Zardoz

Finally tracked this gem down and loved it. One of the best covers ever, for starters, and the book itself is packed with suspense and great insights into Bolan and what makes him tick. I would have given it a ten except I didn't care too much for the April Rose bits; they seemed a little hokey and could have been better handled. Still, this one deserves its spot near the top of the charts. Oh, and yes, I think it should've been #100 in the series, but I'm sure there were reasons it wound up #101. Maybe Mertz wanted to make one extra pass on the manuscript to make it the classic it's become.

There were a lot of things to like about this book, but the slow pacing and a lot of exposition bogged the pace a bit and kept this from getting a higher rank. I can understand by the author chose to remain anonymous, because the writintg isn't truly representative of the best this series has to offer. Still, you could do much worse than this one in terms of passing the time.

I give this one points for trying to break from formula, but the Juggernauts kinda wound up seeming like a bunch of Terminators and I kept waiting for a better look inside the heads of some of the characters, but except for a few decent insights into Bolan, this was mostly plot plot plot. Still, the author did a good job within these paramiters. A good book to read if you're looking for a change of pace for the usual books in this series.

I bought this mostly to find out what the hell the title stood for. Guess what? No mention of Vector Three in the entire book. Guess what else? A few chapters in, I didn't care. This was a gripping, well-crafted book with some superb insight into our guy's personalities, especially T.J. Hawkins, who figures prominently because a ghost from his past turns out to be the major bad guy. I didn't mind the fictitious countries as much as some reviewers, and I agree with whoever mentioned the Jayne Bahn character. She really livened things up and I was actually a little disappointed that there wasn't any follow-through on a brief mention at the Farm that she might make a good addition to the team. My only quibble was with the quick ending. I would've like the ride to have gone on a little longer. Grab this one if you see it.

A case of too much of a good thing here. Action galore and most of it well-written, but the storyline slogged in a lot of spots and you got the since things were being padded to make sure there'd be something left over to spill into another book. I agree with other reviewers that most of the trilogies in these series are disappointments, mostly because they'd be better in most respects trimmed down to a single book. Newton's a good writer and has done better work, but it's hard to fault him here as it's the format more than his writing that's to blame. Readers, you're better off tracking down one of Newton's single books.