T2: Rising Storm [Hardcover]

S.M. Stirling (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 9, 2002 | Series: T2

Following the critically praised T2: Infiltrator, T2: Rising Storm continues the bestselling Terminator adventures, reaching new heights of action, drama, and suspense.

Hunted for years, Sarah and John Connor have waged a grave battle to save humanity from destruction. They and they alone can keep the apocalyptic Judgment Day -- the day when sentient machines move to destroy their human creators -- from occurring. Aided by Dieter von Rossbach, an ex-counterterrorism operative who will eventually be used as the physical model for the T-101 Terminator units, the Connors have sabotaged the Cyberdyne research facility and stopped a deadly I-950 Infiltrator unit from completing her mission.

But the war is far from over, and now the heroes have been separated.

Severely injured -- both mentally and physically -- and recuperating under military surveillance, Sarah Connor must face her deepest fears...alone. Meanwhile, von Rossbach, hunted by both the CIA and his former allies, begins a delicate mission to recruit supporters and arms support for the coming battle.

Aided by a beautiful and brilliant MIT student, John Connor starts a desperate campaign across the United States and Central America to prepare an unsuspecting human race for the dark times ahead. For the original I-950 Infiltrator unit left a contingency plan -- and, unbeknownst to our heroes, more Infiltrators have initiated their own clandestine operations, including the hunt to terminate the Connors. And this time, despite all their efforts, the brave heroes may not be able to stop the future war between human and machine.

Cyberdyne Corporation is not the only one with plans for the computer network, and hidden far away in a top secret military base, a fledgling Skynet takes its first steps toward sentience...and toward the rise of the machines and the termination of all human life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Military SF author Stirling provides fast-moving combat between well-matched, smart opponents in this excellent sequel to last year's T2: Infiltrator, in which Sarah Connor, her teenaged son, John, and their new ally, Dieter von Rossbach, defeated the female cyborg sent back in time by evil computer Skynet, but didn't know that she'd left her two cloned sisters ready to take up the job of protecting Skynet. Now John and Dieter are on the run in South America, Sarah is recovering from serious wounds and the cute young Terminators are learning to exploit their superhuman abilities. Complications multiply deliciously as the author cuts rapidly from one vivid scene to another. The movie-like technique lets readers watch intelligent people following incomplete information into terrible mistakes. Accepting human limitations but stretching his own potential, John becomes more the tough, confident leader of the Terminator movies. Around John, Stirling efficiently gathers a large cast which changes frequently, since most characters don't survive long in the presence of a Terminator. Sly humor spices the nonstop action until it climaxes at a secret Antarctic scientific-military base, where John and Dieter confront one Terminator. Meanwhile, the other cyborg killer is on the trail of still-recuperating Sarah at Dieter's Paraguay ranch. Anyone who liked the Terminator movies will love this book. In fact, it's exciting enough to win new fans for the franchise.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

The highly competent Stirling is now extrapolating moviemaker James Cameron's Terminator concepts into a full-blown alternate future. In the second installment of the project, Sarah Connor is considered mad, bad, and dangerous to know by those who don't know the menace of Skynet, the computer-mind that rules the future and dispatches Terminators and Infiltrators to protect itself from Sarah's son, John Connor, who is growing older and more capable as well as falling in love. The Connors and Dieter von Rossbach, who, curiously enough, resembles a certain movie star from Austria, are quite capable of holding the fort until the advent of two Infiltrators, both female in appearance. The little band of resistance fighters now has to recruit new allies and then carry the fight to the enemy. They do, though at high cost, on the way offering a feast of technical ingenuity, wry wit, offbeat characterization, and furious, convincing action. A felicitous wedding of a visually oriented writer to soundly conceived sf-movie concepts. Roland Green
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: HarperEntertainment; 1st edition (July 9, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380977923
• ISBN-13: 978-0380977925
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,809,335 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

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I hope there is another in the series, July 11, 2002

By 

Allen (phoenix, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: T2: Rising Storm (Hardcover)

I must say that this book was hard to put down. Only the heat of the sun by the pool caused me stop and seek somewhere more cool. This book continues, where Infiltrator left off. I enjoyed the little references to present day events and trivia (star wars fans will find it amusing). I feel that the author really tried to be true to some aspect of time travel (if thats possible) and the way the original timeline keeps trying to reestablish itself. Saying more, would give away to much. Needless to say, it was an interesting twist in the tale.
Anyway, if you enjoyed Infiltrator, you will look forward to reading Rising Storm (although, the title as very close Approaching Storm for the star wars buffs...same concept?)
You must however read Infiltrator first to truly get into this book. I hope there is more in the series, since there were some loose ends that were not tied up.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars exciting action-adventure "Terminator" thriller, July 9, 2002

By 

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

This review is from: T2: Rising Storm (Hardcover)

Twice Sarah Connor and her son John have been able to prevent Judgment Day, the time when Skynet becomes sentient and declares war on its creators the human race. After the last attack on Cyberdyne, the company that was started to create the Skynet program, the American government took the project away from the independent contractor and placed it in the hands of scientists hidden away in a top secret installation in Antarctica.

One of the scientists on the base is an Infiltrator, an organic computer in human form that wants to make sure that Skynet will come into existence. John and Sarah Connor and their ally and good friend, ex-spook Dieter Von Rossbach have put into place a group of people who will be ready to fight when Judgment day arrives and the machines try to annihilate humanity. When the Connors and Dieter learn about the base in Antarctica, they prepare themselves to once more go up against an enemy determined to destroy them.

T2: RISING STORM stays true to the story line developed in the Terminator movies and takes the plot one step closer to the day the Skynet computer becomes sentient. Although this is an exciting action-adventure thriller, it is also human relationship drama. The mother-son bond between Sarah and John is beautiful to witness and the audience truly feels sorry for the lives they must lead if they want to prevent the extinction of mankind.

Harriet Klausner

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Quite literate continuation of the Terminator saga, July 21, 2003

By 

Neal C. Reynolds (Indianapolis, Indiana) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: T2: Rising Storm (Hardcover)

There are points in T2 INFILTRATOR and in this current book that I especially like.

One is the fact that the present day characters are now on their own with no help from robots from the future. Then there is the nature of villains they face...not robots programmed to kill but cyborgs with some human qualities (but not those that will make them more likeable) directing terminators. There's the slow progress being made by Skynet which prompts changing strategies on the part of our heroes. Finally, we have the philosophical theories concerning time which suggests that any attempts to change the future are defeated by the nature of times itself. Rather a fatalistic, pre-deterministic stance, but interesting.

Both of these volumes are highly recommended.