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The Four Lords of the Diamond #Omnibus, 1-4
The Four Lords of the Diamond
Omnibus edition of the four novels in the "Four Lords of the Diamond" series by Jack L. Chalker.
p. 1 - A Snake in the Grass (1981)
p. 175 - A Wolf in the Fold (1982)
p. 351 - A Dragon at the Gate (1982)
p. 539 - A Tiger by the Tail (1983)
Cover art by Richard Powers.
p. 1 - A Snake in the Grass (1981)
p. 175 - A Wolf in the Fold (1982)
p. 351 - A Dragon at the Gate (1982)
p. 539 - A Tiger by the Tail (1983)
Cover art by Richard Powers.
755 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1983
6 people are currently reading
282 people want to read
About the author
Jack L. Chalker
131 books350 followersBesides being a science fiction author, Jack Laurence Chalker was a Baltimore City Schools history teacher in Maryland for a time, a member of the Washington Science Fiction Association, and was involved in the founding of the Baltimore Science Fiction Society. Some of his books said that he was born in Norfolk, Virginia although he later claimed that was a mistake.
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
He attended all but one of the World Science Fiction Conventions from 1965 until 2004. He published an amateur SF journal, Mirage, from 1960 to 1971 (a Hugo nominee in 1963 for Best Fanzine).
Chalker was married in 1978 and had two sons.
His stated hobbies included esoteric audio, travel, and working on science-fiction convention committees. He had a great interest in ferryboats, and, at his wife's suggestion, their marriage was performed on the Roaring Bull Ferry.
Chalker's awards included the Daedalus Award (1983), The Gold Medal of the West Coast Review of Books (1984), Skylark Award (1985), Hamilton-Brackett Memorial Award (1979), as well as others of varying prestige. He was a nominee for the John W. Campbell Award twice and for the Hugo Award twice. He was posthumously awarded the Phoenix Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation on April 9, 2005.
On September 18, 2003, during Hurricane Isabel, Chalker passed out and was rushed to the hospital with a diagnosis of a heart attack. He was later released, but was severely weakened. On December 6, 2004, he was again rushed to hospital with breathing problems and disorientation, and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and a collapsed lung. Chalker was hospitalized in critical condition, then upgraded to stable on December 9, though he didn't regain consciousness until December 15. After several more weeks in deteriorating condition and in a persistent vegetative state, with several transfers to different hospitals, he died on February 11, 2005 of kidney failure and sepsis in Bon Secours of Baltimore, Maryland.
Chalker is perhaps best known for his Well World series of novels, the first of which is Midnight at the Well of Souls (Well World, #1).
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
March 21, 2017
I cannot believe this series slipped under my radar for 30 years. Refreshing and original, I've no doubt I'll read them again before the Grim Reaper claims me. Each of the four books almost stand alone, but add up to a greater whole. Humanity is threatened by an alien menace like never before, which appears centered around a cluster of planets known as the 'Diamond.' The human Confederacy sends its best agent undercover to those four worlds to ascertain the nature of the threat. Each book is unique but points to a conclusion that comes out of 'left field' for the reader. While light reading, this series has an interesting perspective on human nature. In all honesty, I cannot recommend 'The Four Lords of the Diamond' highly enough. In an era in which writers seem capable of little more that refining old ideas (Planet of the Apes, anyone?), the originality of this work by Jack Chalker is breathtaking. Enjoy!
October 22, 2016
The Four Lords of the Diamond
This is an amazing read, and had I taken to one of the four included books alone, I might not have enjoyed it so much. The compilation includes so many different genres in it, but not in each individual book. Since I was not as diversified in my tastes back the first time, I might not have picked it up as a Sci Fi single, or a Mystery. I did pick it up because I had a friend who told me it was Fantasy. (Thank You, Darren R. Campbell!)
If you have a wonder about your tastes in other books but like this author, go for it! So few authors can as honestly say they are capable of writing more than one type. A great book is a great book though in any genre, right?! I invite you to take a look at the entire 4 book compendium, "Four Lords Of The Diamond" and actually begin in whichever of the 4 types suits you best.
Let me know what you think afterward!
I lost my hard-copy to a fire a long time ago, but I will never stop enjoying re-reading it when I get the chance, in any form or media. In my opinion, it would make a Heck of Movie! A mix between Star Wars and Warcraft and Endr's Game and any film Noir action detective you can imagine. Do not underestimate the seperate books, but PLEASE do not start with the last!
The ending was actually a huge surprise even though I caught obvious hints dropped throughout. like a puzzle that you do not have the box top to cheat with, but love the pieces and what they suggest.
This is an amazing read, and had I taken to one of the four included books alone, I might not have enjoyed it so much. The compilation includes so many different genres in it, but not in each individual book. Since I was not as diversified in my tastes back the first time, I might not have picked it up as a Sci Fi single, or a Mystery. I did pick it up because I had a friend who told me it was Fantasy. (Thank You, Darren R. Campbell!)
If you have a wonder about your tastes in other books but like this author, go for it! So few authors can as honestly say they are capable of writing more than one type. A great book is a great book though in any genre, right?! I invite you to take a look at the entire 4 book compendium, "Four Lords Of The Diamond" and actually begin in whichever of the 4 types suits you best.
Let me know what you think afterward!
I lost my hard-copy to a fire a long time ago, but I will never stop enjoying re-reading it when I get the chance, in any form or media. In my opinion, it would make a Heck of Movie! A mix between Star Wars and Warcraft and Endr's Game and any film Noir action detective you can imagine. Do not underestimate the seperate books, but PLEASE do not start with the last!
The ending was actually a huge surprise even though I caught obvious hints dropped throughout. like a puzzle that you do not have the box top to cheat with, but love the pieces and what they suggest.
November 23, 2009
A planetary system with four habitable planets becomes the galaxy's maximum security prison because microorganisms found on the planets make it impossible for anyone to survive off planet after exposure. As a side-effect the microorganisms give their victims special powers such as telekinesis, shape-changing, or body swapping. Jack Chalker is an underrated Science Fiction writer. He had a gift for devising an odd premise and then carrying it through to its conclusion with a relentless internal logic.
January 26, 2020
I read this when it first came out as a book club omnibus edition 37 years ago!. Just listened to the audiobook. It was so long ago since I read it, I had totally forgotten the plot. An enjoyable read. The narrator did an excellent job.
April 13, 2024
Rec. by: Nostalgia
Rec. for: Hmm
I was ambivalent about posting this review at all, to be honest—upon rereading Jack Chalker's The Four Lords of the Diamond more than thirty years after my first time through, the questionable elements of Chalker's writing stood out for me far more than his undeniably creative science-fictional worldbuilding.
Jack Chalker most definitely wrote what he loved. Unfortunately, what he loved included some deeply problematic obsessions. Just about everything Chalker wrote featured involuntary mental and physical transformations. To put it bluntly: he liked turning characters into bimbos, against their will.
Now, this may not be a barrier to your enjoyment of The Four Lords of the Diamond—it certainly wasn't a problem for me back in the mid-1980s—but I was a lot younger then. And, in fact, Chalker remains relatively restrained in these four short linked novels. Other works of his are much more self-indulgent. But I still think some advance warning is appropriate.
The novels that comprise this Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) omnibus edition are:
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (1981)
Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (1982)
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (1982)
Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (1983)
Each novel focuses on one world of the Warden system, in which four planets somehow all orbit within the star's habitable zone—a configuration which was obviously but not provably engineered, by forces unknown. When Halden Warden discovered the system, these planets happened to be equidistant—poised at the vertices of a Diamond.
Each world of the Diamond has its own planetary network of microscopic... organisms? Devices? Nanobots? (Although these books were written long before the "nano-" prefix became a science-fictional staple.) The Wardens do strange and irreversible things to human beings (bodily transformation, involuntary—check), which makes these worlds ideal places for a penal colony, since the prisoners of the Diamond are physically unable to escape that system. But the Wardens also confer unusual powers upon the people they infect... if the victims can learn to control them.
The bizarre nature of the Warden system is of little interest to the star-spanning Confederacy at large, though—until a grave threat to the stability of that Confederacy emerges.
Enter our narrator (you can call him "Mr. Carroll"), an experienced Confederacy agent and trained assassin—all five of him. The Confederacy uses an experimental (and horribly wasteful) process to copy his personality into four other bodies, overwriting (and in the process killing) convicts who were already sentenced to exile, one to each of the four planets in the Warden Diamond. The assassin's copies have been programmed (mental transformation, involuntary—check) to do two things: to kill the current Lord of the Diamond for that planet, and to report back, by transferring their experiences to the original agent, who is meanwhile staying safely off-planet.
Things do not exactly proceed as planned.
*
Reread as a single volume, I noticed a whole lot of repetition, especially in the early chapters of each novel. Some of that is at least plausible—the agent's copies start out as identical, before diverging rapidly as their physical differences and the unique effects of each world in the Diamond wreak their own changes on his psyche. But even so it gets a little tedious to reread each copy's awakening, his (or her) realization that she (or he) is just a copy, then their virtually-identical transportation to their target planet. Their stories diverge, then Chalker brings them together again, fairly deftly tying off most of the loose ends and plugging most of the holes in his convoluted plots. The climax in Medusa involves... well, involuntary body-and-mind transformation, of course, but a kind of retribution for that as well.
I could not recommend this book to others, not now, but I did at least finish it a second time... which probably says more about me than it does about The Four Lords of the Diamond...
Rec. for: Hmm
I was ambivalent about posting this review at all, to be honest—upon rereading Jack Chalker's The Four Lords of the Diamond more than thirty years after my first time through, the questionable elements of Chalker's writing stood out for me far more than his undeniably creative science-fictional worldbuilding.
Jack Chalker most definitely wrote what he loved. Unfortunately, what he loved included some deeply problematic obsessions. Just about everything Chalker wrote featured involuntary mental and physical transformations. To put it bluntly: he liked turning characters into bimbos, against their will.
Now, this may not be a barrier to your enjoyment of The Four Lords of the Diamond—it certainly wasn't a problem for me back in the mid-1980s—but I was a lot younger then. And, in fact, Chalker remains relatively restrained in these four short linked novels. Other works of his are much more self-indulgent. But I still think some advance warning is appropriate.
The novels that comprise this Science Fiction Book Club (SFBC) omnibus edition are:
Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (1981)
Cerberus: A Wolf in the Fold (1982)
Charon: A Dragon at the Gate (1982)
Medusa: A Tiger by the Tail (1983)
Each novel focuses on one world of the Warden system, in which four planets somehow all orbit within the star's habitable zone—a configuration which was obviously but not provably engineered, by forces unknown. When Halden Warden discovered the system, these planets happened to be equidistant—poised at the vertices of a Diamond.
Each world of the Diamond has its own planetary network of microscopic... organisms? Devices? Nanobots? (Although these books were written long before the "nano-" prefix became a science-fictional staple.) The Wardens do strange and irreversible things to human beings (bodily transformation, involuntary—check), which makes these worlds ideal places for a penal colony, since the prisoners of the Diamond are physically unable to escape that system. But the Wardens also confer unusual powers upon the people they infect... if the victims can learn to control them.
The bizarre nature of the Warden system is of little interest to the star-spanning Confederacy at large, though—until a grave threat to the stability of that Confederacy emerges.
Enter our narrator (you can call him "Mr. Carroll"), an experienced Confederacy agent and trained assassin—all five of him. The Confederacy uses an experimental (and horribly wasteful) process to copy his personality into four other bodies, overwriting (and in the process killing) convicts who were already sentenced to exile, one to each of the four planets in the Warden Diamond. The assassin's copies have been programmed (mental transformation, involuntary—check) to do two things: to kill the current Lord of the Diamond for that planet, and to report back, by transferring their experiences to the original agent, who is meanwhile staying safely off-planet.
Things do not exactly proceed as planned.
*
Reread as a single volume, I noticed a whole lot of repetition, especially in the early chapters of each novel. Some of that is at least plausible—the agent's copies start out as identical, before diverging rapidly as their physical differences and the unique effects of each world in the Diamond wreak their own changes on his psyche. But even so it gets a little tedious to reread each copy's awakening, his (or her) realization that she (or he) is just a copy, then their virtually-identical transportation to their target planet. Their stories diverge, then Chalker brings them together again, fairly deftly tying off most of the loose ends and plugging most of the holes in his convoluted plots. The climax in Medusa involves... well, involuntary body-and-mind transformation, of course, but a kind of retribution for that as well.
I could not recommend this book to others, not now, but I did at least finish it a second time... which probably says more about me than it does about The Four Lords of the Diamond...
December 30, 2024
These books are totally bat shit crazy.
An agent of The Authority is cloned four times and each clone sent to a different
world in the Diamond System.
The worlds in the Diamond system are ruled over by their Lords with absolute authority.
Each more fucked up than the last.
Each world has it's own weird shit going on.
It's been forty years since I read this so I do not really recall many of the details.
But it was indeed crazy.
Read this in omnibus form. That is a LOT of crazy in one book.
Me aged twelve loved it.
Not sure what that really says........
An agent of The Authority is cloned four times and each clone sent to a different
world in the Diamond System.
The worlds in the Diamond system are ruled over by their Lords with absolute authority.
Each more fucked up than the last.
Each world has it's own weird shit going on.
It's been forty years since I read this so I do not really recall many of the details.
But it was indeed crazy.
Read this in omnibus form. That is a LOT of crazy in one book.
Me aged twelve loved it.
Not sure what that really says........
September 21, 2024
Dude cast his projections as a handsome, charming, all around ladies man that has sex with the first woman he meets in each story. Good sci-fi concepts, overall decent plot, could just use less self-sucking of ego
May 2, 2022
So Good, I have read this series three times!
May 10, 2023
Orange cover? Extra pulp. Very fun read.
April 30, 2010
Omnibus containing the four books of the series.
Book club edition.
Book club edition.
December 29, 2010
Two thumbs-up!
June 20, 2013
Awesome! I never new what was going to happen, which is rare in most books.
September 12, 2016
Re-read this after 20 years, and it's still very fun with an excellent hard-science feel.
April 29, 2015
Starts very strong, but by the 4th book was ready to start skipping chapters to get to the end.
July 20, 2016
I love Jack Chalker. I loved these books. I read them like 30 years ago, and, although. I can't remember the story. I do remember I loved them. And I would read them again.
March 1, 2013
Really enjoyed this series.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews