Customer Reviews

Infinity Breach (Outlanders)

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

 

 

This story lifts the rooftop of the limitations of imagination and then it explodes into smithereens.Indiana Jones is in this one,gun fights with Sin Eaters one inch from your face,reflections in the iris of the enemy showing the locations of other aggresors.Everytime I put my Kindle down I said "This is a crazy story"

After a slow set-up, things really kick in to gear once the true nature of the mysterious artifact is revealed. The 'villains' of the piece wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Dr Who and are as menacing as they come, there's also some nice dialogue exchanges - SPOILER ALERT - after Flag is revived he is surprised by Brigid swearing - something which I've always found unecessary in the series. grumbling aside, there are some nice ideas here, Flag is a superb character (I actually prefer him to the usual gang - sorry!) and I really hope he'll be back someday.... This is my favourite book in the series so far - if this standard keeps up I'll be reading Outlanders for many years to come.

Review of Outlanders; Infinity Breach
By James Axler
The latest book in the Outlanders series, set in the early twenty third century, finds a trio of explorers/adventurers; ex magistrates Kane and Grant and Brigid Baptiste (an archivist with an eidetic memory), who are working for the benevolent Cerberus Organisation in pursuit of an ancient Annunaki artefact, the stone knife `Godkiller'. This mysterious weapon turns out to have been sequestered in "the secret laboratory of Abraham Flag". The fact that this `Laboratory of the Incredible' is hidden deep within the Antarctic circle is the first clue to which well known 1930s pulp hero has been used as the template for the eponymous Abraham Flag. (Similar to `Doc Atlas' in Michael A Black's Melody of Vengeance which I reviewed last year... for those of you who bother to follow my reviews.)
Beware Spoilers follow!
Indeed, like that novel, `Infinity Breach' is a homage, both stylistically and literally, to the pulp era with a good proportion of the novel being told in flashbacks detailing the contretemps between Dr. Flag and exotic Italian femme fatale Signorina Demy Octavo (Geddit?) during which the devastating power of this Star God weapon is first awakened. There are also brief, tantalising glimpses in the back stories of several powerful relics and artefacts in Flag's museum-like fortress. A museum, the team soon discover, that still has the 250 year-old superman in residence, albeit frozen in a state of Cryogenic suspension. Their acquisition of the `Godkiller' artefact is complicated by the unfortunate arrival of a bunch of well armed mercenaries belonging to the rival Millennial Consortium led by another dominant femme fatale whose fine figure Axler once again goes into some detail delineating. Heated competition for the Godknife ensures before the weapon's power is once again accidentally unleashed. The muti-dimensional blade "cutting into the body of God!" creates an injury in the fabric of reality and initiates the arrival of shimmering beatific angels. However, these ethereal beings turn out to be both disconcertingly indestructible and determined to eradicate all humans whose DNA has been corrupted by the alien Annunaki... even if that means exterminating every human being on the planet.. Purely out of love of course.
Towards the end of the novel Flag is hurriedly defrosted in the hope that he can help shed some light on the whole situation. He immediately takes over... figuratively as well as literally by virtue of instantly becoming the most interesting character in the novel (this one of the problems with using these `Doc Savage' type characters; they do tend to hog the limelight and become the main focus of the story.) The unflappable 250 year-old adventurer soon uses fairly basic science to defuse the threat of the annihilating angels in such calm, competent way that you do start to wonder why everybody else seemed to be getting so worried and het up merely by bunch of hovering unstoppable angels who slowly and agonisingly disintegrate you from the feet up.
Axler's style reminds me a great deal of the adventure - si/fi author Phillip José Farmer. Not only in his utilisation of Doc Savage as a character, but also because of his confident grasp of story pace. Not too much dialogue, and just enough descriptive detail to allow you to build up a picture of what the characters look like and what the surrounding scenery is like without slowing down the story. Alxler uses the story to explore some Big concepts, (some similar to recent Dr Who plot developments I notice.) whilst at the same time including various fight scenes, (and there are a lot of action set pieces in this novel.) which become clearer and more kinetic and with every read. (Again something reminiscent of Farmer.) Which makes the novel one you can dip into again and enjoy more the second time around than the first? So, in summation, James Axler; a modern day Phillip José Farmer?... There are worse things to be called.:

OUTLANDERS: INFINITY BREACH is a strong addition to this series. James Axler has the Cerberus team stumble onto a secret Antarctic laboratory with a lot more than they bargained on retrieving - a super-genius man from the past and an alien weapon that might just have the power to finish off life on earth. As established characters Grant, Brigid and Kane battle a rival team from the murderous Millennium Consortium and the nightmare effects of the activated 'Godkiller' blade, an even greater peril notices the inadvertant activation of the weapon and may threaten the entire human race.

This is clearly laying the foundations for a big saga and it will be fascinating to see how it develops. Axler introduces a new character called Abraham Flag, first aware of the 'Godkiller' all the way back in the 1930s and his adventure then connects directly and effectively to the unfolding events in the Antarctic many years later. He proves to be the key both to understanding the mystery of the 'Godkiller' and what eventually comes looking for it...

James Axler sets up tense situations in interesting locations well. He's great at dialogue and getting characters across vividly in what they say. The sense of mystery about the weapon and the drama of what happens when it starts its weird effects is urgent and intensified. The crisis, which convincingly threatens every remaining human being on the planet in the 23rd Century, is effectively resolved in a way which leads the story on into the next part of what I hope will be a major saga. INFINITY BREACH has impact, is great genre fiction and entertains with imagination and skill.

Ed Griffiths

The Good: Good characters, good sci-fi story

The Bad: Repetitive, story backtracks to much, leads you on then lets you down too much

While I don't stray too far from video game novels Inifnity Breach was one of those random buys when the store didn't have any novels of my interest. While there is a whole Outlanders series Infinity Breach is farely interesting on it's own and is a decent read.

You follow three Cerberbus members who are trying to locate an ancient knife called Godkiller and a rival band of looters find it at the same time. Upon using the knife a whole is opened and deadly angels are released and hellbent on destroying humanity. While the story switches back and forth between two different sets of characters in different time periods it allows you to get a back story while getting the current story at the same time. The story is fairly easy to follow, but some of the science jargon is a bit over the top and probably not even real.

James Axler's style of writing is very poetic it can be dry at times and sleep inducing. While the pacing is good he tends to screw it up some times by throwing slow techno jargon into the foray when it's not necessary. Besides this the book never goes on an epic scale like you think it would and is relatively confined, and even suffers from backtracking. There really aren't many locales in the book and it feels a few corners were cut.

However, the character are well developed and you really get attached to them and they have great personalities, I feel the ending let readers down real hard (can't spoil) so you'll see what I mean when you read it. You just expect all this epic stuff to happen and it never does due to the book's short length. Infinity Breach is a good sci-fi read, but will most likely be forgotten in time.

I see from other reviews there are still some readers around who remember the Doc Savage series... and some writers, too!
Although I have been losing interest in the OUTLANDERS Series, this was an enjoyable return to the antics of Doc, Ham, and Monk as they battled heroically against impossible foes.
Only the names were changed, and I can only hope that Abraham Flag, along with his colorful companions Barnaby and Little Ant, will magically appear from the "other side" to help the Cerberus gang in their never-ending battle to restore the world to sanity.
Norm

The fight to overthrow Earth's alien overlords leads to an ancient artefact, the Godkiller - and the man who discovered its powers, swashbuckling 20th C adventurer Abraham Flag, cryogenically frozen for centuries. However, careless use of the Godkiller attracts the attention of something far more powerful and unknowable than mere aliens - beings who will compassionately, wonderingly destroy every human being on Earth out of pure love...

Infinity Breach finally pushes the action-driven Outlanders series entirely into the realm of true science fiction, and is all the better for it. The idea of beings who tidy up breaches in the fabric of the universe isn't entirely original - it's even appeared on Doctor Who - but by taking us inside the genuinely alien minds of these so-called angels, Infinity Breach achieves a disorientating perspective on humanity. Adventurer Abraham Flag does overshadow the regular characters, but is more than engaging enough for the reader not to care - and indeed, to be rooting for Flag to get his own spin-off series! Add in some subtle, playful commentary on the nature of the characters' reality, and you have a piece of solid sci-fi that still delivers on the action and adventure, but leaves you with something to think about too. A thoroughly enjoyable read!