Customer Reviews

The War Games of Zelos (The Expendables #3)

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The latest exploratory mission for James Conrad and his team of Expendables takes them to a planet 24 light years from home. Designated as Zelos, the crew expect to find an Earth-type world that is uninhabited, yet soon after their arrival they discover a previously-unidentified city on the main continent. Once they make landfall, they discover something even more astonishing - a population of primitive warrior humans that soon challenges their presence. Now, in order to win the acceptance of the Zelosians, Conrad and his team must participate in the War Games, a set of physical and martial challenges in which failure could result in their deaths and a conflict Conrad hopes desperately to avoid.

Edmund Cooper's third Expendable novel presents what is now a familiar pattern for readers of the series. Again we have the core team of Conrad, Indira Smith, and Kurt Kwango, along with four other new members who largely serve as secondary characters. The action does not really pick up until halfway through the novel, but once it does it provides an adventure every bit as entertaining as Cooper's previous entries, The Deathworms of Kratos and, The Rings of Tantalus. The Zelosians themselves are fairly undeveloped as a set of characters, but they serve as effective enough plot devices to keep the action going. Some readers may take issue with the undercurrent of misogyny that characterizes much of the series, but this aside the novel is an enjoyable adventure that provide a nice afternoon of escapist reading.

ANYONE WHO HAS READ JOHN CARTER OR ENDWORLD OR DEATHLANDS TO NAME A FEW WILL LOVE THIS.I CAN'T BELIEVE NO ONE HAS MADE A MOVIE FROM THIS SHORT LIVED SERIES.SOME OF THE GREATEST CHARACTERS THIS SIDE OF STAR TREK.LOT'S OF ACTION,HUMOR,GORE, AND CLASSIC CHARACTERS.7 PEOPLE(CONS AND WASHED OUT MILITARY) SENT TO UNEXPLORED PLANETS TO SEE IF THEY CAN BE COLONIZED.IT'S A SHAME THIS SERIES WAS SO OVERLOOKED.