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Deathstalker by Simon R. Green
01/10/2006 . Source: Tomas L. Martin 
pub: Gollancz. 571 page paperback. Price: £ 7.99 (UK). ISBN: 0-575-60160-4. Buy from Amazon US - Buy from Amazon UK
nb: US titles may only be available from Amazon US, and UK titles from Amazon UK. Buy Deathstalker in the USA - or Buy Deathstalker in the UK  check out website: www.orionbooks.co.uk
Simon R. Green's 'Deathstalker' series had a lot of success on its release in the nineties and now the nine-book series is being repackaged. Its space opera action and sly humour has put Green onto the New York Times best-seller list. This is the book that started it all.
A far-future Galactic Empire is being run into the ground by the current Empress, called the Iron Bitch by everyone, herself included. She rules with tough and often over-violent measures that have caused uprising in numerous minorities like the psychic Espers and the mutant underground.
When historian Owen Deathstalker angers the Empress, she puts a bounty large enough to send hunters from all over the galaxy looking for his head. He runs from his privileged life to the outlaw planet of Mistworld, determined to seek revenge.
Along the way, he picks up followers similar to the way many heroic fantasy novels are laid out. The beautiful outlaw Hazel d'Ark, the infamous career rebel Jack Random, the bounty hunter Ruby Journey and the strange cyborg Hadenman, Tobias Moon.
Meanwhile in the capital, numerous larger-than-life characters from the noble class scheme and plot against each other, for and against the Empress. There's a myriad of rebellions, conspiracies and various other court intrigues, many revolving around the Wolfe, Shreck and Campbell noble families and their quest to be the most powerful in the court.
Simon Green writes with great humour and describes a lot of the action scenes very well but I have to say I didn't particularly enjoy reading 'Deathstalker'. It feels a lot like a lot of other things - there's a lot of typical Science Fiction tropes - AI, psychics, mutants, androids and aliens - but it all feels like a checklist of the usual suspects, without much originality.
Although there's definitely a slight parody to be considered, the whole book felt a bit too much like a game of futuristic Dungeons and Dragons for me to get involved. Hero is thrown out of cushy life, survives hard times in poorest locale picking up plucky allies, goes on a quest to find mystical object to return balance to the galaxy ruled by a stereotypically evil tyrant.
More than anything else, I found the characters had it too easy. I never felt any kind of fear for their well-being as I read. It felt like the author was giving them a bit too much help behind the scenes and the characters were far too powerful to be in anything but a slight annoying challenge.
I like my Science Fiction to feel real and this feels artificial. There's no science and bar the spaceships and laser guns, it might as well be a swords and sorcery novel. There's some enjoyment to be had out of 'Deathstalker' but I don't think it's a masterpiece by any stretch of the imagination.
Tomas L. Martin
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