- Mass Market Paperback: 378 pages
- Publisher: Del Rey Books (April 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345395190
- ISBN-13: 978-0345395191
- Product Dimensions: 17.5 x 10.2 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,487,542 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
After a brief (but heroic) fling with all that is right and just, Asahel Frost has reverted to his true nature--undisciplined and feckless, according to the girlfriend who just dumped him. Now he is once again the legal nonentity known as Helmut Icicle, living the riverboat skipper life in a tiny galactic outpost with the rest of the ne'er-do-wells.
That is until his sister Eve, herself genetically altered by the alien Haluk, begs Helmut to expose the Haluk's conspiracy, which threatens humans throughout the Spur worlds. Genetic alteration is tightly controlled, yet now it's running rampant. Helmut must find the culprits, but time is running out. Too many people have vanished into the secret empire where an evil genius reigns supreme. Worse yet, there's an unknown traitor in Helmut's own family who is quite willing to murder. Only one thing's clear: Helmut will emerge either triumphant . . . or dead.
That is until his sister Eve, herself genetically altered by the alien Haluk, begs Helmut to expose the Haluk's conspiracy, which threatens humans throughout the Spur worlds. Genetic alteration is tightly controlled, yet now it's running rampant. Helmut must find the culprits, but time is running out. Too many people have vanished into the secret empire where an evil genius reigns supreme. Worse yet, there's an unknown traitor in Helmut's own family who is quite willing to murder. Only one thing's clear: Helmut will emerge either triumphant . . . or dead.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Mass Market Paperback
This is a great story which lives up to all the promise of the first. The main Character of Helly Frost again has his world turned up side down and has to sort it out for himself, as with all of Julian May's books it does not follow the most obvious line and even your own ideas on the story get overturned in the end but it isnt violent or crude, it is fun and I can't wait for the next book to be released.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
6 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Witty, and far more intricate than the previous book
28 April 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback
The last review read like it was written by a PR agent, eh? Anyhow, I honestly did like the book. The depth of the personal interaction is far greater, and the twists, turns, betrayals and triumphs of the book are more real than the last one. The author still maintains the sense of the nostalgic, bitter, yet strong willed beach bum, Helmut Icicle/Ashael Frost. another positive note is that the villains are far more interesting in this book than they were in the last one. The only downside is that with all the twists and turns the book takes, it might be a bit hard to figure out who's done what to whom. Like most of my books, I've read it more than once, and I suggest other readers do so as well, otherwise you might miss some of the more subtle elements.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Light Summer Space Opera
15 Jun 2000
Format:Mass Market Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This series is a little less idea dense that May's 'Intervention' and 'Many-colored Land' series', but it is quite enjoyable.
Like "Perseus Spur" "Orion Arm" a roller coster ride of one impossible escape after another. It does get just a little but much that Asa Frost is able to always pull his bacon out of the fire at the very last moment, but it is in keeping with the pulp adventure flavor of the book.
I like May's more serious work much better, and I would like to see more of it, but this book is not a bad for light summer escape reading.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Very good Sequel to Perseus Spur
10 Oct 2003
Format:Mass Market Paperback
Orion Arm is the second book in the Rampart Worlds Trilogy, a fun, witty, colorful space opera detective adventure set 200 years in the future. It continues the story of a disenfranchised former cop framed by big business to keep him from uncovering their corruption.
Orion Arm continues the Julian May tradition of creating worlds described with vibrant adjectives that make her worlds a feast for all five senses. Her prose is perhaps unmatched in science fiction, and it is a joy just to read her works to see how she puts together her sentences.
Orion Arm continues in the vein of sort of goofy, tongue-in-cheek action adventure and humorous cynicism from rough-around-the-edges protagonist Asa Frost. The plot thickens, becomes at once more serious and complex than in the first book. The first one was definitely more fun than adventure-- this book adds just a bit of suspense, making it more enjoyable. Much of the new tension comes from the shifting of emphasis from evil megacorprorations to a xenophobic alien race with ulterior designs on our galaxies-- it sets up the action for book 3.
All in all, I enjoyed this book a tad bit more than the first, but still rate this series slightly behind May's earlier works. Unlike Pliocene Exile Series, where I found myself admiring May for her ability to let us come to know even secondary and tertiary characters, this series' supporting characters were somewhat superficial. Oh, compared to most sci-fi, Ms. May's characters are all vivid and deep, but compared to her own unusually high standards-- this falls just a bit short. Still, entertaining, imaginative a good read.
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