- Paperback: 512 pages
- Publisher: Gollancz; paperback / softback edition (15 Dec 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0575072474
- ISBN-13: 978-0575072473
- Product Dimensions: 23.1 x 15.5 x 3.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 243,293 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
With Deathstalker Legacy, Simon R Green returns to the unashamed, tongue-in-cheek space opera of Deathstalker (1995) and its many prequels and sequels.
Owen Deathstalker, saviour of humanity, perished nobly two centuries ago. The family burden of glory and bad luck now falls on Lewis Deathstalker, one of the galactic Empire's peacekeeping Paragons--warriors so tough that each can police a whole planet single-handed. When Lewis is elevated to the high rank of King's Champion, the bad luck begins. Our hero unfortunately falls for his friend the King's wife-to-be. His splendid new black leather armour chafes in all the wrong places. And a rival Paragon who expected to become Champion switches in a trice to the dark side:
[He] decided to make them all pay for this insult. He would be the worm in the perfect apple, the canker in the rose, the hidden flaw to fracture the perfect dream. He would do whatever was necessary, to bring the Empire down. To destroy its King, burn down the Golden Age...Though it's supposed to be a Golden Age, there are plenty of troublemaking factions to help our arch-villain. The Esper Liberation Front commits routine atrocities via mind control, the Hellfire Club revels in murder and sacrilege, the aristocratic Shadow Court longs for the bad old days of the evil Empress and the Neumen are human-centric racists enraged by proposals to give aliens the vote. When all four groups try to assassinate Lewis Deathstalker at the same time, the effect is farcical.
Chaos spreads rapidly as Parliament dithers, Paragons are killed, Neumen subvert the Church, various aliens, AIs and peaceful espers make awkward demands, and Lewis ends up in disgrace. Like the original Deathstalker, he escapes into space with an ill-assorted team in hope of saving the galaxy not only from civil war but from the long-prophesied Terror which has begun to gnaw at the Empire's edge... a many-dimensioned horror like Lovecraft's Cthulhu, spreading madness and gobbling worlds.
Much blood flows and many a swash is buckled as swords clash, disrupter beams belch, innocent bystanders get slaughtered in droves, and villainy seems everywhere victorious. Although you can't believe a word of it, Green drives his preposterous plot at a rattling pace and is clearly having great fun. Inevitably, sequels will follow. --David Langford
Book Description
The old heroes have become legends; it's time for new heroes. It's time for a new Deathstalker . . .
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First Sentence
It was a Golden Age, dammit. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
It was a Golden Age, dammit. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Being a Simon Green fan, i'd been looking forward to this book for some time... whilst it is not outstanding when compared to his previous works, it nicely sets the scene for what is bound to be another trilogy +.
Some new interesting pieces and races are thrown in, but the thrust to the book still lies around the combat, heroic achievements and politics relating to one or two key characters that run throughout his books.
The darkness is not quite so dark and whilst his characters are brought to life in his typical style they are not quite to the level that he managed with Deathstalker... that said a 'solid' performance rather than an outstanding one, but a must if you like his work/theme.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Deathstalker Legacy returns the reader to the world of the Deathstalker's 200 years after the fall of the Empress Lionstone and the mysterious disappearance of Owen Deathstalker. The Empire has been enjoying a Golden Age of peace and prosperity but this is about to end.
The hero of the tale is Lewis Deathstalker, descendant of the 'Blessed Owen' who with the usual Deathstalker luck (always bad!) finds himself caught up in the struggle between good and evil. Not only is there an implacable enemy of Lewis's trying to discredit and destroy him and the throne (currently occupied by Lewis Deathstalker's best friend, Douglas Campbell) but there is news of the coming of the 'Terror', an evil that had been prophesised by his illustrious ancestor. Along the way he manages to enlist the assistance of a reptiloid called Saturday, a con man who says he is the descendent of the legendary Jack Random, a psychopath and the Empires most famous opera singer. This motley crew is all that stands between humanity and total destruction.
Simon R Green once again weaves a story that is eccentric, bloody, fast paced and extremely funny. This is sci-fi at it's best and is highly recommended to anyone looking for a rollicking good yarn.
The hero of the tale is Lewis Deathstalker, descendant of the 'Blessed Owen' who with the usual Deathstalker luck (always bad!) finds himself caught up in the struggle between good and evil. Not only is there an implacable enemy of Lewis's trying to discredit and destroy him and the throne (currently occupied by Lewis Deathstalker's best friend, Douglas Campbell) but there is news of the coming of the 'Terror', an evil that had been prophesised by his illustrious ancestor. Along the way he manages to enlist the assistance of a reptiloid called Saturday, a con man who says he is the descendent of the legendary Jack Random, a psychopath and the Empires most famous opera singer. This motley crew is all that stands between humanity and total destruction.
Simon R Green once again weaves a story that is eccentric, bloody, fast paced and extremely funny. This is sci-fi at it's best and is highly recommended to anyone looking for a rollicking good yarn.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I am a big Deathstalker fan. I absolutely loved the first five books. While most see them simply as good fun, popcorn fiction which have been written as tongue-in-cheek parodies of cheesy fifties space opera, I found the series to be some of the most affecting books I've read. It is very rare that I will become so wrapped up and engrossed by a story and its characters. The only other series which has equalled or exceeded this is Stephen King's Dark Tower. Several times during the first Deathstalker saga, I was so glued to the pages that I completely lost track of time. And several times, I put the book down and just shook my head, unable to believe what had just happen. These kinds of reactions are rare from me.
So it was that I came to this first book in the second saga with great excitement - and was a little disappointed. Green's trademark wit and imagination are still there, but it lacks something the previous books had. I take objection to the book's blurb, which essentially takes what happens in the last third of the book and presents that as the whole story.
That last third, however, is pretty good, more up to scratch with the Deathstalker of old. But before that, not so much happens. It's a bit more mired in petty human rivalries and politics than its predecessors, and it saves its most exciting moments for its last third. This is why I was a little let down by it. It didn't have the constant hell-for-leather feel of the other books. However, at this stage I am not too let down as early reviews I've read at this stage suggest that the series gets better from here.
But I do think it's a genuine issue that this book lacks the star-spanning majesty and excitement that made the first Deathstalker so good. However, by the time it ended I had just been hooked...so I can't wait to begin Deathstalker Return.
So it was that I came to this first book in the second saga with great excitement - and was a little disappointed. Green's trademark wit and imagination are still there, but it lacks something the previous books had. I take objection to the book's blurb, which essentially takes what happens in the last third of the book and presents that as the whole story.
That last third, however, is pretty good, more up to scratch with the Deathstalker of old. But before that, not so much happens. It's a bit more mired in petty human rivalries and politics than its predecessors, and it saves its most exciting moments for its last third. This is why I was a little let down by it. It didn't have the constant hell-for-leather feel of the other books. However, at this stage I am not too let down as early reviews I've read at this stage suggest that the series gets better from here.
But I do think it's a genuine issue that this book lacks the star-spanning majesty and excitement that made the first Deathstalker so good. However, by the time it ended I had just been hooked...so I can't wait to begin Deathstalker Return.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Green does it again
Having read the original Deathstalker books I was worried that the new series would be simply more of the same with new names inserted. This is not the case. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Sparky
Where are you when we need you, Owen Deathstalker?
It's been two hundred years since Owen Deathstalker overthrew an evil empire, saved humanity from the unspeakable horror of the Recreated, and disappeared. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2005 by Daniel Jolley
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