Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming

The Shattering Saga: The Above #1

by Van Allen Plexico

A stand-alone adventure that is also Volume 1 of The Above series and the first book in the vast SHATTERING Saga! The Power has returned. And now I, the exiled dark lord Lucian , race across the infinite planes of creation, a charge of mass murder upon my head, vicious foes dogging my every step. My goals are Justice for myself, vengeance upon my enemies, and conquest of the universe if I get half a chance.
But events are conspiring to bring me together with some very unexpected allies, and to thrust me into the most unlikely role of all... Hero?! After a failed coup attempt, the dark lord Lucian was exiled from the Golden City of the gods and has dwelt for centuries among the worlds of Man. During that time he carved out a star empire of his own. Now the Power has returned—the Power that fuels the immortality and astounding abilities of the gods—and Lucian has resolved to cast aside his ties to humanity, end his exile and make his way back to his beloved celestial city. But what he finds when he arrives there is not what he Mysterious beings all in black roam the cosmic pathways, most of the gods have somehow vanished, and those who remain look upon him with unadulterated suspicion and hate. Now he must clear his own name and find the true culprit even as his brother and sister gods do everything in their power to capture and destroy him. No one ever said it was easy to be the god of evil… DARK GOD'S HOMECOMING combines exciting SF/Fantasy adventure with a puzzling murder mystery whodunit in the grand tradition of Roger Zelazny's AMBER series and Jack Vance's DYING EARTH . LUCIAN begins "The Above" series and leads into the SHATTERING space opera saga. "The premise is brilliant. Highly recommended." --David Wright, author of My Brother's Keeper "Great stuff. LUCIAN is an amazing book." --James Palmer, creator of the Monster Earth series "Fans of Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny will eat this up. Good stuff start to finish." --Pulp Fiction Reviews The SHATTERING DARK GOD'S HOMECOMING (The 1) STORMING THE GATES (The 2) HAND OF THE MACHINE (Shattered 1) REVOLT AGAINST THE MACHINE (Shattered 2) (forthcoming) LEGION LORDS OF FIRE (The Shattering/Legions 1) LEGION SONS OF TERRA (The Shattering/Legions 2) LEGION KINGS OF OBLIVION (The Shattering/Legions 3) COLD LIGHTNING (The Legion 1) Learn more about the Shattering saga at

Genres: Science Fiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2009

About the author

Van Allen Plexico has written a dozen novels and contributed to at least that many anthologies, but is best known for his popular and critically-acclaimed SENTINELS superhero novels, as well as the two-time Novel of the Year Finalist LORDS OF FIRE and its sequels in the "Shattering" space opera series. In the realm of nonfiction, he co-wrote the best-selling DECADES OF DOMINANCE and SEASON OF OUR DREAMS books about Auburn football and created the ASSEMBLED! books, exploring the history of Marvel’s AVENGERS comics. He writes and edits for numerous publishers including Airship 27, Pro Se Press, Permuted/Swarm Press, Maple Street Press, New Babel Books, Adamant, and White Rocket, along with occasional columns for RevolutionSF.com and the War Eagle Reader. He serves as an Associate Professor at Southwestern Illinois College.

Reviews

[Julie Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am normally a cozy mystery can but occasionally I fancy something different and I have found that Van Allen Plexico certainly takes me out of my comfort zone and out of this world, like nobody else can and I loved it. He always writes a story that is entertaining, full of action and story that always has a different approach or twist to the norm. I loved the characters and the interaction between them, especially as you tried to guess who was behind it all. I don't normally cheer on the bad guys because they are usually so evil but Lucian is a hero. I did find some of the God names confusing as they were unusual but to be honest I just say back and enjoyed the ride as we travelled through portals and different dimensions.
The God of Evil was banished from the golden city, where all the other gods live after trying to stage a take over. He is left with no power, just his immortality and far from home with no way to return. When he starts to feel his power return he heads back to the city he loves to take his revenge. Only things have changed since he has been away, he wasn't the only one who lost his power and many of the Gods have been killed. Once again blamed he is on the run from the remaining gods with three humans in toe. Can Lucian clear his name and keep a step ahead of his hunters? He might be the God of Evil but in order to survive he might just have to become a hero and ignore his character.
I liked the narrator. He did a good job with all the varied characters and voice in this book that helped bring the action to life.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request from audiobooksunleashed and have voluntarily left this review

[Nicolas Knight · Rating 2 out of 5]

Fast paced is the right word.

It's nothing but set pieces with exactly the minimum of words to move the plot along.

That whole Hemingway thing (Don't quote me but I think it was him) About whether a sentence is necessar because it advances the plot or develops your chracter otherwise lose it was taken to heart a little much.

We get to the all too obvious double cross quest within 20 or 30 pages and the reluctant aid (who turns out to have his own agenda to setup the sequl of course) within 50.

I'm all for fast paced but give me time to breath in the characters.

Good idea but it needs a rewrite.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story, in the style of Zelazny! Highly recommended!

[Jimbo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots if fun in this book. A story of personal growth, shimmering portals to other planes of existence, and a mystery to be solved. Mortals, gods, demons, and ray guns. What is there not to like?

[Ralph L Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucian-Dark God’s Homecoming- A Review.
Lucian, by Van Plexico is the story of a God of a heretofore unknown pantheon who have seemingly hidden from mortals since the dawn of time. The quibble and bicker amongst themselves and at times go to outright war with each other.
In this pantheon, ‘Lucian’ is the devil of sorts, though it’s not really made clear why he is, just that it’s his role. In fact other races called him the ‘Liberator’ for his habit of raising an army and overthrowing tyrants on various worlds. He is also known by many names among the mortals one is ‘Marcus’. It is the most recent nom de plume he has used.
These powerful Gods tend to stay in their own realms for the most part, though they do have a shining golden city that some number of them live in, ruled by the powerful Golden God of battle ‘Baranak’.
From the first we see of each character there is great enmity between Baranak and Lucian. It seems the latter had tried to overthrow the former a millennia ago and failed, so he is immediately suspect as a new twilight of the Gods is unfolding in this golden realm. Gods are dying. Over 70 have died so far and all evidence points to the ‘bad boy’ God, Lucian.
Thus begins an epic journey across many worlds and dimensions as Lucian and his three human companions whose faster than light space craft had somehow been captured by the Gods of the golden city, and the space explorers themselves were thrown into a dungeon alongside Lucian, begin an incredible undertaking to not only clear Lucian’s name, but to save human worlds as well as the heavenly.
Lucian- Dark God’s Homecoming is an epic novel chronicling the adventure of a God the worlds think is evil and his quest to clear his name.
This was a good, fun read that held my attention and never seemed to drag. I was actually saddened to see it end. There was something for every type of sci-fi fan here. All in all I have nothing bad to say about this one at all. Seriously one of my favorite books out of forty or so I’ve read in the past year. I’m sure others could find fault with it if they wanted too, but I could not. I thought it was just right. Good work Van. I enjoyed it quite a bit. 5 stars

[Percival Constantine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a huge fan of Van Allen Plexico's Sentinels series. Normally I don't go in for the more space opera-type stuff, so I was curious to see how this book would read. It's a very enjoyable story with some great action set-pieces. I liked the interaction between Lucian and his human companion, Evelyn. However, I did feel the first-person style was a bit of a weakness from the book. Lucian is a very self-centered character, and while there's nothing wrong with that, the perspective of the story felt like we got a bit too much of Lucian.

I understand this book is connected to Van's other space opera books, which I am looking forward to reading. Although I didn't enjoy Lucian as much as his superhero Sentinels series, it still gave me enough of a taste of this wider universe that I'm interested in discovering more.

[I A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Original and fascinating take on cosmic gods and high fantasy, grounded by some good characters and great storytelling. Do not read ahead. Do not miss a clue. Do not miss a word.