Customer Reviews

End of the Circle (Robotech #18)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Jack McKinney's controversial THE END OF THE CIRCLE attempts the impossible: to please die-hard fans of a sci-fi series in an attempt to try and bring their beloved saga to a close. The end result is admirable and I, personally, have no real complaints.

The SDF-3, failing to appear in Earth space for the final assault on the Regis, de-folds in a mysterious void. Meanwhile, Scott Bernard on Earth begins his search for the lost ship while the remaining Sentinels on Tirol make some hard discoveries. The ensuing action brings all of the generations together, solves one of Robotech's biggest mysteries, graphically reveals the climax of Protoculture's existence, and ties up all remaining loose ends with the remarkable Intersection segment as well as a final "Recollections" chapter from Lisa Hayes-Hunter.

THE END OF THE CIRCLE brings very satisfying closure to one of the best science fiction sagas around. As a hard core fan of the entire novel series I was quite pleased with the way the story arc was brought to a close and I believe that most other fans would probably agree with me on that. The authors deserve major credit for succeeding at a very difficult task. Five solid stars.

I read my first Robotech book because I liked the picture on the cover. Since then I have quite literally memorized every book in the series, including Sentinals as well as Zentradi Uprising and Before the Invid Storm. I own every book of every series and all of them are very dog earred. So I know what I am saying when I say that End of the Circle was a world altering experience for me.

Although I may sound like a fanatic, my reasoning is this. Jack McKinney (two authors, one of whom, James Lucero went on to write some great Star Wars books and, ironically, the final wrap up of that series as well) was forced to write his books on what is basically a kids show, Robotech. He was constrained in his characters and could do little with the story. And yet his books managed to add an amazing depth to the Robotech world that was sorely lacking in the cartoons. So much so in fact that his books touched off a virtual war between the cartoon purists and the book converts. I bring this up because in this book, the gloves are off.

End of the Circle is where McKinney finally gets to write the story that he wanted to write. All the characters are much more mature than their series debute. Scott is no longer a one dimensional tragic hero and Marlene is now more human as well as being a bit grizzled. Everyone is back, if only for just a cammio. Now I have read the reviews that say this is a weakness but if this had not been in the book, these same people would probably have been angry about that too. McKinney is simply trying to include all the characters whom we have grown too like up to this point.

Yes, there is a lot that is wrapped up in this book. Yes...some may say there is too much to be wrapped up, with a few eyebrows going up about some story lines. And yet, while McKinney could have left well enough alone, it would not have been a true Science Fiction book, where eyebrows are SUPPOSED to go up occasionally. I mean come on, how exactly does a crystal in a "warp core" enable faster than light speed. Maybe not the best comparison but its all I could come up with.

When I was young, I loved this book. When I was adolecent, I loved this book and started to actually understand what was going on. As an adult, I still love this book and I think I understand much of what is going on. But you know what, I am going to read this book one more time, just to see what I might have missed. And I think all of you should too.

There are many reviews of these book. I really enjoyed the novel, but I also think that while trying to tie up all the loose ends that sometimes the story is hurt. When finishing a series you have to let some things go, so the reader goes away still wondering a tad.

I think the author (or authors) tried just a little to much to cover every person, event or plot line in the Robotech universe. That is why I took away one star.

On the other hand there was a lot of humor. For example, a ship named N'trpriz with a Karbarran Captain named K'rrk, a science officer with horns, a female communications officer and the guy in engineering has a thick Highlander's accent!

"The second star to the right?" - Rick Hunter.

(Anyone who is (still) interested in Robotech in 2009 is probably aware that - after a dry spell in the `90s - a new batch of comics and the "sequel" animation The Shadow Chronicles picked up where the TV series left off . . . sort of. A lot has been written about Robotech continuity, especially where the timelines presented in the novels, comics and TV series diverge. When trying to make sense of this, you have to take into account that the writers for each medium had to work around certain limitations, and when production of the Robotech: Sentinels TV series was scrapped, the comics and novels didn't have the same fleshed-out source material to work with as in the past. In other words, the writers had a script to base their work on, but had to flesh it out on their own. If that sort of thing presents a problem for you, you might find The End of the Circle to be a bit frustrating.)

For starters, if you haven't read the previous Sentinels novels, this book will not make ANY sense. When the Sentinels books first hit the shelves so many years ago, I ignored them, because I was still seeing new-to-me TV episodes at the time. When I started going back and buying the novels from the original series, it crossed my mind to skip anything with Sentinels in the title, but I'm sure glad I *didn't* do that, because those books bring the original Macross characters back into the equation. That being said, The End of the Circle also attempts to reunite the various generations of TV characters with those who appear only in the novels, which from time to time makes it feel as though a bit too much effort is spent trying to (re)acquaint readers with everyone. All of a sudden, you have Dana Sterling and her Southern Cross teammates reunited with the families that left them behind. A lot of pages are dedicated to Scott Bernard's adventures immediately following the last TV episode, but to me it seemed that the passage of months between when Scott and his New Generation companions parted ways and were (briefly) reunited in this book placed a much greater gulf between them than what is encountered when Dana Sterling and Bowie Grant join their parents in deep space. Not having read any of the comics until Wildstorm acquired the license a few years ago, maybe I missed some explanations along the way. The biggest shortcoming of this book and its Sentinels predecessors is that the alien characters are really pretty forgettable, excluding those established on TV - the Zentraedi and Invid - and the increasingly important Haydonites. But since the whole point of Book #18 here is to wrap everything up, everyone has a part to play.

Those criticisms aside, The End of the Circle really has a lot going for it. Rick and Lisa Hayes are relevant characters again, after being placed on the back burner in a couple of the earlier books. Dana, Dante and Louie from the Southern Cross are here, and even Bowie Grant finally finds his niche without being a wet blanket the entire time. The only "core" character who I think gets ignored a bit is Miriya, but that brings me to another point. Instead of this being a novelization of an existing episode, or at least taken from the script of an episode that was never completed, this is essentially an original story. I tried to imagine how this book could have made any sense when compared to an accompanying TV episode, and I just don't think it'd be possible. There is a lot going on, probably enough for several episodes, but the action is of a different kind than that portrayed in the original series. It's more about exploring concepts and putting together pieces of a puzzle than a war story. It stands on its own.

I'm going to disagree with some of the previous reviewers by saying that The End of the Circle is NOT a must-read for all Robotech fans. It's a great read if you've already watched and read everything Robotech-related under the sun, but the underlying themes run much deeper than anything that a 30-minute TV show or a comic book could ever capture. In a way, the characters become secondary to the concepts, and some readers inevitably won't care for that. Also, the "official" Robotech storyline as dictated by Harmony Gold has been altered somewhat with the release of the comics published by Wildstorm and the film The Shadow Chronicles. The novels went off on a somewhat independent direction when there were no more animated episodes to draw from (no pun intended) and although The Shadow Chronicles does make use of some Sentinels content, the differences are almost immediately obvious. For that reason, consider The End of the Circle as just one possible conclusion to the Robotech saga, albeit probably a richer and deeper experience than anything a movie could provide. Maybe a full year of daily TV episodes . . .

A must read for all serious Robotech fans. It ties all plot threads together and also includes a flashback to an awesome Zentraedi-Invid battle. Want to know what happened to the Robotech Elders, the Regis and the SDF-1 fold drives? Want to know where the Flower of Life originates from? Then read this book!

This is an awesome end to the RoboTech series. I found the book to be very well writen and aruguably the best in the series. Reading the other books in the series does help in understanding what's going on in this book, but other than that, it makes for a very good read. This conclusion to the RoboTech series has a completely unexpected ending which involves what happened to the SDF-1's fold drives, the future of RoboTechnology, the mysterious Haydon, and why Haydon IV is what it is. If you like science fiction/fantasy books then you'll like this one.

If you like Robotech but never felt satisfied knowing what its all about this is the book for you. I've read it several times and it just keeps getting better. It brings together all of the elements of the Robotech universe and shines a light to let you see the entire story as a whole. From the day the SDF-1 lanched and the fold generator disapeared to the return of the Invid queen REGIS. This book tells all. A must have for any Robotech fan

Although one of the betterall-original stories that Mckinney added to the Robotech novels, the plausibility of it, even in a series of pure fiction, is too beyond belief. Mckinney seems to try too hard to fill in the loose ends and winds up with a series of events that have nothing to do with the ending, which is all wrapped up in a few short pages of Lisa's diary. The only loose ends are the SDF-4 and Rem, and Minmei. Even being a "Mckinneyist" I feel that this is one of the books read because you're a fan looking for closure, but it should not have been written.

This was a great book. The ending is finally revealed. It took me a long time to finish all the novels. So many interferences in our busy society. Here's how it goes: The SDF-3 gets stuck in a new universe, The planet Haydon IV turns out to be a spaceship and heads for the new universe where the SDF-3 is, Scott Bernard returns to Earth to find Marlene (a.k.a. Ariel), Rook is pregnant with Rand's baby, Sera dies, the Ark Angel tails Haydon IV in hopes of finding the missing SDF-3, Minmei takes Octavia's spot in the Triumvirate and discovers she's pregnant with Rem's baby, Gibley dies, Haydon cuts a deal with the Devil (The Robotech Masters), The RDF finally finds the Invid & The Regis, The Peter Pan locates the SDF-3, Polly returns and kidnaps Dana, Dr. Lang becomes one with the Protoculture and sends the SDF-3 back to Earth, Rem and Minmei remain in the new universe and Minmei's baby turns out to be Zor, Protoculture dies and Earth FINALLY becomes Paradise.

First, let me say that reviewer "wolf-sigma" is absolutely right in saying that the Jack McKinney novelizations brought a welcome level of depth to the Robotech saga that takes the story far beyond the constraints of a cartoon written for children -- not the least of which was the realism provided by actual military service on the part of at least one of the authors. Since I somehow managed to miss the show when it was aired in my area, the novels were my first exposure to the series. And I don't think the show by itself could have packed the punch for me that the books did.

With that said, though, I'm not a fan of some of the more controversial elements introduced in the books that had no basis in the show -- namely, all that overly-mystical hoodoo about the "Shapings of the Protoculture". Thinking caps I get -- how else would you be able to pilot a machine with that many controls and get near-human movement out of it? -- but the Shapings? Just...no.

And unfortunately, it's exactly those disbelief-straining elements that are on full display in End of the Circle. Even more gratuitous than the front-and-center role of the Shapings is an increased emphasis on the mysterious God-like figure of Haydon. Whoever or whatever Haydon was (and they never do answer that doozy of a question), he is implied to have been directly responsible for the Invid's connection to the Flower, the creation of most of the races in the Local Group, and oh by the way, for the highly coincidental genetics between Earth and Tirol.

Add to this the over-the-top psychic and oracular powers of Max and Miriya's second daughter Aurora (let's not even go into her accelerated growth rate) and what you have is a novel that has the reader seriously wondering what the heck the authors might have been smoking when they wrote it.

I'm quite sure it's for these reasons that Harmony Gold has not only officially declared the Robotech novelizations as "secondary continuity", but actually ret-conned the events in End of the Circle out of existence with the Shadow Chronicles. Much as I love the novels, and even the Sentinels storyline (which suffered from much of the same metaphysical burdens), I have to say I won't miss this last volume's absence from the canon.

If you've already read all the other novels and want to see how it could have ended, then by all means, pick up a copy of End of the Circle; just keep in mind that it's no more than a professional AU fanfic at this point. Otherwise, you might be better off just letting dormant Protoculture lie.