Works okay as a closure to what was built up in the last episodes of Dark Angel. Yes, it is simple, and some things feel a bit rushed, but I suspect the writer had a page-limit which caused this problem. Other than that I was okay with it. ( )

Collins has the subtlety of a a herd of elephants running through the jungle. Every time he switches perspectives to a new - male - character, he does a full brain dump of their past, their hopes and dreams, their context, etc. Dull as shit, and leaves no surprise for the reader. As well, since he does this with EVERY guy, important to the plot or disposable, I don't know the importance and just can't get it up for EVERYONE. I feel like I have empathy fatigue for stupid scenes and nothing left for the main plot. Not only that but bad technique is completely breaking the forth wall. And, honestly, why do I care about this secondary character's family going back a few generations? I don't even care about that for main characters - and if any ancestry should be traced, it would be the eugenics cult!!! Oh gee, this human had grandparents, shocking....

Collins has the subtlety of a a herd of elephants running through the jungle. Every time he switches perspectives to a new - male - character, he does a full brain dump of their past, their hopes and dreams, their context, etc. Dull as shit, and leaves no surprise for the reader. As well, since he does this with EVERY guy, important to the plot or disposable, I don't know the importance and just can't get it up for EVERYONE. I feel like I have empathy fatigue for stupid scenes and nothing left for the main plot. Not only that but bad technique is completely breaking the forth wall. And, honestly, why do I care about this secondary character's family going back a few generations? I don't even care about that for main characters - and if any ancestry should be traced, it would be the eugenics cult!!! Oh gee, this human had grandparents, shocking....

Years ago, shortly after "Dark Angel" went off the air, I was tickled to find out there were some novels based on the series. In particular I was psyched to see one that offered some sort of resolution of a story I highly enjoyed. Despite the fact that I didn't really get the complete resolution I was seeking I did enjoy the story.

It has been a while since I watched the show but if memory serves me correctly this picks up right after the series left off with the rising of Terminal City as the new mutant nation. The characterization rang true to what I remember as well which I really liked a lot and the underlying murder/suspense plot fit well with the events. It was nice to "see" Max, Logan, Joshua, Alec (oh, baby!) and the rest. It has certainly made me nostalgic for re-watching some of the episodes.

I know it took me quite a while to get around to reading this, but now I'm curious to see if they did another novelization after this one. Maybe I'll yet get some of that resolution I seek. ( )

I quite liked the Dark Angel TV series (see here for my review of it). When it got canned just as it started getting *really* good I bought the three tie-in novels because I wanted. to know. what. happened. ;-) The three books consist of a prequel, a book set immediately after Freak Nation (the last episode of the series) and a book set about 6 months after that which ties up all the loose ends.

I managed to read about 5 pages of the prequel before the awfulness of the writing defeated me, and since it wasn't strictly speaking necessary for me to read the prequel to get the 'what happened in the end' bit, I gave up and moved straight to this one.

This book is god-awful. The writing is appallingly bad. It's so bad, it's worse than Man^H^H^HWarprize. Every few pages, the author feels it's necessary to summarise an episode from the series as back-plot. Let's face it, if I'm forcing myself to read this book, it'll only be because I've watched all 40-odd episodes. The characterisation in the book is a parody of that in the series. Here's an extract talking about Max and Joshua's relationship:
---
'You did good, Big Fella,' she said.
'Thanks, Little Fella,' he said, returning the hug hugely.
The silly nicknames were a small indication of the big brother and sisterly affection these two shared.
---
You twitching yet? How exactly does one return a hug 'hugely'?

The dialogue tries to emulate the colourful dialogue in the series - and fails. The action scenes are... boring. The narration makes me want to slit my wrists. The racist and homophobic overtones in the writing are... ironic, given the history and subject matter of the series (more of that when I review the final book). I am going to be charitable and assume they are down to bad writing rather than the author being actually racist or homophobic.

The only possible reason one could have for getting to the end of this book (and mind you, I skipped large chunks of it as it was so unbearable) is to try and get some closure on the Dark Angel universe. This book does move us a little toward that. I really hope book 3 pays out but I have a sneaky suspicion it may not be a satisfying conclusion.

Bechdel: I think Max and Original Cindy talk at one point about O.C. leaving Terminal City. Pass. ( )