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Terminator Universe

Terminator 3: Terminator Hunt

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Riding the crest of popularity following Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines , Terminator Hunt continues the action where Aaron Allston's first Teminator 3 novel, Terminator Dreams left off, with an exciting original story of John Connor, Kate Brewster, and the human Resistance battling Skynet and its deadly robots.

2029 Paul Keeley is a member of the Resistance who died over a year ago-or so everyone thinks, until he awakens in a hospital room and stumbles out into a raging battle between John Connor's elite team of Hellhounds and a group of Skynet robots led by the deadly Terminatrix. Back at Home Plate, Resistance headquarters, members of the Resistance discover that Paul has been brainwashed by Skynet. Living in a computer-simulated dream of the twentieth century, Paul, an expert on twentieth century life, was being used as part of an effort to train the T-X terminator for a time jump. John and Kate have no way of knowing where the jump will occur, so to prevent it from happening at all, they launch a daring plan to use John Connor as bait to capture the T-X. Meanwhile, Paul remains under suspicion, since no one knows how the brainwashing may still affect him.

Capturing the T-X proves to be a deadly task with consequences nobody could foresee. The danger and suspense mount as Resistance action leads to an epic battle pitting human ingenuity and sheer courage against the coldblooded logic of machine intelligence. Fans of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines will not be disappointed.

320 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2004

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142 people want to read

About the author

Aaron Allston

174 books372 followers
Aaron Dale Allston was an American game designer and author of many science fiction books, notably Star Wars novels. His works as a game designer include game supplements for role-playing games, several of which served to establish the basis for products and subsequent development of TSR's Dungeons & Dragons game setting Mystara. His later works as a novelist include those of the X-Wing series: Wraith Squadron, Iron Fist, Solo Command, Starfighters of Adumar, and Mercy Kill. He wrote two entries in the New Jedi Order series: Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream and Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand. Allston wrote three of the nine Legacy of the Force novels: Betrayal, Exile, and Fury, and three of the nine Fate of the Jedi novels: Outcast, Backlash, and Conviction.

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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Kat.
Author 14 books599 followers
August 10, 2018
One of my favorite Aaron Allstons (great Star Wars writer) that ties in with the Terminator 3 canon (me being maybe the only person on earth who liked that movie!) Loved the complex relationships and interesting storylines, as well as the usual terminating fun!
Author 5 books2 followers
June 13, 2012
It was a decent enough sequel to Terminator 3. This book details the Resistance's plight against a new T-X terminator very similar to the one played by Kristanna Loken in the third movie.
Profile Image for Chris The Lizard from Planet X.
452 reviews10 followers
October 31, 2020
Despite the fact that it's despised by pop culture, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is my favorite of the (now six) Terminator movie. Yes, more than 1 and 2 - though I acknowledge that those two are better on a technical and artistic level, I simply enjoy T3: Rise of the Machines a lot more than any of the others. This is partly because of the much derided humor - I think the Terminator franchise often takes itself way too seriously (this was particularly clear in Salvation) for the level of writing they put out there. The time travel stuff, while relatively decent in comparison to many other franchises, is still way too silly for me to take particularly seriously, and the entire franchise being centered around the future destruction of most of the human race definitely drags things down (which was very well done in the last few scenes of T3).

Aaron Allston, one of the best writers for the Star Wars: X-Wing series (and many others), was a very strong fit for writing tie-in media novels for T3. He has a great blend of tragic and humorous sensibilities, and embraces silly situations with just the right amount of "this is cool, ignore the silliness" and self-awareness to pull most of it off. The first of the two novels he contributed to this tie-in project, Terminator Dreams, leaned a bit too heavily into the tragic. This one, while keeping the stakes fairly grim, manages to have a lot more hope, as well as a fair amount of humor and a lot of action.

If you loved the X-Wing novels that Allston entered the Star Wars Expanded Universe with, you'll love the way he uses a similar format of elite units which take an unusual approach to tackling insanely huge enemies - and the main character is very reminiscent of two of his most successful characters in the third novel of his X-Wing books. A broken, brainwashed man, Paul Keeley reminds a reader heavily of Myn Donos and Lara Notsil, and his struggles against his implanted control device from Skynet and the T-X in the book also call back to the New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines duology Allston wrote in the early 2000s.

