The Omega Cage

Matador #4

by Steve Perry, Michael Reaves

Sentenced for a crime he didn't commit, Dain Maro has been incarcerated in the Omega Cage--a prison located on an isolated planet and housing the scum of the galaxy.

Escape was supposed to be impossible, but the Omega Cage has never had to contain the likes of Dain Maro before.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Ebooks, Fantasy, Martial Arts

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1988

About the author

Librarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Steven Carl Perry has written over fifty novels and numerous short stories, which have appeared in various magazines and anthologies. Perry is perhaps best known for the Matador series. He has written books in the Star Wars, Alien and Conan universes. He was a collaborator on all of the Tom Clancy's Net Force series, seven of which have appeared on the New York Times Bestseller list. Two of his novelizations, Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Men in Black have also been bestsellers. Other writing credits include articles, reviews, and essays, animated teleplays, and some unproduced movie scripts. One of his scripts for Batman: The Animated Series was an Emmy Award nominee for Outstanding Writing.

Perry is a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, The Animation Guild, and the Writers Guild of America, West

Reviews

[Mark Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been out of print for so long, I jumped at the chance to pick it up when I realized a Kindle version was available. A fitting addition to the Matador cycle. Personally, I can't tell what influence Michael Reaves had, if any. It reads exactly like a Steve Perry book. Exciting story with engaging characters. It's been a while since I read any Matador books, and I'd forgotten about the explicit sex, which now seems unnecessary to me. It adds nothing to the story that couldn't have been accomplished with a few well-placed lines, but it's part of the whole Matador experience, I guess. I still love it.

On the down side, the formatting and editing on this Kindle version is an absolute mess. Missing punctuation marks, extraneous characters, chapter headings that blend in with the text, whole conversations that are collapsed into a single paragraph like the typist forgot where the return key was. I know this is a more or less forgotten book from the back catalog, but someone should have devoted a little more time to the formatting. You have to really want to read this story to navigate through the swamp. I did, and I did.

[Jim Lay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read this many years ago and it was one of my first sci fi reads. (I tend to read mostly horror.) Great story and great fun.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot of interiority to go around, but for action-focused science fiction, this isn't bad.

[Hans van der Veeke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yes, five stars indeed. Well earned. The story is entertaining and being the fourth volume of the Matador series, it fits well into this universe. We get to meet Juete again when she picks up her new warrior. I love the image on the cover of the book showing her and Dain exactly as I would imagine them. The story reminds me of one of the many Dumarest novels. A sort of escaping road trip in a dangerous landscape. The mix of tech, sex, hunt and the switching of perspective kept me reading until the end. Hope to meet any or all of them again in the next volumes. A small bonus was the reference to Star Wars. Nice!

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book in the Matador series. This one is by Steve Perry and Michael Reaves. The first three books were actually a trilogy. This book is set in the same universe as the first three books but does not continue the story from those books. It has two characters from "The Man Who Never Missed". Juete, the Albino Mutant, and Dain Maro, the protagonist of this book who was a minor character in "The Man Who Never Missed". This book apparently takes place in a time prior to the events in "The Man Who Never Missed".
The Omega Cage is a vehicle Perry and Reaves use to re-introduce both Juete and Maro in their own gripping adventure. A hellish prison called the Omega Cage ends up becoming Maro's new home after a betrayal from within the Crime Guild he belongs to, Black Sun, see's him sentenced to the Omega Cage for a crime he didn't commit. Once there he encounters Juete who is languishing as the cruel warden's sex slave.
The Cage is a hi-tech prison on an isolated planet. The dumping ground for the scum of the galaxy- and special enemies of the brutal Confederation. They said escape was impossible. If Warden Stark and his merciless hunting machines don't get you, the blistering hot desert or the deadly swamps with their viscous animals will most certainly do so.
Now, Dain Maro is about to attempt the impossible, to rescue Juete and escape from this hellish planet.

[Miles · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun page-turner set in the same universe as the Matador trilogy. You don’t need to have read that trilogy to enjoy this book, but it does provide a little context. The Omega Cage is a pretty straightforward story of a ragtag collection of prisoners, each with their own unique set of skills, trying to escape from one of the Galaxy’s harshest prisons. This one has all of the tropes: the techie, the assassin, the beauty, the overmatched warden, etc. You’ve seen it in the movies and probably read it before, but it’s still a fun ride if it’s well executed, like this one.

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maro tries to escape an unescapable prison on an isolated planet after he's imprisoned for a crime he did not commit

This is a re-read of a SF book I probably read 25 years ago and it holds up pretty well. I have a soft spot for SF prison stories and this one delivers - threats by the inmates, conspiracies, desperate fleeing, and an alien planet of creatures that want to kill you. I wasn't a big fan of Juete, the albino mutant/sex slave, but hey - it was written in 1988.

[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally awesome

Another great book by Steve Perry! The characters are well rounded and pull you in. The story made putting the book down to do other things. I was totally captured, highly recommend this book to you.

[Marianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

A silly hyper-sterotyped prison escape in the future. Good popcorn novel, and stands on its own well.

[Paps · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read, I got a little distracted so couldn't apreciate this one as much as the others.

[Kamalakkannan Durairaju · Rating 4 out of 5]

Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge
15/52
My search for Prison escape dramas brought me to Omega Cage.
A fairly simple plot set in an expansive world.
Thank you Reddit for the suggestion

[D.M. Dutcher · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dull, cliched prison planet novel with little explanation and no life to it.

Dain Maro is some sort of mystic who gets jailed in a prison planet for a reason they don't say much about. He meets the usual crew and tries to escape, striving against usual prison planet monsters and a usual prison planet warden who for some reason tries to capture them himself. It's a co-ed prison, so you have the resident albino sex object (whose reason for being there is also not given: why would they convict her of anything, considering how hardwired she is? Exotic biological programming is close to mental illness) whose job is to be fought over. It has all the ingredients of a prison planet book, but doesn't expand on them beyond what is needed to get to the end and escape. I'm guessing if you have read this guy's Matadora books, it makes more sense, but it's not particularly labeled as anything but a stand-alone book. So two stars, worth reading if you get it for fifty cents at a yardsale.

[Bryan457 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a prison break story set in the same universe as the Matador trilogy.

Dain Maro is a Black Market operative who is framed by business partners in the criminal underworld for a crime he did not commit. He is sent to the Confed's most secure prison, the Omega Cage where he encounters Juete who is languishing as the cruel warden's sex slave. The two plan an escape from this escape proof prison. Once outside the prison they face Warden Stark and his merciless hunting machines, a killer desert and deadly swamps.

Juete ties in pretty closely to Emile in "The Man Who Never Missed," and their daughter is the main character in "The Albino Knife." The Omega Cage prison has a tie in to "Brother Death."

I give it an R rating for sex and violence.

[Alton Motobu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Exciting fugitive/escape story from a futuristic prison on an inhospitable planet. Hero is framed for a crime (not fully explained); he has mental strength that immunizes him from tortures. He meets fellow prisoners who plan escape, including an albino female with irresistible sex appeal. Evil warden will stop at nothing to capture them. The fugitives encounter myriad dangerous plants and animals after the escape, but manage to survive. This book is supposed to be #4 in the Matadora series, but could stand alone since all events relate to the prison and the escape. Interesting characters and situations.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This was recommended to me and though some of the characters were interesting, not enough depth was given of the "world" or characters themselves to really give a solid connection with. It was a short read, though, and I think that was the main problem. With a story like this, it needs a bit more substance to envelope the reader in a time and place so different than our own.

[Eric Moreno · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book, loved the new characters. Always love a classic prisoners against the man story. Had a bit of trouble placing this one in the timeline of the other stories but it did well to stand alone.

[Andrew Herbert · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure how this is a 'Matador' book except that it's set in Perry's 'universe'. Schlocky soft-core porn elements aside, it's a decent story. Cartoon characters, but an engaging plot. Standard for Perry. If you love his stuff, you'll like this book. It's modern pulp sci-fi.

[Steven W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Think the Great Escape in space. This was a fun book with interesting characters and a good villain. It won't stay with me though.Ultimately, I'll have forgotten this book in a week. Fine though, for what it is...

[Brett]

Science Fiction

[Edward Rosenfeld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story....

[Jon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this one isn't a huge outlier in the series, it's not as interesting as the first 3. We do get a little bit of backstory on Juete, which is nice though.

[Little Timmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in his Matador universe. A prison breakout of the future. Quick and easy read, recommended

[Lindig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Matadora series corollary; provides ref for Bro. Death esp.

[Thomas Jenner · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the greats!