One of the things I will miss about Outlanders is the clever bits of plotting that Mark put into the books, like something that happened in one book that didn't seem important at the time, but then a few books later became very significant.

A favorite one is how Mark cleverly established in Omega Path that the "Axlerverse" was a parallel reality and that Colonel Thrush's temporal hypershunt pushed the Axlerverse slightly sideways in the space-time continuum.

So when Kane, Brigid and Salvo went back in time to stop the nukecaust, they found they were in branching probablity universe, most likely our own universe and nothing they did there could keep the nuclear holocaust from happening.

That is basically what J.J. Abrams did in the new Star Trek movie to show how it diverged from the established Trek timeline...just like Kane and Brigid in Omega Path, Spock didn't just go back in time, he went sideways.

An original and intelligent take on time-travel from Mark.

On the subject of time travel twists, I' got a kick out of the Tomb of Time/Talon and Fang connection, even though there were like two years worth of books seperating them.

That was a very, very cool twist, worthy of the best of SF novels or movies.

Another plot bit I liike is Doomstar Relic with the holographic assassin Tara suffering from multiple personality disorder.

The link between Tomb of Time and Talon and Fang was unexpected, logical and ingenuioius.

The best was the mind-staggering revelations of Children of the Serpent where Mark took every subplot and mystery from the previous eight years worth of books and tied them all together where they made such perfect sense I was like 'Why didn't I see that?!?"

Agreed. I still think it's amazing how Mark tied everything together so perfectly.

That's another reason why I have no interest in reading books by fill-in writers--they can't improve on it, they can only screw it up.

I picked up Warlord of the Pit the other day.

A weird feeling knowing it's the very last Gold Eagle book I will ever buy...

Posted By Jax2 on 17 Nov 2009 10:52 AM

Stay tuned.

Hmmm....

Almost done with Warlord of the Pit...very grand to read a REAL Outlanders novel again but it's a sad experience, too.

Review to follow.

Review of Warlord of the Pit

I have mixed feelings about this book. Overall, it was classic Outlanders but it also was a sad reading experience since it's probably the last OL book I'll ever read--at least published by Gold Eagle.

All the things Mark's fans expect of his work are in evidence in Warlord of the Pit, from colorful locales, interesting characters and very authentic-seeming science.
I particularly liked the description of the Subterrene and its operating systems. I don't know for certain if such a machine really exists, but it seemed plausible enough.

There is a lot of action in the book, taking place in Malaysia and Mexico. Though they don't have a lot to do with the plot, it's always great to see the secondary characters like Domi and Brewster Philboyd acting the way they SHOULD act.

Warlord of the Pit earns 10 stars for a lot of reasons--mainly because it's the last real genuine Outlanders adventure published by Gold Eagle. Anything else is just a pale and pointless imitation.

Thanks for 12 great years, Mark.