Customer Reviews

Night Wars

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

 

 

When battles of man kind move from war fields to the wide spanning Elysian fields dreams are made of, no one is safe in their homes, their beds and definitely not in their own heads. Following the previous three installments of this astral saga which are Night Warriors (1986), Death Dream (1988) and Night Plague (1991) this can safely be read on it's own but I would suggest following up with the previous books, if one is content with Night Wars. Masterton is only limited by his own imagination in the electric world of mechanical costumes, warriors wearing helmets made of prismic lenses, wearing specific uniforms made for their tasks wielding the most spectacular weapons from the Sung Gun, to the Opera Pistol, Deathwatch Torpedo Pistols or even a gun that hits a target and rearranged it's DNA to the point where the body stops believing in it's own existence and crumbles. Always graceful and prominent like a hawk, Graham creates warriors dormant in some every day people who have no idea that in case of an attack they need to be told of their special birth right and to put their own life in order to save man kind.

Night Wars if truly a fantasy book with a big swirl of horror. The Night Warriors are some of the most normal people in Ohio who drive cabs, work in food shops, write newspaper articles or work in medicine. Upon a terrible tragedy, when new born babies born in that area cannot stop crying and slowly start dying one by one, a mysterious man by the name of Springer starts assembling his army. He visits each one of the main five characters and shows them their hidden potentials. They transform into Night Warriors, each with a specific task; they are good at map making, creating any creature at whim from their imagination, moving time to a walking artillery departments. They enter the world of dreams of people who have been chosen by two evil characters; Winterwent and the High Horse. One frozen solid riding on a tall throne of ice lead by hoards of ice wolves and the other a creature evil and blood thirsty riding three horses, one on top of the other wearing a cape made of screaming animals. All the battles they fight take place in people's dreams, and I was mesmerized and totally engrossed in the incredible weaponry, sinister characters who were part animals, part human like half ninjas-half gray wolves, armadillo rats, black crabs or entities wielding swords that upon one cut inflicted a plague of worms to eat away the victim. Graham impressed me greatly with his knowledge of the most fantastic creations, his dialog that read like a caramel drenched apples and the world of dreams that was a true portal to the secrets of the universe.

The Night Warriors have to learn to fight and figure out solutions while running short on time, and the whole mystery is why Winterwent and High Horse wanted those babies, what they needed their dreams for, as it would hold the answer for everyone walking on Earth. What happens in the dreams of ordinary people will have a disastrous effects on them upon wake, as well as the rest of the population who are meant to suffer with them.If they die in the dream, each warrior can never wake up in real life, he or she will slip into a comma, trapped in that dream forever. They must risk their lives at night and go to work at day, but half the fun is waiting for twilight, because there's nothing juicier than reading the limitless sources of entertainment this story provides.

Once again Graham Masterton proves why he's my favorite writer, I cannot imagine anyone else making this story come to life as well as him.

- Kasia S.

Graham Masterton's "Night Wars" reads a bit like a combination of the cult 80's thriller "Dreamscape" and "Nightmare on Elm Street 3: the Dream Warriors" to mixed results. To those unfamiliar with Masteron's Night Warrior novels, this is a "fantasy-horror" novel rather than straight "horror." I think if someone would have pointed this out to me beforehand, I might have enjoyed "Night Wars" more.

The basic premise of the novel is this: unborn babies dream the secrets of the universe. When they are born, they forget everything they learned in their dreams. Two demons begin invading the dreams of unborn babies in hopes of discovering the secrets of the universe and then tearing it apart. The only people capable of stopping this from happening (and therefor, saving the world as we know and love it) are a group of individuals known as the "Night Warriors."

The premise was definitely interesting, if a bit farfetched, and Masterton injects several thrilling scenes and interesting ideas into his novel. His descriptions of the two demons (the Winterwent and High Horse) are probably the best parts of the book. On the flip side of the coin, the Night Warriors came off a little too "Dungeons and Dragons" for my taste in a novel, carrying names like The Zaggaline and Xanthys.

A few problems keep me from giving "Night Wars" a straight recommendation. Some of the characters don't seem terribly fleshed out, and the ones that have the least characterization... well, you have no difficulty in figuring out these are the ones who are most likely to die. The skills he gives his Night Warriors seem to make any challenge easily solved, and yet the characters in the novel take the long way in coming to a decision about any obstacle. For example, one character has the ability to create any kind of being that he can conceive. That power in itself should be able to easily overcome any problem set before the group of Night Warriors. Another Night Warrior has a seemingly endless supply of weaponry while another can turn back time. Masteron has a hard time finding challenges for his Night Warriors that come off like true challenges. More often than not, you're reading the book, thinking "Why don't they just ____!" until the characters finally come to the same conclusion. Then the ending felt anti-climatic.

Even with all these problems, "Night Wars" was a passable way to spend my free-time. I had problems with it, but the concept of the Night Warriors and especially of the two demons they have to face made it worth reading, if not wholly satisfying.

Graham Masterton's original Night Warriors is the single most read book on my shelf. I've always savored its originality, strong characters (heroes, villain and bystanders) and amazing dreamscape settings. Night Wars, however, completely ignores major parts of his existing lore (NO CHARGE KEEPER? ARE YOU KIDDING?), and the characters are thin at best -- and offensive one-dimensional stereotypes at worst.

His ideas are novel but unexplored, thrown on the page with very little thought, and the inconsistencies and outright contradictions are myriad. This pales in comparison even to Night Plague and Death Dream -- and those fell short of the first installment.

Additionally, Masterton's typical dash of raw sexual imagery is gratuitous past the point of creepy perversion here. In other books, he's executed this to profound and beneficial effect on his story. Here, it just makes him seem like he's trying to elicit some sort of visceral response on the cheap -- without any necessity for it in the story.

The villains could have been amazing with further exploration, development and background. As it is, they are more readily comparable to rubber-suited ne'er-do-wells from an episode of Power Rangers.

It is clear that Leisure Books doesn't hold its writers to the same standards Tor did for Masterton, and that is a shame. Here's hoping it's a fluke and not a trend for one of my favorite authors.

Graham Masterton is both prolific as well as diverse. The fact that he has a number of novels with characters and scenarios in their Third instalment ( see the Novels due to be released soon, and later in 2007)shows that he knows that he has a following and he delivers what people want.And he really delivers in the respective genres he focuses on, and delivers well. The first, as far as I am aware of, is his Manitou series, i think BURIED was the last in the series. But I prefer his Horror work, however, I came to the first in the Night Warrior series thinking it was horror, and I was plasantly surprised.
Masterton delves more deeply into character in this Book than I have read in many of his previous works in the Horror, and quasi-Horror world ( I think that Night Wars can be at least billed as Sci-Fi Horror). It is still in his fabulously lush first person Narrative style... with rare third person passages... no observer element, he takes you right into the action.
It is severely toned down in terms of his Horror style of Uber-Violence, but always done in context, never gratuitous. The world he creates is still his trademark mythical realms. And there are several passages where the ultra/uber violence is very extreme. Some of the elements have been done in other books by Masterton, but with his output being so extensive , at least in Horror, I guess the volume of material will ultimately end up with some material being "Re-cycled".However, Masterton's work is still great.
The tone of this Book is superbly apocolyptic, and in no way is it similar to the Nightmare on elm street series. It is closer to the WARLOCK movie of the 80s with Julian Sands where the "Unmaking" of Creation is at hand... Enjoy, this is a great Yarn ( hopefully I can get it in Hardback)

Graham Masterton is without a doubt the most talented writer you'll never get to read!! He's been sharing that reputation with STEPHEN KING and DEAN KOONTZ for years now. If you never tried one of his books...i suggest you get to it ASAP so that you can see for yourself how brilliant his writing is!!.....

Sadly, i think he is the less known of the 3 but by far the most entertaining and surprising! During is long and prolific carreer, he managed to touch pretty much every style that exists on the planet : Fantasy, Horror, Thrillers, Drama, Political Thrillers and Sagas, Historical Sagas and fiction, Sci/Fi and even Sex instruction books!!!!...just Amazon alone i think as over 20 pages of books and manuals from him, some of them very rare and unkown from the public. I think graham started as a journalist, then quickly became editor of MAYFAIR and PENTHOUSE. His first horror novel, THE MANITOU became a best seller right away and they made a movie for it starring TONY CURTIS.

I first discovered him when i was in high school, the first book i read from him was APPARITION, this book definitely cemented my love for fantasy, horror, sex and fiction. It was that year that i've discovered how great he was!! I think i was spending most of my free time in the library, looking like a nerd who's just reading all the time....lol....but i didn't care.... Masterton brought me into a wonderful world of fantasy and horror and sex like `ive never seen or read before!!! Still today I'm not sure my old High school librarian was aware of the extremely graphic and explicit content of some of those books !!

His imagination is way beyond Entendement!!!! I quickly got into more of his books and find myself completely stunned by what i was reading!!!....Stories like : WALKERS, SLEEPLESS,MANITOU, APPARITION, HEL, MIRROR, CHARNEL HOUSE, THE DEVIL OF D-DAY, TENGU,THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT, THE PARIAH, THE NIGHT WARRIORS,CONDOR and FLESH AND BLOOD to name a few had influenced and inspired me in so many ways!!!!......i still dream about some of his characters and villains once in a while ...lol.....i even started writing my own short stories!!!!...lol.......

Masterton usually have a real story to tell!! It don't take very long before you really get into it!!! He uses elements of magic, horror and fantasy and has a real and unique talent for combining historical events and legends with the different religions and mythologies all over the world...sometimes even creating is own!!!........

I placed this review for NIGHTWARS as i think his one of the best fantasy/horror story i've read in my life. It's about ordinary people that will have to learn to develop their magic abilities in order to fight demons that lives in people's dream (or kind of..)..... but i decided not to talk about the story more than that as the review from -Kasia S. Says it all in such a nice way!!!! I couldnt've done better myself!!. Read kasia's review, i think its still the best one and see if you wanna give it a shot!!!

ENJOY!!!!!!

This is the first and last Masterton book I will ever read (unless someone can point me to a different book that will change my mind about the author). Completely over-the-top and unrealistic (even for a sci-fi/fantasy book). Characters are completely bland and not in one moment did I enjoy this book.