History Literature / Deathstalker

* {{Cuckold}}: ''Deathstalker Destiny'' reveals this to be the origin of [[spoiler: the Darkvoid Device. Giles Deathstalker slept with and impregnated the Emperor's wife and when their son (who would become the Device) was born, the Emperor figured out the child's true parentage, which is why Giles had to take the child and go on the run]].

* GhostPlanet: Grendel. [[spoiler: Unseeli until ''Legacy''.]]

* WeaponOfMassDestruction: The Darkvoid Device.

* BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind: [[spoiler: Diana Vertue and friends vs. the Mater Mundi, quite literally.]]

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Giles Deathstalker (who's revealed in the climax of ''Deathstalker War'' to have been plotting to take the throne for himself the entire time; Owen winds up having to kill him when he won't back down), Tobias Moon, Alexander Storm (who's revealed in ''Deathstalker War'' to have gotten tired of endlessly fighting the Empire and so betrayed Jack Random to them when they were part of a rebellion on Cold Rock).]]

** And then, in the last three books, there's the Fantastic Anti-Drug "Purge," which sobers you up in 60 seconds, and makes you regret 59 of them. Basically, it forces the drugs out through [[VomitIndiscretionShot all]] [[PottyFailure available]] [[OverlyNervousFlopSweat means.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Captain Silence, Tobias Moon (once he's died and turned back into a regular Hadenman), most of the Empire.]]

* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler: In ''Deathstalker Honor'', Valentine Wolfe dies to a single disruptor shot to the chest from Finlay Campbell. In the next book, Finlay reveals Valentine's body had gone missing soon afterward, and it eventually turns out that Valentine had had Shub nanomachines implanted into his body that healed him.]]

* PlayingWithFire: The Stevie Blues can generate and control fire.

* RammingAlwaysWorks: When the [=ELFs=] manage to take over an entire Imperial starcruiser, the only chance another, very damage cruiser has to prevent them devastating the fleet is to ram it.

** Tobias: FriendToAllLivingThings (ironically).

* TranshumanTreachery: Empress Lionstone, faced with imminent defeat in the climax of ''Deathstalker War'', accepts an offer from Shub to have her mind uploaded and made into an A.I. so she can take revenge. Of course Shub lied and just made an A.I. that pretended to be Lionstone.

* GeniusLoci: The Red Brain, a giant, sentient forest, that may or may not be an entire planet. There is also another, literal living planet, and then at least one other world that was effectively a Genius Locus after a Big Gray Goo scenario. The A.I.s of Shub may also count, being three sentient computers the size of a planet.

* HealingFactor: Bonnie Bedlam, one of the alternate Hazels introduced in ''Deathstalker Honor'', has this power -- she can completely regenerate anything, even severed limbs.

* AssShove: In one book, a woman was forced to approach a man who would decide her fate completely in the nude. She had decided to break clean but she couldn't carry any regular concealed weapon... but a deactivated monofilament blade's handle was relatively easy to hide in the one place the guards wouldn't look.

** In ''Deathstalker Honor'', Gregor Shreck [[spoiler: puts Evangeline's "childhood" friend Penny's head in a jar, next to Professor Wax. He threatens to do the same to Evangeline, after beating, torturing, and (more than likely) raping her senseless, then growing another clone to fulfill Evangeline's "daughterly duties." He even says he might piss in the jar from time to time, just because he can.]]

* HealingFactor: One of the alternate Hazels has this power.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Captain Silence, Tobias Moon, most of the Empire.]]

* EvilDetectingDog: Not exactly "evil," but the talking dog Owen meets earlier in human history can tell there's something seriously off about him. ItMakesSenseInContext.

* FaceHeelTurn: [[spoiler: Giles, Tobias Moon, Alexander Storm.]]

* HealingFactor: One of the alternate Hazels.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Shub. Also, [[spoiler: Haceldama, though in that case its almost double-invoked, as Shub wanted all the AIs they made on Haceldama to be murderous, but some actually turned good.]]

