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Tom Swift IV #3
Cyborg Kickboxer
Tom Swift's new invention--a computer-controlled exoskeleton that achieves maximum muscle fitness--backfires when an unscrupulous kickboxer threatens to exploit the invention, and soon Tom must don the high-tech armor to fight him
166 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
41 people want to read
About the author
Victor Appleton
411 books46 followersVictor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...
The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...
The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
August 23, 2020
I finally finished this book. It wasn’t good, but I appreciated the Metroid reference.
August 5, 2008
Not my favorite Tom Swift series, but still fun to read!
November 14, 2018
Tom's invention of the month are discs, which attach to the skin and force your muscles to move a certain way. Sadly, Tom ignores all the interesting implications of the invention. He only uses it to cheat at kickboxing.
Two champion kickboxers show up an cause problems. Dangerous Danny kidnaps Tom and Rick, then attempts to murder them. Afterwards, Danny kidnaps Tina Choso, Tom's love interest. (What happened to his girlfriend Mandy?). Tom finds Tina, by scanning for the sound of her heartbeat, which he got off a low-quality VHS tape.
The other kickboxer, Wellington, threatens to beat Tom up. Tom scares Wellington, by having his self-driving car rocket through town at 200 MPH. Wellington's manager sabotages Tom by unplugging a computer and poisoning water, but luckily, Tom remembers his invention has healing properties.
The book is not ALL bad. Linda and Tina were neat characters, and the first Dangerous Danny scene was good. The invention is a good idea, even if it's not fleshed out. I think the book might have been a success, if it had been attached to a different sport, say, Rick's beloved football.
Two champion kickboxers show up an cause problems. Dangerous Danny kidnaps Tom and Rick, then attempts to murder them. Afterwards, Danny kidnaps Tina Choso, Tom's love interest. (What happened to his girlfriend Mandy?). Tom finds Tina, by scanning for the sound of her heartbeat, which he got off a low-quality VHS tape.
The other kickboxer, Wellington, threatens to beat Tom up. Tom scares Wellington, by having his self-driving car rocket through town at 200 MPH. Wellington's manager sabotages Tom by unplugging a computer and poisoning water, but luckily, Tom remembers his invention has healing properties.
The book is not ALL bad. Linda and Tina were neat characters, and the first Dangerous Danny scene was good. The invention is a good idea, even if it's not fleshed out. I think the book might have been a success, if it had been attached to a different sport, say, Rick's beloved football.
January 13, 2013
After the fun of the first Tom Swift (4th series) book, The Black Dragon, Cyborg Kickboxer—ostensibly by the same author (Victor Appleton II) but actually by comic-book writer Steven Grant, author of the first Punisher miniseries and more recently CSI: Dying in the Gutters—was frustrating and disappointing.
Where to begin? Let me start with the cast of characters: Virtually every single one of the main characters act like jackwagons throughout the story, for reasons inexplicable at best. At least Tom Swift's best friend Rick Cantwell has an in-story reason for acting like a jerk, but what's everyone else's excuse? Perhaps these are the vagaries of a ghostwritten series by several different actual authors, when all is said and done, but it's not good when characters with one personality in one book has a mysteriously different personality in another. The Tom Swift series may be pitched at teenage boys, but it bespeaks contempt for even those readers when Byron Preiss Multimedia—the owner of Tom Swift at the time—expects them not to notice.
This carelessness carries over into other aspects of the story. Leaving alone that Tom Swift's MacGuffin invention borders perilously on cheating—which would justify other characters' accusations as to Swift's motivations—there just seems an utter pointlessness to the whole story. The several Tom Swift series, at least those set in the "modern" era (the third series, from the 1980s, was very much futuristic space opera), always prided themselves on being on the cutting edge of technological innovation; heck, the TASER was named after Tom Swift! But here, the very premise seems designed to have dated badly, cheaply cashing in on a major but brief fad of the time. (I can honestly recall only three (3) major pieces of fiction involving kickboxing, all within the same couple years' span: a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, John Cusack's breakthrough role in Say Anything . . ., and . . . this. I welcome anyone's clueing me in to others, for completeness' sake.)
More troubling, however, is a trend that, because of the woeful nature of Cyborg Kickboxer's plot, I increasingly noticed. Tom Swift's inventions, particularly (if only) in this fourth series, must be abandoned as having a fundamental flaw that renders it too dangerous to pursue commercially. Perhaps in a better story—as in the far superior The Black Dragon—this can be ignored, but in a story such as Cyborg Kickboxer, one wonders whether Tom Swift, Jr. really is all he's cracked up to be.
And when that is the premise of the entire series, that bodes exceedingly poorly.
Where to begin? Let me start with the cast of characters: Virtually every single one of the main characters act like jackwagons throughout the story, for reasons inexplicable at best. At least Tom Swift's best friend Rick Cantwell has an in-story reason for acting like a jerk, but what's everyone else's excuse? Perhaps these are the vagaries of a ghostwritten series by several different actual authors, when all is said and done, but it's not good when characters with one personality in one book has a mysteriously different personality in another. The Tom Swift series may be pitched at teenage boys, but it bespeaks contempt for even those readers when Byron Preiss Multimedia—the owner of Tom Swift at the time—expects them not to notice.
This carelessness carries over into other aspects of the story. Leaving alone that Tom Swift's MacGuffin invention borders perilously on cheating—which would justify other characters' accusations as to Swift's motivations—there just seems an utter pointlessness to the whole story. The several Tom Swift series, at least those set in the "modern" era (the third series, from the 1980s, was very much futuristic space opera), always prided themselves on being on the cutting edge of technological innovation; heck, the TASER was named after Tom Swift! But here, the very premise seems designed to have dated badly, cheaply cashing in on a major but brief fad of the time. (I can honestly recall only three (3) major pieces of fiction involving kickboxing, all within the same couple years' span: a Jean-Claude Van Damme movie, John Cusack's breakthrough role in Say Anything . . ., and . . . this. I welcome anyone's clueing me in to others, for completeness' sake.)
More troubling, however, is a trend that, because of the woeful nature of Cyborg Kickboxer's plot, I increasingly noticed. Tom Swift's inventions, particularly (if only) in this fourth series, must be abandoned as having a fundamental flaw that renders it too dangerous to pursue commercially. Perhaps in a better story—as in the far superior The Black Dragon—this can be ignored, but in a story such as Cyborg Kickboxer, one wonders whether Tom Swift, Jr. really is all he's cracked up to be.
And when that is the premise of the entire series, that bodes exceedingly poorly.
March 15, 2011
I don't think that anyone ever actually grasps the true power of Tom's invention. Perhaps it is a poor idea as a shortcut to learning a martial art, but what about other areas where this would be a good thing? Military combat training?
Anything where you need to get something into muscle memory, and it's not a mystical journey to discover yourself through your kung fu, or kickboxing, or whatever.
I think this series could have been a little bit deeper than it is.
Anything where you need to get something into muscle memory, and it's not a mystical journey to discover yourself through your kung fu, or kickboxing, or whatever.
I think this series could have been a little bit deeper than it is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 3, 2011
In a word: cliche. Every single aspect of this book was cliched horribly, except for Tom Swift's invention of the week: the characters, the dialogue, and parts of the plot. I say parts of the plot because the plot was hideously convoluted and unnecessary (seriously, large sections could have been avoided if the characters had just acted rationally).
I didn't want to finish reading, but I did. Definitely not the best of entries into this Tom Swift series.
I didn't want to finish reading, but I did. Definitely not the best of entries into this Tom Swift series.
October 7, 2014
My first Tom Swift book. I was expecting this to be terrible, and I actually enjoyed it. It is not great by any stretch, and it's clearly latching on to a martial arts fad of the time. But the suggested technology was interesting, the story was cute, and the science was good, which was a nice change from just having read Connie Willis's Bellwether. Looks like these books are usually better; great!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews