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JUDGE DREDD NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE, RELEASING SEPTEMBER 21 2012 Collecting the novels: Dredd Vs Death, Kingdom of the Blind, The Final Cut by Gordon Rennie, David Bishop & Matthew Smith
Three novels starring the ultimate law man of the future.
In Dredd Vs Death, Judge Dredd teams up with his movie co-star Judge Anderson to investigate a trail of carnage left by a cult obsessed with with Judge Death, who believes all life is a crime. In Kingdom of the Blind Judge Dredd hits the streets as senior Judges gather for a treaty signing, just as a notorious crime boss prepares to step out of the shadows and sieze control of the city. In The Final Cut Dredd uncovers a grisly series of murders that point the finger at the an underground movie scene with unlikely allies in the corridors of power.
From comic books to movies to novels Dredd brings the Law to Mega-City One, the city of the future that covers the entire Eastern Seaboard of the former USA.
Three novels starring the ultimate law man of the future.
In Dredd Vs Death, Judge Dredd teams up with his movie co-star Judge Anderson to investigate a trail of carnage left by a cult obsessed with with Judge Death, who believes all life is a crime. In Kingdom of the Blind Judge Dredd hits the streets as senior Judges gather for a treaty signing, just as a notorious crime boss prepares to step out of the shadows and sieze control of the city. In The Final Cut Dredd uncovers a grisly series of murders that point the finger at the an underground movie scene with unlikely allies in the corridors of power.
From comic books to movies to novels Dredd brings the Law to Mega-City One, the city of the future that covers the entire Eastern Seaboard of the former USA.
704 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
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About the author
Gordon Rennie
393 books34 followersFreelance writer for over 20 years – When he’s not being ungainfully employed as a BAFTA-nominated video games scriptwriter, he keeps himself busy writing comics, novels, screenplays and Doctor Who audio plays. Comics work includes Predator, Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, Missionary Man, Necronauts, Caballistics Inc and Absalom, and Dept. of Monsterology for Renegade.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 13, 2021
Dredd vs. Death: ☆☆☆☆ 1/2
Kingdom of the Blind: ☆☆☆-☆☆☆ 1/2
The Final Cut: ☆☆☆☆☆
This massive book is not the movie novelization hinted by the cinematic tie-in cover, but an excellent volume collecting three novels based on the long-running British science fiction comic strip Judge Dredd from 2000 AD magazine, previously released by Black Flame publishing, a now disbanded former sister imprint to the Black Library and Solaris Books.
I purchased it as a souvenir in Manila when I got married there eight years ago, then forgot about it... you know: so many books, so little time.
So, when it popped up in my Goodreads friends newsfeed a few weeks ago, reminding me I own it together with the other Judge Dredd novels released from Abaddon, I decided it was time to read it at last.
Check links above for individual reviews of tales collected here and enjoy, citizen.
Do it not and it's one year inside an iso-cube waiting for you, creep.
December 26, 2014
You can find the full review over at my blog:
http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014...
Shadowhawk reviews the Dredd Omnibus, containing short novels by Gordon Rennie, David Bishop and Matthew Smith.
“A fantastic collection showing the real spice of life, good and bad, in Mega City One.” ~The Founding Fields
The BigFinish 2000AD audio drama range is very much responsible for me getting into the whole Judge Dredd mania, the awful Sly Stallone movie notwithstanding. In almost a year of being invested in the franchise, I’ve listened to various audiodramas, read a couple of the comics, seen the new film with Karl Urban, and even read this new Dredd Omnibus, which collects three of the short novels originally published by Black Flame. And it’s been quite a good ride so far. The franchise is incredibly rich in material, even though it’s so focused on Mega City One and on Judge Dredd himself. As with any good such franchise however, such a small focus never stands in the way of telling some really good stories, which is what Rennie, Bishop and Smith have done here. In my small experience, I’ve only seen Dredd tangle with deranged lunatics, low level thugs, and former Judges with a vengeance, so some of the material in the omnibus is a little new, but by no means is it completely unfamiliar, especially in the case of Rennie’s story.
From the perspective of continuity and lore references, Rennie’s Dredd vs Death is the toughest to come to grips with. It starts off during the tail end of one of the reigns of terror perpetrated by the Dark Judges on Mega City One, and then shifts to the “present” to show how the other-dimensional villains set the seeds for their eventual return. Quite a bit of the narrative emphasises how Dredd and Psi-Judge Anderson have taken down the Dark Judges in the past, and how they are both crucial to the efforts of Judge Death’s death cultists in bringing back their masters. This simple fact drives a huge part of the story. The fun through is when everything goes belly up and we are thrown right into the midst of the whole mess: prison riots, anarchy on the streets, Judges on lockdown and containment mode, Dredd blowing up everything in his way to confront his old enemies, etc. Roughly the first third of the novel takes a lot of getting used to, but Rennie’s narrative rewards the persistent reader because of the pay-offs at the end.
The action in the novel is non-stop, brutal, and pretty dark in its feel, which perfectly fits the entire setting. The scenes with the Dark Judges lack a bit of tension that I’d expect, in that while they are written well, I didn’t get the sense that the protagonists, whether Dredd or Anderson, were in any real danger from any of them. They are taken down in creative ways, especially Judge Fire, which made for some really fun and enjoyable moments. The best sequence in the entire book though, is when the prison riots start and the Dark Judges inevitably break free. Rennie has definitely captured the chaotic nature of that event as the Judges attempt to enforce the Law and round up the criminals, while Death’s cultists go on a killing spree.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Kingdom of the Blind by David Bishop. This one is much less dependent on any prior lore knowledge, and I’d consider it a pretty appropriate entry-level story in to the setting. This is more of a typical crime thriller/mystery as the Judges attempt to place a mole in the inner council of one of Mega City One’s most notorious (and untouchable – plausible deniability and all that) crime-lords, Jesus Bludd. Fast forward to a few months later and the Judges are busy preparing for a top level conference where representative Judges from other cities around the world are arriving on invitation by Chief Judge Hershey to discuss a global extradition treaty. The two events coincide together now as Bludd sets in motion a plan to bring the Big Meg to its knees (quite figuratively) and attempts to take over.
Kingdom of the Blind is definitely the better novel in the collection. It has a plot that is much easier to follow, lots more awesome characters (not that the Dark Judges are not, but they are… aliens from another dimension), and some fantastic insight into Judges from other cities, such as Brit-Cit and Sidney Melbourne Conurb and Hondo City. Also the fact that we spend a lot of time with Judge characters who are not Dredd or Anderson, with the latter being absent from the story altogether. Chief Judge Hershey takes the limelight spot next to Dredd, in that respect.
http://sonsofcorax.wordpress.com/2014...
Shadowhawk reviews the Dredd Omnibus, containing short novels by Gordon Rennie, David Bishop and Matthew Smith.
“A fantastic collection showing the real spice of life, good and bad, in Mega City One.” ~The Founding Fields
The BigFinish 2000AD audio drama range is very much responsible for me getting into the whole Judge Dredd mania, the awful Sly Stallone movie notwithstanding. In almost a year of being invested in the franchise, I’ve listened to various audiodramas, read a couple of the comics, seen the new film with Karl Urban, and even read this new Dredd Omnibus, which collects three of the short novels originally published by Black Flame. And it’s been quite a good ride so far. The franchise is incredibly rich in material, even though it’s so focused on Mega City One and on Judge Dredd himself. As with any good such franchise however, such a small focus never stands in the way of telling some really good stories, which is what Rennie, Bishop and Smith have done here. In my small experience, I’ve only seen Dredd tangle with deranged lunatics, low level thugs, and former Judges with a vengeance, so some of the material in the omnibus is a little new, but by no means is it completely unfamiliar, especially in the case of Rennie’s story.
From the perspective of continuity and lore references, Rennie’s Dredd vs Death is the toughest to come to grips with. It starts off during the tail end of one of the reigns of terror perpetrated by the Dark Judges on Mega City One, and then shifts to the “present” to show how the other-dimensional villains set the seeds for their eventual return. Quite a bit of the narrative emphasises how Dredd and Psi-Judge Anderson have taken down the Dark Judges in the past, and how they are both crucial to the efforts of Judge Death’s death cultists in bringing back their masters. This simple fact drives a huge part of the story. The fun through is when everything goes belly up and we are thrown right into the midst of the whole mess: prison riots, anarchy on the streets, Judges on lockdown and containment mode, Dredd blowing up everything in his way to confront his old enemies, etc. Roughly the first third of the novel takes a lot of getting used to, but Rennie’s narrative rewards the persistent reader because of the pay-offs at the end.
The action in the novel is non-stop, brutal, and pretty dark in its feel, which perfectly fits the entire setting. The scenes with the Dark Judges lack a bit of tension that I’d expect, in that while they are written well, I didn’t get the sense that the protagonists, whether Dredd or Anderson, were in any real danger from any of them. They are taken down in creative ways, especially Judge Fire, which made for some really fun and enjoyable moments. The best sequence in the entire book though, is when the prison riots start and the Dark Judges inevitably break free. Rennie has definitely captured the chaotic nature of that event as the Judges attempt to enforce the Law and round up the criminals, while Death’s cultists go on a killing spree.
Rating: 8/10
The second novel in the collection is Kingdom of the Blind by David Bishop. This one is much less dependent on any prior lore knowledge, and I’d consider it a pretty appropriate entry-level story in to the setting. This is more of a typical crime thriller/mystery as the Judges attempt to place a mole in the inner council of one of Mega City One’s most notorious (and untouchable – plausible deniability and all that) crime-lords, Jesus Bludd. Fast forward to a few months later and the Judges are busy preparing for a top level conference where representative Judges from other cities around the world are arriving on invitation by Chief Judge Hershey to discuss a global extradition treaty. The two events coincide together now as Bludd sets in motion a plan to bring the Big Meg to its knees (quite figuratively) and attempts to take over.
Kingdom of the Blind is definitely the better novel in the collection. It has a plot that is much easier to follow, lots more awesome characters (not that the Dark Judges are not, but they are… aliens from another dimension), and some fantastic insight into Judges from other cities, such as Brit-Cit and Sidney Melbourne Conurb and Hondo City. Also the fact that we spend a lot of time with Judge characters who are not Dredd or Anderson, with the latter being absent from the story altogether. Chief Judge Hershey takes the limelight spot next to Dredd, in that respect.
February 22, 2014
The atmosphere and violence was very well replicated from the movie Dredd universe.
And enjoyable trio of shortish stories. Though the third story, The Final Cut was almost too descriptive in its torture scenes for me to continue at some points.
And enjoyable trio of shortish stories. Though the third story, The Final Cut was almost too descriptive in its torture scenes for me to continue at some points.
May 11, 2021
Each individual story is solid...make a Dredd Sequel
September 2, 2016
It's a little hard to review this, as it's three separate novellas by three different authors. The first (Dredd Vs. Death) was really quite good in all aspects, and the only reason this book gets two rather than zero stars. The middle novella (Kingdom of the Blind) was absolute garbage, even for this sort of glorified fanfiction: terrible pacing, full of dick jokes and lazy stereotypes. The last (The Final Cut) alternated between Dredd's story in third person and another character's first person POV (which, y'know, blech). I honestly skipped over the first person POV chapters entirely and didn't feel as though I missed anything. Overall, not nearly as good as Judge Dredd Year One: Omnibus.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews