Medusa: a Tiger by the Tail

by Jack L. Chalker

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Four Lords of the Diamond (4)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
489	4	50,519	(3.78)	2
This is Final Book (Book Four) of the Epic Tetralogy, The Four Lords of the Diamond. ** Aliens are spying on Earth from one of the four worlds that make up the Warden Diamond. But it is impossible to send agents to any of the four worlds because of unique microscopic symbionts that make it impossible for visitors to leave the Diamond. Seeking a unique solution, each of the four worlds making up the Diamond is sent a person whose mind has been stripped of everything and who is now controlled by an agent of the Confederacy. ** This frozen world is the last of the four worlds to be explored. But are Tarin Bul and his controller up to the job? The secret powers of the hated dictator, Lord Ypsir, are far more extensive than had been anticipated and may prove too much for them. Can the Agent With No Name save the mission?… (more)

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This is the fourth and final book of the series. The ‘world’ story in line with the previous books in the shortest one, but about 30% of the book is the Epilogue, which ties the series together making the fourth volume the longest.
While it is true that some stuff is, as another reviewer put it “an extended male adolescent wish fulfillment”, but still there are a lot of interesting thoughts and twists. Why far from the best SF of the 1980s, it is still a slid and enjoyable read, especially if you don’t come to it with modern political correctness attitudes.
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Oleksandr_Zholud | Jan 9, 2019 |

[Update 10/2021... old story: whisperings of "reader's block", four good books in progress, headed off the problem with an old standby Lilith. And once started...had to finish. Took my time with this one this time. Noticed a few things I'd not caught before or decided weren't worth noticing...typo on page 24 of the Del Rey paperback, "adherent's" shouldn't have had an apostrophe; multiple instances of repeating phrases in sentences making this seem less polished.Regardless, I have many years of reading left and will no doubt run into another block. Leaving it at four stars for the moment.]

[Update 1/30/2016...Yes, I did reread it again. One more time and this will have to get bumped to five stars. One of best series Chalker wrote, and one of my favorite series ever.]

Nice wrap of a classic series. One I know I'll re-read again. (

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Razinha | May 23, 2017 |

The final novel in the Four Lords of the Diamond series. The epilogue is quite long and requires recollection of the other three novels. Fascinating alien schema. (

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skraft001 | Feb 5, 2017 |

Great book (

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rzornow | Oct 18, 2006 |

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Jack L. Chalker	—	primary author	all editions	calculated
Heyborne, Kirby	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Mattingly, David B.	Cover artist	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Four Lords of the Diamond (4)

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Pasaulinės fatastikos aukso fondas (74)

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The Four Lords of the Diamond by Jack L. Chalker

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Canonical title

Medusa: a Tiger by the Tail

Original title

Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1983-04 (first US edition)

1991-06 (first UK edition)

People/Characters

Important places

Gray Basin, Medusa, Warden Diamond

Boojum (seventh moon of Momrath, Warden system)

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For Walt Liebscher, the elfish Puck of science fiction for over forty years. Those who haven't met him or read him have been missing something unique and wonderful.

First words

There is nothing quite like the sensation of calling your worst enemy up for a friendly little chat.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

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Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

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Wikipedia in English (2)

Four Lords of the Diamond

Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail

▾Book descriptions

This is Final Book (Book Four) of the Epic Tetralogy, The Four Lords of the Diamond. **** Aliens are spying on Earth from one of the four worlds that make up the Warden Diamond. But it is impossible to send agents to any of the four worlds because of unique microscopic symbionts that make it impossible for visitors to leave the Diamond. **** Seeking a unique solution, each of the four worlds making up the Diamond is sent a person whose mind has been stripped of everything and who is now controlled by an agent of the Confederacy. **** This frozen world is the last of the four worlds to be explored. But are Tarin Bul and his controller up to the job? The secret powers of the hated dictator, Lord Ypsir, are far more extensive than had been anticipated and may prove too much for them. Can the Agent With No Name save the mission?

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THE BEGINNING OF THE END GAME
The Confederacy's grand scheme seemed to be working. they had subsisted the mind of their best operator for the minds of four criminals - every one a top assassin - and sent one to each of the four there. The agents on Lilith, Cerberus, and Charon had already reported in - success! Now only Taran Bul's mission on Medusa remained.

On this frozen ice world, Bul quickly joined an on-going conspiracy determiend to overthrow the hated dictator Lord Talant Ypsir - the rebel's mission suited his perfectly.
But a combination of alien menace and YPsir's secret power proved too much for Bul.
At last, the operator over all - the Agent with No Name - had to prove his ability ... with everything stacked against him!

THROUGH A GLASS STARKLY
From birth I had been raised to believe in the Confederacy, in its perfection and its ideals. but, in that context, what was my job, anyway? The same as The Monitor Service here? To track down those who posed a threat to the Confederacy's system - or who abused or perverted it - and send them to psychs, or to the Warden Diamond, or, on rare occasions. to their deaths.

True, the Confederacy was a far better system than Ypsir's Meducsa, but the people here did in fact mostly believe in that system, including the TMS. In their minds they were no different from me. Did that make us different - or the same?

Medusa was a perversion of the Confederacy's system and dreams, but t was a distorted mirror image. Why did I feel uncomfortable with the reflection it showed me nonetheless?

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