Customer Reviews

Outlanders: Prodigal Chalice

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The last Outlanders novel by Mel Odom, Sargasso Plunder was a Deathlands book, not an Outlanders. Now another Deathlands book has been snuck between the covers of an Outlanders novel and though it isn't as much as a loss as the previous one by this author, enough is enough. If he wants to write a Deathlands so badly, why doesn't he ask Gold Eagle to let him write one instead of trying to turn Outlanders into an imitation?

I enjoyed Mel Odom's "Wreath of Fire" very much so I can't understand why Chalice and Plunder have been so so poorly researched and seemingly hacked-out. For the third time, he revisits the setting of "Wreath". He keeps dragging out the same supporting characters (the Tongs, Wei Quong, ect.)who make no impact at all on either the outcome of the book itself or the series as a whole.

His handling of the main characters hasn't improved since "Plunder" either. There is no humor between them, they don't seem to like each other very much at all. About all the interaction between Brigid and Kane is that she glares at Kane every time he opens his mouth, Grant is a big lummox who functions mainly as Kane's side-kick and Domi is presented as a little albino psychopath who likes to torture people. Everybody is one dimensional.

I buy Outlanders for a several reasons, but one factor is the realationships between the main characters. As a reader I am very fond of them and look forward to sharing their adventures. When those relationships are not present, I feel cheated as both a loyal reader and consumer.

The plot itself actually had potential and might have worked if it had been handled differently. The whole connection to the Chalice and the Holy Grail, tying it in with the Annunaki was interesting. But pulling out yet more of Kane's past life stuff and involving it with the book's bad guy, Lindstrohm wasn't handled well.

One thing came occured to me while reading Chalice, It reads "old"and by that I mean it's like it was something written twenty years ago for an audience of middle-aged gun-nuts. It had a very dated feel to it, like those old mindless, survivalist "men's adventure" books published in the 80s and 90s that I see taking up so much shelf space in used bookstores. Most of the time, Outlanders is full of youthful energy, intelligence, high spirits with a sense of wonder to it all. The down and dirty survivalist stuff, when it shows up, never dominates the story or the characters.

I read a lot, mainly sci-fi and fantasy and I can tell you Outlanders is a very unique series. I don't think there's anything like it out there on the stands. If Gold Eagle doesn't recognize what a special gem they have with this series and they want to try to make it interchangeable with Deathlands, they'll certainly lose most of its loyal readership...

Balam takes Kane on a dream trip throughout his previous lives, from Egyptian slave, to King Arthur's right-hand-man. This book's nemesis is an ex-magistrate archivist (god, this sounds hokey) who discovers lost oil reserves, brings a mat-trans unit online, starts a little empire down Mexico-way , and needs the Holy Grail as the third and final component to finish the three-part "mana-machine." As plots go, this was pabulum. Kane must stop him, as he has throughout all of time.

If we ignore the Holy Grail aspect of the book, the rest was a fun read. Pirates, a kinky knife-wielding chick, and the requisite gun battles.

Having just finished reading Prodical Chalice, I felt I had best do my review while the book is still fresh in my mind.

Overall, it wasn't a bad novel, but there were quite a few things that really got on my nerves.

Unlike the author's previous attempt at an Outlanders Novel, this one read more like it should, instead of a rehashed Deathlands plot.

Now, to the problems with the book. It's been said time and again that Domi is NOT Jak Lauren in drag. She doesn't carry a .357 revolver, and the only time she speaks like Jak are in times of great distress or tension. Also, she doesn't carry knives hidden all around her person, and, even though she is somewhat feral, she doesn't take great pleasure in killing people. Those who deserve it, yes, but she's not a blood thirsty little psycho.

The editor is MORE To blame than the author for this getting past. The author, I can almost understand. He doesn't know the series. However, the Editor DOES (or at least, is supposed to know) about the characters and it's the editor's job to make sure that mistakes like this are caught and fixed.

Next, there was the deal with Slavers in Outlanders. It doesn't fit. That is Deathlands, not Outlanders. The barons have no need to deal with slavers, nor would they when people are willing to DIE to get into the Tartarus pits in the baronies. The Hybrid Baron's do not need slaves with the literal thousands who want the life that the villes could provide to them.

If the author wanted to use that, he should have made the slavers going after people so that their organs could be harvested for the Hybrids use. That would have made far more sense with the canon that the series creator has established.

As earlier, this can be blamed more on the editor than the author. The editor should have caught and changed that.

Lastly, if the author could bottle and market the testoserone that he had prevalent in the book, he wouldn't have to write for a living! The characters were exceptionally hostile, moreso than usual, but at least not towards one another like in the author's last offering.

For all the bad, there are good things. I found that Lindstrom was quite an interesting character, and it's a shame that he was killed at the end of the book.

Secondly, the past life sequences were well written, if a bit confusing. Being interested in Egypt, I found those sequences particularly enjoying, as well as how the author tied Enlil into the history of that culture.

Third, the history aspect is exactly what, as an Outlanders reader would expect it to be. Well written, and documented. I really liked how we have link between Ancient Egypt, The Nazi's and King Arthur, and the Roman's in the novel.

High praise for the author in that aspect.

This book was far better than his last offering, despite my complaints, and if he can get the characters and the background correct, the books he writes for the series will worthy of the Outlanders title.

This latest entry by Mel Odom into the Outlanders series is better than his last, "Sargasso Plunder" but it still reads more like a Deathlands novel than an Outlanders. Although it's quite an improvement over Plunder and has some engaging sections "Prodigal Chalice" comes off as an imitation of Outlanders, not the genuine article.

As another reviewer pointed out, the opening of "Prodigal Chalice" with Kane, Brigid etc. fighting slavers in a swamp really doesn't make much sense. I agree--why would they be calling out to each other and pinpointing their positions? A standard piece of equipment the characters have carried almost since day one are transcomms. Why wouldn't they be using those to communicate with one another instead of yelling back and forth and drawing attention?

Also, since when do the barons use slaves in the Tartarus Pits? The way I've read the situtation is that outlanders want to get into the villes...they don't have to be run down and captured. That's like something out of Deathlands.

The plot itself wasn't bad, even though it was disjointed. I had trouble grasping the whole "past lives" thing between Lindstrohm and Kane and the chalice itself, the manna machine wasn't very well developed. It would have been nice if the reader had actually seen it working. The connection to King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake was just confusing, particularly at the end. If this machine was created by the Anunnaki, what the heck does the Lady of the Lake have to do with it?

And I just didn't buy that Balam would be contacting Kane telepathically, warning him about the chalice. Not only did he act very out of character, a machine that might make food out of the air doesn't seem like anything he would get his shorts in a bunch over. Besides, wasn't it established in a couple of books that Balam can communicate telepathically over long distances only with Banks? In both "Iceblood" and "Tigers of Heaven," Balam had to speak through Banks.

As for the other characters, I wasn't happy with the way that about as much time was spent with Lindstrohm and his girlfriend Narita as with the heroes. I buy the Outlanders series so I can visit with the heroes, not a bunch of new characters I don't really care anything about. As it is, everybody but Kane pretty much got short shrift in this book. Grant, Domi and to an extent even Brigid didn't contribute much. And once again, Mr. Odom makes Domi come off like Jak Lauren from Deathlands only with breasts. He has her talk like Jak, gives her Jak's gun to use and states she has "knives" hidden all over her body when Domi has always been described as using only one knife, a very special one. The editor really fell down here not catching these fundamental errors.

But there were parts I liked about this book...the flashbacks to ancient Egypt, the visit to Fiddlerville and the battle in the cave in the Yucatan were vivid and colorful.

All in all, "Prodigal Chalice" wasn't a bad book, but it wasn't very good either, not half as memorable or emotionally engaging as most of the other books in the series written by Mark Ellis. Like another reviewer said, it comes off as filler, not the real thing.

This newest OUTLANDERS novel is again written by Mel Odom who has brought us such good stories as "WREATH OF FIRE", but unlike that one, this good try at the OUTLANDERS universe is good but a near miss once again with somewhat good storylines and interesting characters but that somehow falls short and flat compared to Mark Ellis's original storyline and character building that will continue in the next book.
This book starts right off with Kane and company stalking thru the woods and encounter slavers and of course a battle ensues. Now, the battle scene itself was done well except for when the companions split up and start yelling to each other and giving their position away that really thru me for a loop!! Combat smarts did not come to play here, and Domi especially would not have run her loud mouth counting her dead as she "silently" stalked and killed her baddies. Now, do you know what I mean? The interesting part of the story was the main bad guy and his woman who were pretty colorful and had a strange relationship that bordered on psychopathic love. He and Kane somehow have met and battled in past lives in other guises, places, and with different names. Why has this not been noticed before in this series? I dont know, I say, I just read and review em! This stuff seems to be just filler inbetween the original stories and just seems to give the original author more time to come out with quality instead of just quantity. If these two gifted authors collaborated more often maybe we would get more out of this series.