Published by RoC, 1995
ISBN 0-451-45435-9
$6.99

Man, talk about your bad days. One minute you're lord of the planet and waking up from amazing sex with a double-jointed mistress, and the next Her Imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV pronounces you an outlaw and places a price on your head so high, the aforementioned mistress tries to kill you. And she's been sharing your bed for seven years. What an itch!

Anyway, Owen Deathstalker, now outlaw, is in deep trouble, and only his wits, his Artificial Intelligence Computer called Oz, and a condemned criminal can save him from execution. Add in a bounty hunter, a broken down rebel, and an outlawed android, and you have all the elements of a space opera tale.

Deathstalker is indeed space opera fare, perhaps a bit too serious for its own good, but good enough to keep you reading. Green's prose is capable enough if not entirely exciting, although he seems to be a bit schizophrenic as to whether this is light farce or dramatic fare. Maybe it's supposed to be an injection of comedy.

He also seems to have a thing for strong overbearing father vs. weak lackadaisical sons. No less than three main characters chafe under parental tyranny. However, two play the fops, and are really deadly killers and expert fighters- sort of like an evil Zorro or Scarlet Pimpernal. The third, our reluctant hero Owen, wants to be a historian. There's even a fourth, Kid Death, who skips a generation and ticks off the grandfather.

Green does an excellent job of creating an incredibly striated society filled with paranoia and illusion, and an even better job envisioning what a metamorphosis of high technology, humanity, and plastic surgery can create. The setting represents the strongest aspect of the book, and will mesmerize you with its fusion of Roman Imperial Court, Machiavellian intrigue, and Medieval rivalries.

Absolutely delicious. I'm looking forward to the sequels.

More Deathstalker

Deathstalker
Deathstalker Rebellion
Deathstalker War
Deathstalker Honor
Deathstalker Destiny