Steve Perry's "Matador" Series

[Finarvyn]

I'm a big fan of Steve Perry's Matador series, which is mostly a group of highly trained soldiers who employ as bodyguards. Here's a list of the series:

Matador series - order of publication
The Man Who Never Missed (1985)
Matadora (1986)
The Machiavelli Interface (1986)
The 97th Step (1989)
The Albino Knife (1991)
Black Steel (1992)
Brother Death (1992)
The Musashi Flex (2006)

Matador series - Fin's chronological order guess
The Musashi Flex (2006)
The 97th Step (1989)
The Man Who Never Missed (1985)
Matadora (1986)
The Machiavelli Interface (1986)
The Albino Knife (1991)
Black Steel (1992)
Brother Death (1992)

[Deleted]

An odd series. I think I read THE MAN WHO NEVER MISSED first and almost quit there.

It's a scifi series but not really. Kind of a marital-arts series with a scifi backdrop.

[Finarvyn]

Aug 5, 2010 15:06:48 GMT -6 @keltset said:

Kind of a marital-arts series with a scifi backdrop.

Kind of, but it breaks down into smaller parts....

Aug 4, 2010 9:11:40 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

The Musashi Flex (2006)
The 97th Step (1989)

These two are "intro" books that focus on more of the martial arts stuff. The characters are gladiators in this "Flex" thing, in which players are ranked and can challenge each other to combat to gain higher ranking.

Aug 4, 2010 9:11:40 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

The Man Who Never Missed (1985)

This one is almost a stand-alone, although it's listed as the first of a trilogy. This guy is almost an assassin, trying to "kill" a whole bunch of soldiers one-by-one.

Aug 4, 2010 9:11:40 GMT -6 Finarvyn said:

Matadora (1986)
The Machiavelli Interface (1986The Albino Knife (1991)
Black Steel (1992)
Brother Death (1992)

At this point, the characters learn from the masters in the first three books and become bodyguards, protecting targets against assassination attempts.

I agree that the scifi part is often a backdrop instead of the main thrust of the stories. They don't have spaceship shootouts or anything like that.