebellion they are going to fall on. There is a lot of action, violence, double crossing, political intrigue, and hidden agendas sprinkled with witty banter. The characters are likeable, even the bad guys, because show more sometimes it's hard to tell who's who. This is the beginning of the series, so even though it doesn't really end on major cliffhanger, it is 'to be continued.' show less

One look at the cover and you doubt that this book can be taken seriously. However, it is a fast-paced read with mega characters and over-the-top weapons. The action begins right from the start and it has just as many villians as heroes (sometimes you and they don't know which is which). Even in this technologically advanced future, the best fighters use swords and that in itself makes it a fun read. This is a massive series, but one caveat: #4 is mysteriously out-of-print.

This is a book of beginings, fitting that it is the beginning of a fairly lengthy series, yet it has a good internal tale in its own right. As well as setting the scene for what I am sure will be much grander things there is a very good quest at the centre of this book.

The one problem, in my opinion, is that the book could do with being fifty pages shorter. There are several passages that are needlessly repeated, and some quite unnecessary exposition. It seems as if there was a point reached where Simon Green (or maybe an editor?) thought some things need to be explained, but I cannot help but feel the overall story is poorer because of it.

Fun setting, good start to a promising setting. But some of the writing - or at least the editing - is just awful ("irregardless"!), which was distracting enough to take something away from my enjoyment.

This space opera set in the distant future, when humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, is a highly entertaining. The government is corrupt and evil rules with an iron fist which makes it ripe for rebellion. Along comes an unwitting savior in the guise of a scholar and we have the beginning of an epic adventure story.

There was some outstanding world building (reminded me of Sanderson's books) and the author spent a lot of time developing the characters so that the reader had a deep connect to them. Combine adventure, intrigue to this and you are left with a must read for fans of this genre.

According to Wikipedia the author intended this to be, to an extent, a parody of space operas. Reviews here warned me that minor characters got a lot of screen time. (Although, I was still surprised that less than half the book was following the protagonist.) Forewarned is forearmed, so I enjoyed it for the sprawling beast that it is. In fact, it was mostly little things that broke me out of the narrative and annoyed me.

I read the Kindle version and the OCR errors were a little distracting. A "c" instead of an "e", an "f" instead of "lt." And I hope "irregardless" was an error. The British use of cannon as its own plural in an otherwise American English text made me pause and re-read a sentence more than once. Along with a few other show more minor niggles it meant there was something distracting on nearly every page.

One could say, and fairly, that I'm just nit picking, but I was already spending so much effort suspending disbelief, that those little wrinkles tripped me up and took another star off my rating. show less