Dexter

A Harrowing oddessey into a reborn reality. I used to remember when I was a kid, how disappointed I got when I picked up a team comic book, and on the cover, they announce EVERYTHING CHANGES! Those changes were either small, or only temporary. This had no such false advertising on the cover. And wow. The changes are dynamic! The world suddenly becomes smaller, the Villes are stripped of the Baronies, and the hybrids themselves become something fantastic. Of course, other bits are touched upon here in the changes among the Cerberus warriors. We are reminded of how much Domi has grown (at least when she's being written by someone who cares). We see the closeness of Kane and Brigid, and the true depth of their emotional closeness. Lakesh has shone in his growth over the series as well, and we get to see the amount of respect he and Kane have grown for each other, without Kane dismissing it under suspicion of manipulation. But the Overlords, and the Nephilhim, and their sheer power and magnificence as villains, has vaulted them from minor, flimsy annoyance (whereas previously the hybrids needed Magistrates to be a physical threat to Kane and company) to something dark, powerful and ominous. The section of the book that takes place on Tiamat is as epic as any in the series so far. The flight of the Mantas to Tiamat, in its description, was magnificent and dynamic. The final battle? Likewise. If anyone had tried to make this book into a movie, you'd need at least the same budget and excellent effects teams as three or four episodes of Stargate Atlantis or FarScape, and about the length of a Peter Jackson film to get this novel to the same scale as it plays out in the imagination of the reader. Truly a fantastic book.

I really enjoyed this book. I don't know, but when has characterization, backstory, and a fully fleshed out universe became lame filler. There wasn't much action, but there was plenty of plot going on, and if this had been any other series, this would have been a top notch thriller. Ah well. I thought this was fun enough to read through three times.

This book is the reason why the Mack Bolan/Executioner series has lasted so long, despite every other immitator passing by the wayside. Why? 1 - Continuity. Mike Linnaker brings back the Jack Grimaldi/Jill Buchannan relationship that first appeared in Silent Invader, and made reference to another Stony Man novel involving the Slingshot satellites. 2 - Scope. The whole planet was at peril with this one, with a single madman trying to use an ultimate weapon to control the nation and bully the rest of the world. Meanwhile, the might of China was put into play to try to destroy this weapon on an entirely different scope. This novel stretched from Nassau to Hong Kong to all up and down the Eastern Seaboard to Wyoming and BACK to the East Coast. At the same time, this was a personal mission for Mack. His friends were hurt. At once, worldwide duty and personal revenge were perfectly balanced, so much so that we as readers gave a damn when we wanted to see justice done. 3 - Characterization. Every member of the supporting cast held their weight, their personality, their originality. Even the lowliest of peons on the Chinese side was given imagination and ingenuity in the face of adversity, and Bolan himself was a man on a crusade, to the point where he was BULLYING the President of the United States, not being the puppy on the State Department leash. 4 - Action. Action. Action. Not just shootings and punchings... but stuff that had visceral meaning behind it. This wasn't gunfire for gunfire's sake - YOU WANTED THE BAD GUYS TO PAY, and Mike gave you the payoff, every cent's worth! 5 - A loving homage to Martin Caden's Cyborg, right down to a Six Million Dollar Man reference. I kept imagining Buchanan and Kaplan as Lee Majors and Martin E. Brooks (Dr. Rudy Wells). Yeah. It's a 35 year-old plot, but hell, it's something that's never been done before in Mack Bolan. 6 - Humor. I laughed out loud at a lot of scenes. 7 - Soul. I almost cried at the deaths of a couple characters. One death had me quiet and brooding for over an hour after reading a scene. 8 - Philosophy. Once again, Bolan is a thinking man, and an eloquent speaker, inspiring other people. 9 - Humanity. Bolan risks his life to save other lives. He puts himself at serious physical risk, AND SUFFERS, in order to protect his friends and allies. He's not an indestructable cyborg killing machine, but a man who cares, gets hurt, and has friends. 10 - It's just a ten star story that could stand completely on its own as a unique novel.

Oh boy. More flat-as-paper Muslims with no more motivation than "Americans must die!" get their hands on a nuke. As for the "action-packed" prologue, I can scarcely believe that this was the book that Gold Eagle wanted to launch its new covers with. My, a pretty new cover. Let's read what's inside? Oh look, Mack once more being pushed around by "Feds" to perform jobs for them. Oh look, a villain who couldn't be more obtuse and comic-book if you had him twirling a mustache. Every one of his bad guys had the same setting - kill the white man. And Bolan was happy to return the favor, killing without thought, without motivation, just being "Democracy's face" by killing with the same aplomb as the terrorists he battled. Dan Schmidt has been lambasted for painting the enemies in his books with the same broad strokes and uniform lights, but at least Schmidt, when he makes a villain, makes them with more motivation than "them am not us." Age of War? Let's try "Age of Bore." Coincidentally, the number of stars equals the number of chapters this piece of lame crap held me for.

In a time when too many science fiction authors spend 700 pages to tell one 10th of their great big story arc (coughcoughrobertjordancoughcough) it's nice to know that a Science Fiction novel, with fantasy underpinnings, can deliver the goods quickly, sharply and efficiently. This is a series that contains continuity, but it is gentle to the readers by providing that backstory, then getting back to the business to adventure in a heroic age. Each return visit is learning something new about old friends... and enemies. And the changes are amazing. Lakesh growing from a manipulator to a man who would risk his life for his fellow Cerebus staff members. Domi showing loving concern for Quavel. Grant coming to emotional terms about his feelings and relationship with Domi. Big emotional changes, deep character development. Oh yeah. And somewhere in there, some balls to the wall, non-stop action, heavy duty, researched SF, and just the sheer awesome fight between Grant and a helicopter gunship... barehanded! A great book with a masterful villain and a slam-bang opening.

This one picks right up where Line of Control left off. Despite a few chapters of plot advancement early on (great for catching up AND forwarding the story), which were HARDLY slow, once you gots to the shootin' the book just lit up on fire and rocketed along. Lots of intrigue and backstabbing, who dis, who dat, also keep this from being one gunfight after another. Guenther also finally acknowledges that Bolan isn't just some soldier, but someone who has travelled the world and has accumulated enough knowledge of Chinese culture to pass as a "resident alien" in Hong Kong. I take one star off, only because of the fates of three villains left me dissatisfied, but then, that's another pleasure of Guenther's work. You actually have opinions of what happens to the bad guys other than "kill dem ded!" Great book.

Oh. My. God. Five trucks blown to smithereens. Colombian terrorists. The Mexican Mafia. The Triads. Chinese Special Forces. Bolan packing a Beretta in each fist to lay the Woo-down on the Chinese. Blitzes from Brownsville to Vegas. Intrigue that wasn't boring. Concentration on a cool and lovable DEA agent. A buddy from Mack's old days. Bolan on his own without Presidential support. And ass kicked, cover to cover and AAAAAGGGHHH a cliffhanger, and I'm two chapters into the NEXT book and haven't seen what the hell happened after... AAAAHHH! Jon Guenther kicks the first Superbolan Duology to the curb, pours gasoline on it and lights it on fire knowing there's a half ton of fireworks inside, then runs like hell because he knows the result is gonna blast the reader right the fuck out of his underpants and through the ceiling. And in the meantime, he allows Bolan to be not only tough and savage, but funny, tender, intelligent and caring, equal parts Executioner and Sergant Mercy. Kick. Ass. Jon. Guenther.

From the point of view that its slang and much of its background is heavily steeped in being a spin-off of Deathlands, Mark Ellis took this first book and started it off on an incredible spin. It was an amazing balance of raw action, alien domination intrigue, and sheer awe and wonder. After already knowing the characters from later books, it was VERY interesting to see where they came from, and how much they've changed, while at their core, they've remained recognizable, and vibrant. The series is much different today, and yet, with a starting book like this with so many different tableaus of action and world exploration, it's hard not to see how this series wasn't meant to change and evolve. This book runs like a good chocolate shake down my throat.

After a long dry spell, Mack Bolan gets laid with a hot red-head. Oh yeah, and he fucks up a couple really bad dudes looking to take over a brand new narcotic for illegal use, and the tangled web of their relationship. One thing I truly enjoyed was the tension between Sampson and Vega. Both publically want revenge against the DEA, and want to make lots of money, but privately, they also want to maneuver their partner into position to die, thanks to what each did to the others' son. A brilliant plot twist that allows for a lot of dramatic tension stacked on top of Bolan ripping through Florida and Georgia with a no-nonsense professional attitude, and plenty of whoop for all the ass thrown at him. Lots of good attention paid to supporting cast, lots of intrigue, and lots of people getting blown to chunky bits. Add in 2/3d's of Able Team also smacking the fight fantastic, and you've got a killer fucking debut novel.

This is an exceptional novel, not only in the fact that Bolan faces the deadliest combination of enemies in his career, but for the fact that he looks like he could very well lose simply because he's lost the will to fight. I'm surprised that some people mention the imperfection of Johnny Bolan as a fighting machine, especially since a major subplot of this book is Johnny actually growing up. Golly, just because your last name is Bolan doesn't make you some unstoppable fighting machine. Mack learned his skills in Vietnam, perfected them against the Mafia, and kept them sharp in brutal conflict with the KGB. Johnny was... a Navt medic, and might have taken a bit of training with Mack after Resurrection Day. Of course he's not going to be the superprofessional, and Mike McQuay has the brains to write him like this. But what really stands out in this book is the fact that Bolan is facing massive shocks to his system. He's encountering self-doubt of a crushing level, and if anything, that makes his eventual victory at the end of the book all the more satisfying because the hero has gone through a further maturation process. Bolan faced his pain, his grief, and his doubt, and showed himself to be able to win despite his own pains and losses. The suicide bombers are especially relevant in today's troubled times, and the villains in this book could have been plucked from yesterday's headlines. If you want for any more action and adventure from this novel, perhaps you should stand between the targets at the end of a Marine Corps Force Recon firing range for a 30,000 round full-auto session. That should give you the kind of action you want.

I truly have to sympathize with the sheep who could not wrap their minds around exciting new concepts which broke the much trampled ground that has been the Executioner's mainstay of villainy. The incorporation of the Cthulhu mythos, cybertechnology, mysticism, Hunter S. Thompson, big guns, larger than life heroes and ultimate evil into a conglomerate of new and thrilling action might have frightened and dismayed the unimaginative rabbits and mewling kittens incapable of letting go of their treasured pseudo-racist adventures against hispanic drug dealers, negro gang members, and arab terrorists in favor of all new adventures. The failure of the American counter-terrorist intelligence agencies to deal with 9-11 shows that Mack Bolan has outlived his usefulness as a counterterrorist, especially if they incorporate the real world into the plotlines of future Executioner and Stony Man novels. Rather than have Bolan fighting something that he can have no effect on, truly instead put him in the realm of fighting fantastic villains outside the realm of reality, so we will not be so disappointed when the Executioner does not swoop out from heaven to kill them damn dirty Muslims when they attack our ivory towers. After 2001, this is the kind of fresh, explosive direction the series should go. Unfortunately, the cowardice of a few readers convinces the editors that they shouldn't take brave, bold, exciting steps in a new direction. Stick a fork in Bolan. He's done.

I have mixed feelings about this novel. For the one part, I found this an excellent adventure for which the Executioner to pit his ass-kicking skills against. The slaughter of baby rapers is always a good thing. And while this book has a lot of energy, Doug just was trying too hard to make this the perfect Bolan book, trying to incorporate all the best things from various eras of the Executioner. Instead, we got too much icing. We got all kinds of action. We got all kinds of character study and introspection. We got villains and supporting cast. But the thread of the plot just feels weak and strained. I really don't see how the Executioner could have gotten so much leeway in the beginning from the Prime Minister, and yet be under such constant attack when in Thailand. Plus, while reading this, there just seemed too many leaps of narration where conclusions were made without any actual correlation, and it doesn't look like a break for editorial reasons as much as the author knew everything he was talking about, but forgot to put the entire process down on paper. It's still a likeable and fun book, full of piss and vinegar, spirit and thunder, but it's got far more chrome than it has bumper. It's like a Corvette with a 4 cylindar engine. Looks good, economical, but not top performance.

Good fucking grief this was a travesty of bullshit on the highest order. By the original works of G.H. Frost and Tom Arnett, this was no fucking way Able Team, not the guys who fought the Facist International to protect innocent meztizos. No, this is some racist fuckwad's intrusion into the actions of three warriors for justice for the excuse to murder wetbacks to his masterbatory heart's content. Nicholas Cain is a fucking piece of shit who helped fuck the later Able Team series with a chainsaw. If you see this book anywhere, pull it from the stacks, piss on it, pour lighter fluid on it, and burn it! THIS BOOK SUCKS!

This is the best damn Phoenix Force book ever written. Damn the eyes of the man who sees flaws in this classic in modern action adventure. This outdid Die Hard, Under Seige, every movie. Phoenix Force is the only choice you're going to make when the center of the Catholic world is under threat. Phoenix Force is a planet-saving force, tossing back killer germs and city-obliterating superweapons. They make The Executioner seem like a slacker for going on his more personal missions and preventing the world from coming to the brink of disaster - and Hostaged Vatican spread this across the heavens best and loudest. If the world needs saving, then here's the five bad boys who can do it!

I gotta admit it... screw the fact that the 10mm Peregrine from Falcon Industries was vaporware (hey, so was the Atchisson), and the Atchisson has a box mag, Lyons slams clips of 12 gauge home, not thumbs them into his shotgun. It didn't matter. Two quaffles when the real golden snitch of this game was the fact that Able Team wasn't a limping sack of second raters in a series where they're supposed to be one half of the baddest motherfuckers on the planet. When Lyons tells Price "When we get called in, the shit's already hit the fan, lady. We're here to make the blood hit the fan." my smile was earhole to earhole. Sure, Phoenix Force did some ok ass kicking, but Able Team was back in G.H. Frost land. The mob sends twenty bad guys with automatic weapons to kill them, the mob ends up with twenty corpses and flaming cars in the street, because they attacked a fucking force of nature called Ironman, Gadgets and Politician. Able Team going with 10mm Glocks too - that was cool. They needed to try out something new. Maybe I can suggest to someone about having Kissenger trick out a 10mm Glock for realy heavy action. Mike Linnaker did a great job reminding us that three men can take on a ship full of terrorists. Nick Pollotta, however, gave them back their attitude - train jumping, mob blasting, thrillkiller slaughtering unconventional motherfuckers and a half. Welcome back, Able Team. NO MORE DINGO JONESES FOR YOU!

I read this book for all of four chapters, then skipped to the end to see if this somehow got any better. Instead, this book happens to spread cheeks wide and spray projectile feces across the Executioner series with rehashes of James Bond plots and stilted, play-by-numbers sequences. Cunningham actually used to show lots of skill with his Penetrator novels, and his books for that series which involved super-science and planetary doom actually made sense. However, Cunningham must have felt the need to dumb down for the Executioner audiences, leaving most of his crisp characterization, plotting, and wit behind with Mark Hardin, exchanging everything for body count and what Cunningham perceived as explosive action. Last time I had explosive action like in this book, however, I vomited all over the side of the porcelain throne, not into the bowl. However, I will give the cover a solid 10. Shame they had to waste it on a crap book.

I have to agree with Doug Wise on this. The thing that made my braincells fry like they were dipped in battery acid was the fucking 60-round Beretta magazines, and the fact that he takes terrorist headquarters at full runs, not even pausing to aim, dodge or anything other than run and shoot. Calling this a Die-Hard style actioner is whipping your dick out and pissing across one of the finest thrillers of our generation. It makes me wonder what happened between the Penetrator and his Gold Eagle service to turn Cunningham into a complete and utter dimwit.

Leave it to Cunningham to once again be a total tit-head and churn out a steaming cow patty on the butt of modern action-adventure. Mack Scott? I thought you couldn't get stupider with Bolan's cover names after "Mack Jones" but how many microseconds did Cunningham expect THIS identity to hold up? Obviously for eternity, since everyone else in this book is so goddamn stupid so as not to recognize the style of the world's most wanted fugitive - including the weak-ass KGB plotters. Not that Bolan actually worked his usual style - unless you're talking about RACING CONSTANTLY into situations where anyone not from a Warner Brothers cartoon show would have been chopped to ribbons by enemy gunfire. Cunningham couldn't make a suspenseful, exciting action sequence if he had a brain transplant with William Fieldhouse and a full blood transfusion with Michael Kasner. God DAMN, I am glad that Cunningham isn't writing Executioners anymore.

A very cool, cool book. Nice tableaus of action, even if they went a little quick. I like how Bolan is human and is allowed errors, even going so far as to accidentally shot some friendlies - and actually spent a couple sentences agonizing over it. Plus, extended Gadgets sequences, working solo, even if Brognola got to shoot more and shoot better than he did.

This was a solid solid book. Lots of action, lots of great world travelling, and I'm always a fan of Katz getting in on the ass-whoop. Plus, plenty of bad guys of all shapes and sizes get theirs. I just wish that they didn't feel the need to make the slave trade smashing plot into a Chicom issue involving Nashunall Seecureity. Can't the Executioner just kill some bad guys because it's the right thing to do, and a crunchy way to do it? Docked two stars for the National Security mess, otherwise, perfect.