All in all, Allston captures the feeling and enjoyments of the T3 film - the sunny, dusty setting, the weary but still competent and optimistic Resistance Leaders John Connor and Kate Brewster and their daughter Kyla, and his numerous original characters in the human resistance. The characterization for the T-X and her robotic Skynet minions was pretty enjoyable as well. There is a sense that Allston may have been trying to fit a lot more story into the book, as some plotlines seem like they might have fit more organically into an additional volume, but on the whole, T3: Terminator Hunt provides an action-packed but still character-rich read for fans of the Terminator films.
Profile Image for Drake.
31 reviews4 followers
September 30, 2011
Crap. Characters sucked. It was modeled after the third movie (which was horrid). Sarah was only mentioned once and I didn't get into the plot. FYI I loved the first two movies and the Tv show, so my expectations were pretty high. Completely disapointed me. I Couldn't even get halfway through. I'll write a better review later.

(I had to get rid of the book so I didn't burn it in my sleep unconsciously.)
Profile Image for Ian Miller.
141 reviews8 followers
November 10, 2019
Despite the fact that it's despised by pop culture, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines is my favorite of the (now six) Terminator films. Yes, more than 1 and 2 - though I acknowledge that those two are better on a technical and artistic level, I simply enjoy Rise of the Machines a lot more than any of the others. This is partly because of the much derided humor - I think the Terminator franchise often takes itself way too seriously (this was particularly clear in Salvation) for the level of writing they put out there. The time travel stuff, while relatively decent in comparison to many other franchises, is still way too silly for me to take particularly seriously, and the entire franchise being centered around the future destruction of most of the human race definitely drags things down (which was very well done in the last few scenes of T3).

Aaron Allston, one of the best writers for the Star Wars: X-Wing series (and many others), was a very strong fit for writing tie-in novels for T3. He has a great blend of tragic and humorous sensibilities, and embraces silly situations with just the right amount of "this is cool, ignore the silliness" and self-awareness to pull most of it off. The first of the two novels he contributed to this tie-in project, Terminator Dreams, leaned a bit too heavily into the tragic. This one, while keeping the stakes fairly grim, manages to have a lot more hope, as well as a fair amount of humor and a lot of action.

If you loved the Wraith Squadron novels that Allston entered the Star Wars universe with, you'll love the way he uses a similar format of elite units which take an unusual approach to tackling insanely huge enemies - and the main character is very reminiscent of two of his most successful characters in the third novel of his X-Wing books. A broken, brainwashed man, Paul Keeley reminds a reader heavily of Myn Donos and Lara Notsil, and his struggles against his implanted control device from Skynet and the T-X in the book also call back to the New Jedi Order: Enemy Lines duology Allston wrote in the early 2000s.

All in all, Allston captures the feeling and enjoyments of the T3 film - the sunny, dusty setting, the weary but still competent and optimistic John Connor and Kate Brewster and their daughter Kyla, and his numerous original characters in the human resistance. The characterization for the T-X and her robotic minions was pretty enjoyable as well. There is a sense that Allston may have been trying to fit a lot more story into the book, as some plotlines seem like they might have fit more organically into an additional volume, but on the whole, Terminator Hunt provides an action-packed but still character-rich read for the one or two fans of the film like myself.
Profile Image for Petre.
57 reviews
May 20, 2020
It was a great story that left behind the movie terminator theme. I enjoyed the fact this story did not involve time jumping and was set in the present time. Im fond of poetical literature that delves into great details and this story lacked this which merely meant I had to use my imagination to create the element of interest,

There wasn't any real character depth revealed of any character but rather the story as a whole was delved into. Which is memorable, I enjoyed the elements of the story, the ideas and concepts.

I don't know if I will read this again, I love epic books, this in my opinion was not epic.

If you want the book to mimic the movie then this is not the book for you.
Profile Image for Jonathan.
689 reviews56 followers
February 20, 2018
The story is pretty intriguing until about the halfway point. But the second half, which is usually when things really start picking up, the story's pace seems to slow. And it's not even in a suspenseful or atmospheric way. It's actually pretty strange, since there are better Terminator novels. But they're also usually stories where the pacing moves more like the narrative pacing of the movies.
Profile Image for Tim.
173 reviews
August 27, 2025
ok I actually really enjoyed this one. I won't lie the beginning was a bit tough for me but man you hit a point and you just start really enjoying everything especially the characters. definitely a top read for a Terminator fan
1 review
July 6, 2023
good read

Really good read. Loved the story,I hope the author writes more Terminator stories. I recommend this book to anyone who is starved for more terminator stories.
Profile Image for Molly Hart.
93 reviews
August 17, 2022
This one was not my favorite of the Terminator novels. It took a very long time for me to get into it and took even longer for me to actually finish it. Though by the end I did find the story enjoyable and the action did make it all somewhat enjoyable
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews

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