Deathstalker

Written by Simon R. Green

Narrated by Gildart Jackson

Owen Deathstalker, last of the infamous warrior Clan, always considered himself more of a writer than a fighter, preferring his history books to making any actual history with a sword. But books won't protect him from Her Imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV, who just Outlawed and condemned Owen to death, without any explanation, reason, or warning. No wonder she's called the Iron Bitch.

Now, on the run from Imperial starcruisers, shady mercenaries, and just about everyone else in the Empire, Owen's options are limited. Though the name Deathstalker still commands respect in certain quarters, out on the Rim, Owen is lucky he can cobble together a makeshift team of castoffs, including an ex-pirate, a cyborg, and a bounty hunter. But allies won't be enough to save him.

If he's to live, Owen can either run forever . . . or take down the corrupt Empire. To do that, he'll need the fabled Darkvoid Device-an artifact dating back to the first Deathstalker and perhaps the only weapon powerful enough to help this ragtag rebellion win. The time has come for Owen to finally embrace his Deathstalker heritage . . . and all the blood and death that go along with it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Oct 31, 2017
• ISBN: 9781541483903

Simon R. Green

Simon R. Green was born in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire, England, where he still lives. He is the New York Times bestselling author of more than seventy science fiction and fantasy novels, including the Nightside, Secret Histories and Ghost Finders series, the Ishmael Jones mysteries, the Gideon Sable series and the Holy Terrors mystery series. Simon has sold more than four million copies of his books worldwide.

Reviews for Deathstalker

[navarre1963 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my all time favorite books, because it was my introduction to the writing of Simon R. Green, my favorite author. It's space opera at it's best.

[Paul Gentsch · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing mixture of high fantasy and science fiction and amazingly brought to life by a great narrator.

[purpledog-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This space opera set in the distant future, when humanity has spread throughout the galaxy, is a highly entertaining. The government is corrupt and evil rules with an iron fist which makes it ripe for rebellion. Along comes an unwitting savior in the guise of a scholar and we have the beginning of an epic adventure story.There was some outstanding world building (reminded me of Sanderson's books) and the author spent a lot of time developing the characters so that the reader had a deep connect to them. Combine adventure, intrigue to this and you are left with a must read for fans of this genre.

[bryndahlquis · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Read 200 pages before finally deciding to just stop (I'm still not even halfway through). The writing and characters would be passable if the book was almost over, but it's not anywhere close. The plot is ambling and the characters have no idea what they're doing, just kind of stumbling around pretending to have a plan. They're also very stupid.The only cool character is, unfortunately, not cool enough to keep my attention. And when I looked over the plots of the sequels, I discovered that they're still trying to do the same thing they're trying to do in THIS book. Apparently they never get anywhere at all.

[laserwraith_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It was okay, but too many POV switches for my liking. Also repeated phrases (mostly sarcastic ones).

[irishkitsune · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a fairly humorous and extremely campy series of science fiction novels slightly reminiscent of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. The characters are extremely dysfunctional and the entire plot line very over-the-top. Still, I was entertained by the first few books in the series. After about the third one the ridiculousness became a bit tiresome, and I stopped reading them. The first couple of books are worth the read, and perhaps the whole series if you have a stronger stomach for this sort of thing than I do.

[homechicken · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Simon Green did a great job with the Deathstalker book. I’ve never read it before, but I’ve read some of his other books, and they were all right—this one is terrific!The book takes place far in the future, but manages to work in some anachronistic elements such as swordfights in as well. The story is a little bit Dune-ish with all the clans and the battles between them under an emperor, but it takes its own direction from there in a quite enjoyable way.I highly recommend this book, not too much politics but enough to make things interesting. Lots of action and interesting sci-fi elements make it a fun read. I excited about having the rest of the series in front of me.

[tcgardner · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Big Space Opera. Big personalities, big weapons, big conspiracies, big empires. Just a great universe for Green to do anything he wants. And he does.Are you into genetics, clones, esp, killing (lots of killing), AI, evil emperors, and dystopian empires then this is the book for you.

[worldsedge · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Old school SF w/zap pow blasters fast space ships and faster women. The sort of book that if it had been published in the '60s would've featured a hot green chick in purple hot pants and halter on the cover. Alas in these PC days such artwork is not to be. Mildly interesting use of swordfights, rogue AI, and nasty cyborgs. Horribly bad dialogue of the sort that would've made a screenwriter of the original Star Trek blush. And it does go on and on and on. 500 pages. with an unending stream of sequels.

[luvwords · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

One look at the cover and you doubt that this book can be taken seriously. However, it is a fast-paced read with mega characters and over-the-top weapons. The action begins right from the start and it has just as many villians as heroes (sometimes you and they don't know which is which). Even in this technologically advanced future, the best fighters use swords and that in itself makes it a fun read. This is a massive series, but one caveat: #4 is mysteriously out-of-print.

[stnylan · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book of beginings, fitting that it is the beginning of a fairly lengthy series, yet it has a good internal tale in its own right. As well as setting the scene for what I am sure will be much grander things there is a very good quest at the centre of this book. The one problem, in my opinion, is that the book could do with being fifty pages shorter. There are several passages that are needlessly repeated, and some quite unnecessary exposition. It seems as if there was a point reached where Simon Green (or maybe an editor?) thought some things need to be explained, but I cannot help but feel the overall story is poorer because of it.