What do you think?
Rate this book
Terminator Movie Novelisation #3
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines
Based on the screenplay by Jonathan Mostow, John Brancato, and Michael Ferris
The novel of the blockbuster hit film
For two generations of moviegoers, the Terminator movies have defined adrenaline-soaked action filmmaking. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a machine from the future, a machine who can take—or save—lives, capable of enormous violence and destruction, these films are the quintessential action thrillers of the new millennium.
Now, twelve years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Schwarzenegger is back in a new Terminator film that is even more exciting and action-packed than the first two films. With incredible new computer-generated imagery and an enormous arsenal of new effects, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines , is a roller-coaster ride that moviegoers won’t be able to resist.
David Hagberg, the bestselling author of dozens of action thrillers, has written a novel that goes inside the minds of the terminators and shows readers the post apocalyptic future as they’ve never seen it before, creating a thrill-packed novel. On the screen, Terminator 3 will dazzle and delight the eyes and rivet viewers to their seats. With masterful storytelling and a pulse-pounding pace, Hagberg has written a novel of heart-stopping tension that will keep readers in suspense until the very last page.
The novel of the blockbuster hit film
For two generations of moviegoers, the Terminator movies have defined adrenaline-soaked action filmmaking. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger as a machine from the future, a machine who can take—or save—lives, capable of enormous violence and destruction, these films are the quintessential action thrillers of the new millennium.
Now, twelve years after Terminator 2: Judgment Day , Schwarzenegger is back in a new Terminator film that is even more exciting and action-packed than the first two films. With incredible new computer-generated imagery and an enormous arsenal of new effects, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines , is a roller-coaster ride that moviegoers won’t be able to resist.
David Hagberg, the bestselling author of dozens of action thrillers, has written a novel that goes inside the minds of the terminators and shows readers the post apocalyptic future as they’ve never seen it before, creating a thrill-packed novel. On the screen, Terminator 3 will dazzle and delight the eyes and rivet viewers to their seats. With masterful storytelling and a pulse-pounding pace, Hagberg has written a novel of heart-stopping tension that will keep readers in suspense until the very last page.
320 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
About the author
David Hagberg
78 books138 followersaka David Bannerman, Sean Flannery, David James, Robert Pell, Eric Ramsey
David Hagberg is a former Air Force cryptographer who has traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and has spoken at CIA functions. He has published more than twenty novels of suspense, including the bestselling High Flight, Assassin, and Joshua's Hammer.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidh...
David Hagberg is a former Air Force cryptographer who has traveled extensively in Europe, the Arctic, and the Caribbean and has spoken at CIA functions. He has published more than twenty novels of suspense, including the bestselling High Flight, Assassin, and Joshua's Hammer.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/davidh...
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
February 9, 2025
This novelization did its job, but the story was completely mediocre and didn't have Arnold Schwarzenegger to bolster it as the movie did.
May 8, 2019
I enjoy movie novelizations when they add perspective to a the story told in the movie. A good movie novelization always gives a bit more than what you get from watching the movie. David Hagberg doesn't pull that off in this novelization. He faithfully recreates in narrative what is seen and heard in the movie. As far as that goes, he does a good job. The writing is clear and engaging. Had the film never been made, this would have been an awesome book. However, given its replicative nature, I will call it "competent."
May 27, 2022
Well done story. Even if it is the continuation of one that ended wonderfully.
After James Cameron finished Terminator 2, he was done, but others like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the producers of the first two movies believed there could be more. This story being an adaptation of the screenplay to the reasonably successful second sequel is not without its charm.
Twelve years have passed since Terminator 2 was made and nine years after the events told in the story, John Connor has lived his life unaware that Skynet, Judgement Day, and the Terminators have not been stopped only postponed as the training his mother taught him over the years as well as the crimes they committed have driven him off the grid. But this unwillingly sets him ready to prepare himself for the return of Skynet's defender, the T-X, the most powerful Terminator ever built to destroy the human resistance before it can destroy Skynet for good. While the Resistance sends another Terminator in the same model as the ones in the previous adventures to protect John Conner.
This book is not that bad. But most of the writing feels dry, mostly from the fact that this screenplay wasn't written by James Cameron and William Wisher and adapted by Randall Frakes who did a great job at adapting the first two movies into novelizations. David Hagberg is fine and works well with material from the penultimate script as various small extra scenes are adapted for this story or filmed deleted scenes that are not shown in the final movie. I particularly enjoy the scenes set in the Future which show just how different the war has changed from the depiction in the first two movies. The war's epic victory seems to be in doubt, even more, the sending of the Terminators back in time is not done immediately but set a year apart all the while an ambiguous feeling given what is mentioned near the end about John Connor's fate. The detail is fine and the story is fine but it's not as great as the previous two entries.
The action, story as well as the phenomenal ending are a adapted decently and make for a good read. B+
After James Cameron finished Terminator 2, he was done, but others like Arnold Schwarzenegger and the producers of the first two movies believed there could be more. This story being an adaptation of the screenplay to the reasonably successful second sequel is not without its charm.
Twelve years have passed since Terminator 2 was made and nine years after the events told in the story, John Connor has lived his life unaware that Skynet, Judgement Day, and the Terminators have not been stopped only postponed as the training his mother taught him over the years as well as the crimes they committed have driven him off the grid. But this unwillingly sets him ready to prepare himself for the return of Skynet's defender, the T-X, the most powerful Terminator ever built to destroy the human resistance before it can destroy Skynet for good. While the Resistance sends another Terminator in the same model as the ones in the previous adventures to protect John Conner.
This book is not that bad. But most of the writing feels dry, mostly from the fact that this screenplay wasn't written by James Cameron and William Wisher and adapted by Randall Frakes who did a great job at adapting the first two movies into novelizations. David Hagberg is fine and works well with material from the penultimate script as various small extra scenes are adapted for this story or filmed deleted scenes that are not shown in the final movie. I particularly enjoy the scenes set in the Future which show just how different the war has changed from the depiction in the first two movies. The war's epic victory seems to be in doubt, even more, the sending of the Terminators back in time is not done immediately but set a year apart all the while an ambiguous feeling given what is mentioned near the end about John Connor's fate. The detail is fine and the story is fine but it's not as great as the previous two entries.
The action, story as well as the phenomenal ending are a adapted decently and make for a good read. B+
Want to Read
October 1, 2022"Talk to the hand!"
Now twenty-five, Connor lives with no record of his existence -- no way he can be traced by Skynet. Out of the shadows of the future steps the T-X, Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Now Connor's only hope for survival is the Terminator, his mysterious former assassin. Together, they must triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming threat of Judgment Day.
The main problem of the film is that the story completely negates the plot, story, and even ethos of the previous film, changing the overriding message of "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves" into "Judgment Day is inevitable", rendering all of the struggles, sacrifices, and victories of our characters completely empty and without meaning, save for the singular point of John's survival. It should go without saying that giving the middle finger to a beloved sequel is a mean-spirited and cynical move, but the filmmakers seemed oblivious to this idea.
There are some problems with the characters:
John Connor is given a questionable characterization, seemingly incapable of planning even two steps ahead despite spending most of his life training to be a master strategist and tactician against impossibly calculating machine enemies. Also takes veterinary medications at random after being injured without any awareness of what they do or if they'd even work on humans, which results in him almost immediately being captured in a dog cage by an unarmed civilian minutes later due to his being doped up.
The T-850 has a baffling characterization throughout the film, often portrayed as both naively and intentionally goofy & comical. In an early example, he walks into a strip club naked and tries to acquire clothing by demanding a male dancer take off his clothes, who responds back with "Talk to the hand!", when the T-850 violently grabs the dancer's hand and speaks into it "Now!". Called back to later when he is trying to leave a gas station without paying and tells the clerk "Talk to the hand" when confronted about paying.
Sarah Connor dies (off-screen) from leukemia of all things.
Apart from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the acting isn't that great, especially from Nick Stahl as adult John Connor, and Claire Danes as Kate Brewster.
Most of the humor is pretty campy, particularly the aforementioned "Talk to the hand!" scene, as well as the T-850 wearing a pair of star sunglasses.
On that subject, it has some very cringeworthy moments, such as the T-X's breasts literally growing upon seeing a Victoria's Secret billboard.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the DVD commentary track praises the moment, envisioning people reacting positively in the theater.
Most of the computer-generated imagery looks terrible, very plastic-y and without weight.
Like Blade: Trinity, even though this film is rated R, the violence in the film is heavily toned down from its predecessors. There is next to no blood or gruesome kills and feels more like a hard PG-13 in contrast to the previous films.
There is no establishing shot of the military complex, characters seem to teleport there.
There is some product placement throughout the film like Victoria's Secret, Budweiser, Dell, everyone using Nokia phones, and a Xenadrine EFX truck being prominent throughout a scene.
Unoriginal plot that is too derivative of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
None of the characters have any charm or charisma and only exist for exposition.
The film lacks the dark and foreboding tone from the previous films and is overlit like a comedy, sticking out like a sore thumb.
We barely get to know anything about most of the new characters.
While the ending is consistently praised as "surprising" or "bold", it also contains an egregious plot hole: Skynet was able to accomplish its goal of launching nuclear attacks against humanity by abandoning its central location and spreading itself out across the internet and civilian computer systems as a virus... nuking Earth completely eradicates those systems and their infrastructure. Skynet literally kills itself at the end of the film, a plot hole big enough to drive an HK through.
Not great direction by Jonathan Mostow.
The scene where John and Kate discover that Crystal Peak was a nuclear fallout shelter and command facility for government and military officials, as the film ends with the beginning of Judgment Day as John and Kate accept their fate, is admittedly pretty depressing, but it's actually good.
The practical effects are very good.
Arnold Schwarzenegger still did a good job as the Terminator and he is still effective as his best-known character, despite his goofy behavior as mentioned above.
Kate is a decent new character.
The T-X is actually a pretty good villain, as it did try to ensure the rise of Skynet and Judgment Day before it succeeded, also, Kristanna Loken's performance as T-X is praised by the fans, though this didn't save the film.
The action scenes are competently executed and they are fun for a while.
The soundtrack is pretty good.
The cinematography is quite good.
The pacing isn't too bad.
It's one of the few movies where the heroes lose.
The scene where the T-850 gets system corruption and becoming evil was a great scene.
While it's a little disappointing that Sarah Connor died off-screen before the events of the movie, it at least shows that the writers knew that her story had been concluded in the previous movie and that it was time for the franchise to focus solely on John, something that would later be forgotten by Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate.
Doctor Silberman from the first two films reappears in a cameo appearance in this movie, in what would be Earl Boen’s final live action role before retiring and solely doing voice acting ever since.
YOU ARE TERMINATED!
Until the further sequels came along, it was considered to be the weakest Terminator film. However, after watching Terminator: Dark Fate many years later, many fans have begun to respect this film more, considering it to be a better Terminator sequel. I like Terminator 1, 2, and 3. Even though the third film isn't as good as the first two films. Sure, While the third one is okay, but not good, T-800 will snap Terminator: Salvation and Genisys out of the existence! Not as good as Judgement Day but definitely not as bad as people say it is. And I do actually agree that this makes for a sequel to Judgement Day rather than Dark Fate.
Now twenty-five, Connor lives with no record of his existence -- no way he can be traced by Skynet. Out of the shadows of the future steps the T-X, Skynet's most sophisticated cyborg killing machine yet. Now Connor's only hope for survival is the Terminator, his mysterious former assassin. Together, they must triumph over the technologically superior T-X and forestall the looming threat of Judgment Day.
The main problem of the film is that the story completely negates the plot, story, and even ethos of the previous film, changing the overriding message of "There is no fate but what we make for ourselves" into "Judgment Day is inevitable", rendering all of the struggles, sacrifices, and victories of our characters completely empty and without meaning, save for the singular point of John's survival. It should go without saying that giving the middle finger to a beloved sequel is a mean-spirited and cynical move, but the filmmakers seemed oblivious to this idea.
There are some problems with the characters:
John Connor is given a questionable characterization, seemingly incapable of planning even two steps ahead despite spending most of his life training to be a master strategist and tactician against impossibly calculating machine enemies. Also takes veterinary medications at random after being injured without any awareness of what they do or if they'd even work on humans, which results in him almost immediately being captured in a dog cage by an unarmed civilian minutes later due to his being doped up.
The T-850 has a baffling characterization throughout the film, often portrayed as both naively and intentionally goofy & comical. In an early example, he walks into a strip club naked and tries to acquire clothing by demanding a male dancer take off his clothes, who responds back with "Talk to the hand!", when the T-850 violently grabs the dancer's hand and speaks into it "Now!". Called back to later when he is trying to leave a gas station without paying and tells the clerk "Talk to the hand" when confronted about paying.
Sarah Connor dies (off-screen) from leukemia of all things.
Apart from Arnold Schwarzenegger, the acting isn't that great, especially from Nick Stahl as adult John Connor, and Claire Danes as Kate Brewster.
Most of the humor is pretty campy, particularly the aforementioned "Talk to the hand!" scene, as well as the T-850 wearing a pair of star sunglasses.
On that subject, it has some very cringeworthy moments, such as the T-X's breasts literally growing upon seeing a Victoria's Secret billboard.
Arnold Schwarzenegger in the DVD commentary track praises the moment, envisioning people reacting positively in the theater.
Most of the computer-generated imagery looks terrible, very plastic-y and without weight.
Like Blade: Trinity, even though this film is rated R, the violence in the film is heavily toned down from its predecessors. There is next to no blood or gruesome kills and feels more like a hard PG-13 in contrast to the previous films.
There is no establishing shot of the military complex, characters seem to teleport there.
There is some product placement throughout the film like Victoria's Secret, Budweiser, Dell, everyone using Nokia phones, and a Xenadrine EFX truck being prominent throughout a scene.
Unoriginal plot that is too derivative of Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
None of the characters have any charm or charisma and only exist for exposition.
The film lacks the dark and foreboding tone from the previous films and is overlit like a comedy, sticking out like a sore thumb.
We barely get to know anything about most of the new characters.
While the ending is consistently praised as "surprising" or "bold", it also contains an egregious plot hole: Skynet was able to accomplish its goal of launching nuclear attacks against humanity by abandoning its central location and spreading itself out across the internet and civilian computer systems as a virus... nuking Earth completely eradicates those systems and their infrastructure. Skynet literally kills itself at the end of the film, a plot hole big enough to drive an HK through.
Not great direction by Jonathan Mostow.
The scene where John and Kate discover that Crystal Peak was a nuclear fallout shelter and command facility for government and military officials, as the film ends with the beginning of Judgment Day as John and Kate accept their fate, is admittedly pretty depressing, but it's actually good.
The practical effects are very good.
Arnold Schwarzenegger still did a good job as the Terminator and he is still effective as his best-known character, despite his goofy behavior as mentioned above.
Kate is a decent new character.
The T-X is actually a pretty good villain, as it did try to ensure the rise of Skynet and Judgment Day before it succeeded, also, Kristanna Loken's performance as T-X is praised by the fans, though this didn't save the film.
The action scenes are competently executed and they are fun for a while.
The soundtrack is pretty good.
The cinematography is quite good.
The pacing isn't too bad.
It's one of the few movies where the heroes lose.
The scene where the T-850 gets system corruption and becoming evil was a great scene.
While it's a little disappointing that Sarah Connor died off-screen before the events of the movie, it at least shows that the writers knew that her story had been concluded in the previous movie and that it was time for the franchise to focus solely on John, something that would later be forgotten by Terminator Genisys and Dark Fate.
Doctor Silberman from the first two films reappears in a cameo appearance in this movie, in what would be Earl Boen’s final live action role before retiring and solely doing voice acting ever since.
YOU ARE TERMINATED!
Until the further sequels came along, it was considered to be the weakest Terminator film. However, after watching Terminator: Dark Fate many years later, many fans have begun to respect this film more, considering it to be a better Terminator sequel. I like Terminator 1, 2, and 3. Even though the third film isn't as good as the first two films. Sure, While the third one is okay, but not good, T-800 will snap Terminator: Salvation and Genisys out of the existence! Not as good as Judgement Day but definitely not as bad as people say it is. And I do actually agree that this makes for a sequel to Judgement Day rather than Dark Fate.
