War Zone

Vanguard Prime #3

by Steven Lochran

Tokyo is set to explode when cyborg soldiers declare war on Vanguard Prime. Battle lines are drawn and old friends may actually be secret enemies. Will the Japanese superheroes of Battle Force Zero come to the team's rescue, or will they join the attack?

Genres: Young Adult, Superheroes, Science Fiction

Paperback

First published August 21, 2013

About the author

Steven Lochran spent his childhood writing stories and now he does it for a living. He graduated from Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing, and has worked as a film critic, projectionist and DJ. He's spent the last decade in the publishing industry surrounded by books, as well as writing the VANGUARD PRIME and PALADERO series. He lives in Melbourne with his wife and two spoilt cats.

Reviews

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Firstly I must thank Steven Lochran for organising a review copy of this book for me - I was very excited to see the next instalment of this series arrive in my PO box.
War Zone is the third in the series that began by introducing us to Sam, aka Goldrush, the newest and youngest member of Vanguard Prime, a league of superheroes. In this story we find Goldrush preparing to be introduced to the world media as as the rookie member of the elite unit. Agent Alpha, the elder statesman of the crew, suddenly takes off in the midst of this preparation, leaving Goldrush and his new bestie, Machina, to wonder what is going on. Of course, in true impetuous fashion, the two young friends take off in pursuit to find out what Alpha is up to.
When they reach him, Alpha is catching up with an old friend, Robert Ross, otherwise known as Dr Ouroboros and some of the Dr's associates : Brainchild, Lilith and Tsar Bomba. It turns out this group is trying to find a boy named Jeremy who has powers not before seen in the superhero community. The Dr says he is trying to save Jeremy from a life as an experimental subject and manages to convince Alpha, Goldrush and Machina to help him. What he neglects to tell them is that his little group is also being pursued by an elite military group known as Vanguard Ultra.
What ensues is a series of exciting and suspenseful battles across and around the city of Tokyo, Japan. Along the way we meet the Japanese version of VP (Vanguard Prime), Battle Force Zero, commanded by the imposing Mighty Senshi.
I don't want to give away too much in terms of plot, but Goldrush certainly holds his own against the many adversaries he faces, and we see his powers starting to develop and become even greater that he dreamed they could be. I like the science fiction sensibility of these books - Lochran really creates a world where these guys could exist quite convincingly. He also throws in the odd "in joke" for those of us who are nerds on way back. I particularly loved the reference to unobtanium in this story!
It is clear at the end of War Zone that book four in is in the wind. I hope Steven Lochran is writing fast - I know there will be lots of loyal readers hanging out for the next instalment!

For ages 12 and up.

[Travis Berketa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Vanguard Prime: War Zone is the third of the series and I believe it was the best at this point. In this book we continue to follow Sam Lee (aka. Goldrush) through another adventure; this time joined by Agent Alpha and Machina of Vanguard Prime. Goldrush is on the verge of being introduced to the world via a press conference, when Agent Alpha mysterious leaves the hotel room in order to pursue a lead. Goldrush and Machina, being the curious teenagers that they are, follow him, making them embroiled in the coming dramas.

In this book, the author, Steven Lochran, introduces us to three new teams: The Resurrectionists: a group of neo-humans who are misunderstood by society and hunted by the government (not unlike the X-Men); Battle Force Zero: a group of Japanese heroes; and Vanguard Ultra: a covert group of US government made neo-humans. Vanguard Ultra are lead by a mysterious figure named Blackthorne, which leads the reader into an "is she, isn't she" type of questioning, as to whether Major Blackthorne is involved; especially once Agent Alpha calls her to explain where they are going and Vanguard Ultra attack them right at that place. I figured that it wasn't the same Blackthorne, but another family member; however, I did not guess that it was Brainchild - which was a great twist at the end.

I have always had some trouble with these books, in the sense of how Goldrush is portrayed as a rookie, however he manages to always be able to conquer any obstacle that comes his way, without any real threat, because he either learns something new about his powers just at the right time or his powers kick in at exactly the right moment. But Vanguard Prime: Warzone didn't have me feeling this at all. We even saw Goldrush's powers almost power out when he took Bleeding Edge out over water and it was explained as to why it was happening and how he solved the problem, without making me think it was a poor character cover up. Instead I actually began liking Goldrush's character, because he was more rounded and didn't fall into being the sooky, whiney kid that I felt he was in the first book. So well done on that one, Steven!

However, there were still a couple of points I would like to question; the first is about this book how can you have a battle in Tokyo and the police respond in such a slow time? I mean, there was a building exploding, craters made in city plaza's and parks, gunfire, missile fire and a huge laser being shot from the sky, but no police or even army to defend the citizens - even if Battle Force Zero turned up. The police came right at the end, just as everyone was ready to leave... convenient.

The second question revolves around the series: if Vanguard Prime are meant to be an elite fighting team, why are they never fighting as a team - other than in Book 1, although they were still fighting as individuals, only Machina and Goldrush teamed up and then Agent Alpha and Goldrush; Book 2 had Knight of Wands and Goldrush; and Book 3 has Goldrush, Machina and Agent Alpha.? We got a glimpse of Knight of Wands in this book, while Gaia is nowhere to be seen. It's kind of like having a Justice League with just Batman or Superman and Flash and Cyborg, but nobody else!

Anyway Vanguard Prime: War Zone is probably the best book so far. It has left a lot of questions and opens up for a lot of storytelling, which I am very interested in reading. Hopefully Lochran can get back to writing this series at some stage in the future.

[Steven Lochran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being that I'm the author of this book, I can say without a hint of bias that it. Is. Awesome.

Okay, so maybe I'm a little biased.

But I still think you'll like it, especially if you're a fan of 'Percy Jackson', 'Alex Rider' and/or 'The Avengers'. So if you get the chance to read it, please write up a review and let me know what you think!

[George Ivanoff]

Best of the three.