Deathstalker

Deathstalker #1

by Simon R. Green

Owen Deathstalker, last of the infamous warrior Clan, always considered himself more of a writer than a fighter, preferring his history books to making any actual history with a sword. But books won’t protect him from Her Imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV, who just Outlawed and condemned Owen to death, without any explanation, reason, or warning. No wonder she’s called the Iron Bitch.

Now, on the run from Imperial starcruisers, shady mercenaries, and just about everyone else in the Empire, Owen’s options are limited. Though the name Deathstalker still commands respect in certain quarters, out on the Rim, Owen is lucky he can cobble together a makeshift team of castoffs, including an ex-pirate, a cyborg, and a bounty hunter. But allies won’t be enough to save him.

If he’s to live, Owen can either run forever…or take down the corrupt Empire. To do that, he’ll need the fabled Darkvoid Device—an artifact dating back to the first Deathstalker and perhaps the only weapon powerful enough to help this ragtag rebellion win. The time has come for Owen to finally embrace his Deathstalker heritage…and all the blood and death that go along with it.

Deathstalker is the first book in New York Times bestselling author Simon R. Green’s beloved space opera series.

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

415 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

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

[Dave Edmunds · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Things would be different this time. He was the Deathstalker, and he had finally found his true destiny. More or less."

3.75 🌟

Initial Thoughts

Simon R Green's 1995 novel Deathstalker was originally recommended to me by a buddy from work who I normally pay zero attention to when it comes to books. He's one of those people who's idea of quality literature is Bigfoot Beach Massacre or something along those lines. But then I also seen reviews for it on Brian Lee Durffee's channel and Words in Time on YouTube, who both raved about it. The later stated that "if Dan Simmons' Hyperion Cantos is fine dining, then Deathstalker is a greasy bucket of fried chicken." And I do love me some fried chicken!

A bit of research revealed Simon R Green is an English author who has somewhat of a cult following, with a fiercely loyal fan base. He even appeared on the New York Times best seller list...that's now plastered on the cover of most of his books! Certainly worth checking out then. Wish me luck.

The Story

We begin with the central protagonist Owen Deathstalker on the run after the hot young lady he's sharing a bed with attempts to murder him. Turns out he's been outlawed by the leader of the galactic empire Queen Lionstone XIV, who goes by the nickname "The Iron Bitch," and there's a sizeable sum of money on our young heroes head.

Although Deathstalker comes from a long line of renowned warriors, he's intent on taking his life a different direction. Studying history and enjoying the finer side of the elite lifestyle with minimal effort. But it looks like destiny has got something to say about that and he's not going to get his wish. Now every man, woman and their dog is trying to kill him. With only his sarcastic AI for company he's short on friends and he's going to need some of those if he has any chance of starting a rebellion against the woman who put him top of the galaxy's most wanted list. So begins a chase that's going to last till the very end of the book, with Owen set to meet some very interesting characters as he starts to form a renegade gang.

But if that's not enough the empire is also facing first contact with a potentially hostile alien race. And if that's still not enough, there's plenty of plotting and back stabbing taking place as different factions look to establish power during this volatile period. Did I also mention there's an underground rebellion taking place? Yes there's a hell of a lot going on in this one.



The Writing

Straight away you can tell this story is a homage to that classic sci-fi, space opera Star Wars. Not to say it's a carbon copy but there's a hell of a lot of parallels. There's as much sword duels, rebellion and death rays as you could ask for. But there's still enough here to keep things fresh and entertaining.

But the actual writing is not without its problems. Not to say it's the worst I've experienced but certainly far, far away from the best.

First off, it drags on a bit. We're talking six hundred pages with huge chapters. And then it turns out you're still only 20% into the story with four books to follow. I'm always cautious in saying an author has overwritten things as what do I know about building a plot and developing characters? But when things are getting repetitive and I start loosing interest it's pretty clear this book could have used a thorough edit.

There's also a fair bit of exposition in the dialogue, when characters are saying stuff just to get information across to the reader, that felt a touch unnatural in parts. And my biggest turnoff, lots and lots of adverbs! Has Simon R Green never heard of the number one rule of effective writing...show not tell? Give me an awful sex scene any day over this! Well maybe I was going a bit far there.

But I don't want to come across as too critical because when this book gets it right it is exactly what I was looking for. Fun, action packed with a good bit of comedy. Extremely entertaining and what I like to call popcorn sci-fi.

There's also a lot of political intrigue and treachery going on that kept me thinking and the world building was very impressive. It's a fully fleshed out universe and Simon R Green manages to incorporate zombies into a space opera setting so gets extra marks there. You can see there's an equal amount of positive to outweigh the bad.

"Anyone you see coming this way is almost certainly an enemy, so shoot on sight. If you kill the wrong person by accident, we can always apologise later."

The Characters

While the writing didn't quite hit the sweet spot for me, the characters in Deathstalker were unquestionably the high point. I'll freely admit that they weren't the most developed. This is coming from someone who recently read Dostoyevsky's The Brothers Karamazov. But damn boy were they a lot of fun!

The book contains an impressive cast of murderous nobles, bounty hunters, lowlife criminals and strange alien races. There's a number of these that receive POV chapters and apart from the central character of Deathstalker the rest share a common theme of living a secret life away from the public eye.

If you were asking me to name a favourite I'd shy away from the main man, I'm controversial like that, as he did receive reduced screen time in favour of some of the others. The honour goes to Valentine Wolfe a drugged up, makeup wearing aristocrat with a fantastic sense of humour. When he wasn't busy killing people or avoiding being killed by his nefarious siblings he was investing his time wisely by sampling every drug on the market.

I also found the villains strangely likeable in this one as you got to spend time inside their headspace. ParticularlyCaptain Silence the leader of the Imperial ship who was chasing down Deathstalker with his cold-blooded colleague Inspector Frost. Both were really entertaining and had a great relationship that almost had me rooting for them in parts.

But I've only scratched the surface here as there's an absolute army of characters in this one.

"If there's one thing I've learned as a lifetime rebel, it's that you can't always choose your allies."

Final Thoughts

The question is, did I enjoy Deathstalker? And the answer is it was a whole lot of fun as I was promised. So the answer is yes. But I'm finding in my later years I'm becoming a bit of a literary snob and the quality of writing did let this one down. That's what prevented me giving it four stars. So I guess it comes down to what you're after in a book. You can make you're mind up for yourself there.

This is a standard space opera affair thats very fun, but a little bit dated. With it being a five book series I guess you want to know if I'll be continuing with it. Well I think I owe it another shot and to be honest I am interested in spending more time with these characters. Particularly Valentine Wolfe. Hopefully Simon R Green's writing picks up.

But I won't be rushing into the next one. Fast food science fiction indeed. Nice once in a while, but too much is bad for your health! You need something with a bit more substance in your diet.

Thanks for reading and...cheers!

[Gavin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deathstalker was a fast paced fun space opera in the Star Wars mould. It was not thought provoking sci-fi by any means but Simon R Green has an engaging writing style and despite using every sci-fi cliché in the book his story was still enjoyable and the characters even had a little depth to them!

Owen Deathstalker is a historian who has moved to the fringe of the Imperial Empire to get away from the politics that got his famous warrior father killed. Unfortunately for him the tyrannical Empress Lionstone outlaws him anyway as she suspects he could have some useful information in the form of the Deathstalker family secrets that she could extract from him! Owen is forced to flee to the rebel haven Mistworld where he soon gets caught up in talks of a rebellion.

The story was a lot of fun. Owen was not perfect but he was an easy character to like and root for. The story got a bit of added depth by the fact that the Empire was facing the threat of two newly discovered alien species as well as pressure from an existing rebel underground made up of various factions. Then we got POV's from a bunch of scheming aristocrat families. It all made for exciting reading! Owen's story arc was fun and the various other POV characters added a bit of depth to the story and were quite engaging in their own right.

The world was a fun one but nothing complicated. It was a bit Star Wars in terms of setting and technology and we got everything from AI's, Cyborgs, and clones to aliens, telepaths, and vampires. It was a bit crazy at times but it just about worked.

I first read this story way back in my teens and remember it being a crazy read even back then. I was a bit worried this would not hold up well but surprisingly it did. I think I might even have enjoyed this as much this time around as I did when I read it in my early days!

Rating: 4.5 stars

Audio Note: The audio of this was produced by Listen & Live Audio who were the proto-Graphic Audio. It was very well done. The music and sound effects were done well and the narrators also did a great job with the characters.

[Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.0 stars
This was a fun science fantasy story that was clearly heavily inspired by Star Wars. For that reason, the story felt incredibly tropey and predictable. Yet it was also very fun. I particularly loved the use of specific fantastical creatures. I liked this one, but I felt it would have worked better with a shorter number of pages.

[audrey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Great laser-mounted cannons of excess! What is this nonsense?

In one first volume of a space opera we have, in no discernible order: Mob-style family feuds! A merciless and corrupt ruler! A hope for the future of Humanity* macguffin! Imprisoned empaths! Clones! A lecherous old woman-hater in charge! Two ninjas who both disguise themselves as Emo Philips! A reluctant hero! A rag-tag band of sidekicks! Killer whores! Naked assassin sex-slaves! Gay assassins in love! Rooftop-guardian-angel-assassin! A washed-up ex-hero who comes out of retirement To Do the Right Thing! A washed-up dead hero who comes back to life To Do the Right Thing! Lesbian polyamory which everyone goes out of their way to point out is icky! Flying bouncy castle!

Now, all of these things are fine by themselves** and I could, I think, see them working together in a much better book. Think, for instance, what they might be like all together in a Discworld book.

But here, they not just beggar belief but strip it of tickets, money, passport, clothes and dignity. What. In the everloving fuck.

Owen Deathstalker (historian, no death-stalking thank you very much) is mysteriously and suddenly outlawed by Empress Lionstone and very much a persona non-grata in the Empire, with a very big price on his head. He teams up with another outlaw on the run, who mysteriously does not turn him in for the reward, and they put together a band of ragtag sidekicks, none of whom turn Owen in for the reward because apparently no one in this book is into food*** or paying rent. The sidekicks go on a macguffin quest put in place by Owen's dead father, and somewhere along the way Owen quits being a historian and is all OH TOTALLY I DEATHSTALK, THIS IS WHAT I DO and is naturally a bamf despite the fact that on the cover of my copy, he is portrayed as cross-eyed and kind of skinny, wearing a jester-style catsuit (none of which says bamf as much as it says "escaped from an institution").

Meanwhile, in a whole other part of the book, there is lots of court intrigue, starring many Mob-style families who vie for power. Which is all fine and good, except that Green likes to go on at length about the rules of vying, and then halfway through the book one of the families blatantly ignores all those rules and goes batshit on another with exactly zero consequences.

Plot wherefore art thou.

This could've been a fun romp. But instead it's just a mess. Green writes his characters out of way too many tight spots by introducing new mythology or a secret weapon CONVENIENTLY HIDDEN RIGHT HERE and immediately deploying it, or having characters step...out of character for a moment. FOR PLOT! (Huzzah).

It's hacky. It's clunky. It's sad.

And they're really bad Emo Phillips impersonators.

No love.







