Liege Killer

I checked this book out because it was in Freading's “space opera” section, I liked the cover, and the description was coherent and made it sound like I'd be in for a lot of action. I'm happy to say that my decision was a good one, and I fully intend to download the second book in the trilogy once I've finished writing this review. Although this was originally published in 1987, it has aged pretty well.

At the beginning of Liege-Killer, someone has gone to the ruins of Earth and secretly revived two people from stasis. Those people turn out to be Reemul, a deadly Paratwa. Each Paratwa is a single mind that happens to have two bodies, called tways. One tway can maneuver a target while the other one swoops in for the kill.

A few show more hundred years ago, a few thousand Paratwa were responsible for the deaths of millions of humans. They were halted only by the Apocalypse (Earth, ruined to the point of being unlivable) and E-Tech, a group that believed science had run amok and should be tightly locked down and controlled. In the book's present, E-Tech is still in power, but only just. Then the Paratwa Reemul reappears and goes on periodic killing sprees, and E-Tech gradually regains the public's support.

I don't know if there's another, better subgenre term for it, but the bulk of this book was basically a science fiction thriller. Readers got various pieces of the overall puzzle via a variety of perspectives: Rome, the head of E-Tech; Paula, a single mother who witnessed a Paratwa attack; Bishop Vokir of the Church of the Trust; and Gillian, an experienced Paratwa killer from the past who was revived in the book's present. The various revelations and twists had me at the edge of my seat, although there was a big one that I guessed several hundred pages in advance. I couldn't wait to see what the Paratwa were planning, why they were doing it all, and whether Rome, Gillian, and the rest of E-Tech would manage to learn key pieces of information in time.

Liege-Killer is fairly violent, although it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. Not all killings and massacres were on-page – of the more stomach-churning stuff, I can recall one massacre, a flashback in which a Paratwa essentially forced a group of humans to eat one of their friends for dessert, and Gillian and his team's discovery of Reemul's “plaything” (warning: no on-page rape scene, but Reemul is a pedophile and has particularly monstrous tastes). The action scenes were pretty good. Mostly, it was either Gillian or Reemul against opponents who were very outclassed. I kind of wish Gillian and Reemul had had more chances to face off against each other.

As much as I enjoyed this book, it wasn't perfect. I had to grit my teeth every time Jerem, Paula's 12-year-old son, appeared on-page. There are many things I could call that kid, but I will refrain so that this paragraph doesn't turn into a giant block of swearing. I tried to tell myself that he was only 12 and that I shouldn't hate him so much, but it was hard. I did a search, and it looks like some variation of “Jerem whined” occurred only a dozen or so times. It felt like more. Every time Paula tried to get him to shut up and obey so maybe they wouldn't be killed, he had to get just one more complaint in. At one point, he learned that his mother had lied to him about his father. He had been an abusive addict, and, after he died, Paula had wanted to protect Jerem from the truth. So, what did Jerem do after Paula told him all this? He sulked, accused Paula of abandoning his father, and said, “My father's dead. And it's because you're just a stupid bitch.” (178).

I don't think Jerem deserved the stuff that happened to him after that, but I wanted him to apologize for what he'd said and, you know, grow up. He never did either of those things and, in fact, continued to whine and sulk when he was finally reunited with his mom. The only moments with Jerem that I enjoyed were when Gillian was stuck in a hotel room with him and refused to take any of his crap and when Paula was getting the both of them packed up for their new life with the Costeaus and flat out ignored Jerem's whining.

Besides Jerem, there was one other thing I didn't like about this book, and that was its female characters. Hinz did badly by them. Not just one, but two women died so that Gillian could become the man he needed to be in order to battle the Paratwa. As far as I can remember, Rome's wife, Angela, was often in his thoughts but never had any on-page actions or dialogue. I suppose Nu-Lin was okay, but she didn't really do all that much.

Paula had the potential to be awesome. She was street-smart enough to know that the visitors to her antique gallery were bad news and needed to be guarded against, and capable enough to evade E-Tech's people and deal with Costeaus (pirates) without falling apart. I figured she'd meet Gillian and turn into a love-struck idiot. I was only slightly wrong. The guy she fell for turned out to be Aaron, the pirate with the scarlet penis tattooed on his face.

Hinz skipped all the scenes that might have made their relationship believable. Since there was no emotional build-up to indicate anything else was going on, I initially figured Paula had slept with Aaron so that he'd be more willing to help her find her son. Imagine my surprise when it turned out they were really in love. Paula went from hating Costeaus in one chapter to being in love with one the next time she appeared on-page, and, from the point on, she ceased doing anything other than being Jerem's mother and Aaron's lover. It was disappointing.

Overall, I enjoyed this book and was drawn in by the mysteries and suspense surrounding Reemul, the Paratwa plan, and the two Paratwa hunters from the past, Gillian and Nick. The world was fascinating, and I'm looking forward to reading Ash Ock. I just could have done without Jerem and wish Paula had finished at least as strong as she'd started.

Additional Comments:

For the most part, this book was error-free. I only counted three instances of what I think might have been OCR errors.

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.) show less

Liege-Killer is a compelling science-fiction thriller. Set in the far future, Earth is uninhabitable, radioactive, and the Apocalypse caused by warring factions also gave rise to genetically-created assassins called Paratwa, two beings with one mind. They were all supposedly exterminated in a war which saw hundreds of millions of humans killed by the single-minded, highly intelligent Paratwa.

In the present time of Christopher Hinz's novel, humanity lives on cylinder colonies orbiting Earth and follows rules by a dominant group called E-Tech, which oversees and prevents the development of technology that could lead to another Apocalypse. We are introduced to the “parliament” of sorts, the Irryan Council. The five counselors are show more constantly jockeying for power, trying to get their own programs enacted (they are not all Pro-E-Tech), and making deals to get their way. An outsider group espousing the glory of science is also actively trying to re-institute the use of advanced tech.

The council learns of the existence of a Paratwa, or “tway,” when several heinous murders are discovered. Their decision is to revive from stasis the pair of Paratwa killers from centuries ago who were able to kill hundreds of them. In the meantime, the Paratwa have killed dozens more people. Gillian and Nick are the most interesting featured characters in the novel as their lethal skills and stalking of the Paratwa and saving of innocent humans, like a mother and son pair, are consistent with their individual personalities and talents.

The cat-and-mouse game of the tway called Reemul, the Liege-Killer, grips the reader's attention in the high-stakes combat. The Paratwa often act like raptors, one engaging the combatant and the other circling around to attack. Gillian and Nick know those tricks, though, but there are many others. The machinations of the Council create added suspense in the slow revelation of their various hidden designs, hinging on the success or failure of the Paratwa.

A lot of the assassin's violence is described, and it is moderately gory. My one niggling criticism, though, is the names Paratwa and tway. Pronunciation? I understand the “para” and the “twa/two” idea, but still. For me, not well-chosen, memorable names. show less

If someone told me that I would enjoy a SF book with StarWars style lightsabers, I’d highly doubted it. However, here I am. Okay, tbh there aren’t really lightsabers in this novel but something quite close.
Two centuries ago the planet Earth died in apocalypse. It was brought by many small wars and terror attacks, by chemical, biological, nuclear and convenient weapons. However, not everyone perished. A lot of people were able to move to Earth orbit, to giant rotating cylinders. Their leaders thought ‘never again’ and severely limited both capitalism and technological progress in the humanity’s new home. Now, to the world of mild utopia comes the horror of forgotten ages: Paratwa, the genetically modified assassin, who lives in show more two bodies and therefore is inherently more deadly.
I agree with other reviewers that this hidden gem had less popularity than its due. It is a real page turner and the developments will surprise you. Recommended to SF lovers. show less

A thoroughly enjoyable book. My wife picked this up for free at work, and I thought I'd give it a shot. It's not "hard" science fiction by any real stretch (which is my general preference when I'm able to find it), but it also didn't deal in "magic" science fiction. Things seemed plausible enough.

The story itself was a good one. It felt a bit rushed at the end compared to the pace throughout the rest of the book, but it kept me entertained from beginning to end and kept me guessing about what might happen next (though some of the twists were a little predictable ... still entertaining).

I'll definitely pick up the next one in the near future and keep reading this series!

Liege Killer

By Christopher Hinz

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Published In: New York, NY

Date: 1987

Pgs: 458

Summary:

200 years ago, an apocalypse swept across Earth. Man escaped to orbital colonies leaving the madness behind. The Paratwa, the deadly assassin genetic twins, were extinct. Man lived in harmony on the edge of space scattered among hundreds of colonial cylinders. But…something has awakened. A piece of the past has come back. The body count is rising. Can the civilized future man embrace what comes to their aid?

Genre:

Science fiction, murder mystery, alternate history, suspense, action

Main Character:

Gillian

Favorite Character:

Gillian…because he is pure awesome.

Least Favorite Character:

Paula Marth. Mainly because there are show more places where her character doesn’t ring true. Especially when she finally has had enough of spoiled brat Jerem and delivers an attention getter. Only to spend the rest of the books thinkcasting at us about how bad she feels because she disciplined her unruly child. I get that she would feel that way. But it is a boat anchor whenever she appeared in a scene.

Favorite Scene:

The Cohe wand fights. It’s a set of visuals that would make for an awesome motion picture. Imagine a black energy lightsaber that acts like a combination whip/scythe Green Lantern ring. It’s a great weapon.

Plot Holes/Out of Character:

None that leap out at me.

Last Page Sound:

Satisfied sigh.

Author Assessment:

I would love to read more Christopher Hinz

Disposition of Book:

This has been on my re-read pile since 1987. I’ve read it at least three times. And it is staying on my re-read pile. Awesome book. show less

Violent but fascinating story about assassins who have one mind but two bodies (the paratwa). The paratwa attempted to take over Earth but were thwarted by its destruction. People escaped to floating colonies around Earth and to peace...however, suddenly the paratwa are back and attacking humanity again. The only people who can save the colonies are two mysterious people from the past.

A fun page turner of adventure science fiction.