Светът на призраците

Twilight of the Empire #2

by Simon R. Green, Саймън Грийн

When the empire loses all contact with a distant mining world known as Ghostworld, Captain John Silence leads an investigation to discover the cause.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Space Opera, Fiction, Ebooks, Science Fiction Fantasy, Speculative Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Simon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.

His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Даниел Иванов · Rating 4 out of 5]

Мудно начало, в което Грийн успя да ме заблуди коя е истинската опасност за генерала и хората му. После нещата си дойдоха на мястото и книгата стана чук. Финалната битка ми се стори леко бързичка, надявах се на повечко моменти с Ашраите.

[Doc McCandless · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second of the Prequel books to the Deathstalker series. It could be read first, because it features a ship that is found crashed and deeply buried and then cut apart in the first book, as well as character surnames. So, it seems that the second book happens long before the first. Either book can be read as a standalone.

This book gives us deeper background into the depravity of the Empire, and it's attitiude towards other worlds. We see how the Empire manipulates it's citizens, making second-class persons of those it relies upon to serve it.

Some things I wondered about. They use Disruptors as sidearms, but they are only good for one shot every 3 minutes, when they could better use old technology like a gunpowder revolver or pistol that would serve the same purpose. But, it does give us a chance to read about swordfights with Scottish Claymores. Sort of a Sci-Fi swashbuckler...

These stories are not "deep" or profound, but they are a fun read. They move along quickly, with well described action sequences. Sometimes there is deeper character development, sometimes not. But Simon R. Green keeps me reading the next and then the next. So, I must like them!

[David Palazzolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

The second of three prequels to Simon Green’s Deathstalker series. It apparently takes place some time in the past relative to Mistworld. The characters are apparently from an Imperial Navy starship called the Darkwind, which was the same name of a wrecked ship on that crashed somewhere in the vicinity of Mistport in the previous novel. Also, there is a character with the last name of Vertue present in this novel’s cast—Diana Vertue—like there was in the previous one—Leon Vertue. There seems to be no overt connection between the two characters so ‘Vertue’ May be analogous to Smith or Johnson in Imperial times. Hard to tell. The novel feels inspired by a dungeon crawl style of rpg and could easily be converted into a module for such games as SpellJammer, Star Drive or Starfinder (and would be a hell of a good time too). Tightly plotted the novel moves quickly to the end, but with a little less introspection than Mistworld.

Next up is Hellworld and I’m curious to see what connections there will be between this and the others.

[Gil Estel · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Светът на призраците" представя изключително оригинално и безумно интересно мисията на капитан Сайлънс на планетата Ансилай (не ми е ясно защо преводачът не си е поиграл с името на български). Историята задава въпросът какво би се случило ако попаднем на друга цивилизация (в която няма нищо човешко), а Саймън Грийн описва историята много живо, оригинално и същевременно човешки. С този разказ и Шадоус Фол, Грийн определено се нарежда на челните места сред любимите ми sci-fi автори, не само като стил, но и като оригиналност. Изобщо не ми е ясно защо толкова добър автор като Грийн не се превежда у нас достатъчно и не се рекламира, а разни лигави бози на слаби автори или нищо от жанра като цяло...

[Tessa in Mid-Michigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This very creepy sci-fi horror thriller could have been inspiration for The Expanse’s early storyline with the protomolecule. Extremely grotesque, imo, but I stuck it out anyway. Several logical inconsistencies and more than one Deus ex machina moment, but still engaging.

[Gavin Bodnar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Way better than mistworld
John silence is a badass

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ghostworld is the second book in Simon R. Green's "Twilight of the Empire" series. It is a short, intense, sci-fi horror adventure more or less in the mold of Ridley Scott's Alien.

Captain John Silence and a crew of four land on planet Unseeli, seeking to determine what has caused Base Thirteen, a small but important mining facility, to lose contact with the Empire. Unseeli is a dead world, scoured of life by Silence's order a decade ago. Once the home of the sentient Ashrai, Unseeli is the Empire's main source of rare minerals needed to fuel its spacecrafts' hyperdrives.

The Empire offers the aliens it encounters only two choices: they can bow down, or they can die. The Ashrai resisted, and now they are gone ... but their powerful psionic ghosts remain. Are the Ashrai's ghosts responsible for the nonresponsive state of Base Thirteen, or is it something else ... like the crew of the unknown alien starship found crash-landed nearby?

It's not elegant, and it's not pretty, but Ghostworld is a reasonably effective chiller. It's a better and more focused novel than its predecessor, Mistworld. It shares only one character and no plot points with Mistworld, and so can easily be read first. In fact, the "character" that appears in both novels is the starship Darkwind, and since Darkwind is a buried wreck in Mistworld and an active ship in Ghostworld, it appears that the events of Ghostworld actually come first.

[Бранимир Събев · Rating 3 out of 5]

Втора книга от трилогията. Също много добра и без съмнение с най-чудесния превод - Владо Зарков е залог за качество. Екипаж от петима души - Капитан, свирепа Изследователка, мощна Есперка и двама Щурмоваци се озовават на тайнствената планета Ансилай, домът на Ашраите. Могъща раса, противопоставила се ефективно на Империята и принудила последната да изгори от орбита цялата планета от полюс до полюс. Велики и тайнствени, Ашраите загинали до един... но само телата им. Душите им продължават да блуждаят и витаят на Ансилай, безсмъртни и свирепи, пълни с омраза и жажда за разплата.

Капитанът има своите тъмни тайни от миналото, които неизбежно ще излязат на бял свят - на Ансилай не може да се скрие нищо. В неговата мисия изненадващо му се притичва на помощ бившия му приятел Гарвана - най-силният Изследовател и Еспер, познат някога на Империята. Обърнал се срещу собствената си раса, за да се бие на страната на Ашраите, той по чудо е избягнал огнената смърт, изпепелила планетата. Десет години след катаклизма той е живял с призраците на Ашраите, изучил е всички техни тайни... и сега е по-могъщ дори отпреди. Защото вече не е човек.

Странна нова раса се е появила от нищото на Планетата. Раса, която е заплаха не само за Империята, но дори и за безплътните духове на Ашраите. Как ще се развият нещата? Прочетете и ще видите!

[Aleksandar Nikolov · Rating 5 out of 5]

В сравнение с предишната част , има известен контраст по отношение на герои и действие - по малко налични персонажи и по малко екшън. Всичко останало като изключим дребни детайли може да се впише в графата "Пришълците". Съспенс градацията е силна , държи покачващо се напрежение , но тези измислени псевдо родствени връзки са изключително дразнещи.

Грийн за онова време (93-94 г.) явно има навика да пише по много ,което се отразява и върху обема на писане и остава впечатлението за една незавършеност която също е дразнеща. Явно това го компенсира по нататък с "Deathstalker" поредицата , която явно няма намерение да излезе по българските книготеки! Жалко! Много Жалко!

"I"m your father , бе!" - и какво от това бих казал аз? :)

[Yvonne Boag · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unseelie was one of the Rim worlds with a very unusual topography; instead of oceans or mountains; it was filled with endless forests of metal trees. The Empire exploited Unseelie as a mining colony, for each of those metal trees could be used to keep a ship in space for a year.

Once it was a thriving planet with an indigenous population called the Ashrai. But the Ashrai were upset with the Empire for depleting their natural resources by mining their trees, and consequently they openly revolted...(Click here to read the complete review).

[Roxane Lapa · Rating 2 out of 5]

A science Fiction book. The second of the 'Twilight of the Empire' trilogy which is a prelude to the 'Deathstalker' series.

I thought this was only 'ok'. Some of the characters were a bit 2 dimensional. The story would probably make a good computer game.

[Jaq · Rating 4 out of 5]

Silence, Diana, Carrion and Frost - what more could you want in a story?

I enjoyed reading this adventure, and found it useful background to these characters who played a part in the space opera that is the Deathstalker sage.

[Cera · Rating 2 out of 5]

Green's prose was dreadful at this stage in his writing career, but my desire to find out the answer to the mystery made me keep reading.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good stories ot learn more about the world of the Deathstalker.

[David H. · Rating 2 out of 5]

Retroactive Review (11 Sep 2021): Please see my review of the series here under the first volume.

[Tracy]

I can't wait to read the next book, what a premise. I love it.

[Crys Nieto · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the deeper look into some of my deathstalker characters.