The Deceivers

Bester, Alfred

ISBN 10: 0523485247 / ISBN 13: 9780523485249

Published by TOR, 1982

About this Item

. Size: 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. 304 pages. Item Type: Book. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. Previous owner's signature in ink. Shipped Weight: Under 250 grams. Category: Science Fiction & Fantasy; ; . ISBN: 0523485247. ISBN/EAN: 9780523485249. Please contact H4o Books if you require images or further information. Inventory No: 030063.

Seller Inventory # 030063

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Deceivers
• Publisher: TOR
• Publication Date: 1982
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0523485247
• ISBN 13: 9780523485249
• Binding: Softcover
• Edition: 1st Edition.
• Condition: Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket
• Seller catalogs:
  • Science Fiction & Fantasy

About this title

Synopsis

Rogue Winter, a Maori, tracks the Manchu Duke of Death across the solar system in order to set free Rogue's kidnapped lover, Demi Jeroux

Review

Way back in the 1950s, Alfred Bester established himself as one of the greats of SF with a number of dazzling short stories and two major novels: The Demolished Man (1953) and The Stars My Destination (1956, also known as Tiger! Tiger!), both much reprinted. The Deceivers, his final SF novel, appeared in 1981.

It's a colorful, whimsical romp that plays entertainingly with themes from Bester's peak years, though without his old driving, compelling savagery. Hero Rogue Winter is a "Synergist," acutely sensitive to the world's patterns: in one set-piece sequence he follows an intuitive trail from 12 drummers drumming in a street parade to the goal of a (metaphorical) partridge in a pear tree. Winter is also heir-apparent to the Maori Mafia, which controls much of the Solar System's crime, but he must single-handedly battle the dread mammoths of Ganymede to earn his crown. Meanwhile, he has fallen helplessly in love with a sexy nonhuman shapeshifter from Titan, making him vulnerable to minions of the insidious Manchu Duke of Death, who plans to smash the syndicate that's smuggling the priceless miracle fuel Meta from the heavily defended mines of Saturn's Chinese/Japanese-dominated moon Triton.

Bester crams this wild farrago of a narrative with wisecracks, junk science, circus glamor, odd catch phrases, bits of self-conscious cleverness and excess, Chinese esoterica like the Mirror-and-Listen Mystery, and his trademark typographic tricks. Amusing candyfloss nonsense; quite readable, but definitely not in the same league as his 1950s classics. --David Langford, Amazon.co.uk