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18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Coming of Drakh, November 6, 2000
This review is from: The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
Peter David. A lot of readers know this name from the cover of Star Trek novels. It was a surprise to see he writes Babylon 5 fiction as well. At first, I picked up "Thirdspace", a tie-in to the second B5 movie and was quite disappointed as I always are with tie-ins in which the author provides the reader with the story of the film without giving any additional information. A friend recommended to read "Legions of Fire" series and told me I wouldn't regret it. He was absolutely right! The story of the first book is a continuation of the events shown in the last season of Babylon 5. Centauri Prime is virtually destroyed and must be rebuilt. Londo Mollari, the former Centauri Ambassador on Babylon 5, has become emperor. Nevertheless life isn't easy for him, and he even thinks to commit suicide. The reason for such moods is the presence of the Drakh, the servants of the Shadows, who try to conquer the galaxy. They threaten to destroy Centauri Prime if Londo doesn't agree to serve them. To control their new slave, they join the emperor with a creature known as a keeper. Londo is supposed to be the most powerful Centauri, but in fact he is the weakest. He loses his free will. Everything he does is somehow ordered by his masters, the Drakh. And as if that was not enough, there are Centauri who try to undermine his authority. One of this bunch is Minister Durla, a personage seeking greatness for himself and his species. Gradually he transforms Centauri Prime into a police state comparable to Nazi Germany (there are a lot of metaphors and comparisons throughout the book which make it more valuable from the artistic point of view), and Londo can do nothing to stop him. The emperor is utterly helpless; he only hopes that G'Kar will come soon and kill him whereas Vir, his former attaché at Babylon 5, will become emperor as was predicted. B5 ended with many questions unanswered. This book answers some of them. It presents Londo who must pay for his sins committed during the Shadow War. It's really horrible to see how he has changed since his appearance in Babylon 5. He is a broken, aging man who desperately tries to resist but can't make any difference. Passages describing him are full of tragic and sadness. I particularly liked the atmosphere of the novel. David is a great storyteller and his writing experience made all parts of the book come together and fit in like it is supposed to be in a good book. Descriptions of life in the palace on Centauri Prime were particularly enjoyable and had a realistic touch about them. Unfortunately there were negative points as well. David seems to watch a lot of TV so that certain dialogues appear as if they were stolen from several TV shows, which they probably are. Often words don't match with characters who speak them out. As usual in David's books the supportive characters are real stereotypes you get fed up with quickly (if you don't believe me, read this book and pay particular attention to Durla!) I would have given this book 4 stars, but the positive simply outweighs the negative, so I couldn't do it. This is a great book that truly continues the Babylon 5 legacy. I can only hope the entire trilogy will be like its beginning.
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Almost like watching an episode that never was..., November 1, 2000
This review is from: The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
OK, let's be blunt. This is not "Stranger in a Strange Land," but it's pretty darn good. It may be the best book of its type (novelized spinoff of a successful TV series, that is) that I've read. The odd thing about this book (and the second book in this series as well) is that while I was reading it, I could almost see it play out as an episode in my imagination. The plotting, the characters, and the dialogue are very, very consistent with the series. In spite of the fact that the book is allegedly done by Peter David "from outlines by J. Michael Straczynski," some of the dialogue seems almost certainly taken from unpublished or unused B5 scripts. There are many instances where Vir or Londo says something that has the ring of Straczynski's writing to it. Not to short Peter David in any way; his writing is quite adept and vivid, and keeps the story moving. I ripped through this book in a day; I couldn't stop reading it! I can't really say that about most books I read, but for me this one was a real page-turner. I thought the world of B5, although I'm not one of those fans who dress up as Minbari to go to science fiction conventions, and for me this book was an entirely satisfactory and very interesting expansion on one of the many unfinished storylines of Babylon 5. I would recommend this book unreservedly for any B5 fans, and even for those who are not familiar with the series (and shame on you if you aren't; it was the best science fiction series ever, and I've seen 'em all) it will prove a fascinating diversion.
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15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Now that's more like it., December 9, 1999
This review is from: The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, Book 1) (Mass Market Paperback)
After being disappointed by the last Psi Corps book and left hanging over the fate of Crusade, I was feeling a waning of my Babylon 5 obsession. This book brought it back. Anyone who has watched the show knows the final fate of Londo Mollari, the unfortunate emporer of Centauri Prime, but the questions of how and why were left in the air. This book starts with Londo being trapped into becoming the emperor by the Drakh and then watching as his homeworld becomes fascist. As the book progresses you see Londo discovering things and beginning to challenge the Drakh, both overtly and subtly. This book also shows the beginnings of Vir's transition from nervous ambassador to heir apparent. I personally found the scenes with the secondary characters extremely compelling. Vir trying to make sense of the changes in his homeworld, Senna becoming a lady of the palace (to whom Londo tells the story of the Minbari-Earth war in another chapter of this saga) and Durla the fascist Internal Affairs officer playing into the hands of the Drakh without knowledge are all intriguing. This is a great book for all Babylon 5 and general science fiction fans.
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