The Last Legionary Quartet

Last Legionary #1-4

by Douglas Arthur Hill

Genres: Science Fiction

460 pages, Paperback

First published October 11, 1985

About the author

Douglas Arthur Hill (6 April 1935 – 21 June 2007) was a Canadian science fiction author, editor and reviewer. He was born in Brandon, Manitoba, the son of a railroad engineer, and was raised in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. An avid science fiction reader from an early age, he studied English at the University of Saskatchewan (where he earned an Honours B.A. in 1957) and at the University of Toronto. He married fellow writer and U. of S. alumna Gail Robinson in 1958; they moved to Britain in 1959, where he worked as a freelance writer and editor for Aldus Books. In 1967–1968 he served as Assistant Editor of the controversial New Worlds science fiction magazine under Michael Moorcock.

A lifetime leftist, he served from 1971 to 1984 as the Literary Editor of the socialist weekly Tribune (a position once held by George Orwell), where he regularly reviewed science fiction despite the continued refusal of the literary world to take it seriously. Before starting to write fiction in 1978, he wrote many books on history, science and folklore. Using the pseudonym Martin Hillman, he also worked as an editor of several anthologies, among them Window on the Future (1966), The Shape of Sex to Come (1978), Out of Time (1984), and Hidden Turnings (1988). He is probably best known for The Last Legionary quartet of novels, supposedly produced as the result of a challenge by a publisher to Hill's complaints about the lack of good science fiction for younger readers.

Hill and his wife had one child, a son. They were divorced in 1978. He lived in Wood Green, London, and died in London after being struck by a bus at a zebra crossing. His death occurred one day after he completed his last trilogy, Demon Stalkers.

Reviews

[J. Boo · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I was ten, I very much enjoyed these tales of Keill Randor, super-soldier, the last survivor of a dead planet. With scientific benefactors and a telepathic alien, Glr, he struggled against the mysterious Warlord, the one responsible for his planet's destruction.

And then I made the mistake of re-reading his stories as an adult. Sometimes you can't go home again. The writing wasn't very good, Kyle was so far above the merely human that it set my teeth on edge, and it was more of a chore than a joy to finish them.

Young me says four stars. Wizened me says two.

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wanted to BE Keill Randor when i was a kid. (sshhh-- i still do).

Great adventure. It took my brain right into orbit, and will always be that forever kind of special to me.

[gekko100 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an addictive little sci-fi series -- as I recall, Keill Randor was sort of like an intergalactic Jack Bauer on a mission to get revenge on the "Warlord". Sadly, it seems to be out of print.

[Fellini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Типичная героическая фантастика про одинокого легионера, спасающего галактику от Зла в разных формах. В четырёх частях.

[Simon Burrows]

I have racked my brain for years trying to remember the author and title of these books and finally, by pure chance ive found it!
Loved them when I was young.

[Simon P · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shoddily-written trash sci-fi. I loved it as a young teen and I still love it, even though I cringe at the awful hackneyed sentences and textbook plots.

My favourite line from a Douglas Hill book is from a book called "The Huntsman", and it goes something like this:

"It was almost unbelievable that he didn't encounter any enemies as he walked the corridors."

Love it when an author points out how his plot isn't believable.

[Paul Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have had The Last Legionary Book 1 as a kid and loved it. Was given the prequal which I loved and I finally bought this book years ago and read all 4 books which made fall in love with them.

As a visually impaired person and my sight is slowly getting worse, I tend to buy audiobooks but unfortuantely there isn't one with this series, so I have to find one I can read on my computer on something like Kindle.

[Vinodh Chaithram]

Read this when I was ten years old and the library didnt have the anthology so never finished the story, so decades later in my late forties got the anthology and finished the series. Satisfied now, Keill ventured on and settled my "ten year old, what happened to Keill?" questions. Loved it then and satisfied now, cant wait for kids to read it.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

An old favourite, read many times and enjoyed each time.

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun reads, as a child.

[G.M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite authors and one of my Top 10 Book Series!