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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
For the completist only, October 31, 2005
This review is from: The Web of Arachnos (City of Heroes (CDS Books)) (Paperback)
This is the first of a proposed trilogy of novels set in the City of Heroes MMORPG universe. Written by Robert Weinberg (subsequent volumes are by other authors), it details the entangled origin of both Statesman and Lord Recluse, and the beginning steps of moving Prohibition Era Paragon City from a hotbed of crime and corruption to the gleaming metropolis we "see" today.
For CoH/CoV players, there's a certain appeal in learning some of this backstory, as well as more about Nemesis, some of the early heroes of Paragon (previously only hinted at in various plaques and statues about the city), and other geeky goodness like that.
Aside from that, however, this is ultra-lightweight fluff. Though Weinberg occasionally tries to play on Doc Savage/Avenger/Shadow-style pulp conventions, it's never maintained for long enough to actually impart some flavor to the tale. Instead we get a bunch of stock characters moved through inevitable, predictable, uninvolving motions - the plucky girl reporter, the hardened Great War veteran and his "band of brothers," the cunning inventor, the venal city officers, the gangsters, the megalomaniac villain, a ho-hum romance ... Only bits of the story sparkle, usually involving backup characters - a trio of sisters, for example, and a few of the fellow founders of the Freedom Phalanx.
The Web of Arachnos certainly more entertaining than reading the newspaper or office memos, or being poked in the eye with a sharp stick. But it's not something I'd recommend to anyone other than someone who plays the games the novel is based on -- and then only if they're *really* interested in somewhat increasing their knowledge about the game's setting.
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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very Well Done, June 13, 2007
This review is from: The Web of Arachnos (City of Heroes (CDS Books)) (Paperback)
As I read the reviews for this product, my heart sank a little. I am, myself, a fan of the CoH/CoV games. So, like I said, I expected very little from the book as a result except for a backstory to add to my enjoyment of the game.
However, after receiving the book, and beginning to read, I was immediately captured by the writing style of the author. His descriptive wording and appropriate word use were the first items to catch my attention. However, after a chapter, the story was riveting.
As I said, I had read the previous reviews on this, and if I may say, perhaps some of them are overly critical. Keep in mind, for example, that the book is centered on two specific characters, those of Stefan Richter (Lord Recluse) and Marcus Cole (Statesman), and so therefore, mentions of the exploits of any other heroes prior to their appearance in the novel would be unwarranted. And, it would not seem illogical for someone with great powers to be eaither a) unaware of the vastness of them, or b) in an era when the world was just over the first industrial revolutions of America, afraid to show any level of supernatural ability, since the demonstration of such would instill fear in a great many people (including the politcial regimes of the day).
Also, as to Recluse's metal spider legs, since he is a technocrat and obviously a fan of the scientific, it is not unthinkable that such a person would either a) augment natural appendages which grew as a result of his transformation, to be fitted with metal, or to b) have created that metallic set of appendages.
Finally, though the characters might seem predictable, and "lightweight", the fact is that the author is playing on what we should expect. The great war hero, power hungry villain, megalomaniac Nemesis, plucky reporter, etc...are all the types of people we can relate with. Their characters are well fleshed out in the novel, and overall, it is a great read!
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4.0 out of 5 stars
A rollicking pulp-novel tribute to the superhero genre's roots, June 27, 2009
This review is from: The Web of Arachnos (City of Heroes (CDS Books)) (Paperback)
I'm on the brink of trying out City of Heroes for the first time, and as I'm a bit of a newcomer to the superhero genre, I thought I'd get a feel for the story behind the game and it's story, before I dive in feet-first. Thus I picked up this book in order to acquaint myself with Paragon City and its denizens...
The era is post-World War I; rogue turned soldier Marcus Cole is on the biggest heist of his life: uncovering the treasures of the Well of the Furies. But when a mysterious aura from the well affects him and members of his crew who came close to it transforms them into near demi-gods, he realizes that the powers given to him are a call to greater responsibility, responsibility which he -- in the guise of Statesman, the costumed hero -- brings to the crime-infested streets of his hometown, Paragon City, now in the throes of the Depression and the upheavals of Prohibition. And to add to the sufferings of the city, a mysterious crime syndicate known as the Web of Arachnos has arisen, spreading its threads into the heart of the city...
The characters may be types -- the noble, chiseled-jawed hero, the troubled believer in science who slowly loses his humanity to the cold equations he trusts in, the plucky girl reporter who gets herself into scrapes while pursuing the big story -- and the plot is a little predictable, but it is this way only because it's typical of the pulp novel genre and it's direct descendant, the superhero genre. In some ways, since modern novels have grown away from this, it's almost refreshing to return to this kind of innocent story-telling.
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