T2: The Future War [Hardcover]

S M Stirling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 24, 2003

The machines are doing everything they can to snuff out the human threat to their future. The human resistance movement are fighting them at their own game, sending back agents to the present to safeguard their future leader. The vicious war slashes back and forth across time with ever more advanced Terminator units thrown into the fray.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get you, as shown in this above-average movie tie-in, the conclusion to Stirling's T2 trilogy (after Rising Storm and Infiltrator). Judgment Day, when the sentient computer Skynet begins using its control of the U.S. military to exterminate the human race, comes at last. In an effort to save humanity, Sarah Connor and her son and savior-in-training, John, alert their allies among the world's militaries, intelligence agencies and general populace. Serving Skynet are eco-terrorists called Luddites, who round up survivors, confine them in concentration camps and expose them to biological weapons. As the first Terminator movie foretells, the humans gain the upper hand, prompting Skynet to resort to time travel to try to kill Sarah and establish its own existence. Faithful to his source material, Stirling (Conquistador; The Peshawar Lancers) gives the book a cinematic feel and structure, with quick jumps between action scenes and large skips in time and space, not to mention robots with Austrian accents. Unfortunately, the logical gaps in the film premise continue to dog his work, and the character development and relationships are obviously predetermined. Readers who enjoyed the movies will like the added material. Newcomers had best start with the films before tackling the books.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Stirling's third essay into the Terminator universe isn't as tightly constructed as its predecessors, but then, it covers much more territory, from immediately after the conclusion of T2: Infiltrator (2001) to the moment when John Connor sends his father back in time to defeat the original Terminator and beget him! In between these moments, enough years pass for Skynet to take over every computer in sight and cause not one but two nuclear wars as well as unleashing Luddite militias, death camps, and increasingly sophisticated weaponry on humanity. The resistance holds its own, with help from Sarah and John Connor and Dieter von Rossbach, not to mention John's grandparents, Captain Dennis Reese and nurse Mary Shea, and Stirling proves as adept as ever with action scenes. And those are scenes in a grim battle for survival, and they give this book a substantially darker tone than those of its predecessors. Not that that will turn away any readers, especially during this summer of the third Terminator movie. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: Gollancz (July 24, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0575071575
• ISBN-13: 978-0575071575
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,373,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a writer by trade, born in France but Canadian by origin and American by naturalization, living in New Mexico at present. My hobbies are mostly related to the craft -- I love history, anthropology and archaeology, and am interested in the sciences. The martial arts are my main physical hobby.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Weak Finish for a great series!, July 2, 2003

By 

Adam V (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: T2: The Future War (Hardcover)

...The first two books in this series were great!, this one was not! I was very disapointed with it. I felt the author didnt have is heart into this book and it heavily lacked in imagination and it was apparent that the writer was rushed through writing this book to get it published within a deadline.

Many of the character building plots were weak, underdeveloped, and worst of all, completely irrelevant to the story. This book really should have been broken down into a couple of books because the first 3/4 of this book cover a 6 month span of events then all at once you are left hanging at a major event at the end of a chapter and then next chapter the author sling shots you 3 to 7 years from that point of the story. It leaves you desperately trying to figure out what the heck happened. This book is very difficult to follow and I found myself having to re-read several areas of the book to figure out the details of what happend and why. Also I found the events of Judgement Day to be totally ridiculous. It was obvious that the author knows little to nothing about computer technology and I found it laughable that computers are taking over cars, tractors, and lawnmowers are driving themselves wildly in attempts to mow people down. Come on, the time line for Judgement Day is our present time. I feel that a more plausable set of events could be developed. This was primarily where I felt imagination was misplaced and not well thought out.

Other problems that bugged me: The book never explained why the Terminators are cloned after Dieter. I felt Sarah was too super human and larger than life. I expected her character to die in battle. Also I expected Dieter to be captured and cloned and his clones used to infiltrait the resistance like they did in the previous books. Its almost like a completely different author wrote this book without reading the first two books in the series. There were so many holes in this story line that it left me completely irratated after finishing the book.

However if you have read the first two books, you must read it just to go along for the ride. I hope the last Movie will make up for it.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, but very rushed., July 27, 2004

By 

Jake (Maryland, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: T2: The Future War (Mass Market Paperback)

This final entry into Stirling's great T2 series is overall a good read, telling the tale of John Connor's rise to leadership over the remnants of mankind in the war against the machines and their human followers. My major complaint is that the book feels rushed, as it covers about twenty years of war in one volume. Characters vital to the other two books, namely Snog's college buddies, are dropped here, with no explanation of what happened to them. Other characters come in for the first part of the book, but are killed off or disappear before the second half.

This gets insane near the end, as Kyle Reese's entire 20+ year life is covered in about 80 pages of what are basically vignettes interspersed with the main story of John's fight. This main story is also rushed, with two years or more flying by at a time. This is seriously what's crammed in the last ten pages:

-Skynet's defense grid is smashed.

-The time machine facility is captured in a huge battle.

-The Terminators go back in time.

-Kyle Reese and the good T-800 go back.

-The book ends.

And no, there weren't spoilers there, if you've seen the movies, which you should have if you're reading this series.

In conclusion, while the book is well-written, it feels like Stirling tried to cram what should have been two, or even more, books into a single novel. By all means, buy this if you've read the other two books and want to see the end of the series, because it's a good book. But this novel won't make anyone a new fan of the series, and even veterans of the Terminator saga like myself might get confused at the insane pace of the last hundred or so pages.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great action packed doomsday thriller, June 22, 2003

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: T2: The Future War (Hardcover)

Sarah Connor, her son John, and her lover Dieter felt destroying Clea before she activated Skynet had given them victory, but soon learn otherwise as the organic terminator managed to feed the discs to Skynet. Almost immediately Skynet concludes that humanity poses a threat to its survival and must be eradicated. Instead of complacency, Sarah and Dieter become concerned when the Pentagon announces Skynet will run all its weapon systems.

Skynet begins experimenting to prepare for Judgment Day, when the advanced computer system fires all the nuclear weapons in its arsenal. Skynet starts the nuclear end run as Sarah and her loved ones hide in a fallout shelter. With human collaborators and terminator robots with advanced weapons on its' side, Skynet seems on the verge of victory. Only Sarah as a rallying point and her two cohorts lead a weak resistance that over the years is becoming stronger against a god-like enemy.

T2 THE FUTURE WAR is a great action packed doomsday thriller starring three long time favorite heroes, but also provides well-rounded personality traits to Skynet so the audience knows this is an independent sentient essence. Sarah seems so much more than she was in past books and movies as she has turned into a profound leader, who recognizes she is an icon to the resistance. John has matured from his previous feelings of resentment and disbelief into the hope of the future. This finale (loosely put - need to read to understand why) is a winner as S. M. Stirling terminates the series with a triumphant doomsday thriller in which humanity fights to survive against a killing machine.

Harriet Klausner