(Bio of a Space Tyrant #2) Mercenary (original 1984; udgave 1984)

Section: Space Opera. Subsection: Rape. ( )

This review is for whole series -- engrossing characters and unfortunately probable world building. Absolutely the plot and the protagonist sucks you right in and goes nonstop through all 6 books.

I am a fan of Piers Anthony; but, reader beware -- this ain't no Xanth. Much more intense situations. "Caligula of the stars" on one of the excerpts is a very apt description for some disturbing portions in series; definitely for adults with actions and memories graphic/explicit as to sex, violence, rape and even child molesting. ( )

In this, the second volume of the Bio of a Space Tyrant series, our intrepid hero, Hope Hubris is granted immigrant status on the planetoid of Leda where he is immediately mugged losing his allowance and his papers. He's befriended by a migrant worker and goes into the picking business because he has no other options. This line of work fizzles after a while and he gets drafted into the Jupiter Navy where, over time, he assembles a motley crew and turns them into a highly effective force against the space pirate scourge. We meet some interesting characters with more interesting names: Mordy, Emerald, Repro, Shrapnel, Straight, Roulette, Phist to go along with our previously mentioned Hope, Spirit and Brinker. QYV is more present here, showing his power on several occasions. In the end, with Hope a hero, he's unceremoniously retired from the Navy at the ripe old age of 30 and begins the next phase of his life.

I liked this book much more than the first. I don't mind the intrigue as much as the wanton brutality of the first book. In this volume, even the ceremonial rape is desired by its victim and women are definitely given a larger, more aggressive and more self determined role. I certainly prefer that type of reality. I enjoyed the references to the historical battles of significance, although I think that allowing the pirates to play their assigned roles as closely as they did was not particularly compelling or genuine. I would have preferred more of a deviation from history rather than a simple recreation.

While I think it's cute that a cryptographic key is given the form of a physical key, I can't help but think that Piers is changing the story up as we go along - like he did with the Incarnations of Immortality series. I'm sure that in the first book the key was an ACTUAL key and it was only after the key was introduced that he changed it to be cryptographic. Those kinds of shenanigans are one of the real complaints I have with Piers as an author - he starts with a solid foundation and then gets too cute with it - either with puns or by trying to tie things too tightly into a bow.

The other thing I wanted to mention here was that this series is starting to remind me a lot of the Stephen Donaldson space opera series, The Gap Cycle. First book incredibly violent and subsequent volumes more concerned with strategy than brutality. We'll see how well the analogy plays out as the series progresses.

We'll see how the next volume progresses. ( )

BIO OF A SPACE TYRANT

Ugh, ugh and ugh. I was a big Piers Anthony fan until this series came out. A sci-fi series about a psychopathic dictator who's also got some other very strange tastes. I read this book, the second in the series, only because I was hoping it would get better. It didn't. Sort of in the Battlefield Earth space epic style, but ugh. ( )