* ChekhovsGag: Multiple occasions, at least one [[spoiler: appears between the books, Deathstalker: Return and Deathstalker: Coda. In Return, Lewis Deathstalker discusses parties of jaded big game hunters going to Shandra-kor to hunt the monsters there. After ten hunts, the only thing that came back was a note saying, "Send more hunters." In Coda, said monsters agree to aid Lewis in his rebellion and are riding in a cargo bay of Lewis's star cruiser during a "Pure Humanity" loyalist mutiny. The loyalists go to the cargo bay to cleanse the "abominations," the monsters tear the loyalists apart and eat them. One monster sends up a com-request to the bridge to "Send more loyalists."]] This could be a BrickJoke if you didn't find the idea of [[spoiler: big game hunters being eaten]] funny.

* CutHisHeartOutWithASpoon: After [[spoiler: Saturday reveals she's a mole, and mortally wound Jesamine, Shub informs Lewis they have a regeneration tank nearby. Lewis rushes Jes to it, and she's just fine, but Lewis thinks Shub could have told him a little bit sooner:]]

* EldritchAbomination: The Recreated, The Terror
** To a much lesser extent, the Grendels. The city their Vaults are located in is described in tones reminiscent of HP Lovecraft, and the creatures themselves are something like the antagonist from Alien, [[UpToEleven only much more vicious and difficult to kill.]]

* EverybodyDies: [[spoiler: by the end of the fifth book, Giles Deathstalker, Jack Random, Ruby Journey, and even Owen Deathstalker are dead, Tobias Moon is out of the picture, and Hazel has vanished, leaving the supporting characters the job of cleaning up the mess and establishing a new, freer Empire.]]

* TheMole: Loads of them. [[spoiler: Oz, the Lord High Dram (as Hood), Alexander Storm, and Young Jack Random, to name some.]] The poor rebels.
** In the later books [[spoiler: Saturday for all the six lines of dialog or so he/she gets]]

** Finlay Campbell, when he decides he's got nothing left to lose and [[spoiler: goes to finish what Evangeline started with Gregor Shreck.]] See Crowning Moment Of Awesome, above.

** A minor example in the second and third books (Deathstalker Rebellion and Deathstalker War). The Golgotha Underground splits up the heroes to take on different tasks, ostensibly because all three hotspots need to be dealt with immediately, so they can't send all of them to one after the other. However, Toby Schreck and Flynn are present to provide news coverage for each event, witnessing all the heroes in action on three different planets. The books do indicate that the events aren't happening exactly concurrent with each other, [[FridgeLogic but if Toby and Flynn can travel to Planet A, film all the important events, then go to planets B and C in turn and do the same thing, why couldn't all the heroes stick together, too?]]

* ScrapHeapHero: Jack Random in the first book.

* SnarkyNonHumanSideKick: Ozymandias, the AI that's oftentimes by Owen's side.

* TranshumanTreachery: Empress Lionstone, faced with imminent defeat, accepts an offer from Shub to have her mind uploaded and made into an AI so she can take revenge. Of course Shub lied and just made an AI that pretended to be Lionstone.

* AIIsACrapshoot: Shub. Also, [[spoiler:Haceldama, though in that case its almost double-invoked, as Shub wanted all the AIs they made on Haceldama to be murderous, but some actually turned good.]]
* AlienGeometries / MobileMaze: The Madness Maze.
** The alien city outside the Vault of the Sleepers on Grendel is also said to be fundamentally disturbing to humans, killing a large chunk of the company before they even get to the Vault. Also, the Hadenmen ship interiors are said to have angles that humans can't comfortably perceive. Heck, just about anything not built specifically by humans falls under AlienGeometries to some extent.

* [[AsYouKnow As You (Should) Know]]: Hazel makes a habit of ''not'' attending Rebellion [[spoiler: (and later, Empire)]] briefings, leaving Owen to explain to her (and the audience) where they're going, what they're doing, and why. [[LampshadeHanging Owen will frequently pause in his exposition to say that Hazel would know all this already if she attended the briefings, and Hazel responds that she knows how much Owen loves lecturing her and doesn't want to deny him the satisfaction.]]

* BadassNormal: Alexander Storm, and quite a few other members of the rebellion -- including Finlay Campbell and Kit [=SummerIsle=].
* BattleCouple: Jack and Ruby; Owen and Hazel; Lewis and Jesamine; Bret and Rose; Silence and Frost; Finlay and Evangeline; [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit [=SummerIsle=]]].

* BigBad: Empress Lionstone XIV.
** In the final three books, [[spoiler: Finn Durandal.]]

** Simon Green seems to really like this trope. Wormboy, a giant tub of goo which literally ''fills an auditorium'', the Maids, young girls converted into mindless cybernetic monsters, marines in the Madness Maze, hell, even [[spoiler:''the Empress'' gets her moment of this]].

* BuryYourGays / HideYourLesbians: Averted in one case, with the Stevie Blues; played straight as an arrow in another case, with [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit [=[=SummerIsle=]=]]]. The Stevie Blues are Esper Clones in a lesbian group marriage and are quite open about that fact. [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit [=[=SummerIsle=]=] relies a bit more on subtext, but David doesn't live long past the point that subtext starts becoming notable.]]
** It should be noted that the relationship of the Stevie Blues (four esper clones who consider themselves married to each other) is considered {{Squick}} even by the Rebellion, who's fighting for the rights of all "nonpeople." We also have Toby Schreck's cameraman, Flynn, a gay transvestite who would be immediately executed if it ever came out. All in all, the Empire under Lionstone plays this painfully straight, [[spoiler: though things seem to loosen up very quickly after her defeat.]]
* BuxomIsBetter: [[JustForPun Largely]] averted with the main characters in the first five books, who aren't described as being particularly busty (and Hazel notably gets upset when she gets famous and is promptly given the MostCommonSuperpower in almost all adaptations.) But prevalent enough in minor characters in the first five books, and major characters in the last three, that one suspects some form of AuthorAppeal at work.

* ChekhovsGag: Multiple occasions, at least one [[spoiler:appears between the books, Deathstalker: Return and Deathstalker: Coda. In Return, Lewis Deathstalker discusses parties of jaded big game hunters going to Shandra-kor to hunt the monsters there. After ten hunts, the only thing that came back was a note saying, "Send more hunters." In Coda, said monsters agree to aid Lewis in his rebellion and are riding in a cargo bay of Lewis's star cruiser during a "Pure Humanity" loyalist mutiny. The loyalists go to the cargo bay to cleanse the "abominations," the monsters tear the loyalists apart and eat them. One monster sends up a com-request to the bridge to "Send more loyalists."]] This could be a BrickJoke if you didn't find the idea of [[spoiler: big game hunters being eaten]] funny.

* TheChick: Evangeline Shreck, though she gets her badass ActionGirl moment.
** Given the issues she's dealing with, it's amazing she's as well-adjusted as she is. [[spoiler: see "Cloning Blues," below.)]]

** In the later books this is played straight up with the... [[spoiler:"Church Militant."]]

*** This is also interesting because it seems that disruptor weapons were systematically nerfed when projectile weapons were banned because [[spoiler:Owen discovers that in the past (i.e. in the "fallen" first empire), energy weapons could fire without pause.]]
* CoolOldGuy: Jack Random. [[spoiler:Thanks to the Madness Maze, he gets younger as the books go on. But he stays cool.]]

* [[CreepyChild Creepy Children]]: The espers of the Abraxus Information Center.

* DecadentCourt: Lionstone's. Between her wicked and dangerous sense of humor, the assorted intrigues and punishments for same, some days attending court is like playing Russian Roulette when you don't know how many bullets are in the gun. You can choose to not attend in person, and come via hologram, but holograms aren't allowed to participate, and the Empress might decide to take it as an insult...

* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Averted with [[spoiler: Oz]]

* DoNotGoGentle: The entire [[spoiler:Deathstalker]] clan chooses to die fighting against [[spoiler:Finn]]'s lackeys rather than let him choose their fates. While they are all killed, it completely ruins off the message [[spoiler:Finn]] had planned.

* EarnYourHappyEnding: After eight books full of all kinds of horrible things, including Owen dying, [[spoiler:Owen Deathstalker and Hazel d'Ark are finally together, forever.]]

* FiveManBand
** TheLeader: Owen Deathstalker/Jack Random
** TheLancer: Hazel D'Ark/Finlay Campbell
** TheBigGuy: Ruby Journey/Tobias Moon
** TheSmartGuy: Giles Deathstalker/Owen Deathstalker

*** Rose Constantine/Brett Random (The Lancer, alternately)
*** Rose Constantine/Saturday (The Big Guy, alternately)

*** Jesamine Flowers/Brett Random (The Chick, alternately)

* GhostPlanet: Grendel. [[spoiler:Unseeli until Legacy]]

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Kit [=[=SummerIsle=]=]. [[CatchPhrase He's a killer, he goes where the killing is.]]
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler: Captain Silence, Tobias Moon, most of the Empire.]]

* ImAHumanitarian: Valentine Wolfe, after he goes into exile on [[spoiler:Virimonde]], has a sumptuous feast prepared for his supporters using the bodies of the planet's dead populace. The supporters aren't pleased when they find out.

* LivingToys: Haceldama.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters

* OddFriendship: Lord Crawford Campbell and Lord Roderik [=[=SummerIsle=]=]. Rivals since forever, they found it was easier to like [[WorthyOpponent an enemy you admire]] than an ally of necessity.

* PlayingWithFire: The Stevie Blues.

* ProphecyTwist: In the first book Owen is warned that he will die alone and helpless, far from friend and ally. They'll even take his boots. The prophecy weighs on him until ''Destiny'' where [[spoiler:he dies exactly as predicted. The twist is that he had ''already died'' at the time of the prophecy; in the last battle with the Recreated he had traveled back in time and ended up exhausted and vulnerable on Mistworld where he was killed by a pack of drug addicts]].
* PsychicLink: Owen, Hazel, Jack, Ruby, Moon, and Giles (at first); and Silence and Frost
* PsychicNosebleed: Julian Skye.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge:
** Finlay Campbell, when he decides he's got nothing left to lose and [[spoiler: goes to finish what Evangeline started with Gregor Shreck.]] See Crowning Moment Of Awesome, above.
** Investigator Topaz goes on one in "Mistworld" to hunt down her husband's killer.

* SpareToTheThrone: Douglas in the second series, who had been content with being a Paragon until his brother was killed by a drunk driver.

* SwordAndGun: Tends to be justified because the disruptors have a two minute recharge lag.
* SnarkyNonHumanSideKick: Ozymandias, the AI that's oftentimes by Owen's side.
* StableTimeLoop: [[spoiler:Owen Deathstalker returns from the dead]] and goes traveling back in time to find the Terror [[spoiler:who is in fact Hazel d'Ark]]. On one of his stops, he has the [[spoiler:Light People construct the Madness Maze which gave him the power to time travel in the first place]]. The implications of this give him serious thoughts... and a headache.
** For an extra bit of time loop madness, after [[spoiler:Owen and Hazel]] reunite in the distant past, they transform into what appear to be [[spoiler:Light People. It's possible that they are the origin of the race which created the Madness Maze which let them go back in time to create that race]].

* TheScottishTrope: In full force however far along in the future the novels are set.
-->'''Jesamine''': Darling, tell me you haven't got that awful bootleg of me in Verdi's ''[=MacB=]'', when I played Lady M [[MsFanservice in the nude!]]
** Averted (or possibly invoked) later on in ''Deathstalker Legacy'', when Jesamine asks Lewis, shortly after they've first consummated their affair, if he's familiar with the plot of ''Theatre/{{Macbeth}}''. Lewis tells her not to even joke about that. [[spoiler: Not long afterward, everything goes to hell, in both Lewis and Jesamine's life and the Empire as a whole.]]
* TheWorfEffect: Rose Constantine runs headlong into this trope ''hard'' in ''Deathstalker Return''. Her whole role on Unseeli and Lachrymae Christi is just to show how powerful the Ashrai [[spoiler: actually Carrion]] and the Red Brain are.
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Silence and Frost's reasoning for not telling anyone about their abilities.

