When people usually find out that there are books based on the popular videogame franchise Gears Of War they say things like "Huh... that doesn't seem particularly suitable" except usually with slightly less eloquence: "LOL gears has shit storyline characters all suck this book must be shit".
Disappointingly I can confirm that, eloquent or not, they are correct in this assumption.
The Gears Of War books are not the height of articulate narrative and, similar to the games, have about as much subtlety as a TaurenRogue. There is little in the way of plot development, character depth, or any real structure. The primary reason for my wanting to read this book (and it's predecessors) is simple: I love the Gears Of War games. They aren't the best games, they are far from perfect, but Epic has created a universe which I enjoy exploring and being part of. The combat is satisfying, the plot is sufficiently insane. It's about chainsawing monsters in half, pure and simple - a fact which it is not ashamed of. Though the characters lack depth, the group dynamic they share is entertaining to watch. I recognise and appreciate all the flaws and lack of narrative integrity these games contain. I still think they are awesome and I want to know about as much of it as possible. When someone told me I could read the continued adventures of Delta Squad, I signed up instantly.
The main issue with this book is it's completely undercut by the action-packed E3 gameplay demo which unscrupulously spoils every event that takes place in the novel. It takes the likes of Fenix and Baird approximately 450 pages to figure out that
Yes, the lambent are here
They should be concerned about this
Apart from that
the book leaves the main cast almost exactly where it begun - on the old abandoned naval base on the island of Vectes. I'm assuming you aren't going to read it so here's some information you might find interesting if you plan on playing Gears 3. I would say SPOILERS but unless you plan on reading the book (you shouldn't) they aren't really a big deal:
There is a new group of survivors called "The Gorasni" who are an Indie state that were at war with the COG during the Pendulum wars. They are now having to work together, though neither side is particularly comfortable with the relationship. There is also a brief allegiance with an army of stranded pirates towards the end of the book.
Jace Stratton New characters including Sam Bryne (the brunette from the E3 demo) and Jace Stratton (the dude from the GoW Graphic Novels) make appearances and Cliffy B has already confirmed in an interview that both will feature as playable characters in the campaign. Still no news about Bernie Mataki, however, though she makes appearances throughout all three of the books so far. Dizzy Wallin also crops up several times. For those that didn't know, yes Dizzy survives his encounter with Scorge in Gears 2.
The island of Vectes is located behind a deep sea trench which is apparently too deep for the locust to tunnel beneath. As a result of this the only enemies in the book are stranded pirates and the lambent. The COG base get's attacked by what they are called "stalks", those big tree things which sprout weird lambent type crabs that are referred to as "Polyps". These are basically tickers, or lambent wretches. They explode when shot but, interestingly, melt when burnt. Scorcher time!
Hoffman steals a data disk from Chairman Prescott at the end of the book and Baird still hasn't cracked the encryption by the time the book ends. The information on the disk remains unknown.
Dom predictably spends the whole book becoming increasingly depressed. Towards the end he gets Sam Bryne (who doubles as a tattoo artist) to alter his Maria tattoo from a heart into an angel. Boo-fucking-hoo.
There are several flashbacks to when Hoffman was a lieutenant at Anvil Gate during the Pendulum wars. Anvil Gate was basically a castle which, after his CO was killed, Hoffman was left to defend with only 100 other gears. After 3 months the food and water for the garrison begin to run out and Hoffman is forced to surrender. However when the Indy troops enter the garrison the COG soldiers ambush them and kill them all. Hoffman is left with a constant feeling of guilt for taking advantage of the terms of surrender. He cries about it.
And that's about it. That shit took 450 pages to explain in the book and I just summarised all the interesting stuff in this blog. And i'm being fucking charitable when I say "interesting".
