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Millennium Quartet #3
Chariot
Safe in Las Vegas as a smallpox plague wipes out much of the world, Travis has no idea that his life is in danger as the millennium apocalypse approaches and the evil Horseman searches for him.
304 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2000
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About the author
Charles L. Grant
309 books263 followersCharles Lewis Grant was a novelist and short story writer specializing in what he called "dark fantasy" and "quiet horror." He also wrote under the pseudonyms of Geoffrey Marsh, Lionel Fenn, Simon Lake, Felicia Andrews, and Deborah Lewis.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
Grant won a World Fantasy Award for his novella collection Nightmare Seasons, a Nebula Award in 1976 for his short story "A Crowd of Shadows", and another Nebula Award in 1978 for his novella "A Glow of Candles, a Unicorn's Eye," the latter telling of an actor's dilemma in a post-literate future. Grant also edited the award winning Shadows anthology, running eleven volumes from 1978-1991. Contributors include Stephen King, Ramsey Campbell, R.A. Lafferty, Avram Davidson, and Steve Rasnic and Melanie Tem. Grant was a former Executive Secretary and Eastern Regional Director of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America and president of the Horror Writers Association.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 17, 2022
Like the setting being in Las Vegas, haven't been there is over 20 years, it's interesting reading this and the book is focused on the plague, in this it's a type of smallpox that's strongly mutated and for protection people are wearing mask..how familar. Very well done, on to the final book!
October 12, 2020
This is book three of Grant's Millennium Quartet; the other two were SYMPHONY and IN THE MOOD. And like book two, I didn't really enjoy this book all that much. It wasn't bad but there really wasn't anything in it to really call out and make it good. This time the story follows Trey, a gambler living near Las Vegas who is able to tap in to the ability to talk with machines, rocks, things; Trey then uses this ability to win at the slot machines. Of course, he has a troublesome past and must face horseman number three: Plague. The problem was that there wasn't too much more to the story than that. I felt that it moved too slow, not enough happened and the most interesting thing was a mysterious couple that was never really explained, leaving me with a sense of incompleteness. Now this one did set a lot of things up for the final book so all my questions might be answered there, and from the set up it appears pretty promising. We'll just have to wait and see.
January 17, 2015
Book Three of the Millenium Quartet. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are coming. The third, Plague, is already in Las Vegas...
This is good stuff.
This is good stuff.
July 29, 2016
Welcome to Las Vegas, right at the turn of the 20th Century. After surviving the random destruction of towns that led to a food shortage, the city is presented with the threat of disease, though it has yet to show any signs of the smallpox virus that has affected much of the world outside. Enter Trey, a resident of a run-down community near the city limits where other castoffs live, who has a strange ability for survival, to deal with the threats surrounding the city.
I've had a hard time getting in to this series so far, but with this volume, I've started to anticipate a good conclusion. Grant did a great job of setting up the events and characters that lead to the conclusion of this story, even if the story is less about the threat of disease than it is about this one small community dealing with a physical threat. The smallpox is a prevalent part of the story, but it's not the central conflict. I can't say I was surprised, since In the Mood wasn't really about famine, but it's odd to me that the key characteristics of the Horsemen aren't the main conflicts in these stories.
The Millennium Quartet is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Book One featured Death; Book Two featured Famine; and Book Three features Pestilence. The first real bird flu scare was in 1997, just a few years before this book was published, and it appears that Grant drew on the fears and responses to that scare to portray Vegas' response to the threat. There are lots of folks wearing medical masks, people who don't want to help others who are obviously sick, and others who just don't leave their houses.
I had serious problems with the character of Eula. She's a black woman and a gospel singer, and Grant chooses to give her Aunt Jemima dialogue. I don't understand the need to resort to stereotypes to portray her, but it's not like he's the first one to do it; Stephen King did it with Mother Abagail in The Stand, too.
I'm holding out hope that the final volume will be grander in scale. Casey Chisholm is mentioned again, and again in passing, but it seems like he's the key to the entire Apocalypse. At least, Grant is setting it up that way. It would be nice to see the entire story come full circle, but I feel like I shouldn't hold my breath. I think that Chariot has the best individual ending of the three volumes this far, but each volume has been its own isolated story. I'd like to see it wrapped up in a grand fashion.
I've had a hard time getting in to this series so far, but with this volume, I've started to anticipate a good conclusion. Grant did a great job of setting up the events and characters that lead to the conclusion of this story, even if the story is less about the threat of disease than it is about this one small community dealing with a physical threat. The smallpox is a prevalent part of the story, but it's not the central conflict. I can't say I was surprised, since In the Mood wasn't really about famine, but it's odd to me that the key characteristics of the Horsemen aren't the main conflicts in these stories.
The Millennium Quartet is about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Book One featured Death; Book Two featured Famine; and Book Three features Pestilence. The first real bird flu scare was in 1997, just a few years before this book was published, and it appears that Grant drew on the fears and responses to that scare to portray Vegas' response to the threat. There are lots of folks wearing medical masks, people who don't want to help others who are obviously sick, and others who just don't leave their houses.
I had serious problems with the character of Eula. She's a black woman and a gospel singer, and Grant chooses to give her Aunt Jemima dialogue. I don't understand the need to resort to stereotypes to portray her, but it's not like he's the first one to do it; Stephen King did it with Mother Abagail in The Stand, too.
I'm holding out hope that the final volume will be grander in scale. Casey Chisholm is mentioned again, and again in passing, but it seems like he's the key to the entire Apocalypse. At least, Grant is setting it up that way. It would be nice to see the entire story come full circle, but I feel like I shouldn't hold my breath. I think that Chariot has the best individual ending of the three volumes this far, but each volume has been its own isolated story. I'd like to see it wrapped up in a grand fashion.
November 10, 2014
The series kicks into high gear with this one: the Millennium Quartet hits book three, and Plague strolls into the world: everywhere, a mutated Smallpox virus breaks out - at least, everywhere that Trey isn't. Las Vegas has no cases of outbreak, and he knows it is because of himself. He has a strange ability to be lucky, and to be where disaster isn't...
...except Plague is moving in. And now, Trey has to figure out if he, like the priest in "Symphony" and the writer in "In the Mood," can make a sacrifice great enough to deflect the demon Plague a little longer.
...except Plague is moving in. And now, Trey has to figure out if he, like the priest in "Symphony" and the writer in "In the Mood," can make a sacrifice great enough to deflect the demon Plague a little longer.
September 16, 2008
I really can't say why but I dug this book. The main character just spoke to me for some reason. I just wish I had this group of books from the beginning rather then from the middle.
August 7, 2011
Good story, but not the best series ever written, but worth a read.
June 13, 2012
Excellent, as always. Now, it's time to get to work...
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews