History Literature / TheStarOfTheGuardians

* AgentPeacock: Raoul, the [[DudeLooksLikeALady effeminate]], campy [[{{Bishounen}} pretty-boy]]. When he's not fussing about his manicure, hair and clothes, he kills people with hundreds of various poisons.

* {{Bishounen}}: Each and every Adonian, Snaga Ohme and Raoul being the most present.

* RatedMForManly: Derek Sagan fits this trope to a T.

* BadassBaritone: Derek Sagan, whose voice gets mentioned quite frequently.

Because the series' covers feature {{Laser Blade}}s prominently, young readers would be forgiven for confusing this with ''StarWars''. They wouldn't be far wrong. The series starts about 20 years after a college professor and unlikely revolutionary, Peter Robes, led an uprising against the monarchy; the "[[RoyalBlood Blood ]]," a ruling caste which had been genetically engineered for wisdom, intense charisma and occasional [[SuperpowerfulGenetics superpowers]], were wiped out almost to a man. The lone survivors are a small band of loyalists; the king's nephew, newborn Dion Starfire, whom they managed to escape with; and Warlord Derek Sagan, who helped organize the coup and fought his [[StarCrossedLovers Star-Crossed Lover]] Maigrey Morianna to do it. At the beginning of the book, the last of those loyalists, Maigrey's bookish brother Platus, is killed, leaving the now-grown-up Dion to flee with the help of [[TheLancer Mendaharin "Tusk" Tusca]], halfblood HeroicBastard son of another of said loyalists. Hunted by now-President Robes and "Citizen-General" Sagan and the PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny the new government has become, aided by the [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure rumpled]], [[AFatherToHisMen fatherly]] General Dixter and enigmatic NotQuiteDead Maigrey, Dion must find a way to come into his birthright and reclaim the throne.

The series had a SpinOff, ''MagForce7'', chronicling the adventures of a band of mercenary misfits modeled consciously after ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]''.

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* ApocalypseHow: Invoked. The Space Rotation Bomb in book 3 is feared to cause a Class X; creating a NegativeSpaceWedgie that could consume the universe. [[spoiler: Sagan detonates it at the climax.]]
* ArrangedMarriage: Dion has to enter into one to win his throne. He has just hit LoveAtFirstSight with another woman.

--->''[[spoiler: Abdiel]]: "The Creator moves against you, [[spoiler: Peter]]. I feel His anger. He lifts His rod to chastise you."''

-->'''[[spoiler: Peter Robes]]:''' “First it was a lie. Just a little lie. Then a bribe to cover the lie. Another lie to cover the bribe, and another bribe to cover that lie.”"

* {{Fingore}}: Part of Dion's initiation into the Blood Royal's sect of Space Catholicism involves levitating a ball of knives above his hands. He manages it for about 10 seconds, which shows to Dagan and Majorie that while he *is* a Blood Royal, he won't be able to use any of their PsychicPowers. He has them regenerated later

** Astarte is fine with being Dion's wife InNameOnly, protecting his mistress Kamil (Dion's girlfreind from before the political marriage) from Baroness [=DeLuna=].

* StarfishAliens: the Corasians. They are red glowing blobs which feed on raw energy and use MiniMecha to get around. Shooting them with lasguns just makes them stronger unless you ReverseThePolarity.
* TallDarkAndSnarky: Sagan
-->'''Sagan:''' “I realize that thinking does require an extraordinary amount of effort for you, Aks. Perhaps you could pay attention to me now and think later.”"

* TroubledBackstoryFlashback: for Maigrey, though with her and Sagan being mind-linked it counts for both of them.

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: this being a space opera, after all.

* TheUnfavourite: Platus' and Maigrey's father despised his firstborn son for becoming a peace-loving bookworm instead of a badass.

* YourCheatingHeart: Dion, trapped in his ArrangedMarriage.

* WellDoneSonGuy: Dion to Sagan. Sagan, being a CynicalMentor, JerkAss and DeadpanSnarker with no respect to Dion's royal status whatsoever, treats the king-to-be like shit all the time (even when providing real help), and the thing Dion wants most is to hear him say the trope-naming line. In a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome CMOA]] for Dion in ''Ghost Legion'', Sagan eventually [[SoProudOfYou does just that.]]

* HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace: Averted. Going FTL feels like getting schnockered, and the local rotgut is called "Jump-Juice" because

The series had a SpinOff, ''MagForce7'', chronicling the adventures of a band of mercenary misfits modeled consciously after ''Film/TheMagnificentSeven''.

An epic SpaceOpera by {{Margaret Weis}}, not as well known as her other works. The first book was published in 1990, the fourth one in 1993. The series consists of four volumes: