Post by Shiryu on Jun 16, 2007 18:44:30 GMT -5
So, I've finished this one as well, and here are my comments. 
I liked it more than the 1° one (which I already had enjoyed reading) for a number of reasons. First of all there was the obvious benefit of already knowing the characters and their personality, which threw the reader deep in the book straight away, and also I've always liked these kind of "journey into the mistery" (every reference is purely not casual
) adventures. It was also about 100 pages longer and with longer chapters, meaning that the, shall we say, deepest part, in between intro and ending, was longer and more articulated. Knowing from the beginning that Esro and Mondrian would have survived their journey did not really ruin it... after all how likely is it that the main characters die half way through or fail ?
Of course, there were really a lot of Marvel references, beginning from the Collector and what looks like two more Elder of the Universe of some sort and going all the way to Kabakaar looking more and more like the Silver Surfer in his purposes.
By all meanings, it was a lot like reading a comic book, never a quiet moment, but always one fight/flight/menace after the other. Mondrian came out especially well, alternating strength to fear in a believable way, and my appreciation of Esro has increased a lot after this book. He would never give up proved to be braver than hinted in the previous book. I was hoping he would show his genius by figuring out some futuristic alien equipment almost immediately, which didn't really happen, but still he demonstrated a lot of bravery and audacity, especially when his armor was low in power.
What actually came out downsized to some extent was the armor. Its energy went up and down a lot, to the point that there was hardly a fight when Esro didn't have to worry for the green energy bars to become yellow and then red (reminded me of my mobile phone ;D). It worked well as a trick to show the man underneath and how he would react and behave in difficult situations, and overall was quite realistic, but he seriously needs to find a way to make his power supplies last longer. Still, it caused one of my favourite moments, when he uses his boots to hit the enemy, so can't complain really.
My favourite part overall was the one in the Dead Areas, with all that followed. The forest part came out of the blue to some extent, especially since I don't usually like the dwellers-think-the-heroes-are-gods thing, but it led to the, ehm, mating, which was probably the funniest part ;D (I was hoping Mondrian and Esro would go back to talk about it at some point, but there was never time). The part with the 3 giants I didn't really understand. For a moment it made me wonder if Kabaakar and its blue half were actually somewhat connected to Esro and Mondrian (when they were hit by the blue and red rays), but nothing came out of it, so I was a bit confused. Were they only there to show the gray man's power, or did they have a bigger purpose ?
Figuring that the small grey "man" was actually very poweful, if not the "Collector" himself came quite soon and I was surprised that the characters didn't figure it earlier. Instead, the time warp effect was quite a surprise (made me think to Lost in Space) and made Orkaan's rise to power very realistic, since he had had years to work on it.
The Warlord scenes were very thought provoking. Once again it reminded me of Kang, but Francisco looked more and more interesting. Unlike the cliched minions, who, at the best, can whisper some bad words on their master, he was capable of taking the initiative twice, making him some kind of destined character, executor of fate. Even the Warlord seemed to keep it in high consideration overall, for example when he didn't kill him after the first murder attempt, or when he was upset for his fear of him, or when the red one listened to him to some extent.
I don't know how necessary it was to have Esro and Mondrian captured by them, it didn't really bring things forward but it didn't damage the book either, so it was ok I guess.
With such a great performace by Esro, Lyn, Vanadium and, to a greater extent, Ultraa were shadowed a fair bit. Having already read the first book it wasn't a big problem, but otherwise the title should have been "Esro Brachis and his amazing sidekicks" ^^ In fact, all that happened to them seemed to be there mainly for the sake of the third book, a bit like the interludes that used to be in the classic comics before the TPB era began. Particularly, Vanadium being betrayed could be seen coming, whereas Ultraa discovering Damon's job and the introduction of Pulsar's sister were nice surprises.
The ending was rather, ehm, abrupt!
Now, question time: is #3 the last of the series ? there are still a lot of questions unanswered, some very different from the others (Ultraa's past and secret, Jameson's new group, the consequences of Esro and Mondrian's mating, the Warlords schemes, the Grand Destiny, Kabakaar resolution, the Beings coming to Earth, the Circle etc etc etc), and it seems too much for just one book.
I liked it more than the 1° one (which I already had enjoyed reading) for a number of reasons. First of all there was the obvious benefit of already knowing the characters and their personality, which threw the reader deep in the book straight away, and also I've always liked these kind of "journey into the mistery" (every reference is purely not casual
) adventures. It was also about 100 pages longer and with longer chapters, meaning that the, shall we say, deepest part, in between intro and ending, was longer and more articulated. Knowing from the beginning that Esro and Mondrian would have survived their journey did not really ruin it... after all how likely is it that the main characters die half way through or fail ?Of course, there were really a lot of Marvel references, beginning from the Collector and what looks like two more Elder of the Universe of some sort and going all the way to Kabakaar looking more and more like the Silver Surfer in his purposes.
By all meanings, it was a lot like reading a comic book, never a quiet moment, but always one fight/flight/menace after the other. Mondrian came out especially well, alternating strength to fear in a believable way, and my appreciation of Esro has increased a lot after this book. He would never give up proved to be braver than hinted in the previous book. I was hoping he would show his genius by figuring out some futuristic alien equipment almost immediately, which didn't really happen, but still he demonstrated a lot of bravery and audacity, especially when his armor was low in power.
What actually came out downsized to some extent was the armor. Its energy went up and down a lot, to the point that there was hardly a fight when Esro didn't have to worry for the green energy bars to become yellow and then red (reminded me of my mobile phone ;D). It worked well as a trick to show the man underneath and how he would react and behave in difficult situations, and overall was quite realistic, but he seriously needs to find a way to make his power supplies last longer. Still, it caused one of my favourite moments, when he uses his boots to hit the enemy, so can't complain really.
My favourite part overall was the one in the Dead Areas, with all that followed. The forest part came out of the blue to some extent, especially since I don't usually like the dwellers-think-the-heroes-are-gods thing, but it led to the, ehm, mating, which was probably the funniest part ;D (I was hoping Mondrian and Esro would go back to talk about it at some point, but there was never time). The part with the 3 giants I didn't really understand. For a moment it made me wonder if Kabaakar and its blue half were actually somewhat connected to Esro and Mondrian (when they were hit by the blue and red rays), but nothing came out of it, so I was a bit confused. Were they only there to show the gray man's power, or did they have a bigger purpose ?
Figuring that the small grey "man" was actually very poweful, if not the "Collector" himself came quite soon and I was surprised that the characters didn't figure it earlier. Instead, the time warp effect was quite a surprise (made me think to Lost in Space) and made Orkaan's rise to power very realistic, since he had had years to work on it.
The Warlord scenes were very thought provoking. Once again it reminded me of Kang, but Francisco looked more and more interesting. Unlike the cliched minions, who, at the best, can whisper some bad words on their master, he was capable of taking the initiative twice, making him some kind of destined character, executor of fate. Even the Warlord seemed to keep it in high consideration overall, for example when he didn't kill him after the first murder attempt, or when he was upset for his fear of him, or when the red one listened to him to some extent.
I don't know how necessary it was to have Esro and Mondrian captured by them, it didn't really bring things forward but it didn't damage the book either, so it was ok I guess.
With such a great performace by Esro, Lyn, Vanadium and, to a greater extent, Ultraa were shadowed a fair bit. Having already read the first book it wasn't a big problem, but otherwise the title should have been "Esro Brachis and his amazing sidekicks" ^^ In fact, all that happened to them seemed to be there mainly for the sake of the third book, a bit like the interludes that used to be in the classic comics before the TPB era began. Particularly, Vanadium being betrayed could be seen coming, whereas Ultraa discovering Damon's job and the introduction of Pulsar's sister were nice surprises.
The ending was rather, ehm, abrupt!
Now, question time: is #3 the last of the series ? there are still a lot of questions unanswered, some very different from the others (Ultraa's past and secret, Jameson's new group, the consequences of Esro and Mondrian's mating, the Warlords schemes, the Grand Destiny, Kabakaar resolution, the Beings coming to Earth, the Circle etc etc etc), and it seems too much for just one book.
