The Man Who Never Missed

Matador #1

by Steve Perry

Once a ruthless soldier, Emile Khadaji has disappeared from the Confederation-with a secret plan to destroy it all in the name of freedom.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fantasy, Military Science Fiction, Military Fiction

195 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1985

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

[Mike (the Paladin) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel came very close to not getting the forth star. It's a good idea and has "some" good action. Unfortunately it bogs down badly for about a third of the book. I'd say it comes in on the "lower edge" of the four star rating (again we can't give 3.5 so I have to compromise. Just life.)

I put this on my Science Fiction shelf, yet I know some will probably take certain umbrage at that. Maybe I should establish a "pulp science fiction" shelf???? Oh well, it's popular science fiction for you who have a tighter definition of science fiction...that's fine, I don't.

The book opens well, it's not what I'd call inspired but it's good and solid if a bit standard. You'll have seen some of the plot points before and the main character won't be a stranger but still as I've noted before, there probably isn't any such thing as a completely original story.

The book introduces us to Khadaji...yes in the future the people of the galaxy will apparently adopt the habit of the inhabitants of many fantasy woulds and begin using long mostly unpronounceable names full of consonants. He is running a bar called the Jade Flower when we meet him...well actually we meet him in the midst of a violent confrontation but very soon he's back to his day job, that of running the bar. Anyway at the Jade Flower Khadaji sells many varieties of intoxicating beverages and recreational pharmaceuticals. We follow our hero through a good action packed opening adventure (which I won't detail lest I ruin it for you) we then join him in a meditative state as he...thinks back, as he remembers.

Then the book drops back and the next third or so is a flash back. It tells us who Khadaji was and leads us through how he became what he is.

It's okay and it's a good idea. Sadly, for me anyway there are a couple of sections where I was going..."right, got it, move on". Still some of you may enjoy all this section more than I did.

Khadaji is in the Confed's military until he's involved in the slaughter of a huge number of rebels. He has a sort of religious experience and then meets someone who will train him up as a sort of Buddhist/Hindu/Shaolin warrior monk. Think of it as a sci/fi eastern type religion. Of course in the course of his "learning" he has a very unmonk-like period when he meets a female of a race called exotics...really unmonk-like. anyway he continues learning other "stuff" like weapons, explosives, politics, strategy, tactics....drink mixing and gains a purpose. He needs to bring down or start bringing down the "Confed".

Thus the cover blurb "A single man cannot hope to change an entire galaxy!" (by the way this does not mean that it takes a married man to change the galaxy. It just means one guy can't do it by himself. Just thought I'd clear up any confusion.) I kept remembering the bad guy quote from the movie Shooter : "There's always a confused soul that thinks that one man can make a difference. And you have to kill him to convince him otherwise. That's the hassle with democracy."

So, all in all a pretty good read (I mean I settled on 4 stars, right?). I bought the first 3 of this series all at once (they're used) so I'll probably go at least that far in said series. Hope it picks up a bit but still it's a book I can recommend.

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 to 5.0 stars. One of those rare "quick read" books that knows exactly what it is and doesn't try to be anything different. An excellent, enjoyable read with a great main character and a plot that moves along and is never boring.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Man Who Never Missed is a 4 Star bowl of hot, buttered popcorn at the Saturday afternoon matinee. Just perfect. This Scifi adventure, written in the mid-80’s, still holds up well. It is a cross between Kung Fu the TV show and the Sten novels. In this case, “Kwai Chang Caine” is now Emile Khadaji, a soldier who deserts in the middle of a bloody massacre. Khadaji is on a mission to fight the Confed(eration) and show people they can take on the ruling elites. The Confed is not so much evil as it is representative of all governments. The Confed demands subservience because that is what bureaucracies do best, they grow at the expense of freedom. Seems like a timeless problem. Perry’s story is tightly constructed with enough sex, violence and guerilla warfare to carry the tale nicely. An easy read in less than 200 pages.

[Lincoln · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Matador Series is one of my favorite sci-fi series. Very action oriented, but also with very good character development and a well thought out plot.

The concept of "one man can make a difference" and "when you know who you are, you know what to do" really struck a chord with me when I read this series in college.

Good series.

[Emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

This one started out OK but got really bogged down in the flashbacks. Overall it was a bit too cheesy for me.

[Bryan457 · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book; it is one of my all time favorites. I have read it numerous times.

Emile was a soldier for the confederacy until he realized that this massive intergalactic governmental system was brutal and corrupt to the core. But what can one man do against such a massive system? He starts a movement on the planet Greaves to fight for freedom and inspire revolution in the rest of the galaxy.

Btw, this ends in such a way that you will want to have the other 2 of the series on hand when you finish it.

It is the first book in a trilogy, "The Man Who Never Missed", "Matadora", "The Machiavelli Interface," that deals with Emile and his recruits bringing down the confederation.

There is a prequel, "The 97th step" that goes into the life of Emile's mysterious mentor, Pen. There is also a prequel to that one now, "The Musashi Flex" about the man who created the 97 steps, which now rivals this book as my favorite of the series.

I give this an R rating for sex.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is soo much I could say about this book, however I will pare it down. Steve Perry is one of my favorite sci-fi authors (next to Asimov, Heinlein, and Cole and Bunch) due to his pacing, descriptive action scenes and use of Zen Buddhism ideas in his novels. The Man Who Never Missed is the first of (in my opinion) his best series, 'The Matador Trilogy'. It is the story of a man who sees that his life path is wrong, and sets off to find his true calling (which is to bring down a corrupt government). We are allowed to see his growth as a man of vision, of power and finally of destiny. Steve Perry goes out of his way to show that one man can make a difference. The Man Who Never Missed is one of the best sci-fi books out there

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't even begin to tell you how good and important this series of books were for me. All I can say is READ THIS SERIES!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Prior to this book, I'd read eight or so other Steve Perry novels, all of which were tied in to popular franchises by people like George Lucas (INDIANA JONES, STAR WARS), Ridley Scott (ALIEN), Tom Clancy (NET FORCE), and Leonard Nimoy (PRIMORTALS). A few of these novels were bad; most were decent. None of them were what I'd call a page-turner.
THE MAN WHO NEVER MISSED introduced me to a whole new side of Steve Perry. Turns out, he's much better at coming up with his own material than he is at utilizing that of other people. THE MAN WHO NEVER MISSED has all the trappings of pulp fiction (it's short, it's part of a many-volume series, it features gaudy artwork, and it never skimps on the sex and violence), yet it never comes across as anything other than first-rate sci-fi. Whereas I'd previously considered Steve Perry to be something of a hack, here he reminded me of a cross between Robert Heinlein and Harry Harrison. The typical issues I have with his novels (too long, too uninspired, bland writing, uninteresting characters) don't apply here, and the occasional scenes involving martial arts or military tactics were way more fun than anything in his Tom Clancy books. Emile Khadaji made for a more interesting and appealing hero than did Indiana Jones in Perry's INDIANA JONES AND THE ARMY OF THE DEAD, and Perry's handling of the futuristic setting, terminology, and technology was leaps and bounds beyond anything he gave us in his ALIENS novels.
THE MAN WHO NEVER MISSED is the kind of book I didn't know Perry could write. It's short and sweet, a blast from start to finish. A fun page-turner with some actual depth.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book in the Matador series by Steve Perry. The story begins when Emile Khadaji deserts from the Confederation military after a particularly bloody battle. He eventually joins up with a bar-tending martial artist monk named Pen, who teaches Khadaji the martial art of Sumito, which is used by his order, before setting him on his own path. After several years seeking an education, Khadaji decides that he hates war. He then decides to become a rebel. Khadaji becomes the founder of the Shamba Freedom Forces a.k.a. ,the Shamba Scum, but in fact he is the only member. This gives new meaning to the phrase "An Army of One". He takes out soldiers that are on a base in a city occupied by the government, but he has a heart, so he doesn’t kill them. He uses a weapon known as a Spetsdod. It is a none lethal weapon that shoots darts which leave a human paralyzed for six months. He succeeds in convincing the Confed military that the "Shamba Scum" is a large organization with many rebels fighting against their occupation. This is a fantastic book. Classic science fiction from one of the modern masters. Steve Perry is an excellent writer and I recommend this book!

[Wolfkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

VERY VERY strong openings and closings. However the meat of the book, is flashbacks and then flashbacks within flashbacks. It ended up being too many layers. It ALMOST got me disoriented. I was getting frustrating and yet at the end it had a nice solid zip.

There are parts of the book that make for a great prequel. Like meeting some of my favorite characters from Matadora. Parts of it were clearly supposed to be red herrings like Pen being in this book.

If I had read The Man Who Never Missed first I might have skipped out on the rest of the series. It's so "futuristic" at times you can't track all the "futuretalk". There's a lot of flashbacks that I only cared about because it crafted a man I knew about in legends. I'm GLAD I read Matadora first it's a great opener and imo should come before this. The narrative structure is stronger. This makes an awesome prequel but not a good predecessor.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is exactly the kind of book I secretly wish I had written as my first novel. It's that type of future scifi about a very clever man who gets one over on the government/immoral wealthy class. Sort of like Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel Rat or almost any heist movie, you see every step of an intricate plan implemented. It's also a very cool in that the main character has a spiritual epiphany and learns at the feet of a wise zen master/martial artist, which I think we all wish we had done in our early life.

[Paps · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfull read, we follow the journy of our MC from his origins to the epic conclusion of his objective, how his elightment drove him to do something the whole know galaxy though imposible, and how he succeded with the simplicity of the 'tools' afforded to him.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's good at everything. Kadhadji is part of the military called the Confed. But after taking part in the slaughter of innocent civilians, Kadhadji decides the Confed needs to be destroyed. He has a vision during the slaughter and deserts the military and wanders around in a euphoric daze of "knowing what is right"..or something like that. Soon, he meets a wise man from a religious order who teaches Kadhadji: Somito marshall arts. He also teaches Kadhadji how to mix drinks, soporifics and chem so he can earn a living while he decides what he really wants to do. Then Kadhadji and the wise man separate and Kadhadji decides he knows little but needs to learn much before he will be able to go against the Confed, so he travels to a planet of great learning called Bocca. After spending several years on Bocca and learning many things, Kadhadji decides he must also become wealthy before taking on the Confed. So he sets about becoming wealthy.....
The basic theme of this book I found somewhat silly - one man taking on an army that covers like 54 planets. But I guess the rationalization is that he's helping the Confed to implode faster than it's already doing on its own. I suspended my disbelief. Anyway, there was enough science fiction in this to keep me interested and I would recommend it. But then again, I love space opera. Oh, and did I mention? He never misses.

[Tony Hinde · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like action and larger than life heroes, then you will love Steve Perry's Matadora Series. It's fast-paced and contains plenty of original ideas which he explores ruthlessly.

Don't believe the book covers, the series actually starts with, "The 97th step," and so should you. Then comes "The Man Who Never Missed," my personal favorite.

The storyline mostly centers around one man and his efforts to overthrow a repressive galactic government. The protagonist is Emile Khadaji. He starts his adult life as one of the government's soldiers but, during a battle to put down a rebellion, he experiences a transcendent moment... an epiphany. From that moment on he is no longer a soldier.

Luckily a mystic figure named Pen takes him under his wing, trains him in the martial arts of the ninety-nine steps, and then releases Emile to fulfill his destiny. Along the way, he single-handedly starts, maintains and ends a guerrilla war against the government. After which he assembles and trains a team of body-guards that forces the whole system to its knees.

Perry is definitely a commercial author but I doubt he would apologize for that. The Matadora series is a good example of this. It panders to my every boyish reading desire. Thanks, Mr. Perry.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy four stars. Good, solid science fiction. Perry weaves an exciting, plausible tale. As usual he explains the advent of faster-than-light travel with a wave of his hand, but exknowledges the mystery of it.

For a book published 25 years ago, The Man Who Never Missed holds up well on how-could-the-author-miss-that? Perry anticipates continued acceleration of computer minaturization (Moore's "Law")and how it might be used by a revolutionary, but not so much how it might be used against him. He missed the revolution in personal communication and navigation devices, but who didn't?

[Steven Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was about 19-ish the first time I read this book. I grew up in a very conservative household, and was not very sexually experienced at the time. I remember I hated the character Juete (it was easy for me to remember her name as it was similar to the ship I was on at the time) and her failure to be faithful to Khadaji.

Now more years than I would like to admit has passed, and reading it again a bit older and perhaps even a bit wiser (but definately more worldly) I am not so mad at Juete but even might understand the character a bit more.

The author is still one of my favorites, and I have enjoyed most of his SciFi books, but not cared for the material he wrote in other worlds. I have hoped for years that the author would write more in this series.

[WadeofEarth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and engaging pulp sci-fi. The characters were what I've come to expect from this genre, all to the extreme; no moderation, but while this style has been well used, it is far from worn out in my opinion, as the extremes give us a different version of reality than we are used to interacting with, and are used well here, to magnify characteristics and add pizzazz to the story. The story itself was enjoyable, interesting and thought provoking; a terrorist as protagonist, not wholly original, but again, hardly worn out.

Perry tells a concise story here that, once engaged, is hard to pull away from, I'll be checking out the next one. Thanks for the recommendation Lojtant Dan!

[Thomas Wagner | SFF180 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Feeble story of a rebel utterly devoid of suspense or dramatic tension. 1½ star review. My full-length review of this title is here.

Please note that my site SFReviews.net, in operation since July 2001, is where I post my SFF reviews, and I only use Goodreads to help direct interested fellow readers who are more likely to spend time here than following the site itself. Thank you. (If I review a non-SFF title, I will do so here.)

[john fulkerson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read or regret!

I read this story the first time when it was first published. It was a catalyst that changed my life and has been in my thoughts ever since. The story takes on an almost religious tone as the insights are so deep that you can be entertained and simultaneously inspired like nothing else. My path through the military and my dedicated pursuit of the martial arts has led me to become who I am today, enlightened and a peaceful yet deadly opponent. Read and enjoy as I have and remember, I am not lost, I just don't know where I am.

[Bryan Jacobson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book, great start to an excellent series.

[John Mihelic · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read “The Man Who Never Missed” by Steve Perry. Now this is one of those books I normally wouldn’t read, but a friend lent it to me. Then it sat on my shelf for like three years. I might get this back to him now. I read it because I was looking for some short fiction and there it was, guilting me.

Basically, it is the epitome of an 80s action movie. In space. In a book form. The main character is a loner with a conscious. He is an ex-soldier who hates war, so he becomes a rebel. He takes out soldiers that are on a base in a city occupied by the government. But he has a heart, so he doesn’t kill them. Then there’s a climax and you’re lead to believe he’s dead. But there are other books in the series so there’s nothing really at stake there.

It is super 80s in that the action is really good. It’s missing that scene where he really comes to hate the government. The book tells about his desertion, but it lacks something. It’s missing character development. There are only a couple real relationships in the text, and they’re all told straight through this first person construct. There’s a training partner and a mentor and a love interest but none exist independent of the main character. The main character falls in love with the real hot woman he works with and even that doesn’t feel organic. If this were a more ambitious book, i’d say that the flatness of the other characters was some sort of stylistic choice to show something or other about the main character, but I think it’s just authorial laziness or incompetence. But the funny thing is that doesn't make the book bad, because you know that that’s not what the ambition is. It’s a spaghetti western, with space stuff thrown in. Heck, I just might read the other books in the series, just to see what happens.

[Roger · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book may be the first "Matador" novel in published order, but it is not the first book of the series in chronological order. That honor belongs to "The 97th Step".

I read "The 97th Step" approximately 10 years ago. The fact that it took me 10 years to get around to the sequel ("The Man Who Never Missed") should speak volumes.

I wanted to like both of these books. The title of "The Man Who Never Missed" seems to offer a promise of lots of action. Titles such as this draw action junkies (such as moi) like a flame draws a moth. Like the aforementioned moth...I feel a little singed having finished this book.

There is very little action in this book. There are more pages devoted to becoming/being a bartender. The entire book feels like a buildup...which might have been appropriate if I hadn't ALREADY read a book in this series ("The 97th Step") that was all buildup!

Will I go on to book number three, "Matadora"? Probably not. If that book turned out to be all buildup and no payout, I might start banging my head on the nearest piece of furniture. My head, being rather hard, might hurt the furniture. This would get me in trouble with the Wife...since she is rather fond of said furniture.

At this point in time, I will not pursue this series further. 10 years down the road, who knows? Kinda depends on what is sitting on my "To Read" shelf.

