Voyage of Fear

Bionicle Adventures #5

by Greg Farshtey

A new quest will test the Toa Metru in ways they can't anticipate.
Share in the legend with books based on LEGO's BIONICLE action figures.


Driven from Metru Nui by a shattering earthquake, the six Toa Metru take a dangerous journey by water in search of a new land. Their six Matoran locked in what may be eternal sleep. Ahead of them lies terrible danger, the dark secrets behind Metru Nui's fall, and a discovery that will change their future forever!

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Science Fiction, Adventure

128 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2004

About the author

Greg Farshtey is the author of the popular BIONICLE chapter books and Level 3 readers, as well as the long-running BIONICLE comic book series. His day job is Editor-in-Chief and head writer for the LEGO Club Magazine and the LEGO BrickMaster Magazine.

Greg has been writing since fourth grade. After earning a degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo, he worked as a reporter, sports editor, game designer and editor, and copywriter before joining LEGO Company in 2000. Before becoming involved with BIONICLE, he wrote game material for such diverse properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tales From the Crypt.

Greg is the author of more than 30 novels and guidebooks, as well as the author or co-author of more than 35 game sourcebooks and adventures.

He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Far...

Reviews

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book in the vein of Darkness Below but this time with the added mystery of who built the tunnels. And why exactly did the sky above Metru Nui have two suns where the sky above the newly discovered island on the other side of the great barrier have only one? Made no sense to me when I was 7. The Toa Metru are a fantastic team, and Mavrah is a good foil. Also appreciate the central use of one of the instruction-booklet combo models. Mandatory Bonkle reading.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best book so far! Great character moments for all six toa, especially Onewa! Swashbuckling, secret scientists, things changed forever! I'll definitely revisit this one before I die.

[jessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

you guys literally don’t understand sometimes greg farshtey bionicle books are my frank herbert dune and this one had an OCTOPUS and lore about how their bionicle BODIES work and feel

[Sully Leier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rip Mavrah all u wanted to do was hang out with ur creatures. Just a fantastic book all around.

[Eduardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Welp time to read some more BIONICLE, am I right? This is another sort-of one-shot, in that while it’s connected to the other stories (it follows the Toa Metru on their voyage to the island of Mata Nui after “Legends of Metru Nui”), it’s a mostly self-contained adventure. And it’s fine, I think it’s a really good character piece, if a bit unfocused.

While trying to find a new home, the Toa Metru run into Mavrah, an Onu-Matoran former archivist who fled the city to live in the frontiers with his sea monster friends. Assuming they’re there to drag him back to Metru Nui, Mavrah resists, and doesn’t believe them when they tell him the city’s been wrecked. The result is a cool little story where the antagonist isn’t really an evil person, just horribly misguided about what’s going on.

Also this is really violent in ways that are not graphic, but if you think about it… like, when all the sea creatures and the Vahki and the Toa get in a huge brawl, creatures and robots get WRECKED. The image of a giant crab creature slipping into the water and being torn apart by sharks… yeesh. It sticks in the head. I’m glad we went there, but it’s more hardcore than you’d expect from BIONICLE.

It’s a good BIONICLE book, and it’s got great memorable bits of dialogue (the “Never turn left” joke starts here!). It’s another story in which Greg gets to go nuts and tell his own story that fully utilizes the characters and has a crazy situation for them to find themselves in. If he hadn’t been constrained by the book’s short length I wonder how this would have turned out.

This book, however, re-confirms my suspicions that Metru Nui was a dystopia? We get more about the way the city built robotic law enforcement to make sure that the Matoran are always doing their jobs, and how the Archives collected animals to be studied and put on display while constantly in stasis, while also constantly being at risk of being wrecked… look, guys, this city sucked. I don’t know why you keep calling it a paradise.

Also! Greg uses the “Didn’t understand the words, but recognized the tone” trick (one of his favorites) TWICE in this book!

[Ben Erentraut · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a brilliant story. The Makuta is imprisoned and defeated by the Toa Metru, but Metru Nui has plunged into chaos. They take the six matoran spheres they can find, and set off in search of a new home, hoping to return to save the rest of the matoran later. They depart in search of a new home, and find one, but not after facing a terrible voyage. Secrets are revealed, old demons return to haunt Whenua, and the Toa grow closer and wiser, all culminating in a discovery that changes everything.

[Ivan Matthew · Rating 4 out of 5]

NOTHING

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Toa leave Metru Nui for Mata Nui and face a variety of new perils, both villains and otherwise. Enjoyable.

[Kayla · Rating 4 out of 5]

Favorite series in elementary school