*Yes, capitalized. Which always tits me off sideways.
**Except the lesbian polyamory-shaming, which can just foad, thanks.
***Seriously. Not one meal is eaten in 550 pages. Including, at one point, when Owen and friends have been on the run, bopping bad guys on the head for like, two days. Without eating.

[Rebecca May · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to say, that if you can't read a book without analyzing and reading to actively criticize, then you will certainly find loads of things to criticize about this book - the gore, the incessantly repeated phrases often within a couple of pages of each other, the cliche's and the ways that the main characters get out of situations. But, I read for pure enjoyment, nothing else, and if like me you read for enjoyment, love fantasy, science-fiction, and pure fun, then you will love this book.

For anyone who is slightly confused - yes, this book has the flaws that I have mentioned, and many other people mention them also, but I either don't see them as "flaws" or they barely influenced my enjoyment for more than a few milliseconds at a time - hence the five star rating.

Deathstalker is a book centered around a young man named Owen Deathstalker, an amateur historian, outlawed with a price on his head by the Empress (also known as the Iron Bitch). The novel follows his adventures to several enigmatic planets with his companions - Hazel D'Ark, ex-clone-legger and pirate; Ruby Journey, the bounty hunter; Jack Random, the professional rebel; Tobias Moon, the cyborg; Ozymandius, the AI (artificial intelligence); and Giles, the 900 year old original Deathstalker, founder of his clan.

The book also follows the movements of the Empress's court and the nobility, with intriguing and diverting characters here also - Finlay Campbell, the fop and dandy with a deadly secret; Evangeline Shrek, lover to Finlay and, as seems to be common among the nobility, with dark secrets of her own; Kit Summerisle, Kid Death, the Smiling Killer; David Deathstalker, cousin to Owen who became head of the Family upon Owen's outlawing. And perhaps my favorite character (in terms of disposition, not character, mind you); Valentine Wolfe. Valentine is an amazing character - a "professional" drug user, with cunning fighting skills and intelligence hidden behind the everyday mask of his scarlet mouth and mascaraed eyes. Despite his (to be frank) oddness, and (not so much in this book but certainly later on in the series) his increasingly unpleasant or downright evil actions, you cannot help but love this character, with his unique attitude and dialogue - a marvelous character to read.

And lastly, this book follows Captain Silence of the Darkwind, and later the Dauntless, and his comrades Security Office Stelmach and Investigator Frost, in his attempts to do his duty and follow orders from the Iron Bitch that he often has no taste for.

I think perhaps, aside from the dialogue (which I shall get to later), my favorite thing about this book and the later books in the series (which have their own charms) is that Simon R. Green shows us without a doubt that there are good people on both sides of a war. People whose differing beliefs prevent them from ever being able to agree or work together or even like each other - but because of the different points of view we are given, people on both sides are wonderful and like-able, or if not that then at least enjoyable characters nonetheless.

The dialogue, though as mentioned containing many cliches and barely disguised repeated phrasing, is consistently light and amusing, with friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) banter, jokes, and overall, a unique tone that Simon R. Green has throughout Deathstalker. This tone is not always "funny" as such, but it does certainly have a light touch and vague air of amusement to it at all times - except when there are heads exploding and the like. But the overall tone of the dialogue and descriptions, which is hard to explain unless you have read the book, prevents you from taking things like that too seriously - but just seriously enough.

Perhaps one of my favorite sequences where this banter and amusement is brought in is the sequence where Owen and Hazel go to find a name from a clerk, who subsequently goes on a rant about being "up to his lower lip in paperwork and sinking fast." He is certainly unhappy with his job - "the lunch break's a joke, there's only one toilet, and the pay's rotten. I'd quit if it wasn't for the pension. And the constant chances to screw up peoples lives... it's either this or planting explosives, and explosives are expensive." :D

Lastly, I should like to mention that I first stumbled across these books when my dad gave me the audio-books by Defiance audio for Deathstalker, Deathstalker Rebellion and Deathstalker War. The later books were done on audio with the same voice-actors, but by a company called Graphic Audio. I can justifiably say that the audio-books of Deathstalker are by far the best I've ever encountered. There is one amazing narrator, who does some of the voices along with the main descriptions, and he is accompanied by three or four other voice-actors - two men and two woman, I think. And these voice-actors also have wonderful variety and seem to me very talented. On top of this, the books have special effects (like making the voices echo slightly when said characters are, for example, in tunnels), sound effects (like the sounds of rushing water, sword fighting or energy guns firing), and also various fitting pieces of music that play along at suitable moments. The audio-books are quite expensive, but I would highly recommend them.

I have both the paperbacks and audio-books - for reasons mentioned above, the audio-books have their own charm, but the paperbacks do have things that the audio-books left out, and make the story feel less interrupted. Plus, they're far more fun to have on your bookshelf. :D

Overall, a wonderful, fun book that definitely has it's many flaws, but none of which ever bothered me in the slightest.

[Tina➹ lives in Fandoms · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 Silver Stars

good concept, interesting world (galactic empire) but slow, so I might abandon the series.

Writing style: unique, sometimes fun, but lots of descriptions & thoughts, thus slow pace. Sometimes it jumped into another POV that I really didn’t care. (not the main thread of story (MC), mostly to explain world building & politics) & I was tempted to jump the whole chapter- also, veryyyy long & slow chapters.
Language: Adult

World building: Complicated, maybe too rich (too much descriptions)- lots of Politics- Dark- sometimes violent

Characters: good, deep, sometimes fun. I liked Owen, but I lost interest after a while. He was whiny. & when I started to care for another one (Robert) the POV jumped once more. in general, my main problem: TOO Many characters!

Plot: intriguing- but slow & bloody
-
Plot: ★★★/5
(Pace: ★★/5- Excitement: ★★★/5 (bloody violent wiped out the adrenaline effect)- Fun: ★★/5- Romance: ★★/5)
Characters: ★★/5 (too many)
(Depth: ★★★★/5 (but too political, rude & sneaky)- likability: ★★/5)
Writing style: ★★(★)/5 (bad language- too much jumping- too much descriptions)
World building: ★★★/5 (too much politics)
general idea: ★★/5

[Danielle The Book Huntress · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an sprawling, epic read and I found it very entertaining. I listened to the audiobook, which I would recommend. The narrator has a British accent, but he also manages to change his cadence and intonation very well to convey the many, many characters. Deathstalker is a space opera set in a space empire currently under a merciless tyrant with no regard for life. It has a lot of gore and some sexual content. The characters run the gamut from slightly heroic to invidiously villainous. It demonstrates Simon R. Green's keen imagination in coming up with some very strange and fascinating subject matter. His vision of a future where people regularly travel from planet to planet, are capable of sky's the limit genetic engineering, and feats of artificial intelligence invention, is often nightmarish. He also manages to bring an interesting archaism to the world-building, with a sword and sandals feel in which one of the planets has gladiatorial games. There are characters who are essentially warlords with spaceships. Additionally, many of the big families fight duels with each other, in the style of 17-18th century Europe. And throw in some weird monsters and humanoids with highly developed extra-sensory abilities. Oh, and a nice forbidden love story as well, with a Romeo and Juliet meets The Scarlet Pimpernel angle. There's something for everyone in this book. I would warn those who are sensitive to descriptive gore because there's a fair amount in this book. Some scenes are not for the squeamish.

Definitely worth the money for an audiobook because it is quite long. I plan on continuing this series.

[Andrews WizardlyReads · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wild ride! This is super unique! Shlock, pulp, satire, dystopian, and very entertaining

[lostinabookbrb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is definitely not a book for every sci-fi lover. Especially those who like serious space adventures. This book is satirical in nature and explores most standard plot lines for a space opera. Evil ruler, gigantic empire, and epic battles are a given in this book. Plus he adds zombies and all sorts of things you won't find in, say, Star Wars. Also, this book has some of the most reprehensible villains that you find yourself growing a little fond of. My personal favorite is Valentine (though, he's more in the later books than the first). Smiling, aristocratic, drug addicted, immoral and very humorous Valentine. The kind of guy you love reading about but if you met him in person, you'd be running in the other direction.

If you don't like anything over the top or the unexplained or hell, anything that drags on, you're not going to like this book.

[Eithan Arellius · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 stars
One of the best soap operas and political intrigue's in a story I've read till date, tops the political struggle in ASOIAF !!!

"Death is very democratic"

The book is the first in the series of five books and damn it's a delight to read it. The story starts with out protagonist Owen Deathstalker waking up and finding his mistress trying to kill him; the story kicks of from there. The book have only a small amount of chapter but the chapter are really long. The prose is rathe satirical in nature even in serious situations and it's one of the charms of the book. The book does cracks you up time to time.

"As usual, man proposes and the empress disposes"

The worldbuilding featured in this book is marvellous, the societal structure is that of a empress at top and several Clans and Lords and a Parliament to the side(which is of no use). There are maids of the empress who are brainwashed and equipped with technology to protect the empress at all cost, there's a champion of sorts for the monarch, there are also espers or elves(not the pointy eared ones); these espers and psychics, There are enemy AI and there are enemy cyborgs there are clones and there are esper clones, there are investigators which are basically humans trianed from they are a child to kill monsters and aliens. there is a gladiator arena, battle drugs, starships, force fields energy weapons and man sword play and lot's of aliens from different enemy factions there's also a hackers known as the cyberrats... Phew......... there is a lot here; you'll not be dissapointed

"Jack: Never win an argument with a woman. They'll forgive anything but that
Owen: But I was right
Jack: What's that got to do with anything ? "

There are lot of Pov's in here and every Pov is entertaining as the other, we have our hero Owen Deathstalker, his reluctant Companion Hazel d'Ark, Jack Random the professional rebel, Ruby Journey the professional bounty hunter, Empress Lionstone XIV aka The Iron Bitch, Valentine wolfe a drug addict aritrocrat, Finlay Cambell a dandy and a fashion symbol of the empire, Investigator Forst really frosty lady, her companion Captain Silence but he's not silent at the least, Security officer Valiant Stelmach who happens to be not so Valiant, The Masked Gladiator who could be anyone mentioned above or below, The Three Esper leader who has the projections of a multicoloured swirling ribbon of colors, a nude muscular man, a 15foot dragon, the esper clones Stevie Blues who happens to be clones, espers, sisters and wifes to each other. Evangeline Shreck a nice woman with a good heart, Adrienne Cambell a woman with a mouth like a tomy gun with tongue with unlimited ammunition of words, AI's whose aim is to eradicate humanity, Cyborgs whose goal is to change humans into them, Monsters in all shapes and forms, and everyone has a bloody personal AI with thier own personality..........Phewwww .... what more could you ask for ; there are multiple good guys and heroes one main hero, a lot of internal threats and alien ones all seeking for their own goals which sometimes happen to overlap and contradict with each other. Just go read it, chances are you'll love it

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Deathstalker

This is a cheap and cheerful space opera with entertainingly bad writing. I was alternately cringing and giggling all through the book.
It reminded me of a forgotten realms book I read once; if you read it at 14 you’d probably think it was amazing.
As an example there’s a lot of monologging. The good guys monologue, the bad guys too, mid sword fight monologues like “you think 50 space vampires can kill me? You forget, I am the deathstalker!”

Normally this would be a 5 star book for me (because I love cheesy shit) but at 500 plus pages it over stayed its welcome, this book has no business being more than 300 pages.

[Mary JL · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review is a bit late guys--unpacking from the move took longer than I thught! Amazing how much stuff one accumlates after 15 years in one apartment. Did not get much reading done either. (*sigh*)

Onwards to the review. When it first came out, the cover looked to me like the story inside was a Star Wars clone; so I was in no hurry to read it.

However, while there are many similarities to Star Wars, there are such similarities in many space opera tales.

Simon Green's style is interesting. I liked the different characters. He also explores the political infighting on both therebel and Empire side and how it affects things--a really nice touch.

Two favorite things. ONe, I like the particular character of Caption John Silence. Since he is on the Empire's side, he is one of the "bad guys". But as a young cadet, he swore an oath to defend the Empire and the Iron Throne. He feels that just because he does not agree or even like the current Empress---and she is really evil, btw---that does not release him from his oath.A nice reminder that in any conflict not all the players are horrid, evil people but just soldiers dong their jobs.

Second favorite thing. Really amusing dashes of humore here and there. Example: they are arguing with this huge body guard ...."the last time Owen saw anything that large on two legs, it was glaring at him through the bars of its cage in the Imperial Zoo, as if to tell him what to do with hhis peanuts." My last favorite example is Owen speaking with his computer. Owen: "Any recommendations?" Computer: "Yes, Shoot yourself in the head and get it over with you can't get out of this."

They do get out of this of course and we are off more adventure.

Pure, fun, escapist adventure for all fans of space opera. Competently written; a bit long; could have used a little better editing. Still, a great fun advenutre story to spend an evening or two reading.

[Collin · Rating 1 out of 5]

I've recently been on something of a Simon Green kick. That's ok, let it out. What can I say? I kind of like this guy. He's prolific as all heck, clearly has a very active imagination and is making a living as a writer. He's practically my idol. However, he also drops books like an overfed pigeon and when you do this there's absolutely no way they are all going to be good. Deathstalker is, I think, the best example of this. When you read a lot of an author's work you start to pick up on their tics and mannerisms. A vigilant author is aware enough to see these and self-edit. A logorreahan is too busy talking (or writing) to have time to notice or catch these.

The thing that Simon Green does that drives me nuts is that his characters are almost all defined by one paragraph of physical description and then 1d6 catch phrases or mottos that they utter without fail or end throughout the entire story. Pretty much all of Simon's characters are guilty of this brand of shallowness but I've chosen to single out Deathstalker because for a guy with such an obviously macho name he's a pretty spectacular pansy. The series should have been named after someone else, because half of this book has absolutely nothing to do with the title character and the half that does features him surrounding himself with people that are tougher, smarter and more interesting than he is. Deathstalker's special power was being born into a really cool family. Shallowness combined with pointlessness makes an especially poor blend for a hero.

Full disclosure: I actually like some of Green's other work quite a bit. He always has some really interesting ideas but doesn't always develop them in the ways that they require. Deathstalker feels like uninspired sci-fi pastiche to me. If you are considering trying some of Simon's books, go with some of his more fantasy or horror inspired stuff.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is pulpy space opera, make no mistake. A small band of rebels takes on a galactic empire. The odds are impossible, the exposition long-winded, the danger and destruction cranked up to ludicrous extremes. This is not a subtle book, and it relishes every excessive moment.

Owen Deathstalker has been declared an outlaw by the Empress herself. He's trying to stay alive long enough to find out why, but his only hope may be to locate a deadly weapon hidden by a distant ancestor.

Green has a knack for over-the-top action sequences and fight scenes. The book starts out a bit slow and exposition-y, but the pace picks up. Part of the reason for its length is the sheer number of characters who all need their moment in the spotlight. Everyone, it seems, hero and villain alike, has a completely fleshed out backstory. I found myself sympathizing with and rooting for characters I didn't expect to. And, without getting too specific, there are some truly unexpected and shocking deaths along the way.

This is not the greatest book I've ever read, but there's an energetic, damn-the-torpedoes quality to the writing that makes me smile. Recommended!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I haven't read this in years as I found other new books by Green to be awful & I wanted to keep my good memories, so I gave away the entire paperback series to my son. When I found this in audio format, I was undecided, but thought it might be worth trying. Today, after failing to get 4 short SF stories in a row, I decided I needed something dumb & fun. This fits the bill.

Suspend all sense of disbelief! Discard logic! Just roll with the action in a star empire that has espers, aliens, & people still fighting with swords. This is because their blasters take a long time to recharge (2 or 3 minutes) & apparently they've got hyperdrive, but forgot about gunpowder. There's a dramatically evil empress who likes to turn her throne room into a swamp or desert, complete with roaming nasties, just to show her power. Espers, genetically enhanced super men, cyber rats, AIs, gladiatorial games, a Darth Vader-like evil guy, & even flying castle are all mashed together into a rousing story. Yes, this reads like a bad comic book, but it is kind of fun.

The characters were pretty much caricatures, but good ones. Lots of snappy dialogue that I did enjoy. Some characters are introduced but not developed in this one. They're also interesting, IIRC.

One thing I had forgotten was that it reads as if it was originally published in sections in a magazine. The repetition to get readers who might have missed an issue wasn't edited out, unfortunately. Between that & the long exposition scenes, it got to be a bit of a chore toward the end. Still, it was nice to revisit it. I doubt I will again nor am I too tempted to read the next book Deathstalker Rebellion which we are dramatically told is now ready to begin since all the pieces are in place.

It was well narrated & just what I needed so I'll be a bit generous & give it 3 stars again. I won't recommend it, but if you're in a silly mood or need some cheering up, you might enjoy it.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deathstalker...yeah...

Where to begin?

There's this evil empire of humanity and it's led by the dark evil emporer...no wait...she's an empress and she's not so dark, but she is evil. Anyway there's this hopeful young farm boy named Luke Skywalk...wait, that's not it. He's a young aristocrat named Owen Deathstalker. So the Empress puts a bounty on the head of Owen for seemingly no reason, causing him to make a run for it.

Luckily, he is rescued by the spunky-yet-beautiful princess Leia...wait, it's actually a pirate named Hazel. They make their way to the lawless outlaw world known as Hoth...I mean it's called Mistworld. There, they meet up with a bunch of other Star Wars characters and then go to find THE ULTIMATE WEAPON. This weapon is so awesome, it can turn off suns like flicking a light switch. Wow! That sure beats a death star any day!

Guess what? They fight with swords too! Why don't they use ray guns, you ask? Well, that's EASY, it's because the blasters take two minutes to recharge, stupid! Of course you're not going to wait around for that when you can be slicing up a guy with your sword!

It was an ok book. If you are craving a space opera then read it and try not to think about it too much. I may try to read the second book to see if it goes anywhere, but I won't do that any time soon.

[Brian Durfee · Rating 5 out of 5]

#23 DEATHSTALKER by Simon R. Green: Durfee's top 50 novels countdown. My one guilty pleasure is the 8 volume DEATHSTALKER series. A strange twisted space opera with a sordid mix of high-tech, swordplay, and wondrously warped and quirky characters. Green blends enough derring-do, space battles, gladiator matches, and wry banter in 100pgs than all of Star Wars n Battlestar Galactica combined.

[J.J. Garza · Rating 2 out of 5]

Creo que hay un límite entre querer hacer un libro ligero y poco pretencioso y el mostrar tan casualmente cierto nivel de desprecio por convenciones básicas sobre contar historias.

[Eric Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deathstalker
Book 1 of Deathstalker
By Simon R. Green

A Deathstalker Retrospective by Eric Allen

Welcome to my new retrospective series. We've looked at Science Fiction series in retrospective, and we've looked at Fantasy series in retrospective. Now, let's take a look at something called Science Fantasy. Science Fantasy has elements of both Science Fiction and Fantasy in it that prevents it from being readily assigned to either genre. A Science Fantasy story will typically make use of both futuristic and archaic weaponry, such as swords alongside laser guns, and will usually have some sort of mystical power, be it magic, "the Force" or some other sort of inexplicable power. A good example in the mainstream world of Science Fantasy would be the Star Wars series. This time we're going to take a close look at Deathstalker, the Science Fantasy Series series by Simon R. Green. Green is best well known for his Urban Fantasy Nightside series, but his less well known Deathstalker is the far more entertaining of his works in my opinion.

Owen Deathstalker is the latest in a long line of warriors. The problem is, that he just wants to be left alone with his work as a historian. But Empress Lionstone the XIV, A.K.A. the Iron Bitch, has other plans. When she outlaws him, Owen must flee his quiet life of studying the history of the Empire on a quest left by his father after his murder, seeking out a motley crew of expatriots, bounty hunters, and mercenaries. Together they set out in search of the legendary Darkvoid device, secreted away long ago by Owen's distant ancestor, the first Deathstalker. With its power, a thousand suns were extinguished, and billions killed. His aim is to use it as leverage against the empire, and keep it out of the Iron Bitch's hands at all costs.

The good? The characters and dialog between them are by far the best part of this book. Each character has a unique and likeable personality, and they say the most entertainingly hilarious things to each other through out the book. The sarcastic humor that the author employs in pretty much every single scene, along with the completely ridiculous insults that the characters continually hurl at each other make this book a whole lot of fun.

The world in which this book takes place is pretty interesting. Green has created a great corrupt empire ripe for the overthrowing, with numerous factions of rebels, nobility that is constantly at each others' throats, and a bunch of really sadistic people out for themselves. Though the history of this universe is very fluid, changing to fit whatever is happening in whichever book in this series, a lot of it is pretty awesome as well. There's a lot of mystery surrounding the past, and what things were originally made for, and if the backstory does tend to change to fit the situation every now and again, it's not too big of a distraction.

Green has created a pretty realistic scenario for why people use swords and such when they've also got laser guns. Projectile weaponry has been outlawed, and the lasers have a recharge time of several minutes, after which time people must still be able to fight and defend themselves. The fact that there is an explanation behind it at all shows that Green put some thought and effort into it. Most authors don't ever bother to explain why their characters, in possession of futuristic weaponry, would bother picking up a sword to fight with. *cough*George Lucas*cough*

The bad? As I mentioned before, Green is very big on the fluid backstory. I mean, even here, in the first book, the history and reasons behind things change visibly once or twice, contradicting one another. And on top of that, the book is not very well written. Green has a habit of taking a handful of phrases that he thinks sound really cool, and using the hell out of them, repeating them over, and over, and over again to describe things. They were cool sounding the first once or twice, but after the seventeeth time someone's grin is described as a "death's head grin" or two people fight "both masters of their art, neither asking for quarter or giving any" it gets a little old. The descriptive elements are a little lacking as well, but the personality and humor more than makes up for these shortfalls.

This book is called Deathstalker. This series is called Deathstalker. Owen Deathstalker... is in less than a third of the page count. The main character of the series, the one that both the series and the book are named for, is actually a minor character in this book. The vast majority of this first volume in the series is setup for infighting amongst the nobility, and introducing other conflicts and aspects of the empire that Owen will eventually go on to overthrow. He basically takes the back seat to his own story while the author builds up the world and situations that will impact him in future additions to the series. Normally, an author would find a better way of introducing all of this stuff than completely ignoring their main plot and characters. I know several people who never read past the first book in this series because of it.

In conclusion, this book is not very well written, and does have its share of problems. The backstory is very fluid, frequently changing in contradictory manners throughout, and the author has a bunch of phrases that he uses with highly annoying repetition. However... sometimes a book is so incredibly entertaining, that none of that really matters. It's a rare thing, but it does happen. Take Harry Potter for example. TERRIBLY written series, but it is still a lot of fun and very entertaining. It's the same with Deathstalker. I find that the characters and the dialog are so much fun, that I don't even care that the writing is crap, or the continuity is all over the place. If you don't care how well written a book is, or can look past bad writing to the story and characters, and don't mind that the main plot of the series doesn't really get going until book two, you'll probably have a blast with this one. I highly recommend picking it up.

Next month we'll take a look at the second book in the Deathstalker series: Deathstalker Rebellion. As always, thanks for reading.

Check out my other reviews.

[Lauren Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's absolute overkill from beginning to end, but it's quite good fun. Reading Deathstalker is the literary equivalent of going to see a blockbuster for the sheer thrill of awesome special effects, superhuman warriors and amazing fight scenes. In other words, watch out for the one-liners, expect no subtlety, sit back and have a great time as a few bold rebels face insurmountable odds going up against a cruel galactic Empire.

[Scott Shjefte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of blood and guts with many evil characters plus a couple of noble ones, start of a battle series of books. currently rereading (2021 April).

[Traci · Rating 4 out of 5]

A long fan of Green's, I first thought about reading the Deathstalker series while working my way through one of his Secret Histories entries (Eddie Drood enlists the help of a Deathstalker, though for the life of me I can't remember which one). The idea sat on a back burner of my reading brain until I found a copy on Amazon for a penny + shipping. Well, why not, I thought? If it's good, great. If it's horrible, not a huge investment, and I could always donate it to the library.

This is a much different sort of work than what I'm used to with Green. Instantly I noticed that this is in third-person narrative, meaning I might get the chance to see a lot more than usual. (Both the Nightside and Secret Histories series are told from a first-person perspective). "A lot more" is putting it mildly. This book has everything - heroes, villains, beautiful women, space travel, an "Imperial Force" which brings up all sorts of thoughts of huge armies and certain space opera movies, cyborgs, regeneration machines, stasis fields, etc. There's even an arena (called appropriately enough, The Arena) where gladiators of sorts fight against each other to the death, just as in Roman times. At over 500 pages in mass market paperback, this thing is truly epic. And of course, now that I'm finished with it, I find myself wanting to continue with the next book in the series - and keep reading until I'm done with the Deathstalker Saga. Hopefully that will happen before the next millennium.

Anyway, back to Owen and his tale of woe. As the story opens, Owen is about to make love yet again to his girlfriend, only to be attacked by her as she tells him he's been outlawed - wanted dead or alive. Owen kills her and begins his life on the run, something he's not very good at, as he's forsaken the usual Empire intrigues for a life as a historian. Rescued by smuggler Hazel D'ark, he continues running for his life, picking up Hazel's friend and bounty hunter Ruby, tracking down the legendary rebel Jack Random, and bringing his ancestor, the original Deathstalker, out of stasis. There's Oz, Owen's lifelong AI friend and protector, who saves his galactic rear end more than once. And there's Tobias Moon, an augmented man aka Hadenman, who leads them to the Darkvoid, hoping to awaken his fellow Hadenmen from their arctic slumber.

While reading of Owen's adventures, the reader is also introduced to several of the clans or Families of the Empire: the Campbells, the Wolfes, the Schreks. The Empress herself and her high court are also introduced, and yes, the similarities between this court and those of Europe back in the day will not be lost on anyone. There are court intrigues galore, as well as costumes that sound like they wouldn't have been out of place in those same European courts. And while I appreciated being able to see all the characters and get all the background, it's a lot to take in, and sometimes a bit distracting. At first, that is.

Green's masterpiece with such a huge cast and what appears to be a sprawling plot is this: as you're reading and reading and reading, you start to see the small, almost infinitesimal, connections. Then those connections become threads, and those become wires, and suddenly - it all makes sense. It takes talent to bring these seemingly separate stories together in a way that doesn't feel like they've just been mashed together. And while I love Green's first-person, snarky narratives, this book is just as good if not better. It's definitely on the more serious side, as befits a tale as epic as this one. There are still a few moments of comic relief, but overall, Green plays it serious here.

I highly recommend this for science fiction fans, and fantasy buffs would probably enjoy it, too. I look forward to the next installment of the series, which I so desperately want to read right now. But I think I'm going to give myself a break and read some shorter, lighter works over the holidays. 'Til we meet again, Deathstalker.

[David Zampa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book reminded me of the Shadowrun universe, only Deathstalker is a broad-scope space opera where Shadowrun is solidly urban fantasy. It has its own versions of werewolves and vampire, and in general takes a very no-holds-barred approach toward blending science fiction and fantasy elements. I looked this book up because I kept running into it in my constant quest to find books that are the prose equivalent of the Firefly TV show. I can't say this is a perfect fit to that criteria, but neither was it a disappointment. The ensemble cast of characters are fun to hang out with, and have tendencies toward humor I find sadly lacking in even many of my favorite books' characters.

Though the book takes place in a future society many millennia ahead of our own, sword fighting is as equally relevant as guns, because personal shielding has made projectile weapons easy to counter. It doesn't really care much for scientific accuracy, either, which was fine by me. There were a lot of instances of lazy editing that I'm sad to say made me take away a star on principle, though in its defense the book is pulp sci-fi that came out in the mid-90's, so I doubt it was held to any more of a polishing standard than its contemporaries.

Overall, it's a delightful read to anyone who likes its themes. It delivers wonderfully on exactly what it promises, and even managed to hit me with a twist I didn't see coming. If you like an ensemble cast of enjoyable characters with strong personalities, multi-planet empires, universes with deep history, endless variety of magical and powered peoples, spaceships, aliens, and ancient secrets, this book will fill the void perfectly.

[Jannelies · Rating 5 out of 5]

When this book was published in 1995, I was one of the editors of a small magazine about SF. The magazine was (and is) in Dutch, but sometimes we received English books for a review. This one was left over after we all (I think there were five editors at the time) picked the books we really wanted to read and review. It was left over because of the absolutely horrible cover and description.
I volunteered to read it... and was pleasantly surprised. I've read the whole series two times now and so this is the third time I'm reading the first book in the series. It is like coming home; all those familiar names and adventures.
I still love it. It is not the 'best' Science Fiction ever. It is not a great story and sometimes there is too much violence. But it is like eating a chocolate cake: once you start, you cannot stop. You don't think, just stuff your face - or in this case, read on!
What works for me is Simon Greens style of writing. Full of puns and jokes; maybe not always the best ones, but they often bring a smile to my face.

[Anne - Books of My Heart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review was originally posted on Books of My Heart

Review copy was received from Publisher. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Somehow I got the idea in my head the Deathstalker series was  urban fantasy  and it's science fiction / space opera.  It is even more bizarre because I thought the Alex Verus series by Benedict Jacka was science fiction and it turned out to be urban fantasy.  They are both narrated by Gildart Jackson very well and I listened to them over the same week or so.

Deathstalker is the first book   and I had my first book struggles. It is long and there are many characters. The details of the world-building can easily overwhelm in any series beginning. Because I was thinking urban fantasy, and even as scifi, I expected this to be a story about Owen Deathstalker.  He doesn't show up right away and then only shows up every now and then. So I'm like who ARE these other people anyway and why are they here?

Eventually, things came together and I understood more about the different families and species. The plot was nicely layered with some odd people out ending up being right there in the final scenes. There was a fun sort of sense of humor, too, which showed up in calmly stated sarcasm. Things felt a little slow and disconnected, but it did pick up and connect, so now I am excited to go on into Deathstalker Rebellion.

 
Narration:
Gildart Jackson is very pleasant to hear and does a great job with the story. I was able to listen at 1.5x speed which is new for me. The dialogue seems more limited in this story, particularly with the action scenes it is more stream of thought from a key character. There were distinct voices for different characters which were well performed.
 

Listen to a clip:
https://soundcloud.com/user-149056452...
 

[Soo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mini-Review:

I enjoy Gildart Jackson as a narrator but it's a little odd listening to him narrate this story after listening to him for Nightside. In some ways, it's great. In others, I can't help but think of other characters that he has voiced and it's a bit of a confusing mess when I have to remind myself I am listening to a different series.

Overall: Excellent start to an epic space opera! It has multi-faceted characters, evil empire, a host of anti-hero heroes, monsters (man and other) and convoluted politics.

For the first half of the book, I kept making comparisons to Star Trek. There's definitely a Trekkie vibe in this world. Then I was thinking about Dune when the political scenes splatted everywhere. There were several moments where I was startled by what happened in the story. It's not that I didn't expect it. I just didn't expect it to happen that way. I love it! I like it when a story can keep me on my toes.

It's not like Nightside because it's not as funny. This story has a more serious tone. I am eager to see how Nightside and Deathstalker series mesh. I have a few ideas already but I want to know if I'm right or not. I'm ok with either answer.

[John · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dreadful. Repetitive language and tropes ("lithely muscular" over and over again, exploding heads, about 5 mysterious master swordsmen), stiff and stereotypical characters, a plot that doesn't really make much sense, "political intrigue" that's completely unconvincing, villains with the sophistication of Skeletor...

Yeah, the popularity of this book baffles me. If you want space opera, there are authors out there (Alastair Reynolds for one) who can actually write it in a manner which resembles literature, not a random scrawl which reads like its never even been edited by the author himself, never mind a publishing house.

[John Ready Reader One · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. Gave me Red Rising vibes

[Rafael · Rating 1 out of 5]

The worst space opera I have read so far... I gave it a try in German and later thoght that maybe the translator fucked up. So when I found an English copy in a friends bookshelf I gave it another try. Nothing improved though.
Characters without any trace of credibility, a world wich keeps getting more unrealistic with every page you turn. An then there's the great mystery how the world manages to present You with even more deadly (yet before never mentioned) antagonists.
I forgot whom You have to be more afraid of: the Grendel creature? An investigator? The PSI buggers? Or is it the Church? Maybe the Empress? Wait, she's nuts, maybe the army of grendel creatures (where did they come from? The one beast was improbalble enough), or is it the baby-doomsday-weapon, or hey, maybe the sub-lightspeed great evil-of-all-times-fleet that never arrives, or is it one of the lunatic great families?
At some points I actually had to laugh aloud, at some points I thought I was reading a parody. Both not intended by the author I'm afraid.

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zabavna i opuštajuća sci-fi space opera koja drži pažnju i nije dosadna, ima dobar tempo i dopadljive likove. Priča ima svojih mračnijih momenta ali i delova koji ko da su ispali iz neke knjige za decu (pita u lice, npr) koji umeju malo da bodu oči. Likovi pretstavljaju kliše ali opet kako priča napreduje dobijaju određenu dozu dubine plus ima par lepih i neočekivanih obrta.

Sve u svemu ako nekom treba opuštajuća, akciona, naučna fantastika neka slobodno baci pogled.

Cheers.