When the Star Kings Die

II Galaxy

by John Jakes, Jack Gaughan (Illustrator)

In the tenth age of the star kings of II Galaxy...in that far off day of a far off future when mankind has spread beyond the Home Cluster, there was a man called Dragonard. Dragonard the Beast some called this fallen warrior of the immortal Lords of the Exchange who ruled and owned a million worlds. But Dragonard the Last Hope thought others when the terrible rumor spread that the star kings were finally dying.

Dragonard did not know what to believe until he found himself torn from his prison, turned loose on a strange planet as a human weapon to be plunged into the heart of a cosmic mystery.

But whose weapon was he? And what was his real mission? And above all how could he free himself to act for the real good of the people?

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

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

John William Jakes, the author of more than a dozen novels, is regarded as one of today’s most distinguished writers of historical fiction. His work includes the highly acclaimed Kent Family Chronicles series and the North and South Trilogy. Jakes’s commitment to historical accuracy and evocative storytelling earned him the title of “the godfather of historical novelists” from the Los Angeles Times and led to a streak of sixteen consecutive New York Times bestsellers. Jakes has received several awards for his work and is a member of the Authors Guild and the PEN American Center. He and his wife, Rachel, live on the west coast of Florida.

Also writes under pseudonyms Jay Scotland, Alan Payne, Rachel Ann Payne, Robert Hart Davis, Darius John Granger, John Lee Gray. Has ghost written as William Ard.

Reviews

[Craig]

This is the first of three books by Jakes that comprise his Dragonard series. It's followed by The Planet Wizard and Tonight we Steal the Stars in 1969, though I never read either of those. It's a fairly standard space-opera about a convict kidnapped in a far-future interstellar empire to be used as a rogue weapon. I preferred Edmond Hamilton's Star Kings, and Avram Davidson's, too. Ace published it as a paperback original in 1967, and it had a neat Jack Gaughan cover. The novel was dedicated to Jack and Phoebe Gaughan, and Ace for some reason replaced it with a kind of muddy Alex Ebel cover when they reprinted it in 1978, when Jakes was sitting on top of the best-seller lists with his long historical novels.

[Derek]

As a book it's better than The Planet Wizard, but my impression is that Jakes didn't know what he wanted, and as a result the setting of II Galaxy (as it is always referred, for some reason) feels muddled and incomplete.

I like the impression that II Galaxy is a vaguely broken place, with both stellar technology and brutal savagery. The immortal Star Kings and their trading houses tightly control recovered pre-cataclysm technology and the means of production, and rule the galaxy with a decadent and iron fist. As a result you get the planet Pentagon, which has this cool Mos Eisley thing going on with crumbling infrastructure, crowded filthy cities, limited technology, transportation by horse-equivalent only, ruined castles, and angry iron-age natives. It feels like technology is no longer being developed, that the trading houses only churn out the products that they know, and that if you're on the outskirts of society then you'd better be good with a sword, blaster, or thrown rock. And there may be certain things, like spaceships and power stations, which are completely irreplaceable.

Unfortunately it is only an impression. A stagnant, almost feudal, society squatting in the ruins of something grander makes sense, but Jakes is never explicit about that and perhaps never made that conclusion.

I'm really on the fence of whether to pursue the third of this series. I love the concept of II Galaxy as written in summary, but the execution doesn't seem to pan out.

Also, every time a woman appears in the story, Jakes seems compelled to give us a description of her breasts. Even if this isn't her first appearance...it's like we're receiving a status report or something.

[Tom B]

Pretty decent space adventure with a not-too-terrible protagonist. The pacing is fast, the action is ever-present, but unfortunately, the female characters don’t get to do much and are constantly objectified in terms of beauty and breasts. It’s a shame, because otherwise it’s quite okay. That is, if you can stomach some fairly overused tropes. Still, it’s surprising how much Jakes, who gave up writing SF in favor of historical fiction, and being very successful at that, managed to squeeze in these 160 pages.

[Matthew Castleman]

A rollicking start, but the book never quite finds the grand adventure that the setting deserves. Definitely fun, interesting characters, but doesn't quite deliver on the vast scope of the broader events happening during the story.

[A.]

Uh. Well. Galaxy-wide conspiracy centered on a single barbarian planet. It was fine? No it wasn't, it was dumb. That's cool.

[Peter]

Ok read - could have been beter

[Paul]

I read this about fifty years ago from the remainder bin in Woolworths. In fact I read it several times because it fell into my literary comfort zone; even as an undiscriminating teenager I'd have preferred to read something else and I still would.

Based on my recollection of the story, which at this distance in time is not at all reliable:


Maxwell Dragonard, codename MAXDRAGON, escapes from wrongful imprisonment and starts a revolution on the planet where the galactic aristocrats keep their stock of transplant organs; plus another 40,000 or 50,000 words to some effect or other. The only other thing that stuck with me, because it was irritating, is that the computers that piloted the starships were called “safties”, which I imagine to be a typo for “safeties”; I guess Jakes was thinking of something like George, the aircraft autopilot.


I had not known before today that there were (2) sequels. I haven't the slightest urge to find out what happens next.

[SciFiOne]

1979 grade F

might have abandoned the book

[cale]

So bad it's good? Kinda? Idk, but it didn't make it's way to the DNF list.

[Isca Silurum]

Mindless but enjoyable from the good old days of pulp.