Recently I have tried very hard to return to Mark Ellis's Outlanders series.
After giving both authors a try-out, they both left me cold and dry.
After some time had passed, I kept eyeballing the Outlander books piling up on my 'To Read Shelf' and finally decided to give a couple more a try. Instead of going in order, the last one I read fully was Serpent's Tooth, which was really a let-down in oh so many ways! After perusing the next 10 to 14 books I had, the cover and concept of Planet Hate caught my eye and interest.
And to my utter delight and surprise - I found it fun and exciting. A far cry better than the last one I read by the other author. Plus, instead of a one-book storyline, this one had a story arc that finally seemed to go in a direction to the heart of the series - battling the overlord Annunaki!
Overall, this whole several book story arc was very enjoyable, and I found this group of books the best writing by Rik Hoskin any both Deathlands and Outlanders series. He seemed to have warmed up to the OL series, and that is why I decided to try this latest installment, Genesis Sinister.
After finishing it last night, and thinking about it, I thought it not nearly as good as the last 3 books. The first half was interesting, chock-full of pirates and Brigid trying to deal with her alter-ego killing innocent people, including Kane himself. Brigid follows Rosalia - a good Mexican bad ass character I like - back home, finally showing the fans just where Rosalia came from and where she learned all them battling techniques. (But nuns, though! Really?) Monks would have been much better.
The storyline was OK, nothing as huge or epic as the last few books. Action sequences were pretty decent. But some of the battle situations Kane and Grant find themselves in, I don't understand why they don't carry more ordnance from the Cerberus base armory. They also didn't use the very cool Mantas to their full potential.
The last half of the book went into a bizarre concept of a long-lost temple that was built from stoned off their asses Mayans? Hoskin just seemed to have tossed this in for good measure. Unlike Ellis, who utilized real myths and legends, this 'Omniforge' was basically a huge clock in another dimension that was fed by a single pirate's blood. Huh?!
Unfortunately, this was where my interest went out the window. I struggled through to the end, and I see where Hoskin was going. But I think he could have cultivated this much, much better. Deadline, anyone?
The 'anam-chara' thing has been wayyyyy overused in this series. Ellis developed it CLEARLY as a love-bond for Kane and Brigid, even though for whatever reason he never fully went towards that oh, so obvious direction. Now, with these two new writers, they are 'soul-friends.' You know, like when you fell heavy for that girl in school, who led you on, just to finally say: 'I just wanna be friends.' I roll my eyes at this now.
I don't know why love interest in this series has gone to the wayside in recent years. Grant likes women. Kane has never shown himself to be sexual at all. What do you call a hero who is surrounded by babes all the time, but never - ever - shows any interest in getting laid? I swear, I never understood this. And why do they continuously take unnecessary risks? I know this is an action/adventure series, but come on!
So, overall, Genesis Sinister went from a pretty fun and exciting read, to a mishmash of bizarro world ideas where very quickly, without any time to study it, Brigid instantly knows everything about this giant clock world destroyer thingamajig that left me unsatisfied.