Before the Dawn (Dark Angel) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Max Allan Collins (Author) "Her bare feet pounding, breaking the crust of ice on the snow-packed ground, her thin blue hospital-style smock hiked high over pumping legs, nine-year-old X5-unit..." (more)
Key Phrases: Original Cindy, Eyes Only, Chinese Clan (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Never-before-told tales of action and adventure
revealing the early days of Dark Angel!

Los Angeles, 2019. Large sections of Tinseltown are in Richter-scale ruins in the aftermath of the Pulse and a devastating earthquake. Surviving among a ragtag pack of street kids, agile as a cat, and an expert thief, Max steals from the rich and gives to Moody, her mentor in crime and leader of the gang. But with no real family to speak of, Max longs for her missing “brothers and sisters” from Manticore, the covert agency with a sinister history of militaristic manipulation and control.

By chance, Max sees a news story on TV about a dissident cyberjournalist in Seattle, known to everyone as “Eyes Only.” The police are searching for his accomplice, a young rebel whose image flashes on the screen. Max immediately recognizes Seth, one of her Manticore siblings. She mounts her motorcycle and hightails it north. What she rides into is an elaborate web of betrayal, greed, revenge, and selfless heroism that will only further fuel her quest to uncover the secrets of her past—and seize hope for the future. . . .

From the Inside Flap
Never-before-told tales of action and adventure
revealing the early days of Dark Angel!

Los Angeles, 2019. Large sections of Tinseltown are in Richter-scale ruins in the aftermath of the Pulse and a devastating earthquake. Surviving among a ragtag pack of street kids, agile as a cat, and an expert thief, Max steals from the rich and gives to Moody, her mentor in crime and leader of the gang. But with no real family to speak of, Max longs for her missing ?brothers and sisters? from Manticore, the covert agency with a sinister history of militaristic manipulation and control.

By chance, Max sees a news story on TV about a dissident cyberjournalist in Seattle, known to everyone as ?Eyes Only.? The police are searching for his accomplice, a young rebel whose image flashes on the screen. Max immediately recognizes Seth, one of her Manticore siblings. She mounts her motorcycle and hightails it north. What she rides into is an elaborate web of betrayal, greed, revenge, and selfless heroism that will only further fuel her quest to uncover the secrets of her past?and seize hope for the future. . . .

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Del Rey (October 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345451821
• ISBN-13: 978-0345451828
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #45,055 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Didn't quite get it done for me, October 5, 2003

By A Customer

I don't want to be negative, but after reading all these glowing reviews, I thought I'd better give a reality check for true fans of this awesome series: this book wasn't that great. Don't get me wrong, it didn't totally suck, but it's clear that this is just some writer guy who was comissioned to write the book. He has lifted most of the dialogue right from the series, so he gets away with it, but then, when he's supposed to telling us what Max is thinking, suddenly she's thinking in the vocabulary of a 55 year old college graduate from the heartland. Like, she sees a fat guard and thinks, "what a portly, heavyset fellow". Yeah right. I don't think "portly" "heaveyset" or "fellow" are really the words a post-pulse street rat like Max is going to use to describe this guy in her head. He's obviously a lot more comfortable with Logan-speak, but he makes him just a little too much like somebody's Dad. Plus, you can tell the guy is not a fan, because the book just lacks PASSION. It's like he contacted some younger friend and said "Well, let's plot this baby out". I'd be willing to bet serious cash that this guy had never even seen the show before his editor called and said, "Got a gig for ya." But let's be fair, overall, it's a definate fix for those of us who were chapped when the series got cancelled, and it's readable, and we can fill in the gaps ourselves, but it would have been better if they had found somebody maybe a little younger who was a huge fan of the series already.
Gotta blaze..

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for all DA fans, October 23, 2002

By	"ksubich" (Geneva, FL United States) - See all my reviews

DARK ANGEL: BEFORE THE DAWN is a fascinating prequel novel that is a treat for any DA fan to read. Max Collins has all the characters down pat, and the backgrounding he does for Max, Original Cindy, Logan, and the other regulars of the show is fascinating. After reading this book one can go back and view Season 1 and Season 2 of the series in a slightly different light, picking up clues that were not noticed before that lead back to Max's earlier life before she came to Seattle. Mr. Collins also does an excellent job of foreshadowing things-to-come in the DA universe, threads that will undoubtedly be continued in his DA sequel novel SKIN GAME which picks up the storyline after the last televised episode of the show. If you're a DARK ANGEL fan, please buy BEFORE THE DAWN! The read is well worth your time!

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Isnt tact something you put on a teachers chair?, January 21, 2004

By	Peter Vinton Jr. (Not near Washington, DC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Miss the series? Collins serves up a generous helping of backstory to the Max Guevara we've all come to know and love. The story expands on the small details that are already known: we are pulled along through the harrowing X5 breakout from Manticore, up through Max's first contacts with the "normal" world and right on up to the catastrophic Pulse that brings the United States down to Third World status. Much of the story deals with Max honing her craft as a professional thief on the mean streets of post-Pulse Los Angeles. Circumstance and a possible lead on an X5 "sibling" send her north into Seattle, and we are treated to the tale of how she met Original Cindy, how she moved in with Kendra, how she started with Jam Pony, where she first heard of Eyes Only, and even the spiritual importance of the Space Needle to Max's "meditations." Logan Cale features prominently as well, in some wonderful foreshadowing scenes. Original characters include fellow X5 "Seth" and Russian gangster-cum-art dealer Kafelnikov, and for fans who've missed the first season's villain Donald Lydecker, there's plenty of him in this novel, too.

The novel, being more or less unrestricted in its scope and direction, allows the reader to dive more fully into the gritty near-future of post-Pulse America -the language is coarser and more realistic than the cleaned-up television dialogue. Instead of having to hear characters remind viewers that "the world went and got a lot nastier," we are able to actually immerse ourselves in it; much more thought-provoking, particularly if you're prone to playing the "what would YOU do?" speculation game. In all ways an excellent lead-in to the events of the series pilot. An easy read, full of familiar characters, very satisfying conclusion.