Customer Reviews

Doom 3: Maelstrom

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I gave it 4 stars just because it is not a classic of sci-fi, but I didn't want to give the impression that it was a bad book, as a lot of people think a 3 stars means. I wish we had a 10 point system...but that is another discussion.
This book was a great read. I truly enjoyed the development of the plot from the 1st book, the pace of the story, and I can't wait for the next book in the series.
So, if you like sci-fi horror, Aliens, Predators, heck..Warhammer, and fast paced action movies....this is the book for you. If you want to find the meaning of life among the stars...that is not the book for you.

BTW, when is the 3rd book coming out?

This picks up from where the first book left off, mostly, and is technically well written. It suffers from a couple of side stories that don't do anything to advance the main story, though. You can totally skip the entire narrative about the UAC president, and especially the events in the undersea lab and not miss anything.

There's also a child character we follow, but who doesn't advance the plot at all (even though he does meet up with the main characters eventually.) You could skip his narrative entirely as well, and not miss anything.

Like I said, it's a technically well-written book, but these unattached subplots and characters weaken it. Also, fanboys be warned: the descriptions of the monsters differ significantly from what's in the actual game. If this series weren't based on a video game, this wouldn't be a big deal. But it is based on the game, so the descriptions of the monsters need to match what we find in the game.

I came away from this second book disappointed. To me it felt like the author was tired of writing about Doom 3, and ready to move on to other things (which might explain the unattached side stores, like the undersea lab.) That's too bad, too, because the first book was an excellent read and did a good job of setting things up for the events which should have been chronicled in this follow-up.

John Kane is getting the feeling that he should have taken the former option of rotting in jail for the rest of his life instead of the latter option of being demoted to private in the space marines and shipped off to mars to provide security for UAC's classified experiments in mars city. At least it would have been quieter. The story picks up where Doom 3: Worlds on Fire left off. The portal to the demon dimension has been opened by the lead scientist of Mars and half of the personnel turned into zombies or other strange creatures. The few survivors are scattered and are out of contact due to damage that the base has suffered. Kane along with another survivor named Maria try to take control of the situation since HQ went offline when the portal opened. It soon becomes obvious that the initial transformation was only the first wave. As more explosions rock the city, Kan discovers that the only way to stop the invasion is to find the ancient weapon , named the Soul cube, that sealed the rift between dimensions thousands of years ago. Unfortunately the demons aren't in a hurry to be bottled up again so they decided that the best place for the soul cube was at home sweet home. Guess where that is....

Mean wile on earth the UAC president is in panic mode. The situation is rapidly getting out of his control and he has no confidence in the commander of mars city to handle the deteriorating situation. In desperation he focus on two projects. One is a undersea laboratory that has recently found a strange life form that appears to obtain awesome power and strength for a short time in its life span. If the scientists can learn how to harness this power then it may give them a edge over the demons. The second project is a attempt to duplicate the projects being done on mars city. Though they have never been successful earth side, new data may allow the experimental portals to work and let the UAC get to mars. One project might save the human race. One project might allow the demons to be stopped before they obtain a foot hold on mars. Or will both doom the earth to burn in eternal flame...
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The is a pretty good continuation to the new series. The only problem is that it does seem to suffer from the middle child blues. There are three stories crammed into this book instead of all the focus being on what is going on in mars city, the book bounces between Kane, Maria, the UAC president, the underwater lab, and a few others. So some of the story later in the book is a little crammed and brief. Myself I would have preferred a little more detail of Kane fighting through the demon dimension. Hopefully the next book (if there is one) will go back to focusing on one or two people instead of bouncing around so much. Other than that it is a good scifi read just like the first one and it really does flesh out the doom universe. Would recommend this to anyone who likes doom and those who like scifi action novels. M.a.c

I got the chance to read this book and I have to say, I thought I'd be a little disappointed after reading the reviews. I think that this book deserves a little more credit than was given.

Matthew Costello can really write a good horror book! He maintains the usual gruesome description and even if you don't know DooM 3 too well, it'll bring up old memories of those demons from playing the game. People forget how the DooM series defined sci fi horror and set the standard for FPS's from the old computer games.

I think that there are a few things here and there that could be improved, like the fact that the author jumped between the views of the characters more quickly than was necessary, but it did keep me glued because I would read on to find out what happened to the other characters. Still, it was a bit excessive in view-jumping (and that's why I rated it as a 4/5). The only other thing I didn't like was the ending. It gives me the impression that Kane, the main hero, may not be in the next book.

I can't wait for the next book. I know there'll be one because of DooM 3: Resurrection of Evil. You can't leave the fans without knowing what happened to Dr. Betruger after all!! :D