Orion Books In Order

Publication Order of Orion Books

John O’Ryan also known as Orion is the main character in a series of science fiction books written by an award-winning American author of fantasy and sci-fi novels, Ben Bova. Orion is not a god exactly but an external warrior destined to fight the Dark Lord dominion of the Earth. The series traces the journey of this servant of a great race as he confronts his enemy from the caves of our ancestors, down the hall of time to the threat of nuclear apocalypse. Ben Bova began the publication of Orion series in 1984 when the first book in the series was published. Bova took a 16-year break after Orion Among the Stars publishing the 6th book in the series in Orion and King Arthur in 2011.

Orion

Orion is the first book in Orion series by Ben Bova. It is a science fiction novel with a major focus on time travel. The story features Ormazd, a god-like super being and a goddess/woman whose name is Anya needs to fight a powerful being known as Ahriman who wants to destroy the world. The protagonist is Orion; a superhuman created by the gods with only one mission on Earth, to kill Ahrimam, the being tied to end time.

To stop Ahrimam, Orion is sent from one period to another like a glorified rag doll. The novel storyline focuses on how crucial nexus or turning points as we know them in human history affect the timeline.

Orion is a beautiful series opener with each page of the book offering something new to keep you hooked to the last page. Ben Bova uses a language that allows the story to be both clear and straightforward but yet surprisingly expressive which makes it interesting. The story is also well versed in several important points of history which is quite exciting and apart from the main plot, the book also makes use of subplots thus enabling the reader get a better understanding of each character presented.

The characterization in Orion is also wonderfully done. The main character is beautifully crafted; brave likable and you can easily connect with him. Created by Ormazd, Orion sole mission is to assassinate Ahrimam. In order to keep space continuum/time in place, god Ormzad sends Orion from the future backward in time with four different stops along the way. The 20th, 13th century, the late ice age and the ice age where his purpose is to find and kill his target or at Least stop Ahrimam from destroying the human race. Orion succeeds in stopping Ahrimam at every time travel but never succeeds in eliminating him.

Between each battle in the book, there is an intermission, during when Ormazd talks with a lesser god known as Anya. Anya lives as a human being and during each battle has been killed or dies in human form each time. Orion also falls in love with Anya during the 20th century time travel and also recognizes her during each time trip. From these sub-missions, we get to learn more than what the main character knows, but still, it is not the whole story.

Vengeance of Orion

In the second book in Orion series by Ben Bova, Orion narrates about his sudden awakening as a slave. Orion lays siege to Troy with Odysseus and manages to bring down the walls of Jericho, and places the rightful Prince Aramset to the throne of Pharaoh in Egypt. However, the Greek gods are the only compelling future humans: Apollo and Athena.

In Vengeance of Orion, Orion was up from the slash of a whip. He is rowing a ship carrying supplies, and the only thing that he remembers is being with Anya in a ship that exploded. Anya is dead but later revived by Apollo and Orion blames Apollo for Anya’s death and after rowing for several miles, the see a walled city that the rowers call it Troy.

Poletes informs Orion of the kidnapping of Helen by Aleksandros and how Agamemnon gathered the Achaians and besieged the city of Troy. Since Troy collected tax from the ship passing through the Bosporus Straits, Orion figures out that Agamemnon wanted to break Troy’s control over the trading route.

The Achaians have been blockading Troy for about ten years, but they are far from taking control of the city. They lay attack only during the summer months and also have cut off some of their trades, but they are too far from taking the city. Orion visits Troy as an ambassador of the Achaian kings and soon learns that the Emperor of Hatti is sending his warriors to attack the Achaians. In response, the Achaian kings send Orion to spy the advance of Hatti army. Orions discovers that only a small group of troops in a nearby village. He speaks with the leader and learns that Empire of Hatti has been engaged in civil war since the death of the emperor and that this troop is one of the many forces attacking small towns to feed themselves.

In efforts to help the Achaians kings, Orion does the unthinkable and what ensues next is a battle that could bring down the entire city troy or seal the fate of Orion. Vengeance of Orion is a wonderful adventure book with some great interpretations of Jericho and Troy, wonderful characters and non-stop action.

Orion in the Dying Time

In the third book in Orion series by Ben Bova, Orion is sent back to ancient Earth to confront Set. Set is an alien trying to bring an end to the human race. He wants to populate planet Earth with his own reptilian race and the only person standing between him and the wiping out of all humanity is Orion. The story switches back and forth in time allowing the reader to see both the down of Cretaceous period and humanity as well.

Ben Bova used his incredible writing skills to illustrate cosmology (by describing Set’s home planet and sociology/biology (how the race of intelligent reptiles evolves and what their society would look like).