Customer Reviews

Terminator Salvation: Cold War

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 2003, something that seemed like war broke out between the major powers of the world. Of the few who witnessed it, only a handful still remained. Of those, a submarine commanded by a Russian launched 13 warheads at Alaska on that day, only to find himself wandering homeless, with only his crew. What they stumbled upon was more than that, however, first finding a factory running with no humans in sight and then more and more oddities. In 2018, Judgment Day has come and gone and mankind has found itself at the mercy of Skynet. In Alaska, people try to survive any way they can. They hit the pipeline when they can, get married to feel normal, and die at the hands of the T-600s.
But The Resistance is looking for ways to fight back, ways that the machines wouldn't think of, all the while listening to a man named John Connor as he teaches them about survival.
If you are listening to this, you are the Resistance.
And so they learn Skynet's weaknesses, waiting for the day when humanity will arise.

Coming off the successful movie depicting the 2018 struggle, Gregg Cox's book showcases a world where humans are beginning to wear thin. They have learned to fight, sure, but the machines have learned to fight as well. The machines have gotten better at it, too, while humanity is still trying to forget the world that no longer exists. In Cox's book, I like the way he explains certain things to his readers, trying to make them understand that the wrld without machines is dead. He shows us a picture of what happened in 2003, and he shows us the fingers that helped humanity tetter off that edge. One of the things he points out is that those fingers were human as well as servos and switches, and that people were more than willing to see the world come to such a horrifying conclusion. At the same time, Cox tells his readers about the energy that Skynet uses, how it powers it, and how a group of people could hurt something so mammoth.
He talks about a train - and how one could take something like uranium and put it to such efficient use.

Personally, I liked Cox's book and found the read interesting. The 2003 story was just as engaging as the 2018 story, keeping me reading. It help[ed to have seen the movie and to have liked it as well, and I had no problem with machines hunting down people and killing them because they were the enemy. If you found the movie enjoyable, you might find more detail in the book interesting, and some of the little things fun. I personally like that type of thing - its like having someone sit down and explain to you how a new toy operates instead of simply seeing it as you walk by.

Will you like it? As i said, it depends on your take on the movie. It is inspired by the tale and plays with the dates, so you could find it relaxing or annoying, depending. I thought it was a good piece of reading, and hope to see more machine killing people on pages sometime soon.

This is the 3rd Terminator Salvation-era book I've read (5th or 6th Terminator-based book). This, along with Timothy Zahn's "From the Ashes" and Alan Dean Foster's "Terminator Salvation", is a non-stop, action packed thrill ride, that adds depth and sheds light on the movie "Terminator Salvation". You'll swap between 2003 and 2018, in the footsteps of Losenko...a duty-bound Russian Naval Captain who receives orders to retaliate after an apparent all-out nuclear attack from America; and in the footsteps of Molly Kookesh,an Alaska Native running a small Resistance Band, with bold ideas for taking on and screwing over Skynet.

John Connor isn't the main focus of the story...in fact, only he and his famous radio broadcasts are mentioned. Instead, the focus is on Molly and her attempts to thwart Skynet's termination of mankind; and Losenko, who now has no higher authority to report to, has no idea what's going on, and is uneasy with the fact that he was a key player in unleashing destruction world-wide.

If you want a non-stop, thrilling, action-packed page-turner, and love or are intrigued by The Terminator...it's a must buy. It also sheds light on the formation of the Human Resistance Leadership.

Titan Books produces yet another fresh solid entry in the Terminator universe here.

With starting with the new movie's prequel with Timothy Zahn's FROM THE ASHES, along with the novelization by Alan Dean Foster, Titan Books now comes out with a tie-in, stand-alone novel COLD WAR, penned by UNDERWORLD movie-tie in writer, Greg Cox.

Cox deftly handles his 1st post-holocaust novel as he did with the UNDERWORLD movie tie-in novels, with deeper depth of characters, history, and fast-paced action/adventure that will keep you turning the pages until the wee hours of the morning.

This is the 3rd novel that we've read by Greg Cox, having read his other movie tie-ins that were both solid reads. But this one is special, because Cox doesn't have to particularly follow a set movie framework here. This COLD WAR novel is actually the 1st of the series, showing the very start of the Skynet war from its beginnings through a Russian submariner's eyes, as well as a newly appointed park ranger Native American woman in Alaska, both storylines have loosely intricate threads that tie-in with the new movie...eventually.

No John or Sarah Connor here. No Arnold Swarzeneggar, either.

COLD WAR's chapters jump back and forth from 2003 to 2018, showcasing two very different storylines from the eyes of a Russian submarine captain who unleashes armageddon on Judgement Day, to the other novel's main protag, an Alaskan park ranger survivor, who both handle Skynet's takeover of the planet in very different ways. Both are solid, exciting tales, which eventually merge over halfway through the book.

From new Terminators never seen before, from a terminator train to snowmobiles, COLD WAR is a solid read that gives the reader indepth characterization, to blazing action/adventure that balances this superbly written novel, giving the reader a well balanced novel that will leave readers wishing this was the type of stuff that the TV series could have produced.

The franchise is up for sale right now. We hope that whoever eventually buys it, sees the huge potential here to keep making endless ground-breaking films and TV mini-series that could make alot of money.

We hope that Titan Books keeps hiring top writers like they have thus far, and like DARK HORSE who produces novels based on the Alien and Predator series, keeps coming out with fresh new novels based on the Terminator series. We'll be purchasing them, that's for sure. Titan has made 5 great products here in the Terminator franchise.

We hope they keep it up.

Let me start by saying that I am a fan of the movie series but this is the 2nd Terminator-themed book I have read (first being "From the Ashes"). I will be picking up some of the others shortly.

MOVIES > I enjoyed the 1st, loved the second, was mildly disappointed by the third and desperately wanted to like the fourth but found it lacking (better however than T3 ROTM).

[you know you are a fan when you imagine your own variation of a movie script on your morning drive and are convinced that it would have outperformed Hollywood's version]

TV SERIES > Rocked like a hurricane but has no continuity with the novel.

Readers of this book, and disappointed fans of Terminator Salvation will likely wish Hollywood had filmed COLD WAR instead of what was actually filmed.

I felt for the characters (Molly and Geir, as well as Sitka, Doc and even Alexi). I wasn't disappointed by JC's non-appearance (non-spoiler > his voice did make it in).

The only thing that was left out was Skynet's perspective. I don't know if authors of the prior books have delved into this side of the story but it looks like fertile ground.

All in all, terrific read if you are a fan of the movies. If you find yourself saying "What's a Terminator?" then this is a good entry point but be sure to rent the movies afterward for the context.

I had no expectations when I started reading this book. I'm a big Terminator fan and I have read a few different novels over the years. This book really turned out to be a solid entry in the Terminator series.
The story is divided up into two different time frames. One is in 2003 taking place in a Russian nuclear Submarine when Judgment day happens, and the immediate aftermath that follows. The other story arc takes place in 2018 centering on a group of Survivors in Alaska who are not being taken seriously by the Central Command of the Resistance. These events take place right before the start of the Terminator Salvation movie. I liked how both of these story lines were tied together at the end of the book. I don't want to spoil a whole lot about the story line. There is a ton of action between the humans and machines fighting. However, Greg Cox finds a good median with the development of the plot arcs and he keeps things moving at a good pace.
Overall, I would highly recommend this book. Personally I think Timothy Zahn's Terminator book Trial By Fire is the best in all of the novel series, but I would rate this a close second or third in line.

It's easy to tell when a fan, a TRUE fan of a franchise takes on a content creation task for that franchise. Just look at what Christopher Nolan did for Batman. Can you honestly believe for a second he doesn't understand the Batman mythology, across more than one of the many variations of the franchise spanning decades?

My guess is Greg Cox isn't much of a fan of the Terminator mythology and probably wrote this book as a money making ploy. He simply doesn't get what makes the Terminator story truly exciting, and instead opts to try, with weak writing, uninspired narrative ideas, and a near total lack of military protocol, to connect some dots between mostly unimportant points of the fourth movie. Yes, the fourth movie seems to be the only source of his franchise knowledge, and that's sad considering the weak state of T:Salvation.

The other option is that Cox is a super fan who simply can't write and found a publisher/editor who didn't know anything about the franchise and simply help him take his weak writing and clean it up. Even the most hard core fans don't tend to make the strongest extended universe content.

My desire with any extended universe type content is to walk away from it with a better, deeper, more emotional connection to the universe that the stories exist in. This book, sadly, doesn't help do anything for that EU connection, instead opting to tell the core "run from unkillable robots" story that is a plot device, not a mythology hallmark of the Terminator franchise.

I also have to add, that this book's other reviews strike me as completely fake. The tone of most of the 4 and 5 star reviews read like a literary agent wrote them.... and there's a good chance that's exactly what happened.

This is another great edition to the literary series of The Terminator franchise. This book, which takes place during and right after Judgment Day, along with 15 years later, is very well written and flows relatively seamlessly between the various movies; Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (Widescreen Edition) and the short lived, bat very well done television series; Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - The Complete First Season.

This book introduces us to the Russian nuclear submarine captain who himself was responsible for unleashing a salvo of nuclear tipped missiles onto the state of Alaska during the first few minutes of Judgment Day, and who many years later, redeems himself partially in helping a group of Resistance fighters as they struggle to stay alive and fight back against the machines and Skynet. In addition to this character, we are also introduced to a few characters whom you may recall from the recent movie, Terminator Salvation (Widescreen Edition). Most notably one or two from the submarine scene where Command is leading the Resistance against Skynet.

I don't want to give away too much information in this review and spoil the fun you will have by reading it for yourself, but I will say this, this book along with; Terminator Salvation: From the Ashes: The Official Prequel Novelization and Terminator Salvation: Trial by Fire are very well done and really add to the entire Terminator experience by showcasing a lot more characters and a lot more of the behind scenes action and activities that the movies just weren't able to convey. I highly recommend this book and the others in the Terminator saga.

Shawn Kovacich
Creator of numerous books and DVD's.

This is the first books I have ever read in the Terminator Series. I was looking for something interesting and somewhat light for my last long plane ride. After reading the various reviews this seemed like it would work perfectly, and it did. I am a fan of the Terminator movie series and really enjoyed Terminator Salvation. So with that in mind I also very much enjoyed the book. While it had nothing to do with any of the characters in the movie it did enrich and expand the world it took place in. The books is fairly fast paced but not overly so. That made it the perfect book for a day long plane ride for me. I was able to read through a chapter, take a break and pick it back up. Some books are 'too good' for travel books to me. A page turner that I can't put down is great but I find myself rushing through them. This set the perfect pace for a full day of travel. The story is interesting and the characters are believable, but I didn't feel rushed to finish the book to find out what happens. That isn't to say its slow or boring, though there are parts that could be improved, it had just the right pacing for what I needed it for. Most any fiction book is a guilty pleasure for me and I enjoyed my time with Terminator Cold War. If you are a fan of the movies, of military/sci-fi/post apocalyptic then this is a good book to pick up. You don't have to have watched the movies, though they do helped give you an understanding of the world this is based in. A great read.

It's a fast read with an entertaining story to expand the new Terminator story line. I've enjoyed reading it...

The year is 2003 and Judgement Day has happen and for the crew of the Russian Gorshkov they has just lunched there missles at the state of Alaska. In 2018 Molly Kookesh and her group are fighting skynet, trying to survive in the frozen wildness of Alaska. The lives of the Russian crew and the fighters will come together as they trying to save what left of the human race and stop Skynet once and for all.
"Terminator Salvation: Cold War" by Greg Cox is a great book for any fan of the "Terminator Series!" Mr.Cox takes the reader for Judgement Day and the beginning of the resistance the front lines of the battle to stop Skynet once and for all. I like the fact that the story isn't all about John Conner, but rather how both real soldiers and everyday people are trying to stop Skynet "Cold War" is a book that should not be miss by any fan of the "Terminator Series!"