Customer Reviews

Gemini Rising (Deathlands)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This newest adventure of Ryan Cawdor and his warrior-survivalist companions is the worst read in the series I have ever read. The characters are not even acting the same and the bad guys are something straight out of a bad comic book. The one-eyed warrior goes back home to Virginia to find that his Ville has been taken over by a "lost son" of Cawdor that seems to be his own age, (which his age isn't even mentioned). The new Cawdor son is so comic-book evil that there is just no depth to his (or anyone's for that matter) character. Jak is so unlike himself in this storyline - a heavy drinker and womanizer, which he never, ever was and all the other oddities of this story make it extremely hard to swallow for this long-lasting series. The action is plenty but the weak story makes it hard to finish. If I wasn't such a hardcore fan, I wouldn't even bother to have finished it. The bad news is this is the 1st of a trilogy that I have to endure for the seemingly rest of this year. I can only pray that the next two are written by someone who actually knows this serie's characters and keeps with the Deathlands code of all these years - GOOD WRITING!

This book ruled! Its about time a Deathlands book didn't take the sameredundant course that it always does. This book was full of new twist and greataction. The characters were colorful and intelligent. Others have complained that the characters don't seem like themselves but these few have obviously not seen the steady process of maturing that the group has been undergoing. I finished the book not even an hour ago and its left me refreshed and drooling for Gaia's Demise. READ THIS BOOK!

I'm am an avid fan of the Deathlands series and own every book. If another is written like this one, it'll be the last I ever own as I will reread all the other before I'll read another as bad as this one. It's not the storyline, it's the characters. Did they all die and get replaced when I wasn't looking??? Jak drinking and womanizing, all the other characters sounding like something from a bad daytime soap opera.

Please bring back the original characters.

Despite some of the flaws in this latest entry in the Deathlands saga, I actually enjoyed reading 'Gemini Rising' quite a bit - although it was a sort of a guilty pleasure. First of all, this book is well written from a purely technical standpoint, it flows right and its many action scenes are well executed. I did have problems with some aspects of it though. Characterwise, Jak does come off rather badly in the first few pages and an incident with Mildred certainly had me raising my eyebrows. Unless I missed it the origins of the villian of the piece are never explained nor his mysterious henchmen, while this could be coming up in the next two books of the trilogy I still couldn't help wondering sometimes just what the hell was going on. The mythology suffers a bit in this one as well, but it seems these days that's pretty much a given. Bits of this novel also reminded me of some of the more cheesier post-nuke fiction I've read, which was a shame, as Deathlands always used to come across as something more. Still, if you can forgive it these and other things, you might actually find yourself enjoying this one quite a bit. It's certainly going to be interesting to see where the rest of the trilogy goes from here, the next novel 'Gaia's Demise' certainly seems to promise a lot more.

This is the start of the better of the two deathland's trilogies. Ryan and Co. have heard rumors of trouble on his old home ground but what he finds is much more deadly. This also offers for a good snapshot of the other rival baronies in the Virginia area after skydark.

Overall-So what if its pulp fiction? Its fun to read

I have recently finished this novel and decided to write my review about it. Overall I found it to be an intersting yarn. The pace was fast paced and never ending. That I found, strangely enough, tedious. Usually in the majority of the novels there is more than your fair share of conflicts but there was also 'down' time if you will between the battles. And some of the situations seemed highly unlikely as well. But this is the Deathlands we are talking about so it is to be expected. The major complaint I have however is the fact that Overton was never really explained. I mean, where did he come from? How did he get the weaponry and the APC's? The other complaint I have is that the writer totally disregarded the fact that Nathan Cawdor is a Doomie, which was outlined in Homeward Bound.

Still, overall, it wasn't bad. It was kind of fun.

The new writer for this series appears to have taken the established characters and breathed new life into them. Having read all of the Deathlands and Outlanders series, the Deathland books were becoming too predictable. The main characters do things somewhat different, and the story takes a few new twists with lots of action thrown in. There are plenty of hints which will tie the Deathlands series into the Outlanders series. The author (or authors) should be careful not to delve into this too quickly or the two series will either not mesh or do it way too soon. This could spell the end of the Deathlands series. Altogether, this was an excellent book and story. I cannot wait to read the next two in this trilogy.

The future is bleak, but the future of the Deathlands books is finally looking bright. I read scene, after scene, of a real group of people getting through life, when the whole world is out to eat anything that moves! Okay, you go to a what seems like a trap, you try to get through it, by thinking! This was great! I have been waiting for these characters to start using that lump of flesh between their ears! The new writer thinks of ways to get through combat situations that are brilliant! I have been reading Scifi for 20 years and have never read a "survive the scorched earth future" that involved a smarter group of survivors. Now there are obvious serindipidous happenings, but this is still a story and we need to advance the plot, but none of it seemes contrived or unreal. I cannot reccomend this book too much. I have played in rpgs, and often have to get through combat situations, but I have never thought of ways to defeat an enemy like this guy does!

BUY IT, TELL YOUR FRIENDS TO BUY IT, GET YOUR LIBRARY TO BUY IT!

I've been a reader and a fan of Deathlands since HOMEWARD BOUND (of which this is sorta kinda a sequel) and I could not be happier. This is what Action/Adventure books are supposed to be! Great characterization, hot sex and even better fight scenes. The battle on the hill had me holding my breath. Is Clem going to be a new companion? Sure hope so. He's great! I can't wait for the next book in the trilogy. Hey, Gold Eagle, publish these monthly!

The synopsys is not quite accurate,as Krysty's illness is no mystery and the Front Royal's old enemies play a less than monumental part in the book. I found the obvious new author bringing a good deal of fresh ideas and twists to the series which had become as predictable as a I love Lucy meets Gomer Pyle war story. It was a great book and the only trouble I had was in finding the time to finish it in less than 48 hours! Darn work and sleep!