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The Deceivers
 
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The Deceivers (Paperback)

by Alfred Bester (Author)
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)

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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Pocket Books; New edition edition (8 Feb 2000)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0671038893
  • ISBN-13: 978-0671038892
  • Product Dimensions: 20.6 x 13.2 x 2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 1,135,672 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #22 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > B > Bester, Alfred

Product Description

Amazon.co.uk Review

Way back in the 1950s, Alfred Bester established himself as one of the greats of SF with a number of dazzling short stories and two major novels: The Demolished Man (1953) and The Stars My Destination (1956, also known as Tiger! Tiger!), both much reprinted. The Deceivers, his final SF novel, appeared in 1981.

It's a colourful, whimsical romp that plays entertainingly with themes from Bester's peak years, though without his old driving, compelling savagery. Hero Rogue Winter is a "Synergist", acutely sensitive to the world's patterns: in one set-piece sequence he follows an intuitive trail from 12 drummers drumming in a street parade, to the goal of a (metaphorical) partridge in a pear tree. Winter is also heir-apparent to the Maori Mafia which controls much of the Solar System's crime, but must single-handedly battle the dread mammoths of Ganymede to earn his crown, and meanwhile has fallen helplessly in love with a sexy non-human shapeshifter from Titan, making him vulnerable to minions of the insidious Manchu Duke of Death who plans to smash the syndicate that's smuggling the priceless miracle fuel Meta from the heavily defended mines of Saturn's Chinese/Japanese-dominated moon Triton...

Bester crams this wild farrago of a narrative with wisecracks, junk science, circus glamour, odd catchphrases, bits of self-conscious cleverness and excess, Chinese esoterica like the Mirror-and-Listen Mystery, and his trademark typographic tricks. Amusing candyfloss nonsense; quite readable, but definitely not in the same league as his 1950s classics. --David Langford



Product Description

Rogue Winter is King of the Maori Commandos. His lover is the beautiful Demi Jeroux, who has been kidnapped by the villanous Manchu Duke of Death. Rogue must search through the solar system to find the missing Demi Jeroux. But she is merely a pawn in the Duke of Death's gambit to seize control.

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Customer Reviews

2 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.5 out of 5 stars (2 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Not bad... but not one of his best, 31 Dec 1999
By Peter Fenelon - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
A picaresque tale sending Rogue Winter, King of the Maori Commandos, through a balkanized, colonized solar system in search of his kidnapped lover Demi. Not really up to the brilliance of Bester's fifties novels, but creates a wonderfully offbeat atmosphere where anything can (and usually does) happen. The stylistic pyrotechnics are still there, but the savage ironies of Bester's 50s plots are missing.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Second rate Bester, but still worth reading, 2 Jun 2009
It's the 27th century; our hero is Rogue Winter. He's cool, resourceful and quick-witted. He's searching for his lost one true love. The Duke of Death is responsible, but the Duke is one of the most influential men of the age. Can Rogue face him and save the day?

This is Bester's last real novel and it has many hints of past glories. The hero is suitably tortured. He's on a quest. There's action-packed set pieces. He moves from one colourful scene to the next and he gradually learns there's more going on than he first thought. All the elements are here of classic Bester, but it doesn't quite gel in the way his early novels did. I wanted to enjoy it more, but it never quite pushed the right buttons, sadly. I'm still glad I read it though.
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