Post by JW% on Apr 18, 2011 19:03:35 GMT -5
INVASION: The Secret World, Based upon the award-nominated podcast series SECRET WORLD CHRONICLE...
Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Dennis Lee & Cody Martin, some of which I'm familiar with, some of which are new authors for me, are apparently City of Heroes fans, if not players. In fact, I might have run past one of them in game, since some of the characters in this book I remember... sorta... not exactly.
But that's how this book is. It's not a City of Heroes book. It has it's own universe that draws you in, mostly through the exceptional character stories presented. If you're a fan of City of Heroes, you're probably going to want this book. It's actually better than the other two City of Heroes novels that are out(Web of Arachnos and Freedom Phalanx, which I might add are not bad books, they're just not my favorite). But if you're not a City of Heroes fan, or not even familiar with the lore behind CoH, you're not going to be missing anything. You still look at the situation with Belladonna Blue and understand why the rules enforcing her inactivity are in place, but also understand her frustration and root for her to break free of the moors and save the day even if she's bending the regulations.
Bella, for reference, is a paramedic. Going into a warzone. Back home she was allowed to carry a gun, going out into the rougher areas, but now that she's working in the warzone, she's under regulations to not utilize any offensive ability. She can't even make a fist and defend herself, because that would make her a target and her medical abilities are needed.
And for you CoH fans, she's either a Mind/EMP Controller or EMP/Psi Defender. It's a bit vague, but we're sure she's an EMP. I lean towards Controller because of how the descriptions are("Shutting down" "Locking down" ect. Plus I don't know any Psi Blasts that have a Fear effect to them) when she does something other than her healing powers. They even call her "Healer"(though "Tank" and "DPS" don't get mentioned fortunately).
By this point you've probably realized this is "super hero" fiction. Only, of course, "Metahuman" since Marvel owns the rights to "super hero". Idea's the same, we have people with powers beyond mortal men, in a modern setting, trying to help society. Add a bit of a twist with the Nazi war machines coming in, and we've got a bit of a war story, and more importantly a disaster relief story as our heroes try to clean up after the first blitzkrieg hits.
The characters are fun, believable(all things considered... I mean when one of the characters is "a facet of infinity"(an angel with god directing her) there's only so much you can do to make them believable, but that effort IS made) sometimes quite humorous(the CCCP I particularly enjoyed. "Passing you have the squirrel test... no do not ask what means that.") and in the end very enjoyable all around.
The only bad thing I can think of about it is that it's book one. NOTHING is resolved. Okay a few things are, but they're minor at best. We're left with the story just starting, the characters just introduced, and we run out of pages(it's not a SMALL book either, I bought it hardback though). There is also the problem with the shear number of characters involved, lending the story a kind of disjointed feel to it(given the number of authors involved, it actually feels like a very cleaned up roleplaying game they were all involved in... which it pretty much IS).
The book also came with a CD, jam packed(23 books I believe, I haven't gone through them all yet, since the only reader I have is my desktop computer) with other Baen produced books by the same authors, as well as artwork and a few of the original podcasts(the ones that aren't duplicated by the book text I believe, Handsome Devil never appears in the book, but he's like the main character in three of the podcast audio stories, working alongside some of the other lesser known characters in the book, filling in their characterization). Considering what I paid for this(got it on clearance) that's a value!
The CD also encourages that I share the files on it(commercial rights reserved, the files can not be SOLD, but can be shared), as it should encourage others to buy Baen books(which I would encourage as well, since they have some very good books), in case anyone wants some of them.
Has anyone else here heard the podcasts or read the book themselves?
Mercedes Lackey, Steve Libbey, Dennis Lee & Cody Martin, some of which I'm familiar with, some of which are new authors for me, are apparently City of Heroes fans, if not players. In fact, I might have run past one of them in game, since some of the characters in this book I remember... sorta... not exactly.
But that's how this book is. It's not a City of Heroes book. It has it's own universe that draws you in, mostly through the exceptional character stories presented. If you're a fan of City of Heroes, you're probably going to want this book. It's actually better than the other two City of Heroes novels that are out(Web of Arachnos and Freedom Phalanx, which I might add are not bad books, they're just not my favorite). But if you're not a City of Heroes fan, or not even familiar with the lore behind CoH, you're not going to be missing anything. You still look at the situation with Belladonna Blue and understand why the rules enforcing her inactivity are in place, but also understand her frustration and root for her to break free of the moors and save the day even if she's bending the regulations.
Bella, for reference, is a paramedic. Going into a warzone. Back home she was allowed to carry a gun, going out into the rougher areas, but now that she's working in the warzone, she's under regulations to not utilize any offensive ability. She can't even make a fist and defend herself, because that would make her a target and her medical abilities are needed.
And for you CoH fans, she's either a Mind/EMP Controller or EMP/Psi Defender. It's a bit vague, but we're sure she's an EMP. I lean towards Controller because of how the descriptions are("Shutting down" "Locking down" ect. Plus I don't know any Psi Blasts that have a Fear effect to them) when she does something other than her healing powers. They even call her "Healer"(though "Tank" and "DPS" don't get mentioned fortunately).
By this point you've probably realized this is "super hero" fiction. Only, of course, "Metahuman" since Marvel owns the rights to "super hero". Idea's the same, we have people with powers beyond mortal men, in a modern setting, trying to help society. Add a bit of a twist with the Nazi war machines coming in, and we've got a bit of a war story, and more importantly a disaster relief story as our heroes try to clean up after the first blitzkrieg hits.
The characters are fun, believable(all things considered... I mean when one of the characters is "a facet of infinity"(an angel with god directing her) there's only so much you can do to make them believable, but that effort IS made) sometimes quite humorous(the CCCP I particularly enjoyed. "Passing you have the squirrel test... no do not ask what means that.") and in the end very enjoyable all around.
The only bad thing I can think of about it is that it's book one. NOTHING is resolved. Okay a few things are, but they're minor at best. We're left with the story just starting, the characters just introduced, and we run out of pages(it's not a SMALL book either, I bought it hardback though). There is also the problem with the shear number of characters involved, lending the story a kind of disjointed feel to it(given the number of authors involved, it actually feels like a very cleaned up roleplaying game they were all involved in... which it pretty much IS).
The book also came with a CD, jam packed(23 books I believe, I haven't gone through them all yet, since the only reader I have is my desktop computer) with other Baen produced books by the same authors, as well as artwork and a few of the original podcasts(the ones that aren't duplicated by the book text I believe, Handsome Devil never appears in the book, but he's like the main character in three of the podcast audio stories, working alongside some of the other lesser known characters in the book, filling in their characterization). Considering what I paid for this(got it on clearance) that's a value!
The CD also encourages that I share the files on it(commercial rights reserved, the files can not be SOLD, but can be shared), as it should encourage others to buy Baen books(which I would encourage as well, since they have some very good books), in case anyone wants some of them.
Has anyone else here heard the podcasts or read the book themselves?