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Crown of the Serpent
Arrested for numerous illegal activities, Rikard Braeth is offered an alternative to jail--one that involves stopping an unknown force that has decimated many worlds
- GenresScience Fiction
256 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1989
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
May 17, 2022
My dude, my guy, I literally do not care about dodecahedron and rectilinear and triangulateral shapes in every single room. I don't care about the catwalks that connect to a ramp that goes up and down but also spirals into the next corridor that attaches to this corridor that teed with another walkway that led to a catwalk that included a polyhedron with a rod and a disc, and a disc on top of that, with a rod on top of that, and just beyond it an irising door that was across from another door.... Now copy that paragraph and you have the 250 pages I just read. Descriptions of the same types of rooms over and over again. Wold must have loved architecture while writing this.
Why did they fight so hard for Rikard to do this thing with his super special gun when he barely used it? It was all about the gun yet it didn't make a difference. We spent, like, 40 pages going on about how Rikard was the only one who could do this because GUN! And the comma splices! Was Wold paid per comma?
If you're someone who has trouble visualizing while you're reading (hello, it's me), I can't tell if this book would help (if you passed geometry classes, anyway) or if you would go crazy by the end. The best part was the beginning with Rikard being a rogue, making shady deals, but that's tossed aside for whatever I just endured. Honestly, the only praise I can really give this thing was the portrayal of women being women in active military leadership roles. Considerably makes it ahead of its time for an 80s sci-fi publication, where interstellar travel and aliens were more believable than women in active duty.
Why did they fight so hard for Rikard to do this thing with his super special gun when he barely used it? It was all about the gun yet it didn't make a difference. We spent, like, 40 pages going on about how Rikard was the only one who could do this because GUN! And the comma splices! Was Wold paid per comma?
If you're someone who has trouble visualizing while you're reading (hello, it's me), I can't tell if this book would help (if you passed geometry classes, anyway) or if you would go crazy by the end. The best part was the beginning with Rikard being a rogue, making shady deals, but that's tossed aside for whatever I just endured. Honestly, the only praise I can really give this thing was the portrayal of women being women in active military leadership roles. Considerably makes it ahead of its time for an 80s sci-fi publication, where interstellar travel and aliens were more believable than women in active duty.
December 3, 2023
Crown of the Serpent is the sequel to Jewels of the Dragon. I’d never heard of either of these titles before my brother gave me the former in a box of bargain books he was sharing with me. I’d never heard of Allen L. Wold, either. Yet, this is an extremely interesting science-fiction with some of the best world- and alien-building I’ve read since the last Jack Vance series I ingested. The only reason I don’t rate Crown of the Serpent with the full five (5) stars is because the pace lags slightly in the middle of the “dungeon crawl” in the midst of the bad guys’ hideaway. It isn’t literally a dungeon, but the exploration reminds me of one.
The novel begins with two rogues, male and female lovers, making a shady deal in artifacts with, apparently, another rogue. The three streetwise professionals have met while deliberately trespassing in an abandoned arcology. Their initial interruption is via a local gang leader who believes they have encroached on his territory. In this encounter, we find out how the aforementioned Jewels of the Dragon from the first novel work (Just in case, like me, the reader is not clued into the first novel.). But when the arcology is raided by law enforcement, the advantage provided by the jewel doesn’t work exactly as they expected it to work.
It works enough to make it interesting, though. It still isn’t quite enough to extricate the couple from the situation completely and our protagonist is shocked that his comely and competent partner conveniently decides to end the partnership, forcing him to make a deal with folks he would rather not be beholden to. He is also very much at rich because, apparently, the bad guys he is supposed to find are adept at removing brains and nerve systems from humanoid bodies. So, we start with all of the elements of a heist and then, we end up doing a “favor” where one could lose one’s brain and personality. That favor involves finding the impossible and then, figuring out what they have found.
The story involves interesting aliens worthy of Jack Vance with possibly a bit of flavor from Robert L. Forward, at least in terms of synchronizing their time to normal time-space. It also involves an alien habitat full of surprises, even as our explorers begin to figure out the configuration of the base and how to manipulate some of the instruments and weapons, there are threats. The protagonist feels herded and knows that isn’t going to be a good thing.
Fortunately, our “hero” picks up two new partners, a draconic-looking life-form with four arms and an unlikely ally from a race who generally terrifies Rikard Braeth, the protagonist who doesn’t always go by that name (and why I haven’t used it until now; I like how it is revealed). The latter goes by the name of Grayshard and he is a mystery in himself. At the end of Crown of the Serpent, it was clear that Wold was setting up a sequel and I plan to be on the lookout for Lair of the Cyclops rather than seeking out Jewels of the Dragon. But I’ll read either if I find them.
The novel begins with two rogues, male and female lovers, making a shady deal in artifacts with, apparently, another rogue. The three streetwise professionals have met while deliberately trespassing in an abandoned arcology. Their initial interruption is via a local gang leader who believes they have encroached on his territory. In this encounter, we find out how the aforementioned Jewels of the Dragon from the first novel work (Just in case, like me, the reader is not clued into the first novel.). But when the arcology is raided by law enforcement, the advantage provided by the jewel doesn’t work exactly as they expected it to work.
It works enough to make it interesting, though. It still isn’t quite enough to extricate the couple from the situation completely and our protagonist is shocked that his comely and competent partner conveniently decides to end the partnership, forcing him to make a deal with folks he would rather not be beholden to. He is also very much at rich because, apparently, the bad guys he is supposed to find are adept at removing brains and nerve systems from humanoid bodies. So, we start with all of the elements of a heist and then, we end up doing a “favor” where one could lose one’s brain and personality. That favor involves finding the impossible and then, figuring out what they have found.
The story involves interesting aliens worthy of Jack Vance with possibly a bit of flavor from Robert L. Forward, at least in terms of synchronizing their time to normal time-space. It also involves an alien habitat full of surprises, even as our explorers begin to figure out the configuration of the base and how to manipulate some of the instruments and weapons, there are threats. The protagonist feels herded and knows that isn’t going to be a good thing.
Fortunately, our “hero” picks up two new partners, a draconic-looking life-form with four arms and an unlikely ally from a race who generally terrifies Rikard Braeth, the protagonist who doesn’t always go by that name (and why I haven’t used it until now; I like how it is revealed). The latter goes by the name of Grayshard and he is a mystery in himself. At the end of Crown of the Serpent, it was clear that Wold was setting up a sequel and I plan to be on the lookout for Lair of the Cyclops rather than seeking out Jewels of the Dragon. But I’ll read either if I find them.
July 2, 2023
This book started off with great promise. A rogue is arrested in the middle of an illegal transaction and tortured by local law enforcement before the FEDERATION steps in and rescues him. They are recruiting this amoral space-faring Indiana Jones type character for a special mission. Their goal to find a group of raiders who are leaving a terrible slaughter behind coupled with survivors that are left babbling in insane ravings.
So, our hero, and his partner, head off with a group of federal police and through literary conincidence, come upon a derlict (or so it seems) "death star" type space station that the raiders appear to be using as a base. They enter and begin to explore the almost never-ending maze of the ship-- encountering zombie-like creatures and a giant serpent-like creature.
As great as the book begins, from the point at which they "coincidentally" discover the space station thingamabob (how's that for using a technical phrase in a review?) it kind of rolls downhill. The zombie-like creatures are interesting and thrilling, but the wandering around in the maze gets very, very, old-- very, very quickly... The artifacts the rogue finds are interesting, but it is a bit absurd after a time...
It's not trash, but it also isn't all that good.
So, our hero, and his partner, head off with a group of federal police and through literary conincidence, come upon a derlict (or so it seems) "death star" type space station that the raiders appear to be using as a base. They enter and begin to explore the almost never-ending maze of the ship-- encountering zombie-like creatures and a giant serpent-like creature.
As great as the book begins, from the point at which they "coincidentally" discover the space station thingamabob (how's that for using a technical phrase in a review?) it kind of rolls downhill. The zombie-like creatures are interesting and thrilling, but the wandering around in the maze gets very, very, old-- very, very quickly... The artifacts the rogue finds are interesting, but it is a bit absurd after a time...
It's not trash, but it also isn't all that good.
June 10, 2018
This was a fun read, that I have gone back to several times.
September 9, 2018
awesome book - I want more
March 21, 2021
Swashbuckling adventure that makes me think of a future Indiana Jones. Aliens, Ruins, and cool guns! Yeah!
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews