Welcome to the Feast

Didnt really care for this book to much. The best part of this book was the introduction of John Trent. Also like the Title and cover.

This title is a vastly better offering from this author than the last two pieces of rubbish presented and to be fair it involves the introduction of yet another evil criminal organization namely TRIO so maybe we are looking forward to the battle of all battles for Phoenix Force against all of the introduced enemies in one title? We shall see. The introduction of John Trent is excellent (this is his first title apparantly) I have read other titles featuring his character included and have always found him an excellent/interesting/deadly and worthy of inclusion in the title. BUT this author was given a license with this extended run and the killing off of Keio probably tested the waters with the editors but about half way through this title wow this guy goes off. He is obviously very passionate regarding ancient Japanese times/weapons/fighting etc. and lets rip in the rest of the title. Perhaps this title should have been called "Everything you wanted to know about Japanese ancient weapons and were afraid to ask". As has been previously said these weapons faced with modern day fully automatic weapons umm well are found wanting as is this title I'm afraid. A lot of reviewers rave about this author, personally with a couple of exceptions it would be fair to say I am struggling maybe it is all coming? I hope so I'm thinking he is setting up something special and it could be good, SuperPhoenix Force #1: Fire Storm currently is ranked number 6 on the God ranks maybe that is the one we shall see but this is just a fair read.

“Welcome To The Feast”, in addition to having the best title of any Phoenix Force entry, introduces TRIO (Japanese/Chinese/Mongolian mafias) and John Trent. Yes, I didn’t know Mongolia had a mob, but they are little more than warlords. The setting is San Francisco and since Calvin James just happened to be ex-SFPD, he calls upon his ninja buddy, John Trent. Trent reminds everyone else in Phoenix Force, eerily like Keio Ohara. The action scenes were enjoyable. The best part would be the entire “soft probe” sequence of the office building in San Francisco when they find out that MERGE is also after TRIO. TRIO will return in PF #19 MERGE will return in PF #23 John Trent will return in PF #26

When smugglers kill Coast Guard sailors off the California coast, Phoenix Force comes to San Francisco looking for answers and hoping to kick some butt. Their enemies here include the MERGE, the new super criminal organization that was the threat from the last book, and TRIO, an oriental version of the same idea. TRIO is moving into Baghdad by the bay and wiping out MERGE as they go. That synopsis makes the story seem more interesting than it actually is. The plot is OK but could be summarized in one short paragraph. Phoenix Force moves from point to point getting closer to the final showdown when they move against the headquarters of TRIO. The Phoenix Force regulars are OK if a bit flat here. Nothing really distinguishes them and anyone not already familiar with the team might think they were interchangeable. The villains are pretty ordinary for all of the ethnic oddities the author lavishes on them. John Trent, an ally in the last half of the book, isn't too bad. The action here is frequent and frenetic and some of it is not too bad. The members of Phoenix Force don't seem to have quite as much trouble holding onto their firearms here as they have in this author's previous books although this is still something of a problem for them. In fact, probably the only reason Phoenix is allowed to keep hold of their guns is because the author has so many other opportunities to sprinkle oriental martial arts into the story. In the best circumstances this has been a problem for this author but with a criminal band of asian tough guys, a ninja ally and so much action in Chinatown he has thrown off all restraint and given himself over to temptation with giddy abandon. His characters fling throwing stars and hatchets merrily about, rush into combat armed with every ancient asian weapon he can think of and just in general give the author license to display his vocabulary of asian martial arts words. Perhaps he has "The Big Book of Martial Arts" at home or the complete works of Bruce Tegner. Whatever the reason, it has been apparent for several books now that this writer would much prefer to be writing martial arts tales than modern action stories. There is a reason people today use firearms instead of ancient weapons. To be blunt, firearms are more lethal and efficient. Having gun-toting heroes threatened by folks waving sticks and sharp novelties strains credulity. This book manages to deliver enough decent action to rate 5 stars in spite of the overuse of chop-socky. I just hope the author got it out of his system.

This one is notable for the introduction to John Trent. A likeable character, he is sort of a replacement for Ohara, bringing back some martial arts action to the force again, this time to fight a new enemy called TRIO. A good read.

Another book that is very memorable--John Trent's first appearance, and the first book with TRIO, a vicious Phoenix Force nemesis. Good martial arts action.

Loved the TRIO books. Look for all of them. Trent was a good addition to the team.

The best thing about this one was the cover.