[Louis Gamble · Rating 1 out of 5]

Cool Sci-Fi and good action. Held back by terrible crude material that hurts the story overall.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Man Who Never Missed is a lot of entertainment in a small package. It is written by Steve Perry (no not Journey's Steve Perry the other one) an author whose work I have sampled before and not found particularly impressive. However here Perry hits his stride, and I like the hero he has created. Emile Khadaji is a thoughtful man, who questions the ethical underpinnings of the course he has chosen. He is not an indiscriminate mindless killer and that makes him a cut above a lot of "heroes" I've read about over the years. The action takes place in a gritty future and I think this book compares favorably to Jack Vance's Demon Princes series, which is high praise. I am going to enjoy finding the other books-originally a trilogy the series has now stretched to nine novels.

[Miles · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed this science fiction adventure story. It had lots of great elements, a classic underdog story, plenty of interesting technology (described in the everyday vernacular way that would really be used), the right levels of sex and violence, mystery, etc. The main character is a compelling one and the story is very well-structured. At slightly less than 200 pages, it was also the right length for me - a bit of a throwback to some of the classic SF I read as a kid before every book became an epic. I had low expectations, as I hadn't heard much about the book before trying it, and was very pleasantly surprised. I have now ordered the next two books in the series. Definitely recommended for SF adventure fans.

[Mica · Rating 3 out of 5]

The original premise of this book was awesome (the opening chapters hooked me big time). And the world was amazingly well-thought out and elaborate. But the female characters were 2 dimensional, boring, and incompletely filled out. The author routinely reverted to cliche and chauvinism as plot points (a race of albino sex addicts? Really?), ruining what would otherwise have been a pretty cool ride. I'm tempted to read the rest of Perry's books, which promise to fill out some of the lame-duck female characters in this one, but I'm not convinced they will be better executed.

[D'Argo Agathon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic little book. Okay, it's pretty pulpy -- cheesy '80s portmanteaus, the occasional silly dialogue, and, as the title implies, a "Marty Stu" character -- but despite (and perhaps because of) that, Perry delivers great action and some rather insightful commentary on life, the "warrior" mind, ego, ethics, power, and strategy, all without getting bogged down by too much worldbuilding or side-stories. There isn't much "character" here aside from our hero and the small bits about his teachers, but then again, it's not really trying to be "that kind" of book.

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

mid-1980's scifi

hero bit of a Gary Stu, left the ConFed space marines (or whatever they're called) because couldn't tolerate the mass slaughter

met a monk who trained him to be 1337 warrior and a bartender

became fabulously wealthy

became 1-man killing machine, paralyzing ConFed troops with his stun gun

identity revealed to ConFed at end of book, setting up for sequel

Not much world building or really any other interesting characters

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Steve Perry titles this one as the man who never missed-- at the end of the book when the bad guys are counting the ammo he used and the casualties- they note that he never missed... But in the first chapter he misses a shot-- though he makes it appear he did not.

This one is an interesting Science Fiction novel-- but bogs down in sort of an origin story.... The hero is a former soldier, who one day gets fed up with killing, has some sort of a psychic epiphany and walks right through the enemy lines and takes upon himself a new life, learning a sort of zen philosophy and martial arts from a monk type character, and eventually moving step one of his plan.

Perry creates interesting ideas for weapons. Since the hero no longer wishes to take life, instead he uses special "Spiderman-type" wrist shooters that fire poison darts. His darts cause a muscle spasm/constriction that puts the victim's body in an uncontrollable and practically frozen knot. The poison lasts about six months. The hero goes about the planet freezing up the local military occupiers while using a clever cover.

What makes this story lacking is the way Perry puts it together. First, he opens the ball with some clever action scenes-- then he creates a long and extended flashback telling how the hero came to this place-- then he creates a quick resolution that is nothing less than a set up for episode 2. It's sort of like watching the first episode of a new television series and then ending on a cliffhanger... Works better for TV than for books... I have the next book in the series-- but I'm gonna give it a break before I get to it.

Perry also creates too many Science Fiction words/blends that just become Sci-Fi babble. Most of the time he reveals exactly what he means and at others the reader is just left wondering- what's that?