Deathstalker Prelude: "Mistworld", "Ghostworld", "Hellworld" Book

The Deathstalker sequence of glossy space operas is set in a universe where a vicious interstellar empire imposes its will with absolute ruthlessness--genocide, enslavement, torture and planet-busting are its daily currency, and its external enemies, semi-human, alien and electronic, are even worse. The books show that empire's overthrow, with a strong sense of human liberation coupled with an equal cynicism about business as usual. Green first explored this universe, and its pervading tone of flash, mayhem and cheap irony, in three short novels, reissued together here. Many of the minor characters of the sequence made their first appearances in these tales of suspense, betrayal and wild courage. A rebel world finds itself subjected to mind-blasting telepathic attack; investigators on a sterilised world find themselves coping with ghosts and monsters; explorers find another world where biological realities have run haywire. Green is a masterly provider of essentially cheap thrills and flippancy, with some interesting inventiveness and some touching and revealing moments of sentiment and moral ambiguity; if these stories lack quite the vigour of his template fantasy detective stories in the Hawk and Fisher series, they have a sly bleakness that is all their own. --Roz KaveneyRead More