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The Skydark Chronicles #3
Shadow Fortress (The Skydark Chronicles, #3)
Living in a pre-dark land known as the Marshall Islands, which is ruled by brutality and supremacy, Ryan Cawdor and his band of survivalists must battle against the psychotic Lord Baron Kinnison, who is determined to destroy them. Original.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
August 27, 2018
First off, a spider is an arachnid, not an insect. I have no idea why the writer didn't realize that, nor why the editors let that huge mistake through, but they did. (Especially when the crabs were correctly identified in the previous book)
Closing off the Skydark Chronicles, this book feels very much like the author had just run out of steam. Even though this book crawls with action, most of it seems unimportant as the companions fight to reach a gateway and get off the island. Characters who were important in the previous three books either get chilled through deus ex machina, or in the case of the Baron, through what basically amounts to a footnote at the end of the novel.
I did enjoy references to elements from previous Deathlands novels, such as the mention of The People, which made me want to reread that book as it is one of my more favorite in the series. I also liked how the droids were handled as well as combated by the companions. It gave a certain level of realism to the story and made the companion's race to the complex a lot more desperate. The sheer number of times they had to leave equipment behind was extremely nice, and made things feel a little more desperate.
Unfortunately, as mentioned, this story felt rushed. Elements, such as the Pilots, really don't get fleshed out fully, instead just getting a quick mention and that's it. Hell, the companions hadn't even known about the Pilots being in the Firebirds as at no point did they ever see them, and then conveniently one of them mentions they saw it inside a broken apart rocket. (talk about shoehorning it in) It disrupted the flow of the story and made me wonder why they spent so much time building these things up in the previous books if only to pretty much forget about them in this story.
In the end, this was a harder novel to read for a series where I can pretty much get through a book in a couple days, if not less. Trilogies in the Deathlands series can be done well, but the writer has to pace themselves and sometimes it seems as if they are too used to writing one off stories rather than ones that span a longer amount of time. But really, at this point, if you are reading the Deathlands series, you are going to keep going. (like myself) Just don't start reading the series at this point or it may just turn you off the series.
Closing off the Skydark Chronicles, this book feels very much like the author had just run out of steam. Even though this book crawls with action, most of it seems unimportant as the companions fight to reach a gateway and get off the island. Characters who were important in the previous three books either get chilled through deus ex machina, or in the case of the Baron, through what basically amounts to a footnote at the end of the novel.
I did enjoy references to elements from previous Deathlands novels, such as the mention of The People, which made me want to reread that book as it is one of my more favorite in the series. I also liked how the droids were handled as well as combated by the companions. It gave a certain level of realism to the story and made the companion's race to the complex a lot more desperate. The sheer number of times they had to leave equipment behind was extremely nice, and made things feel a little more desperate.
Unfortunately, as mentioned, this story felt rushed. Elements, such as the Pilots, really don't get fleshed out fully, instead just getting a quick mention and that's it. Hell, the companions hadn't even known about the Pilots being in the Firebirds as at no point did they ever see them, and then conveniently one of them mentions they saw it inside a broken apart rocket. (talk about shoehorning it in) It disrupted the flow of the story and made me wonder why they spent so much time building these things up in the previous books if only to pretty much forget about them in this story.
In the end, this was a harder novel to read for a series where I can pretty much get through a book in a couple days, if not less. Trilogies in the Deathlands series can be done well, but the writer has to pace themselves and sometimes it seems as if they are too used to writing one off stories rather than ones that span a longer amount of time. But really, at this point, if you are reading the Deathlands series, you are going to keep going. (like myself) Just don't start reading the series at this point or it may just turn you off the series.
June 14, 2019
Decent dark read. Fun stuff. =)
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews