Queen of the Legion

Legion of Space #4

by williamson-jack

Jil Gyrel leads a crew of Legionaires into the mysterious Hawkshead Nebula, where her father had disappeared years before

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Adventure, Space Opera

Paperback

First published January 1, 1982

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Queen of the Legion is the fourth and final book in Williamson's Legion of Space series. The first novel was published in 1934, and adding another installment a half-century later was a pretty amazing feat. It's a fun, action-packed space opera story, a stand-alone that's set in the same universe. Williamson's setting and style are significantly different, and I enjoyed the story but thought some of the linkages were a little awkward. The main character is a strong female, Jil Gyrel, and the adventure is as captivating as ever. All of the characters are better drawn. I thought making the book quite a bit longer than the originals was a bad choice because it was too much of a change to the pacing, and I missed the lengthy scientific explanations for what was happening. It was fun book, but sometimes you just can't go home again.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jack Williamson (1908 - 2006) wrote a lot of books and was quite popular and respected in his time. He was named a grandmaster by the Science Fiction Writers of America, the second one to be so named after Robert Heinlein. Despite this, I've not read much by him myself, although I've read a lot of SF over the years. I've had this one for a while and am glad I finally got around to reading it. It is chronologically 4th in the Legion of Space series by Williamson, and I have the others as well.

Here's what I liked: 1. Beautiful language. The descriptions of space and planetary landscapes are poetic and memorable. 2. The characters. All characters were memorable, both villains and heroes, as well as aliens and robots. I had a great deal of sympathy with the main hero, Jil Gyrel, who becomes the "Queen of the Legion." 3. Dramatic events. The plot had a number of high points and kept me interested and wanting to know more.

What I liked less. I felt the book was somewhat longer than it needed to be. It didn't feel padded but I thought certain scenes could have been moved along faster and would have benefited from that. Also, though I liked the main character, Jil Gyrel, I was sometimes irritated by stereotyped feminine weaknesses that she showed, such as falling in love with just about every man she met. Of course, Williamson certainly came of age during an older era so I can see where he was deriving the character from. The book itself was published in 1983, but definitely has the feel of an older work.

All in all, I liked this book quite a bit and certainly recommend Williamson's stories to other readers.

[Denis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the final book written by Williams set in the "Legion of Space universe", written and published during the early 80's (40 plus years after those from the original magazin publication). This time 'round, it features a stong female lead wich was refreshing. Besides a few odd modern touches, it really reads as if it were written during the same pre-WWII era as the others.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fans of Jack Williamson's Legion of Space series would have a long time to wait after part 3 of the saga, "One Against the Legion," appeared in 1939. It would be a full 28 years before a short story featuring any of the Legion characters came forth, 1967's "Nowhere Near," and it was not until 1983, almost 50 years after part 1 of the series ("The Legion of Space") was released, that the final novel of the tetralogy, "Queen of the Legion," was delivered. Taking place several generations later than the earlier books, "Queen" tells the story of Jil Gyrel, the only woman to take center stage in a Legion epic. A lonely child growing up in the backwater Hawkshead Nebula, Jil's life takes a decided turn for the worse at age 7, when her starship-pilot father disappears on a mission, her mother remarries, and the family moves to a more "civilized" region of the galaxy. Upon reaching adulthood, Jil returns to her beloved nebula, in time to find the sector in chaos. The Keeper of the Peace--the custodian of the superweapon AKKA, as readers may recall--has just been murdered, mysterious entities known only as "cliffdrillers" have been attacking the human settlements in the nebula, and, worst of all, deadly parasite aliens called "shadowflashers" have been invading human hosts and (perhaps in a nod to 1979's "Alien") laying their eggs in same. Through a series of (somehow plausible) plot contrivances, Jil becomes drawn into this deadly state of affairs as she progresses closer and closer to the nebula's lethal radioactive center. Her companions in her quest to rescue AKKA and save mankind (no easy task for an 18-year-old woman, even if she does possess a black belt in the yawara martial arts, as well as the Gyrel mutant ability to astrogate through the nebula) are Kynan Star, of the famous Star family; Lord Archy, a levitating, silver globule of a robot and one of the most endearing such that any reader could wish to encounter; and Hannibal Xenophon Gul, a Legion corporal whose gluttony, perpetual whining, slovenliness and incessant use of the word "mortal" will surely clue most readers as to his real identity. (Additional hint: He's the same character who had taken an experimental longevity serum when last encountered, in "Nowhere Near.")

Hardly as fast moving as "The Legion of Space," as thrilling as "The Cometeers" or as compact as "One Against the Legion," "Queen of the Legion" still does have much to offer. It is the longest of all the Legion tales, with a large cast of interesting characters and several truly bizarre alien species, and Jil makes for a very appealing heroine. She and Kynan are an unusual love item, he being a good 20 years her senior and a bit of a beaten-up wreck of a man. Williamson, taking advantage of a 1980s permissiveness undreamed of in the 1930s, allows sex to enter into a Legion story for the first time, and although it really is no big deal, the brief allusions to it do startle. The shadowflashers make for excellent and scary nemeses, and the hosts and hostesses who they inhabit become truly repugnant creatures (including some very near and dear to Jil, unfortunately). To my surprise, I found that this intallment had several quite touching moments, perhaps none more so than when Jil regards an alien species known as the "lasermakers"--lumps of spiny matter attached to a rock shelf on a dying planet--and realizes that the creatures are "forlorn, doomed, strange in shape and mind, yet somehow kin." As would be expected, Williamson's skills as a writer show a decided improvement in this novel, after five decades' worth of continual practice. Characterizations seem deeper, and instances of fuzzy writing markedly less (although his descriptions of the shadowflashers' volcanic city are still a bit too sketchy for this reader's tastes). One more short story pertaining to the series, "The Luck of the Legion," would appear posthumously in 2008, bringing the saga's total to four novels and two short stories, and I would imagine that most readers who regretfully say good-bye to Jil at the end of "Queen" will be wishing there were a lot more to follow. This is a worthy addition to a legendary space opera, and I do recommend it to all readers.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

Believe it or not, Dean Williamson picked up his 1930s space opera series (a knockoff of E.E. "Doc" Smith's Galactic Patrol) in the early 80s, dusted it off, and wrote a new volume. It's an uneasy mix of early SF plot contrivances (vanished characters constantly reappear at the most unlikely - yet most opportune - moments), 70s/80s intrusions (a plucky female hero and some sexual allusions, though thankfully nowhere near late Heinlein territory), and whatever else was on Williamson's mind at the time (some cardboard caricatures of peaceniks). Weird and neither-fish-nor-fowl as it is, he's still a very capable storyteller, and the book's difficult to put down.

[Michael Drakich · Rating 5 out of 5]

My approach to this novel was to lay back and enjoy an old fashioned space opera as previously designed by E.E. Doc Smith and others. There's something about space opera that separates it from other science fiction novels. Gone is the necessity for exact science, plausible circumstances and multi-dimensional characters. No, with space opera the goal is much more mundane - outrageous plots, enemies and conflicts, all with the goal of high energy entertainment.

Don't let the additional title, Legion Of Space, #4, mislead you. This is a stand-alone novel set in a previously established universe. The necessity to read any of the previous novels is nil. Your level of enjoyment will be the same.

Kudos to the author on a terrifying nemesis to the Legion. The shadow-flashers, though not unlike other creatures in their ability to take control of the mind and body of humans, come with an additional quality of not being physical in being but created of a type of energy making them unique. The additional aliens in the novel, the laser-makers, also provide a different design sure to make a reader ponder the possibilities.

The story built continually, with each chapter taking the intensity level to a new high. The final chapters were both emotional and apocalyptic. Quite simply, The Queen Of The Legion is one heck of a ride. I would strongly recommend this novel to any fans of space opera.

[Rob Worth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of action and great plot! Horrible characters! Jil Gyrel, the main hero was emotionally weak. Hibibula one of the co-stars of the story was beyond annoying. He makes Dr. Zachary Smith of Lost In Space seem like a brave hero. The other co-star Kynan Star was another weak nobody. Physically and emotionally weak. How these "heroes" survived is beyond belief. The REAL brave heroes of the book are Miss Williams and Lord Archy, and they don't even have arms or legs. They are both ball like creatures. Lord Archy a robot and Miss Williams a fibre ball looking alien. I gave it 3 stars because there was great action, and it was a solid plot. I just hated the main characters and hoped they died at the end.

[Fantasy Literature]

4 stars from Sandy: http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...