* VillainousIncest

** [[spoiler: The Mater Mundi and [[ParanoiaFuel any esper, anywhere, any time.]]]]

** In ''Deathstalker,'' Silo 9, or Wormboy Hell. Rebel espers kept in cells so small they can't stand or lay fully, completely naked, with no toilets. Just this would be bad enough, but they have "worms" implanted in their brains that connect them to the genetically-engineered esper monster Wormboy, [[MindRape who torments them with all manner of hellish psychic visions.]] Jenny Psycho, an esper who survived Wormboy Hell, has a voice described as raw, crackling, and very unsettling to listen to, because she screamed so much in Silo 9 she destroyed her vocal cords.
** In ''Deathstalker War,'' Valentine Wolfe [[spoiler: lops off the head of the scientist, Professor Wax, who designed the war machines Valentine's tech allows him to control to destroy Virimonde. The Professor's head is kept alive in a jar, forced to watch as his machines obliterate basically the entire population of the planet.]]
** In ''Deathstalker Honor,'' Gregor Shreck [[spoiler: puts Evangeline's "childhood" friend Penny's head in a jar, next to Professor Wax. He threatens to do the same to Evangeline, after beating, torturing, and (more than likely) raping her senseless, then growing another clone to fulfill Evangeline's "daughterly duties." He even says he might piss in the jar from time to time, just because he can.]]

* {{Flanderization}}: In-universe example with "the Deathstalker movie," made about Owen's life after Lionstone has been defeated. The Owen in the film is a painfully straight Lawful Good archetype, always shouting battle cries about fighting for justice and freedom, and played by a top heartthrob actor. Hazel is reduced to a barely-functional sociopath, constantly restrained from massive killing sprees by "Owen," and played by a former porn star with the MostCommonSuperpower. Owen found it so hysterical he was asked to leave by the ushers, [[TruthInTelevision Hazel had to be restrained from hunting down and murdering everyone involved in the production.]]

* GeniusLoci: the Red Brain: a giant, sentient forest, that may or may not be an entire planet. There is also another, literal living planet, and then at least one other world that was effectively a Genius Locus after a Big Gray Goo scenario. The A Is of Shub may also count, being three sentient computers the size of a planet.

** In ''Deathstalker Rebellion,'' a Prologue catches us up to the start of the book, explaining not only the general galactic situation but the events of the first book, leading up to the opening action scene.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Happens to Donal Corcoran, the only survivor of the Terror's first attack. He only saw it at a distance, through his ship's sensors, but is still so utterly insane he's actually ''contagious.'' Also a case of WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity.

* IncestIsRelative: Clarissa, [[spoiler: formerly one of Lionstone's handmaidens,]] is Toby Shreck's [[KissingCousins cousin.]] And [[NotBloodSiblings stepsister.]] "It's that kind of Family" he says. They plan to be married soon in the fifth book.

* MoralEventHorizon: In-universe. Once Lionstone [[spoiler: scourges Virimonde]], ''every other world'' rebels against her, as though she'd clearly lost it long ago, they never thought her attention would turn to ''them.''

* NamedWeapons: The Masked Gladiator [[spoiler: Finlay Campbell]], named his sword Morgana, after [[spoiler: the middle name of his true love, Evangeline Shreck.]]

* ParentalIncest: Gregor and Evangeline Shreck.

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Valentine Wolfe. He gets better, though.]]
* AntiHero: Nearly every character.

* BadassNormal: Alexander Storm, and quite a few other members of the rebellion -- including Finlay Campbell and Kit Summerisle.
* BattleCouple: Jack and Ruby; Owen and Hazel; Lewis and Jesamine; Bret and Rose; Silence and Frost; Finlay and Evangeline; [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit Summerisle]].

* BuryYourGays / HideYourLesbians: Averted in one case, with the Stevie Blues; played straight as an arrow in another case, with [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit [=SummerIsle=]]]. The Stevie Blues are Esper Clones in a lesbian group marriage and are quite open about that fact. [[spoiler:David Deathstalker and Kit [=SummerIsle=] relies a bit more on subtext, but David doesn't live long past the point that subtext starts becoming notable.]]
** It should be noted that the relationship of the Stevie Blues (four esper clones who consider themselves married to each other) is considered {{Squick}} even by the Rebellion, who's fighting for the rights of all "nonpeople." We also have Toby Schreck's cameraman, Flynn, a gay transvestite who would be immediately executed if it ever came out. All in all, the Empire under Lionstone plays this painfully straight, [[spoiler: though things seem to loosen up very quickly after her defeat.]]

* GhostPlanet: Grendel. [[spoiler:Unseeli untill Legacy]]

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Kit [=SummerIsle=]. [[CatchPhrase He's a killer, he goes where the killing is.]]

* IronicEcho: [[spoiler: Finn]] began his takedown of Douglas' Empire by recruiting thieves, thugs, hackers, and agent provacateurs from the Rookery. Douglas is forced to flee there after [[spoiler: Finn]] successfully wrests power away from him, and starts his rebellion by recruiting ''everyone'' from the Rookery.

* OddFriendship: Lord Crawford Campbell and Lord Roderik [=SummerIsle=]. Rivals since forever, they found it was easier to like [[WorthyOpponent an enemy you admire]] than an ally of necessity.

* ProphecyTwist: In the first book Owen is warned that he will die alone and helpess, far from friend and ally. They'll even take his boots. The prophecy weighs on him until ''Destiny'' where [[spoiler:he dies exactly as predicted. The twist is that he had ''already died'' at the time of the prophecy; in the last battle with the Recreated he had traveled back in time and ended up exhausted and vulnerable on Mistworld where he was killed by a pack of drug addicts]].
* PsychicLink: Owen, Hazel, Jack, Ruby, Moon, and Giles (at first); and Silence and Frost

** Almost annoyingly present in the later books and backstory when it comes to the Terror. [[spoiler: The terror "ate" an entire galaxy traveling at slower than light speed. Fine... Problem is that those being eaten could move faster than light. Solution: Move your freaking population about... 1000 light years ahead of the terror, chill for 900 years, repeat. Terror starves to death chasing you. Next issue: Terror arrives in Empire, eats a star system, everyone else freaks out. Problem is that the empire is literally thousands of light years across and has ultra-FTL capabilities. It would be literally a thousand years before the Terror could even reach the inner systems which have more than marginal populations. Similar solution to that above in that you could just shift populations from system to system every... 40 or so years and the Terror would eventually starve, give up, or... well, go FTL out of desperation. Oh, on a more practical note, the Terror goes through three habitable star systems in something like two years or so. I think the travel time for one trip was like six months. At light speed, six months would not even get you out of the Ort cloud of our solar system, much less the 4 light years to the nearest star or the 20 or so to the THEORETICAL closest star that MIGHT have a planet that could support life. Of course, this may also be an example of FridgeLogic.]]
** Actually stated that, travelling at just under the speed of light, the Terror would reach the next batch of inhabited planets in "weeks." No sense of scale indeed.

** [[spoiler: Finn Durandal gets hit with this only ''halfway'' through his grand plot to destroy the Empire. He just starts getting bored with how easy it is, and that he's dealt to efficiently with his enemies there's no one left to challenge him (he thinks). He reflects that, while he's still going to tear the Empire down, he's not sure he can be bothered to raise it back up again.]]
* SwordAndGun: Tends to be justified because the disruptors have a two minute recharge lag.

** Owen: Telekenisis.

* TakeUpMySword: In ''Deathstalker Return'', Brett breaks his sword against one of Shandrakor's impossibly tough trees. Later, as the group is [[spoiler: exploring the crashed original Deathstalker Standing, Brett finds a sword on a plaque, with only the name "Morgana" below it. Deciding he needs a new sword, and this one looks perfectly servicable, Brett takes it. This is, of course, the legendary sword of the equally-legendary Masked Gladiator, Finlay Campbell, not that anyone makes the connection.]]
* TearJerker:
** In ''Deathstalker Coda'', Lewis [[spoiler: realizing the entire population of the planet Virimonde is with him for justice against Finn, as well as seeing what Finn had done to the Deathstalker Standing.]]
* [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teleportation]]: Giles Deathstalker. Espers can do this, as well. The Empire was actually developing teleportation technology, but discovered Espers can do it cheaper and more easily, leading the tech to being abandonded. Shub picked it up and improved on it, as Shub does.
* ThemeNaming: The Empire dubs its starcruiser classes in alphabetical order, each class (presumably) based on some scientific breakthrough. The first series has D-class ships, with new E-Class ships being built around a new stardrive (reverse engineered from alien tech). All ships in a class have a name beginning with the first letter of the ship's class, thus the D-class starcruisers all have names beginning with D, the E-class ships all have names beginning with E (with the exception of Slience's new ship, the ''Dauntless'', though it is the first E-class ship). By the last three novels, they're up to H-class, and the theme naming seems to apply to ''all'' ships, not just starcruisers (though the ''Jeremiah'', [[spoiler: insane ship of the equally insane Donal Corcoran, mutated by exposure to the Terror, bucks this trend, possibly as foreshadowing.]]

* {{Troperrific}}: Yeah, just a bit.

''The page was becoming more than an entry. A whole greater than the sum of its parts....''

** ''Mistworld''
** ''Ghostworld''
** ''Hellworld''

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Lionstone's. Between her wicked and dangerous sense of humor, the assorted intrigues and punishments for same, some days attending court is like playing Russian Roulette when you don't know how many bullets are in the gun. You can choose to not attend in person, and come via hologram, but holograms aren't allowed to participate, and the Empress might decide to take it as an insult...

* MusicalAssassin: There's a type of esper called "Sirens," who can use their own voices as sonic weaponry.

* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Finlay Campbell, when he decides he's got nothing left to lose and [[spoiler: goes to finish what Evangeline started with Gregor Shreck.]] See Crowning Moment Of Awesome, above.

* ImAHumanitarian: [[spoiler: Valentine Wolfe, after he goes into exile on Virimonde, feeds his supporters from the dead resulting from his attack on Virimonde in the previous novel. They aren't pleased when they find out.]]

* InadequateInheritor: Giles sees Owen as this, lamenting that "the blood's gotten thin" when he finds out his descendant is a historian, not a warrior. Not that Owen is any slouch as a warrior, mind. Owen's father also wanted a very different life for Owen than Owen wanted for himself.

* [[spoiler: StableTimeLoop: Owen Deathstalker, adjusted by the Madness Maze and returned from the dead in the sequel trilogy, goes traveling back in time to find Hazel d'Ark, who has become the Terror. On one of his stops, he has the Light People construct the Madness Maze. The implications of this give him serious thoughts... and a headache.]]

* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler: Virimonde. ''Twice.'']]

* VictoryIsBoring

The eight-book ''Deathstalker'' series, written by Creator/SimonRGreen, drops the reader right into the midst of this, beginning with the outlawing of one Owen [[NounVerber Deathstalker]], an [[UnlikelyHero aristocratic historian]] who just wanted to relax in comfort on his idyllic, pastoral homeworld. That changes fast, and he's forced to take up arms with the smuggler Hazel D'Ark, the bounty hunter Ruby Journey, the [[RebelliousSpirit hero of the rebellion Jack Random]], and the former [[HollywoodCyborg Hadenman]] Tobias Moon... as well as a host of other unsavory characters, all of whom are [[AntiHero out for themselves]] as much as anything.

* ActionGirl: Simon R. Green seems to love this. Examples are Hazel, Ruby, Investigator Frost; Jesamine; Rose; Investigator Topaz; and . . . pretty much every woman of any note in the books. Even GirlyGirl Evangeline Shreck TookALevelInBadass very quickly, only stopped from being a true Action Girl by the fact that she's usually standing next to ''way'' more impressive fighters. Or she only comes across as a Girly Girl because she's surrounded by Maze-adjusted professional adventurers and highly-trained living weapon Investigators.

* AttackingThroughYourself: The Masked Gladiator [[spoiler: aka Finlay Campbell]] is fighting a winged genetically-engineered creature in the Arena, which grabs him from behind and carries him into he air, intending to impale him on one of the Arena's flagpoles. The Masked Gladiator can't attack the creature behind him effectively, so stabs through his own gut to hit the creature solidly enough to make it and him fall to the ground, where the Gladiator beheads it. The Gladiator makes a show of the wound not slowing him down. . . until he gets back to his private quarters, where he needs to quickly hop into a regeneration machine before he passes out.

** In the later books this is played straight up with the . . . [[spoiler:"Church Militant."]]

** [[spoiler: Evangeline Shreck, full-stop. Cloned from the original after the original committed suicide to escape her incestuous father, she originally believed the original had died in a car accident. Daddy still "loves" her, but threatens to kill her several times if she lets it slip she's a clone, or refuses his advances. In fact, at least once he strongly implies that he can kill and clone her as long as it takes until one of them loves him back. Torn between duty to her Family name, her abusive father, keeping her clone nature a secret, and her love for Finlay Campbell (Campbells and Shrecks being mortal enemies and all). . . well, the girl's got issues.]]

* CurbStompBattle. Especially notable as the first series progresses, the characters find themselves in increasingly dire straits, with much dazzling description of their combat prowess vastly exceeding those of mere mortals in speed and strength, but still hopelessly outmatched by their opponents, then their Maze powers flare up. . .

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Lionstone's. Between her wicked and dangerous sense of humor, the assorted intrigues and punishments for same, some days attending court is like playing Russian Roulette when you don't know how many bullets are in the gun. You can choose to not attend in person, and come via hologram, but holograms aren't allowed to participate, and the Empress might decide to take it as an insult. . .

* LegacyCharacter: Desconstructed to hell and back. Even in the first five books, the [=ELFs=] start modeling their fashion sense after Stevie Blue, in honor of their sacrifice during the Rebellion. The last three books feature Lewis Deathstalker, a descendant of some distant cousins of the original Deathstalker line, who has some serious worries that he's not "Deathstalker enough." There's also Brett Random, one of a group of legacy characters known as Random's Bastards, who all claim to be descended from legendary Jack Random's equally-legendary frequent dalliances. Brett actually claims he's descended from both Jack Random and Ruby Journey, though it's frequently pointed out that the only person who believes this is Brett. Douglas Campbell is obviously descended from Robert Campbell, Finlay's cousin, and Paragon Emma Steel is descended from a fairly important character on Mistworld in the original books. And her reporter friend on Logres is revealed to be [[spoiler: a great grand-niece of Flynn, Toby Shreck's CampGay cameraman.]]

** Almost annoyingly present in the later books and backstory when it comes to the Terror. [[spoiler: The terror "ate" an entire galaxy traveling at slower than light speed. Fine . . . Problem is that those being eaten could move faster than light. Solution: Move your freaking population about . . . 1000 light years ahead of the terror, chill for 900 years, repeat. Terror starves to death chasing you. Next issue: Terror arrives in Empire, eats a star system, everyone else freaks out. Problem is that the empire is literally thousands of light years across and has ultra-FTL capabilities. It would be literally a thousand years before the Terror could even reach the inner systems which have more than marginal populations. Similar solution to that above in that you could just shift populations from system to system every . . . 40 or so years and the Terror would eventually starve, give up, or . . . well, go FTL out of desperation. Oh, on a more practical note, the Terror goes through three habitable star systems in something like two years or so. I think the travel time for one trip was like six months. At light speed, six months would not even get you out of the Ort cloud of our solar system, much less the 4 light years to the nearest star or the 20 or so to the THEORETICAL closest star that MIGHT have a planet that could support life. Of course, this may also be an example of FridgeLogic.]]

* [[spoiler: StableTimeLoop: Owen Deathstalker, adjusted by the Madness Maze and returned from the dead in the sequel trilogy, goes traveling back in time to find Hazel d'Ark, who has become the Terror. On one of his stops, he has the Light People construct the Madness Maze. The implications of this give him serious thoughts. . . and a headache.]]

* TrouserSpace: Taken UpToEleven (like just about everything else in the series) when [[spoiler: Evangeline Shreck finally returns to give her father his much-needed and long-awaited cumuppence. Knowing she'd likely be thoroughly searched, but also knowing that her father wouldn't appreciate his guards "taking liberties" with his [[VillainousIncest beloved]] daughter, she smuggled a small, deactivated monofilament blade in her, eh. . . the one place she could guarantee the guards wouldn't look.]]

** Specifically, the Grendels. Living weapons locked in Vaults deep underneath a planet, they're so vicious and deadly the last time they got out the only solution was to scorch the entire planet, and set up a blockade so no one else messed with them. They're kind of like the antagonist in Alien, but moreso.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt: Lionstone's. Between her wicked and dangerous sense of humor, the assorted intrigues and punishments for same, some days attending court is like playing Russian Roulette when you don't know how many bullets are in the gun.

* DeadlyDecadentCourt