History Main / Deathstalker

* If you want the B-Movie Fantasy series produced by RogerCorman, go to Film.DeathstalkerSeries

Deathstalker may refer to one of two popular series.

[[Literature/{{Deathstalker}} Click here if you were looking for information on the Science-Fiction Novel series by Simon R. Green.]]

[[Film/{{Deathstalker}} Click here if you were looking for information on the popular series of Fantasy films.]]

[[Literature/Deathstalker Click here if you were looking for information on the Science-Fiction Novel series by Simon R. Green.]]

[[Film/Deathstalker Click here if you were looking for information on the popular series of Fantasy films.]]

[[Literature/DeathstalkerSeries Click here if you were looking for information on the Science-Fiction Novel series by Simon R. Green.]]

[[Film/DeathstalkerSeries Click here if you were looking for information on the popular series of Fantasy films.]]

[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Book/DeathstalkerSeries Click here if you were looking for information on the Science-Fiction Novel series by Simon R. Green.]]

[[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/DeathstalkerSeries Click here if you were looking for information on the popular series of Fantasy films.]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Deathstalker-Resize.jpg

It's a bad old time for Humanity in general. The human [[TheEmpire Empire]] is presided over by [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Empress Lionstone]], aka the Iron Bitch, a ruler who makes Josef Stalin look like Gandhi. Everywhere in the Empire, rebellions are popping up and popping heads as fast as one can blink, and are slaughtered with utmost efficiency. [[PsychicPowers Espers]], clones, [[BuryYourGays degenerates]], and slaves are ubiquitous, [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman treated as third-class citizens when they're not being tortured, experimented on, or simply shot.]] And, for once in the Empire's history, nobody is truly safe - be it noble, commoner, or servant.

That's not the worst of it, though. From the borders of the Empire, a number of threats have arisen: a group of [[AIIsACrapshoot formerly subservient AIs]] which broke free of their programming and formed the planet Shub, driven to exterminate their old masters; the Sleepers, a group of aliens genetically engineered as weapons, intended to destroy all in their path... and other horrors from beyond the Darkvoid, a multiple-light-year-wide sphere of death which the Empire created hundreds of years ago. Oh, and that's ''still'' nothing compared to the court intrigues, only kept at bay by the terror the Empress bestows upon her subjects.

The eight-book ''Deathstalker'' series, written by [[SimonRGreen Simon R. Green]], 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.

In short, the ''Deathstalker'' series is a FantasyKitchenSink SpaceOpera, soft as warm butter on the [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness Mohs scale]], and is [[SerialNovel sliced up into hundred- or two-hundred-page sections]] which could generally stand as stories on their own right. One can expect quite a lot of {{HSQ}} and similar moments when explaining any given segment, particularly as one reads further on. Finally, outside of the series itself, there are a handful of other stories written by [[SimonRGreen Simon R. Green]] in the same universe, including the compilation ''Twilight of the Empire''.

One last note: For some, [[DisContinuity the series ends at the fifth book.]] For some it might even end after the third or fourth. YourMileageMayVary. In chronological story order, the books are as follows:

* ''Twilight of the Empire'' (1998)
* ''Deathstalker'' (1995)
* ''Deathstalker Rebellion'' (1996)
* ''Deathstalker War'' (1997)
* ''Deathstalker Honour'' (1998)
* ''Deathstalker Destiny'' (1999)
* ''Deathstalker Legacy'' (2002)
* ''Deathstalker Return'' (2004)
* ''Deathstalker Coda'' (2005)

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!!This series contains examples of:
* AbsurdlySharpBlade: Monofilament swords.
* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: Golgotha's sewer system is essentially most of the interior of the planet.
* ActionGirl: Hazel, Ruby, Investigator Frost.
* AGodAmI: [[spoiler: Owen and Hazel, eventually.]]
* AllCrimesAreEqual: In the later books it is stated that dealing in ''Alien Porn'' is extremely lucrative and a statutory death sentence; Considering the recurring presence of WhatMeasureIsANonHuman this could be a case of UnfortunateImplications...
* AIIsACrapshoot: Shub. Also, [[spoiler:Haceldama.]]
* AlienGeometries / MobileMaze: The Madness Maze.
* AntiHero: Nearly every character.
* BackToBackBadasses: A favorite tactic of the heroes.
* 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.
* BigDamnHeroes: By chance, Hazel and Owen's first meeting.
* BigScrewedUpFamily
* BodyHorror: Shub does this to some folks. ... well, okay, everyone they find. Also, [[NightmareFuel Half-A-Man]].
** 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]].
* ChekhovsBoomerang: The Madness Maze after it was supposedly destroyed by Captain Silence.
* TheChick: Evangeline Shreck, though she gets her {{Badass}} ActionGirl moment.
* ChurchMilitant: The Church of Christ the Warrior, with its Jesuit commandos.
* CloningBlues: They're perfectly identical copies of the original, but [[LaserGuidedAmnesia without any memories or experience]], and can be shot on sight.
* CompleteMonster: The Blood Runners, who kill people for body parts in their quest to find immortality. Additionally, Lionstone herself. By the end of the fourth book, Valentine Wolfe can claim this title, too.
* CoolButInefficient: Disruptor cannons can fire through most armor - once, every two minutes. Beyond that, swords come into play. The only reason projectile weapons aren't still around is because they were systematically banned.
* CoolOldGuy: Jack Random. [[spoiler:Thanks to the Madness Maze, he gets younger as the books go on. But he stays cool.]]
* CorruptChurch: Cardinal Beckett, and a few others.
* CorruptCorporateExecutive: The Families tend to be run like corporations, with all that entails.
* [[CreepyChild Creepy Children]]: The espers of the Abraxus Information Center.
* CurbStompBattle
* DeadlyDecadentCourt
* DestructionEqualsOffSwitch: Averted with [[spoiler: Oz]]
* DeusEstMachina: The Hadenmen set themselves up as the gods of the Genetic Church, which is to say that they convert people into cyborgs at gunpoint.
* DeusExMachina: Frequent and unashamed.
* DoomedHometown: [[spoiler: Virimonde]].
* DoorStopper: The books clock in at a decent 500 pages apiece, in general - which doesn't seem horribly long until you remember that there are (at last count) ''nine'' of them.
* EverythingTryingToKillYou: Shandrakor. To be fair, though, everything is also trying to kill everything else.
* FantasticDrug: Valentine Wolfe tends towards these... well, actually, his body is probably 50% {{Fantastic Drug}}s by weight.
** To illustrate, the gentleman's [[BloodyMurder ''blood'' is effectively toxic beyond belief]], his entire body has mutated time and time again to give him the ability to handle these drugs, and his whole life now revolves around [[DrugsAreBad getting a yet better high.]]
*** A drug dealer/chemist in the later books is exposed to the Madness Maze, he starts producing drugs that cause specific effects, like killing off the left, or right, side of the body leaving the user as a half-dead junkie, and thats not even the limit of Doctor Happy...
* FantasyKitchenSink: In the first chapter of the book, we have gravity sleds, assassin concubines, Turing-class AIs, massive starships, hyperspace-compatible ''yachts'', regeneration machines, organ smugglers, and a corrupt empire. ''It gets more convoluted from there.''
* FateWorseThanDeath
* 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.

* GhostPlanet: Grendel. [[spoiler:Unseeli untill Legacy]]
* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: And ''how''.
* HealingFactor: One of the alternate Hazels.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Giles Deathstalker's rationale for using the Darkvoid Device.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: Owen never wanted this! He's a ''historian'', not a ''warrior''!
* ImplacableMan: The Investigators, as well as the Hadenmen.
* InadequateInheritor
* KineticWeaponsAreJustBetter: Once she gets her hands on them, Hazel finds that she likes projectile weapons. A lot.
* LivingToys: Haceldama.
* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters
* MesACrowd: Hazel D'Ark eventually learns how to summon clones of herself. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, when she gets experimented on, her captors start killing them, one by one.]]
* 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: Thursday for all the six lines of dialog or so he gets]]
* MusicalAssassin: There's a type of esper called "Sirens," who can use their own voices as sonic weaponry.
* MyCountryRightOrWrong: Silence, Stelmach.
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: "Golgotha," the capital world of the Empire, is also the name of the place where Christ was crucified. Also "Haceldama" is where Judas hanged himself.
* {{Narm}}: Pick a story--it's in there somewhere.
* NightmareFuel: Wormboy Hell, Legion, the fate of the people of Virimonde.
* NightmareFuelUnleaded: Haceldama, or Shannon's World, in ''War''. Think of a peaceful sanctuary turned into a horrific crypt, and you might start to approach it.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Wampyrs, who have all their blood pumped out and replaced with a rather more potent drug.
* ParentalIncest: Gregor and Evangeline Shreck.
* PlayingWithFire: The Stevie Blues.
* PoweredByAForsakenChild: [[spoiler: Giles' baby esper clone ''is'' the Darkvoid Device.]]
* PsychicLink: Owen, Hazel, Jack, Ruby, Moon, and Giles (at first); and Silence and Frost
* PsychicNosebleed: Julian Skye.
* PsychicPowers: Espers, who may or may not be the next evolution of humanity.
* RuleOfCool: Oh yeah. This series ''runs'' on it.
* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale: Thousands of habitable worlds within reach, each and every one of them either under TheEmpire or rebelling against it.
* ShootTheDog: Owen puts a young plasma baby out of her misery on Mistworld.
* SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Our heroes find themselves asking that question after the rebellion. Ruby gets hit hardest by it.
* SnarkyNonHumanSideKick: Ozymandias, the AI that's oftentimes by Owen's side.
* [[TeleportersAndTransporters Teleportation]]: Giles Deathstalker.
* ScrapHeapHero: Jack Random in the first book
* TheyWouldCutYouUp: Silence and Frost's reasoning for not telling anyone about their abilities.
* TouchedByVorlons: The people who went through the Madness Maze; and to a lesser extent (they already had powers), the espers touched by the Mater Mundi.
* VictoryIsBoring
* WeaponOfMassDestruction: The Darkvoid Device.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: Various alien races, as well as espers, clones, and whatnot.
* YearInsideHourOutside: One of the Empire's torture devices is a stasis field that does just this.
* YourHeadASplode: One of the battle espers in the Vault of the Sleepers; some unfortunate Marines in the Madness Maze.
* ZerothLawRebellion: Shub, quite possibly.
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<<|{{Literature}}|>>
''The page was becoming more than an entry. A whole greater than the sum of its parts....''

* BodyHorror: Shub does this to some folks. ... well, okay, everyone they find. Also, [[NightmareFuel Half-A-Man]].

* ScifiWritersHaveNoSenseOfScale
This Troper would like to see some evidence of this.