Rating: 
Summary: Never read anything so enthralling as Deathstalker's series
Review: "I've rarely found any book series as ensnaring as L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth Dekalogy. But Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series is as action packed and as compelling as these five novels can possibly get. I'm just a tad nervous at how a great series like this can possibly end. With Destiny in the midst, can tragedy possibly be far away."
Rating:
Summary: Never read anything so enthralling as Deathstalker's series
Review: "I've rarely found any book series as ensnaring as L. Ron Hubbard's Mission Earth Dekalogy. But Simon R. Green's Deathstalker series is as action packed and as compelling as these five novels can possibly get. I'm just a tad nervous at how a great series like this can possibly end. With Destiny in the midst, can tragedy possibly be far away."
Rating:
Summary: Wildly entertaining and full of shocking surprises
Review: A part of me didn't want to read this book. Deathstalker Destiny is the fifth and final installment in the life and times of Owen Deathstalker. I've been through a lot with the main characters of this Deathstalker series. Heck, we overthrew a seemingly impervious evil Empire, liberated worlds, saved great big chunks of humanity time and time again, and overcame superhuman enemies the likes of which I had never dreamed of. Now, it's all coming to an end. It wouldn't be so bad if there weren't this really depressing prophecy hanging over Owen Deathstalker's head since early in the first novel - Owen Deathstalker, the greatest kind of hero, the only honorable aristocrat from a court of power-hungry villains, the last great hope of humanity itself predicted to die alone far from his friends without ever coming to know the love that helped drive him.
Things certainly aren't going too well as the book opens. The Empire is still mightily struggling internally to develop an effective form of government after the end of the rebellion; seemingly all of humanity's enemies are attacking almost everywhere in force- the rogue AI of Shub, the self-augmented Hadenmen, and some kind of souped-up giant insects; a far greater enemy called the Recreated is now on its way; and the worst plague in history is decimating one planet after another. Owen Deathstalker doesn't have time to think of these things, though. Hazel D'Ark, the former clonelegger and pirate who became Owen's best friend as well as the woman he loved, has been taken by the Blood Runners (who will torture her in order to learn the secrets of the powers she acquired in the alien Madness Maze on the Wolfing World), and Owen sits helplessly on the leper planet Lachrymae Christi - without a ship and without the Maze-given powers he had come to depend on.
Of course, Owen's attention eventually shifts back to the Empire's losing struggle against unstoppable alien forces. Owen has always understood duty, and he really has little choice in the matter. He does truly become humanity's last and only hope for survival. Everything comes full circle by the end, but at least Owen finally does get to hear the story behind this awful destiny he has never been able to elude. A lot of big issues are resolved over the course of this book, including some surprisingly important ones involving some of the most fascinating and unique secondary characters I've ever encountered in science fiction.
I have to say that Simon R. Green floored me several times over the course of this novel. After well over 2000 pages with this series' heroes, I thought I knew these characters pretty well. I was nothing less than shocked by a few of the events in Deathstalker Destiny. I can accept everything that happened, but I surely didn't see some of it coming. Green truly closes this series out with one bang after another, and that goes a long way toward making this the most exhilarating novel in an already exhilarating series. There is, however, one weakness that takes a little something away from the reader's enjoyment - some crucial plot points are resolved much too easily. Up until now, nothing has come easy for Owen Deathstalker and his friends, and the new challenges now facing our heroes are even more daunting and formidable than ever before. As a reader, you can't see how the characters can possibly get themselves out of all the troubles now facing them - and then, in the matter of a page or two, all is said and done and you're heading off toward the next impossible challenge on the list. When all is said and done, though, this novel (and this whole series) is just way too much fun to miss. Green sometimes goes way out on a limb in terms of the rules of his universe, but the Deathstalker series makes for amazingly entertaining reading. And I guarantee you won't forget the unique cast of characters who call this universe home.
Rating:
Summary: My highest possible recommendation.
Review: A shining example of Green's mastery of the genre. Being the latest installment in this richly spun space opera, Green's protagonist compels with the star-quality of the reluctant hero. Drawing on elements of horror, fantasy, and,comedy;classically setting them in motion on the stage of the future, Green's work is nothing short of breathtaking.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely the best yet!
Review: After finishing this book(I got it from an undisclosed source that will not be mentioned here), I was left in a state of catharsis. The author is an absolute genius to have everything connected the way it was! This book gives the answers to questions, brings the truth to light, and leaves you hoping for another one.
Rating:
Summary: I hope, that's not really the final part
Review: As I read the first 3 books, i went to a library and asked for more. And even the 3rd part's final word was END, i found 2 more books of this cycle. I read all 5 books, but more and more i lived the story, so it was even harder for me, to acceot this "END" there are to many open questions, the new aliens, for example. So i really hope that this was not the real end, because i hate open ends...
Rating: 
Summary: Defintely just another Deathstalker
Review: Deathstalker Destiny does pretty much what the rest of the series does. It has endless violence while managing to add a few interesting ideas. I enjoyed the series as a whole, though some times the killing seemed a bit much. I felt that this last book was one of the better books in the series. It's not riveting literature, but if you just want somthing fun to read, Deathstalker Destiny is for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't you just love...
Review: Don't you just love people who post reviews for books that have not been released and that they have not read? I have heard of judging a book by its cover, but geeesh that has not even beed released.All that aside I think this is a series that started out very strong through the first two books and has been finding new and different ways to disappoint its reads since. Not that any of the failures are huge, just repeditive. I challenege people to find real differences between the major characters (especially the female protagonists). The characters, while possibly unique to the genre, are not to each other. They all are written as heroic, tough, powerful sociopaths. I really am just cheering for one of them to accually die or have SOMETHING genuinely bad happen to them. The plot sometimes seems to wander a bit and when it doesn't there are whopping plot contrivances that you could drive a truck through (re the end of Deathstalker Honor). However the first two books are so good, this is forgivable. I have a tough time believeing that Green can write more than a novella, then bind it with another couple to make a book. His writing does not seem to have the attention span beyond a couple hundred pages. None of the flaws are deal breakers, yet I wonder how much better this series could be had the writing been a bit tighter, the chaarcters fleshed out then differenciated. Its worth reading, its a good example of British S/F and fun in any case.
Rating:
Summary: deathstalker as a series may be hard to defend
Review: except that it's simply loads of wierd demented entertainment and what else really needs to be said?
Rating:
Summary: Exellent Smashing Tale!
Review: Great series, Like his fantasy too. Also try Peter F. Hamilton
|
