Downfall

Bionicle Legends #8

by Greg Farshtey

A final battle is about to begin. Will the Toa survive? The legend continues . . .

Deep in the underwater world known as the pit, the Toa must battle the Barraki in a final showdown. At stake is the future of their world. If they fail, there is no world . . . and even if they succeed, nothing is certain.

Genres: Fantasy, Childrens, Fiction, Adventure, Science Fiction

128 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 2007

About the author

Greg Farshtey is the author of the popular BIONICLE chapter books and Level 3 readers, as well as the long-running BIONICLE comic book series. His day job is Editor-in-Chief and head writer for the LEGO Club Magazine and the LEGO BrickMaster Magazine.

Greg has been writing since fourth grade. After earning a degree in Communications from the State University of New York at Geneseo, he worked as a reporter, sports editor, game designer and editor, and copywriter before joining LEGO Company in 2000. Before becoming involved with BIONICLE, he wrote game material for such diverse properties as Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Tales From the Crypt.

Greg is the author of more than 30 novels and guidebooks, as well as the author or co-author of more than 35 game sourcebooks and adventures.

He lives in West Hartford, Connecticut.

For more information, please see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greg_Far...

Reviews

[Leonardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is no way to get around mentioning Matoro’s sacrifice to save the universe. Life is won by death, but not just any death. Matoro dies willingly without fear for himself, only love for his friends. His love saves them from the dark waters of the Pit by the powers of the Mask of Life in what is their darkest hour before he himself dies that the universe may continue to live. But all through this story is the dark undercurrent of Makuta’s machinations. Why would the Master of Evil defend the Toa Mahri on their mission to save the life of his hated “brother” Mata Nui? These questions prime us for the next books as the battle continues to awaken the Great Spirit and either save a universe or doom it.

[Danny Duff · Rating 5 out of 5]

This one pulls out all the stops. I still think this arc feels a bit rushed, and you can for sure feel that there was supposed to be a fourth book. But it is still amazing that Farshtey was able to fit this much story and produce three whole books in just one year. A lot of action in this one, and we even get a version of the events of the cinematic trailer, particularly, the fight between Jaller, Matoro, Maxilos and Hydraxon. The Toa even travel in the underwater vehicle at one point, though it is described very differently than what appears in the ad. Instead, it's a creature that has been partly transformed into a vehicle, but is still alive maybe? Horrifying. Matoro and Jaller get a good amount of page time and some much needed development. Especially considering the ending of this one, where Matoro dawns the Mask of Life, and sacrifices himself to revive Mata Nui. I had already heard about Matoro's death, so it didn't shock me, or hit me particularly hard. However, I do think it is well executed. I really like this one moment at Matoro's funeral where Nuju, the ice Turaga, for a moment, wishes that Mata Nui died instead of Matoro. He then concludes that Matoro's sacrifice must be honoured, and that they have to live up to his example and work to save Mata Nui. It's a legitimately good depiction of grief. I can also imagine that if you were following the series from the beginning, especially as a kid, this death would hit pretty hard. Matoro was one of the main characters who had been around since the start, and basically the only time that one of the main heroes dies. (Jaller died briefly in Mask of Life, but was quickly resurrected by Takunuva) It might not even occur to you that any of the main characters could die. Really solid entry in the series, if this one's not five stars, I don't know what is.

[Grey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I did not expect such an emotional ending. I can’t believe this got me in the feels as much as it did, that ending was superb.

This book has some weird bits, and you could tell that is was clearly missing an entire book, but overall this is the best Bionicle book yet. I can not wait to read the next one!

[Sully Leier · Rating 4 out of 5]

The grand finale of the Mahri arc. Makuta helping the Toa Mahri because it furthers his own ends is always fun. There is a big theme of "what makes one a truly great hero" in this one, and that culminates in Matoro's sacrifice. the sequence where it happened was surprisingly emotional.

[Alec · Rating 4 out of 5]

It started off weird, got better in the middle, and was very emotional at the end.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

Key story, & also encourages you to read the online materials about the Nuva

[Minister Jane Trivigno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, probably the best of the series so far, great battles and heartfelt moments

[Eduardo · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The universe is a riddle. And today, I am the answer.”
—

And with this book ends the 2007 storyline! I don’t know how I feel about the overall storyline, but this book is pretty intense? It has to pick up all the threads of the last book, and the story arc, saving Mata Nui, while setting up some stuff for the 2008 arc–which would be the last arc I was able to completely follow.

[I don’t have a great idea of what happened in 2009.]

So you know pretty much from the beginning of this book that someone’s going to bite it, and you know it’s not Hahli (because she survives to talk to the Chronicler about it). It’s not hard to suss out who–it’s the one who gets the best character development in this arc. And it works, though it also hits really, really hard. I mean, it does if you’re invested in this story.

I feel like the other characters don’t really get enough time to really shine, though, and that’s a shame. That’s probably because these are really short books aimed at middle schoolers, and there’s also a ton of supplementary material to flesh them out. Still! The deepest characterization is the guy who dies. The closest runner up, for memorable development is when one of the characters *could* end the fight easily with his mask power, but decides to do a fight because he wants a challenge.

It’s dumb, though to be fair, Hahli calls him out on this in-text.

Makuta gets to go full-on villain mode in this book, getting to not only gloat like he has before, but really let loose in the beginning of the fight with the Barraki. And that’s great fun to read! He still lets himself get trounced by the Barraki’s armies, because letting himself lose is kind of his signature move. In hindsight, it’s actually kind of obvious what he’s trying to do here, in terms of what the Master Plan is.

And the Piraka return! For whatever reason, I thought their return was in the book that got cut? But no, they’re here. I’m not thrilled with the way they’re brought back, and I think it’s a waste of them as characters–though that’s a recurring problem with BIONICLE around this time, that Greg kept bringing in old characters and then they did nothing much before getting wasted (sometimes in more than one sense!).

Overall, it ends the 2007 story on a high note, in the sense that it’s emotional and memorable, as well as building excitement for the following year. Now let’s see if Greg can keep up that momentum.

[Tiffiny · Rating 3 out of 5]

#8 resolves all the story lines and opens up a new storyline at the end. Ryan lost interest about 2/3 through but we ended up finishing after a month or so.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great end to this trilogy, and Farshtey does a fine job conveying a sense of crisis and desperation, as well as the dark side of some of the Toa.