What do you think?
Rate this book
Judge Dredd novels from Virgin Books #1
Judge Dredd: Deathmasques
Travelling to Brit-Cit on the trail of a bloodthirsty, body-hopping alien, Judge Dredd is forced to work with the local Detective, Judge Armitage.
256 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1993
3 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Dave Stone
75 books16 followersStone has written many spin off novels based on the BBC science fiction television series Doctor Who and Judge Dredd.
Stone also contributed a number of comic series to 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, focusing on the Dreddverse (Judge Dredd universe). In collaboration with David Bishop and artist Shaky Kane he produced the much disliked Soul Sisters, which he has described as "a joke-trip, which through various degrees of miscommunication ended up as a joke-strip without any jokes." Working independently, he created the better received Armitage, a Dreddworld take on Inspector Morse set in a future London, and also contributed to the ongoing Judge Hershey series.
Stone’s most lasting contribution to the world of Judge Dredd might well have been his vision of Brit-Cit, which until Stone’s various novels had been a remarkably underexplored area.
Stone also contributed a number of comic series to 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine, focusing on the Dreddverse (Judge Dredd universe). In collaboration with David Bishop and artist Shaky Kane he produced the much disliked Soul Sisters, which he has described as "a joke-trip, which through various degrees of miscommunication ended up as a joke-strip without any jokes." Working independently, he created the better received Armitage, a Dreddworld take on Inspector Morse set in a future London, and also contributed to the ongoing Judge Hershey series.
Stone’s most lasting contribution to the world of Judge Dredd might well have been his vision of Brit-Cit, which until Stone’s various novels had been a remarkably underexplored area.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
June 30, 2018
I don't know why but these book just never really got popular they are not graphic but books & full of action but you have to have read Dredd first not those ghastly movies either .
But are good few of these for the SF crime fan
But are good few of these for the SF crime fan
December 30, 2024
At first glance, there is a lot to enjoy about Deathmasques.
Aside from it being one of the very first prose related content involving the titular lawman of the 22nd century, Stone’s book does a lot of things the comics either couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
First off, It’s exceptionally violent and gory. Blood and guts and viscera are strewn about with wild abandon, so much so that Deathmasquesborders on the Splatterpunk variety of fiction. Countless people are ripped apart, shot, exploded, stabbed, maimed, or pretty much any other form of death that you can imagine. Dredd does a fair amount of the killing as well, and not the standard “I am the law” kind of way we are used to in the comic strips. Instead, he freely mows down bad guys without a single quip about how he is upholding moral values. His partners, Armitage and Steel, judges from Brit-Cit are just as gritty, doing their own amount of justified killing, usually with violent and gory results.
Desthmasques is also far more dark and sinister than the 2000 AD progs. There are far more evil characters doing far more evil things, all out in the open for us to read about. Both the antagonists and protagonists swear like sailors, and while the slang words of “stomm” and “drokk” make their requisite appearances, the words they replace show up just as frequently…once again, another example of how prose Dredd differs from comic Dredd.
I just wish this book was a bit more straightforward in its writing and style. Stone can write, make no mistake, but his voice is a bit odd for this kind of genre. It’s way too literary, using vocab and tense in ways that would work more in a Chuck Paluhak or Craig Davidson novel. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with that kind of writing, however, Dredd’s dystopian world of the 22nd century needs to be gritty and action packed, not full of stuffy language and confusing techno-speak.
Regardless, this is book that should be, in the very least, picked up and given a chance by any fan of Dredd as it has many great moments that elevate it beyond illustrations and speech bubbles.
Aside from it being one of the very first prose related content involving the titular lawman of the 22nd century, Stone’s book does a lot of things the comics either couldn’t or wouldn’t do.
First off, It’s exceptionally violent and gory. Blood and guts and viscera are strewn about with wild abandon, so much so that Deathmasquesborders on the Splatterpunk variety of fiction. Countless people are ripped apart, shot, exploded, stabbed, maimed, or pretty much any other form of death that you can imagine. Dredd does a fair amount of the killing as well, and not the standard “I am the law” kind of way we are used to in the comic strips. Instead, he freely mows down bad guys without a single quip about how he is upholding moral values. His partners, Armitage and Steel, judges from Brit-Cit are just as gritty, doing their own amount of justified killing, usually with violent and gory results.
Desthmasques is also far more dark and sinister than the 2000 AD progs. There are far more evil characters doing far more evil things, all out in the open for us to read about. Both the antagonists and protagonists swear like sailors, and while the slang words of “stomm” and “drokk” make their requisite appearances, the words they replace show up just as frequently…once again, another example of how prose Dredd differs from comic Dredd.
I just wish this book was a bit more straightforward in its writing and style. Stone can write, make no mistake, but his voice is a bit odd for this kind of genre. It’s way too literary, using vocab and tense in ways that would work more in a Chuck Paluhak or Craig Davidson novel. Obviously there’s nothing wrong with that kind of writing, however, Dredd’s dystopian world of the 22nd century needs to be gritty and action packed, not full of stuffy language and confusing techno-speak.
Regardless, this is book that should be, in the very least, picked up and given a chance by any fan of Dredd as it has many great moments that elevate it beyond illustrations and speech bubbles.
November 4, 2018
Good fun has one of those kind of 'buddy cop' feels where two are thrown together and test one and others resolve.....the body count is high in this due to a body jumping entity just ripe for carnage.
As a sci fi tale it works well too and certainly seems to be headed at the casual Dredd reader as much as those for whom the character resonates large...I'm the former yet didn't seem lost...anyhow a quick read but good fun will look out for more of these.
As a sci fi tale it works well too and certainly seems to be headed at the casual Dredd reader as much as those for whom the character resonates large...I'm the former yet didn't seem lost...anyhow a quick read but good fun will look out for more of these.
August 24, 2022
A brutally violent, but engaging story that pairs Dredd up along with Armitage, a similarly gruff Judge from Brit-Cit. Definitely a scenario that could have got hoaky, but thankfully it does not. I found the antagonists of the piece to be a bit lacking, but the Brit-Cit setting was stellar. Always interesting when Dredd gets out of Mega-City One.
April 20, 2018
Judge Dredd is the one of my favourite characters and Armitage ain't bad either. But this book just did not do it for me. More annoying than adventure.
September 13, 2019
THIS. BOOK. SUCKED.
January 9, 2017
Estimated date read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews