Магическият ръкопис

Hellgate: London #2

by Mel Odom, Мел Одом

Четири години след като демоните нахлуват в нашия свят през Адските порти, човечеството отчаяно се опитва да оцелее. С група свои съмишленици младият тамплиер Саймън Крос води ежедневни битки с чудовищата за спасяване на малкото оцелели жители на Лондон. Но силите са неравностойни.

Сред неумолимо настъпващия мрак проблясва лъч надежда — магическият ръкопис „Гоетия“, известен и като „Малкият ключ на Соломон“. Древният артефакт ще даде огромна сила на този, който го намери. Но, освен Саймън Крос, по следите му е и кабалистът Уорън Шимър — слуга на могъщия демон Мерихим. Кой ли ще го открие пръв?

Genres: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Horror, Science Fiction Fantasy, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic

480 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2007

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

aka Jordan Gray

Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.

Reviews

[Adam Rodgers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Set in 2024, this second book in the trilogy opens four years after the first. We once again follow three main characters that represent the three main factions from the game: Simon Cross (Templar), Warren Schimmer (Cabalist) and Leah Creasey (Hunter). As the demon threat intensifies it seems there may be hope on the horizon in the form of of a mythic book, Goetia, that can close the hellgates and banish the ravaging hordes of demons that plague our world. As all the main protagonists pursue it they intersect before converging for a final battle at the Tower of London.

Although based on a only mildly successful computer game, Mel Odom far outshines it, having created a vivid and intriguing world. He is also skilled at describing battle scenes, including lots of technical detail for the main characters weaponry and abilities alongside the brutal and sometimes gory fights. The Templar mythos he has expanded on could lead onto a book all of its own! The sub plots between Simon and Leah, and Warren and the Book, are great too. Where the story falls down is in Odom's depiction of London. It reads very much like someone who has never visited the city, only read about it in a guidebook! The book is also plagued with spelling and grammatical errors that you would think surely should have been caught before publication - but these are minor quibbles.

I'm excited to see how the story concludes in the final book - Covenant.

[Chris The Lizard from Planet X · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hellgate: Goetia by Mel Odom is a video game tiein novel based of the 2007 PC game “Hellgate: London”. Demons still have control of London, but Simon Cross and the rest of the Templar Knights are fighting back. When an old professor tells Simon of an old book called “Goetia” that could have the power to turn the tide of the war against the demons, Simon and his team find more than they bargained for. The Templars aren’t the only ones after the book. Demonic forces have their eye on it as well.

Goetia picks up a while after the first installment, with even more suspense and heart-pounding action. Like all post-invasion stories, the story is dark and violent. A foe from the last book, Warren, is still being used by a demon, but also begins to discover more power within himself. And he begins to form an alliance with a surprising character. The demons are truly evil, with their own agendas. And the downtrodden humans have to look out for their own best interests, some making questionable compromises. Simon Cross and his group set themselves apart from the rest of the Templars and try to see hope for humanity.

While Goetia has a short-term ending, a mystery still surrounds the book, to be concluded in the last of the trilogy. I’m looking forward to more answers and resolutions to the mild cliffhangers. In a thrilling battle of good versus evil, Hellgate: London is an exciting and fast-paced saga that both science fiction and fantasy fans should love.

[Kristopher Godwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I rate high for the story and writing in how well done it was, the grammer was really bad at times. I always understood, but there were so many errors from missing letters to having a similar but wrong would than intended.

[Sleepingwithink · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Honor isn't something between men. It's something inside a man that can be used to take his measure. And because he has it, he can extend it to others."

"It's not about how long your life is. It's about how long it's worth living."

[Стл Трйкв · Rating 4 out of 5]

The least interesting book of the trilogy. Expands the story a little , but seems to be just a filler.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75

[George Green · Rating 3 out of 5]

Please for the love of God proof read before publishing.. the amount of errors is staggering.

[Henri Higney]

I thought it was a great book with twits and turns in the plot in ever chapter.

[Adeyinka Daniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When the first book ended I was expecting less or my expectations dropped but it blew my mind and I couldn’t even stop reading I just continued and read it again like 8 more times in two months

[FeifsGambit · Rating 3 out of 5]

By far the better book of the trilogy. There were so many times that I stopped reading and googling all the things they mentioned in this book. At first it was just a simple fact checking, then I went down this crazy rabbit hole where I ordered way more books and probably spent too much time researching the occult.

As always, the action scenes in this series are still top notch. However, near the end of the book it does start to wear down on you. It took me the first book and 3/4 of this one to realize that the fight scenes really only served to inflate the page count. Its a fun continuation of book 1 and the pacing remains the same.

Near the end of this book I had skim the page count of book 3 because the amount of unanswered plot points so far started to add way up. Also, there is a particular character in this series where his story never really has a sense of like its going anywhere....things are happening, but we don't find out why for a long while. After this book, I had no idea how they were going to tie up all the loose ends in the last book as thin as it was.

[Plaguedoctor · Rating 3 out of 5]

My boyfriend recommended this book to me because he said the game was fun. I've never played the game before or read the other books in the series. You don't really need to have read the other books to know what's going on, it's all pretty straight forward. I thought the concept, characters, and story were interesting. However, the writing style was kinda bad. It constantly lacking description and a bit slow and boring to read. It just wasn't for me, however, I think if you're looking for something quick to read and like fantasy/sci-fi then you might enjoy this book.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book builds on the story of the first, with the protagonist heading back into London to search for and rescue more survivors. The main characters from before are developed further, some turning into very complex multi-faceted characters that you find yourself hating and admiring at the same time. The author paints a very vivid image of the world after the Hellgate has opened yet still managing to focus on the characters in the book.

[Robb · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not high brow by any stretch of the imagination, but it serves its purpose. Light reading and entertaining in its own way. Fast paced with a good flow, but I agree with the previous reviewer: the game is getting shut down (for good reason) and I enjoyed the books better than the game they're based on. On to the last one...

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This whole series is a gripping tale of heroism. You don't have to believe and you don't have to like Sci-Fi. Good books! Yeah for Simon Cross! Even though the world is being overrun there are still heroes among us.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome follow up to Exodus. the characters seemt o feel a real and natural growht and progression. All the technical aspects are very intriguing. As with Exodus, the action and battle sequences are incredibly well written.

[James Hein · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story continues to develop.

A good follow up book to the first and I've got the third one queued.

Suitable for teenage reading as long as things like demons don't scare them. The violence isn't all that graphic.

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this book. Did a good job of continuing the story. Well worth reading. Like the characters.

[Earl · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author and editors obviously shoved the last 2 books in this series out the door when they realized the game it's based off of sucked.

[Avid · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just finished the first of this series. I will be putting "Death Star" on hold. See my review for
the first book Hellgate Exodus to find out why.

[S.C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my all time favourite series!!!!

[Tom Britton · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book,normal part 2 sucks on tri ,job well done hope it goes pass 3

[Vladimir Vázquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

La acción baja bastante en este tomo, sin embargo sigue siendo un libro divertido, y es esencial para entender la mitología de HellGate.

[D.C. Daines · Rating 4 out of 5]

great continuation, thankfully the editor did not let the author down this time. Read if you want a great story line and awesome characters

[Charles Orangetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome book. It got everything I was looking for: SyFy, Zombies, Post-apocalyptic, wizards and a little of everything else. As book 1. Book 2 and 3 are awesome and well written.

[Jocelyn Montalvo Cullum]

I registered a book at BookCrossing.com!
http://www.BookCrossing.com/journal/12438466

[Hedia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a sci-fi/fantasy genre fan. Good book!!!

[Ramesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The prequel to HellGate.A little here and there to fill in the voids.Superb fillers.

[Jeffery Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Awesome read so far!

[Diana Slavova]

I'm on page 231 of 352 of Goetia