The Man Who Had Everything

Deathstalker (Audio) #1

by Simon R. Green, Richard Rohan (Narrator), Terence Aselford (Narrator)

The imperial Majesty Lionstone XIV rules the human Empire with fear. When Owen Deathstalker, unwilling head of his clan, seeks to avoid the perils of the Empire's warring factions, he unexpectedly finds a price on his head. He flees to Mistworld, where he begins to build an unlikely force to topple the throne. With the help of his crew, Deathstalker takes the first step on a far more dangerous journey to claim the role for which he has been destined since before his birth.

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook

Audiobook

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Simon Richard Green is a British science fiction and fantasy-author. He holds a degree in Modern English and American Literature from the University of Leicester. His first publication was in 1979.

His Deathstalker series is partly a parody of the usual space-opera of the 1950s, told with sovereign disregard of the rules of probability, while being at the same time extremely bloodthirsty.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Tony Williams · Rating 5 out of 5]

This first of the five part "serialization" of the first book of the Deathstalker is a joy. It hits the ground running and never stops. The plotting is propulive and the characters are a hoot. I loved every minute and I can't wait to read part two.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is classic like science fiction that I missed.
The Goodreads description pegs it.

[Tressa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The audio version of Deathstalker is broken up in five episodes: Episode 1: The Man Who Had Everything, Episode 2: Friends, Enemies, and Allies, Episode 3: Under the Ashes, the City, Episode 4: Hostile Takeover, and Episode 5: The Darkvoid Device. I believe the audio version is abridged, but I didn't detect anything missing that would have impacted the storyline. Overall, I'd rate the entire story three stars.

I preferred some episodes more than others due to how the story was structured and developed. I especially liked the fourth episode, Friends, Enemies, and Allies. I'd rate that part four stars. I'd give three stars to The Man Who Had Everything and Hostile Takeover. Under the Ashes, the City and The Darkvoid Device would have only received two stars.

The production of the audio version was excellent. I liked the use of special effects, music, and the variety of voice actors. These items truly enhanced the story.

I did think that the overall story is rather depressing. The Empire was such a horrid place that I questioned whether humanity should have survived for that long. There is a lot of byzantine politicking and intrigue. There is also a huge amount of information dumping throughout Deathstalker. The audio version made it tolerable, though.

The author, Simon R. Green, appears to have been heavily influenced by many different elements for Deathstalker. The mish-mashed elements did work even though I wondered how such disparate elements could work. At times, it felt like everything and the kitchen sink were thrown into the story.

[Staci · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to the audio version of this. I came across this title while browsing my library's online audio collection, saw it was fairly short (only 3.5 hours) and decided to give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised and managed to finish it all in one sitting. I will definitely continue with this series.

[Ed Nemo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let me start with, Simon R Green is one of my favorite authors. That being said, this book just wore me down. Space Opera is not my thing. And while this is a well written book of the type, it is just not my thing. I read it through and was just worn out at the end.

If Space Opera is your thing, definitely pick this up.

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

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