Deathhunter

by Ian Watson

extremely rare,very good condition

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Murray Ewing · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expanding on a story first published in Omni in 1981 (‘A Cage for Death’), Deathhunter is a science fiction novel set in a future where a non-violent, non-warring society allows everyone to choose the moment of their own death. People ready to die go to a Death House, where a guide takes them through the slow, easeful process of bidding farewell to life and embracing oblivion. (This is also a world free of any sort of religious ideas of an afterlife). Jim Todhunter is just such a guide, given care of a rarity: a murderer, Nathan Weinberger, who killed in protest at this society’s beliefs. Because, Weinberger believes not only that death isn’t the end, but that in promoting easy deaths, society is in fact providing easy prey to a creature that feeds off human death, a creature he believes can be lured by the ‘death pheromone’ he’s succeeded in synthesising, and that captured in an electrical cage. As it’s Jim’s job, as a guide, to lead his client into an acceptance of death, Jim humours Weinberger by going through with the trap experiment — only to see the little red imp-creature Weinberger's been describing…

Deathhunter is a short novel — too short, I felt, to fully explain this society’s attitude to death, and how it makes people necessarily non-violent. So, if it doesn’t work as speculative fiction, does it work as pure adventure? Jim and Nathan’s experiments send them on a few wild, fantastic adventures, but ultimately the whole thing is thrown away (to my mind) by an ending that seemed clever rather than meaningful. I have to say, though, that I may have been left disappointed in part, at least, because I was comparing Watson’s book to a favourite of mine, David Lindsay’s A Voyage to Arcturus; I feel Watson’s was surely in a dialogue with Lindsay’s, playfully taking up to some of its images and ideas. Watson, after all, petitioned his (and Lindsay’s) publisher, Gollancz, to be allowed to write a sequel to Arcturus, and I wonder if some of that impulse went into Deathhunter, though Watson’s book certainly doesn’t have Lindsay’s power. It may be an unfair comparison, but I couldn’t help making it.

[☆Olimpia☆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Co? Szalone

[Derelict Space Sheep · Rating 3 out of 5]

42 WORD REVIEW:

In attempting to cure his patient’s delusions, death guide Jim Todhunter must confront the possibility that Death is a creature to be captured and caged. Deathhunter combines slightly cumbersome world building with trippy existential ideas. It’s SF styled with a 1980s twist.

[Chris Cowan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some interesting ideas in this short novel but the secondary characters feel a bit thin. I'd have liked a deeper exploration of the background science fiction world before we embark on the plot that leads us into a more fantastic realm

[Robin Schmobin · Rating 4 out of 5]

not close to perfect but a pretty good read - kind of homoerotic plus I really liked lal

[Mandy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall, definitely very cheesy. It starts out pretty fantastical, and then it snowballs--almost to the point of absurdity. The writing is decent enough; there is definitely a sophisticated vocabulary going on. The characters are only somewhat believable. The twist at the end sort of ruined things for me, not that there was much to ruin. It just added a dimension that made things even more ridiculous. I wasn't expecting to be impressed by this book, and it lived up to that expectation.

[bluetyson]

isbn,original

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frighteningly plausible.

[Isshi69nikkei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Słaba trójka - 1/3 książki to bełkot który nie wniósł do akcji kompletnie nic, podczas gdy zakończenie potraktowane po macoszemu.
Idea bardzo mi się podobała i to uratowało przed 2.

[Kartike Bhardwaj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okayish.