Read
August 5, 2011Unlike most books that are based on movies, this one was exactly like the movie. I usually prefer reading a novel based on a movie than I do seeing the movie as the book will have more details added to it or events that were changed in the movie. This is one time that I should've just watched the movie again and found a different book to read.
July 22, 2014
It was the film. In a book form. Not much else to say about it. Scenes as described were the same as the film, dialogue the same, characters, everything. No new scenes or anything interesting that made it diverse from the film.
Only thing weird about it is that the cover has "Schwarzenegger" in a huge font on it. As if Arnold himself wrote the book.
Only thing weird about it is that the cover has "Schwarzenegger" in a huge font on it. As if Arnold himself wrote the book.
June 6, 2008
Easy to read and digest, the movie made into a book. Added some interesting details, or rather, brought them back to my attention. Fun to read, and good to relax with.
September 15, 2011
Terrific action in the Terminator tradition. No sexual content, just some innuendo, but I dropped this from a 4 to a 3 for needless profanity.
September 1, 2012
Worth reading.
May 29, 2015
Good book, it filled in some holes that I was wondering from the movie. Other than that, it was like reading the movie.
October 25, 2026
I own the film on DVD and have watched it many times. This novel is supposed to be based on the screenplay. Adapting a screenplay should be about the easiest novel for an author to write. Except his had a prologue that says John Connor sent back the T-850 in 2030. But in the film and later in this book that same Arnie bot says he killed John in 2032. There were also typos and even weird misspellings like it was never even reviewed by a proofreader. Just odd.
July 24, 2018
What can be said about the Terminator movies that hasn't been said. Our man Arnold with a profound statement that concluded the movies. "I'll be back!" An excellent read for the genre, but an outstanding movie. ....DEHS
October 1, 2018
I thought I would like this more than I did. I really liked the movie, but the book was basically just a re-hashing of the same thing. A few more sci-fi high tech details but I was hoping for more depth. Worthwhile read if you are a big Terminator fan like me.
October 13, 2018
42 WORD REVIEW:
A simply written novelisation. Although Hagberg is something of a pulp hack—to the point of cutting and pasting trite similes from one chapter to the next—some of the overblown action scenes work better in print than on the big screen.
A simply written novelisation. Although Hagberg is something of a pulp hack—to the point of cutting and pasting trite similes from one chapter to the next—some of the overblown action scenes work better in print than on the big screen.
April 5, 2026
I love movie novelization,
and Termintor 3: Rise of the Machines by David Hagberg was no exception. This book adds more detail to the movie. I really like the beginning of the novel. if you are a Termintor fan, you may want to check this book out.
and Termintor 3: Rise of the Machines by David Hagberg was no exception. This book adds more detail to the movie. I really like the beginning of the novel. if you are a Termintor fan, you may want to check this book out.
July 26, 2017
Is better than the movie, thanks David
July 6, 2023
This was exactly what you'd want from a movie novelization. Follows the plot of the movie while adding a enough to it to keep it interesting.
January 12, 2025
Reads like the movie, exactly as expected with a bit more time to absorb more of the storyline. Haven't watched the movie instead a long time but this definitely still does the trick
June 21, 2025
weirdly better then the movie
I will say there is some contradictions in the story but oh welllllll
it had some extra details that made the story a bit better
I will say there is some contradictions in the story but oh welllllll
it had some extra details that made the story a bit better
August 30, 2026
Great addition to the series.
March 23, 2021
This was a fair novelization, the story is just weird. Why have the last two terminator movies/ novelization be entirely based around the idea of there being no such thing as fate and the future is what we make of it, only to have this book come along and have everyone be a slave to their fate?
December 16, 2013
Sadly, this is almost exactly like the film, including, "Talk to the hand."
June 30, 2016
Read this to prepare for the movie. Fun.
Read
February 17, 2018I enjoyed it, but I am a big fan of time travel novels and apocalyptic settings, so this one was a natural for me. I saw the movie previously and as in most situations, the book is a little more detailed than the movie.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews