The Widowmaker

The Widowmaker #1

by Mike Resnick, Donato Giancola (Illustrator)

One of the major voices in science fiction, Mike Resnick presents the first volume in a bold new trilogy.Jefferson Nighthawk--known and feared by many as the Widowmaker, the consummate bounty hunter--has been frozen for a century in order to defeat a deadly disease. Only now the cost of his care has risen, so the Widowmaker is called out of retirement for one special commission, and a very large chunk of cash. A notorious assassin has been wrecking havoc on the Frontier; who better but the Widowmaker to defeat him?

Genres: Science Fiction, Space Opera, Fiction, Fantasy, Audiobook, Adventure, Science Fiction Fantasy

293 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

Michael "Mike" Diamond Resnick, better known by his published name Mike Resnick, was a popular and prolific American science fiction author. He is, according to Locus, the all-time leading award winner, living or dead, for short science fiction. He was the winner of five Hugos, a Nebula, and other major awards in the United States, France, Spain, Japan, Croatia and Poland. and has been short-listed for major awards in England, Italy and Australia. He was the author of 68 novels, over 250 stories, and 2 screenplays, and was the editor of 41 anthologies. His work has been translated into 25 languages. He was the Guest of Honor at the 2012 Worldcon and can be found online as @ResnickMike on Twitter or at www.mikeresnick.com.

Reviews

[Metodi Markov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Добре дошли в 52 век след Христа, когато човешката Олигархия владее безчет планетни системи и не спира нито за минута експанзията си в Космоса.

Резник ни води на увлекателно пътешествие по границите на човешките владения, пълно с приключения. Там се подвизават множество интересни персонажи - Перфектния убиец, Маркиз Куинсбъри, Перлата на Маракайбо, Дядо Коледа, Cвещенното кълбо и прочие знайни и незнайни чудаци!

Старомодната фантастика винаги гарантира кеф за читателите си.

Моята оценка - 3,5*.

[Dan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this while waiting for the last three Dark Tower books to come out. Jefferson Nighthawk proved to be a good Gunslinger surrogate.

Jefferson Nighthawk is arguably the deadliest gunfighter in the galaxy. One day, he finds out he has an incurable disease and has himself cryogenically frozen until a cure is found, paying for it with all the money he earned bounty hunting. Unfortunately, inflation hits and Nighthawk's money starts running low. The facility he's housed in makes him a deal and creates a young Jefferson Nighthawk clone to earn money to keep him frozen. Unfortunately, the clone isn't exactly the most stable person, mostly due to the fact that while he retains Nighthawk's skills, mentally, he's very immature.

This was the first of the original Widowmaker trilogy and pretty good, although the next two are better. Even though the clone is a jerk, you feel for him. The action is really good and by the end, you're hoping there's another jolt of inflation so they'll clone Nighthawk again, which they do...

Resnick's writing is never anything to shout about but is like a good bass player. You don't exactly notice he's there but the end result is enjoyable.

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space westerns are not really my bag, but this was a quick read and I have had it sitting around for years. The Widowmaker is a legendary bounty hunter on the 'Rim Worlds'; e.g., the wild west of the galaxy. Unfortunately, he came down with a bizarre skin disease that was killing him and he put himself in 'deep freeze' until a cure could be found. A hundred or so years later, they wake him to inform him that, due to inflation, his portfolio is running low and he will be broke and unfroze in just a few years. Yet, he does have an option-- let us clone you and hire the clone out and that will add many years to your freeze....

So, 3 months later, a young Widowmaker (Jeff) is out in the world. They trained him some, but he is still wet behind the ears so to speak. His mission-- find the assassin of the governor of a planet Silio II and make him dead. Jeff heads out to a planet where he has some leads, the home base of a petty tyrant who either did the deed, or knows who did it. Jeff 'befriends' the guy and starts working for him. Slowly, he starts to figure out that he has been set up; even if he gets the guy, upon return the people behind his cloning will surely kill him. He does not care about his 'father', but he does fall in love with a beautiful blue skinned dancer at the tyrant's casino. He collects a few friends along the way and comes up with a plan...

Fast action and some snarky prose made this a fun read, but it really felt like a golden age space adventure/opera, complete with rather sexist overtones throughout. Not a bad book, but I do not think I will follow up with the sequels.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Resnick's four volumes that feature Jefferson Nighthawk, the Widowmaker, are entertaining books set in his excellent future history series. They don't have quite the exciting quality of the first Santiago novel, but are fun page-turners. His ability to tell stories of larger-than-life future myth is unparalleled, and the way the plots progress and the characters develop is fascinating. They're very enjoyable science fiction.

[Ron · Rating 3 out of 5]

“I’ll be hiring specialists—not just specialists in killing, but in behavior as well. How difficult can it be?” “I’ll bet Pandora said those very words just before she opened the box.”

Super-non-hero in space. Typical fastest-gun-in the West (or Rim) space opera. Decent storytelling flawed by intentionally simple-minded protagonist. Not much to identify with or root for.

“I’m the boss and you’re not. What’s fair got to do with anything?”

Too-good-to-be true string of luck just keeps going. Cynical witness character hardly needed to point out the protagonist’s stupidity. Unfortunately, introductory books like this kill interest in continuing the series.

I suppose not many four-month-olds could dope it out. But you’re going to have to grow up fast if you want to survive out here.”

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

After all the good reviews, I was disappointed. It was candy, but not particularly good candy. The writing wasn't all that good & the story line was full of holes. The hero was too good - almost magical. The suspension of belief asked from me was too great. The universe revolved around our hero. The ending, was the best part, but not enough to make up for the rest. I doubt I'll bother reading another by this author, certainly not in this trilogy.

[John Loyd · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced western-type science fiction. Jefferson Nighthawk the legendary bounty hunter is a dying man. The descendants of his lawyers wake him from cryosleep to tell him that the money he left for maintenance isn't going to last and there is a job offer for him, if he's willing to allow himself to be cloned.

The young Nighthawk is sent to find the man responsible for the assassination of a planetary dictator. The head of security points him at the Marquis of Queensbury, a crime lord in that area of the frontier.

This is where the plot starts getting weird. Nighthawk goes to the frozen planet where the Marquis stays. Finds him, picks a fight, they do fight, almost killing each other. Somehow it ends up with Nighthawk employed by the Marquis. More encounters with equally surprising results. The believable plot line is that Nighthawk falls for Melisande who happens to be the girlfriend (or property) of the Marquis.

It was fast read, lots of action, enjoyable and Nighthawk is pretty cool. Suspending disbelief means accepting space travel and Nighthawk being the best fighter ever. To me it's pushing it that two men want to kill each other and then they end up boss and employee. I'm going to mark it down to 3.5 of 5 stars for having to accept non rational, illogical behavior, even though it was still a lot of fun to read.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am usually a big fan of Mike Resnick but I was somewhat disappointed in this book. The main character is a clone of the original Widowmaker and even given his inexperience he is not very smart. He becomes fixated on a woman who pretty much despises him and pursues her to the exclusion of all else including using good sense in his pursuit. He is touted as the ultimate killer but he only seems to demonstrate this ability when forced to. All in all this was a disappointing read for me. If you are a big fan of Mike Resnick like I usually am you might want to give it a read and decide for yourself. If you are looking to read Mike Resnick for the first time I would start with his book "Santiago".

[Roger · Rating 3 out of 5]

Normally Mike Resnick is one of those authors I can count on to write a solid story. I don't feel I got that with The Widowmaker. I realize this is the first part of a multi part series, but I expected a much higher degree of badassery from the galaxy's greatest bounty hunter-or his clone. It was neat to read a book about someone who has the same name as me (Nighthawk has been my "internet name" for around two decades) but that was not enough to offset the disappointed feeling I had when I finished this book. I felt a lot of the action was filler to pad The Widowmaker out to novel length. Not sure if I will pick up another of these.

[Jeremy Dinnan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've never really been into fantasy outside of Star wars and Harry Potter and franchises like that but I saw this at a thrift store and gave it a chance and it was honestly attention grabbing from the first to last page. Definitely recommend trying out and has two sequels!

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was the shit. Anyway.... The dialogue was fantastic! I liked it how I read pretty much every word, actually paying attention to pretty much everything in the conversations, the fight scenes, and the characters. Usually at certain parts of a book you kinda lose interest in certain parts, but I was pretty happy with everything. The ending was unexpected, the storytelling smooth and the story, wow the story! The Story was amazing how it went and was different from some other types of science fiction, where they get caught up trying to write futurist weird things. Instead it was grounded and realistically fictional. If that makes any sense. Hmm.... This book, once again, was fantastic!

[Dantegideon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like a moody, not particularly bright, teenage boy's idea of space opera. Hero who's the wickedest in the whole universe with guns! But he never asked to be born! God! No one understands him! He shoots stuff a lot! And there's a nudey alien bird... With blue tits! And he gets to see her tits! Then he shoots some more people! People who don't understand him! He never asked to be born!

Seriously, this is shit.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Widowmaker is a strange beast. It's a Western about a young gunslinger going up against impossible odds. It's a tragedy in which that gunslinger's fate is obvious to author, readers, and even the characters themselves. It's a science fiction story about a naive, inexperienced clone trying to live up to the original. And yet all three blend seamlessly.

The Widowmaker invites comparisons to Resnick's masterpiece, Santiago. Both are tales of a lawless frontier and the larger-than-life characters that populate it. Santiago is certainly more on the literary end of things, while The Widowmaker is a classic space opera with pulp tendencies. And yet Santiago is a story that could have been set on any frontier, from the Wild West to the border between Gaul & Rome, or even Afghanistan a few years after the American invasion. The Widowmaker, on the other hand, could only be science fiction.

The Widowmaker is a straight-forward book. You don't come here for surprises. You come for action and the aforementioned larger-than-life figures. And Resnick over-delivers, as always.

[Ben Palmer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m always down for a good space western and The Widowmaker is a really solid one with honestly only one major flaw (I’ll get to that in a sec).

The book starts off great, honestly the whole first third is a total blast as you learn about The Widowmaker and roll Ali t with him on some missions. He’s got this cool sorta John Wick vibe to him and it’s great.

The major flaw is the romance here (if you can call a parasocial romantic interest a romance). Nighthawk’s pursuit of Melisandre turns him into a whiny obnoxious child so often and it 1. Doesn’t feel earned, 2. Feels really creepy (because it’s not exactly entirely consensual) and 3. Make Nighthawk nearly insufferable.

He makes decisions inspired by this romance that are truly stupid and make very little sense, and again, this whole “taking on the whole world for love” sorta Marty Robbins El Paso vibe just does not feel earned.

That’s my only complaint though. Otherwise a fun read.

4/5

[Lucius Etruscus · Rating 1 out of 5]

L'autore mi piace e già di suo ha uno stile molto semplice e scorrevole, ma forse questo suo romanzo degli anni Novanta esagera con la "semplicità". Al di là di un scrittura quasi raffazzonata, da "temino scolastico", la voglia di scrivere un western in salsa spaziale ha nuociuto gravemente alla logica e alla coerenza della storia, che pecca di entrambe. Il protagonista è incomprensibile perché passa da una estrema sicurezza (immotivata) ad uno spaesamento preoccupante.
Quel che però è peggio è che la scrittura è talmente semplicistica che in pratica non esiste narrazione, è solo un insieme di dialogh: visto che non sono dialoghi buoni, il romanzo in sé è particolarmente fastidioso. Non riesco a superarne la metà...

[Corvid · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent idea ruined by choppy dialogue and poor pacing. Resnick writes like he's in the backseat of a Jeep that is driving down a dry creekbed at full speed. The only named female character is also extremely distasteful, but I honestly can't tell if it's because every single character is just a cardboard cutout of a personality or if Resnick's just one of those authors who are Like That.

[Rick English · Rating 2 out of 5]

The whole the whole thing seemed kind of pointless. I usually really like Mike resnick. But this was filled with some really inane conversations. It doesn't seem like much was accomplished. May or may not read the second and third book.

[Domenic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t love it. Didn’t hate it. But Jefferson Nighthawk (the clone) drove me insane throughout the entirety of this book so props to Resnick for making a main character so completely unlikeable but also kinda sympathetic.

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Second time for reading this series, enjoyed it as much as the first time. Great plot and character development. Highly recommend the whole series.

[Nicolas · Rating 1 out of 5]

Comme d’habitude, on se balade ici sur les mondes de la frontière, une espèce de far-west de pacotille aux franges de l’expansion humaine dans la galaxie, où on envoie le clone du plus grand tueur à gages abattre une espèce de patron mafieux. Il y a de l’action, des meurtres, de la passion et pas mal de carnage. En bref, on est en terrain connu, puisque presque tous les romans de Resnick se situent sur cette frontière qui, comme je l’ai dit, n’est rien d’autre qu’un far-west transposé. On a donc droit à tous les mythes de a conquête américaine : la loi n’existe pas vraiment, chacun est libre de se faire son destin à la main, et les noms ne sont que l’image que les gens veulent bien donner d’eux. Si le style de Resnick m’emballe toujours autant, le moins qu’on puisse dire, c’est que cette histoire manque cruellement d’âme. Le héros est un tueur (certes jeune et émotif) mais qui ne s’interroge pas du tout sur le prix de la vie, ni sur le sens de son travail. Et les différents personnages de ce roman pas trop long n’ont strictement aucune saveur. Que ce soit le Marquis de Queensburry, le père noël, ou le lézard, on dirait des affiches : auncune vie propre, une personnalité d’emprunt. On est plus dans le western spaghetti qu’autre chose. Et c’est là qu’on peut le mieux plonger dans la frontière pour en comprendre le sens et la réalité : c’est un monde du XXXème siècle, où l’informatique est bien cachée, les IA quasi absentes, et l’humanité dominatrice à travers la galaxie (ça faisait longtemps qu’on n’avait plus vue d’hégémonie humaine). Ce qui nous ramène une fois de plus à de vieux schémas, puisque du coup, les gens se parlent (en vrai ou par radio plus rapide que la lumière), la structure sociale est toujours la même qu’en notre bon XXIème siècle, et les motivations des personnages sont compréhensibles à un point rare. Ce qui prouve finallement, que Resnick est un écrivain habité, et que lorsqu’il tente de sortir de son idée géniale (l’Afrique dans l’espace), ses romans sont au mieux normaux, au pire oubliable, et là, on est dans le pire de Resnick (du moins, c’est le pire roman que j’ai lu de lui). Il reste distrayant, mais franchement pas indispensable.

[Vitobito (silverfishread) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Space western vecchio stile
In cuor mio sento di amare questo stile, da piccolo ho sempre adorato Borderlands 2 e le sensazioni che quel mondo voleva evocare. Il killer delle stelle in parte cerca di seguire questa estetica: un clone di un famoso cacciatore di taglie che non guarda in faccia a nessuno e vive la vita secondo i suoi desideri.

La storia in sé per sé è abbastanza accattivante, e sono sicuro del fatto che chi più di me abbia letto questo genere di libri saprà meglio apprezzare i vari personaggi, ma personalmente ho trovato il tutto solo ed unicamente ok. Essendo un ragazzo del 21 secolo di base non mi è molto facile relazionarmi con personaggi con una mentalità vecchia, anche se ciò non mi rende impossibile fare il tifo per uomini come Il Corsaro Nero e compagnia bella.

Cosa non va con il protagonista? (perdonate l'assenza del nome, ho lasciato il libro in un posto di book-crossing, e scrivo questa recensione mesi dopo averlo letto).
Credo semplicemente che io non riesca a prenderlo sul serio. È un bambinone, penso che questo sia voluto, dal primo momento vuole avere tutto quello che desidera ed averlo subito, non importa cosa gli viene detto o chi gli vada contro: forse il semplice fatto di avere come vero e proprio ''trofeo'' una donna che non se ne importa minimamente del protagonista non mi fa veramente interessare alle vicende di quest'ultimo (la donna, tra l'altro, personaggio di pochissimo spessore, cosa tipica per romanzi Fantascientifici di una tale età).

In sintesi, mi è piaciuto relativamente questo libro, dubito che lo consiglierei, è stata una lettura estiva passeggera, di quelle che compri in edicola vicino alla spiaggia quando hai bisogno di distrarti un poco; anche se penso che questa pratica stia andando a morire poco a poco.

Voto finale 3/5

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great fun. I have been reading Resnick all my life. I am still sad at his death, now there is no new work to look forward to. His stuff is never that deep but always entertaining. The story? A top bounty hunter has himself frozen to await a cure for a noxious disease, however, clones must be made to go out into the lawless galaxy and earn bounties to keep him frozen and pay for his eventual cure. haha The galactic society depicted is a mix of the old west that most likely never existed, something like John Wayne's world in space. As silly as it sounds the novels are great fun. There are four 'Widowmaker' tales in the series. Recommended.

I write this review as I am on a slow reread of Resnick. A fun experience.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

at first I was surprised because of the writing style. It was very very dialog heavy, and that was different for me. however, the style kept the story extremely fast paced and quickly I found myself hooked and unable to put it down. Where this book shines is in its creative story setting, and its blending of the sci-fi and western genres. A legendary bounty hunter is frozen until his deadly disease can be cured, but his life savings begins to run out as a cure is neared. So the obviously solution is to clone him and have the clone take on missions that no one else could.

Very easy, quick read. Love it.

[Paxton Holley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mid 90s sci fi. Pretty fun story. This was more a 3.5 star story.

A notorious bounty hunter who is currently cryogenically frozen due to illness is cloned and his clone is sent on a mission. The clone meets a few characters on his mission and discovers his mission may not be so cut and dry.

This was fun. The Widowmaker was a cool character. He meets another guy later on named Father Christmas who robs churches and becomes the young clone’s worldly mentor. Or he tries. Because technically the clone is only 3 months old he’s a bit naive. He falls for the wrong woman and his stubborn refusal to see her for what she is may be the death of both of them.

[Jeff Yoak · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first reaction reading The Widowmaker was that it felt like an Orson Scott Card novel from the Enderverse. Even upon realizing that it was the narrator, Stefan Rudnicki, that was making me feel that way, I still couldn't shake the feeling. It is amazing how much a good narrator can impact a story.

Much like my memory of the Wilson Cole novels, the characters are compelling, the pace is good and in general it is a decent sci-fi read.

2017: Reading this with the kids made me appreciate it much more.

[Ty Myrick · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a fantastic old-fashioned space adventure. For days afterwards, I kept remembering the tone and style of the book and how it harkened back to the golden age of science fiction. It is exactly the type of book I normally enjoy. But I just could not like this book because the protagonist is such an annoying character. I do want to read more books in this series, because the protagonist will not return in later books. It is sad that such an unlikable character can ruin the experience of reading an otherwise excellent book.

[Melissa Hollingsworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first Widowmaker book is not the best, IMO. But the Widowmaker books are best viewed as an ongoing saga, again IMO, so enjoy this one for what it is--which is plenty; Resnick always delivers a good story--and wait for the considerable payoff as the series develops.

[Aurora · Rating 4 out of 5]

A notorious bounty hunter, long stored in cryo-sleep awaiting a cure for his rare disease is called out of sleep to accept one more assignment - all to pay for his increasingly expensive maintenance. Mike Resnick once again spins a gritty, gripping tale of life on the frontier - S.F. style.

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun romp, but alarmingly, distractingly misogynist. There is a single woman in the book, and she's the trope of the Double-Crossing Minx - beautiful and deadly, no interests of her own. Wonder why the author has so little faith in women. Pretty bad book, all told.

[Brian Allen · Rating 1 out of 5]

I did not like the ending. That said, I am still planning on reading the sequel and the third The Widowmaker Unleashed. Mike Resnick is a great science fiction author, this book just fizzled out in the end.