Tag: Dean Koontz

Review: Dead Town

Introduction
Dead Town is the last book in Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein Series and picks up right where Lost Souls left off. All throughout Rainbow Falls bands of resistance to Victor’s Communitarians have begun fighting back thanks to KBOW radio getting the word out about Victor’s plan to wipe out the town. In this book several of the story lines converge as the end comes in sight.

Victor Leben alias Victor Immaculate is so self absorbed that his hubris leads to his ultimate end. Honestly his arrogance was even more than the original Victor’s and it was fun seeing his comeuppance at the end.

The Good
Overall I liked this book. It was trilling and held my interest throughout the story and there were several oh shit moments when characters were put in danger by the nearly unstoppable Builders.

At first I wasn’t a fan of the subplots but Koontz tied them together in such a way that it ad you on the edge of your seat waiting to see what would happen next. I was especially surprised with the resolution of Nummy O’Bannon and Mr. Lyss’s story line. Also I liked how you didn’t know until the end who would win.

The Bad
While I liked this book I did have my issues with it. Overall there were too many happy coincidences that led to characters getting out of tough spots with the Builders, by them malfunctioning for unspecified reasons or just plain dumb luck.

I also wasn’t a fan of Victor in this book. He was an almost nonentity and posed zero threat to anyone unlike the original Victor who didn’t mind getting his hands dirty when the situation called for it.

Instead of keeping abreast of the goings on of his war Victor was content with walking the corridors of the Hive and this ultimately led to his downfall.

I also wasn’t a fan of the final confrontation between him and Deucalion. It was down right hokey and made zero sense and was rather anticlimactic. Without spoiling the ending lets just say it was too happily ever after for my taste and leave it at that.

The Verdict
Overall this was an enjoyable read though for the reasons stated above it could have been better and I can’t help feeling the series should have ended with book three as every book after that, while enjoyable just didn’t live up to the previous books in terms of plot.

Overall I’d give the series a 3.5/5 and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys sci-fi thrillers full of action.

Review: Lost Souls

Introduction
Lost Souls is the fourth book in

Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series and takes places two years after Dead and Alive. Unaware of the existence of Victor’s clone Carson and Michael married, moved to San Francisco and had a daughter named Scout.

They work as private investigators and had forgotten all about Victor Frankenstein until Deucalion has a hunch that Victor is still alive and seeks them out to finish what they started in New Orleans.

Now that they are parents Michael and Carson are reluctant to help him until he convinces them to join him.

In the two years since Victor’s clone was released he has taken the name Victor Leben , alias Victor Immaculate, and set up shop in the small town of Rainbow Falls, Montana where he plans to take over the town and use it as a strong hold for his larger campaign of wiping out all humans.

The Good
This time around Victor’s goal is more brutal than just enslaving all of human via his creations and really drives home how demented he is for his omnicidal mission. I also liked the introduction of the nano brain probe that rendered people completely docile and also the introduction of builders who are every bit as scary as they are beautiful.

I was surprised to see Erika Five, who has taken the last name Swedenborg, and Jocko make appearances in this book, but overall they are a welcome addition to the cast of characters.

The Bad
While I liked this book overall I did have issues with it. First after the events of Dead and Alive I couldn’t help feeling this book was a little on the anticlimactic side. Also I wasn’t a big fan of Nummy and Mr. Lyss’s story line at all. It could have been omitted entirely and you wouldn’t notice it.

I get that Nummy is supposed to extremely mentally challenged but he was just too dumb to live and I felt myself sympathizing with Mr. Lyss over his frustrations with Nummy.

Second, I didn’t particularly think the addition of Agent Frost and Dagget from the FBI added anything to the story line except for filling pages. Sure they know something isn’t right in Rainbow Falls but they have zero clue as to the true nature of the problem and are more likely to hinder Carson and Michael than to help them.

The Verdict
Overall if you’ve like the series so far then checkout this one.

Dean Koontz Frankenstein sci-fi

Review: Dead and Alive

Introduction
Dead and Alive is book three of Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series and picks up right were City of Night left off. This time around Erika Four and several Alphas once presumed dead have come back to life thanks to the Resurrecter, a mysterious creature that has the power to erase Victor’s programming and grant the New Race a wide range of human emotions.

Together with the denizens of the Crosswoods Waste Management Carson Michael and Deucalion work to put an end to Victor once and for all.

The Good
Overall I enjoyed this book from start to finish and couldn’t put it down. I especially like how Erika Five and Jocko bonded and interacted, though Jocko did remind me a lot of Dobby from the Harry Potter series with is habit of putting himself down and inflicting punishment on himself and the strange manner in which he speaks.

I also liked how Victor’s arrogance was his ultimate downfall. Granted he was a megalomaniac you have to admire his drive and vision. Sure genocide aside he was evil for removing all but the basic emotions from his creations and enslaving them in his rational army. But the thing that made him more than just a mad scientist was that he thought he was doing incredible good for the sake of the world.

The Bad
Honestly I wasn’t a fan of the Resurrecter. It came out of nowhere without any foreshadowing and reeked of deus ex machina. Had Koontz just stuck with the idea that the New Race were dropping lines from their program and as a result they could now experience a wider range of emotions that would have been more believable.

I was also dismayed that there was no final confrontation between Victor and Deucalion. After all that build up how they disposed of Victor so easily was anticlimatic.

I also didn’t like how through another deus ex machina Erika Five and Jocko were spared even thou all other members of the New Race dropped dead when Victor died.

The Verdict
While I had my issues with this book overall it was enjoyable and you should totally read it if you’ve enjoyed the other books in the series.

Dean Koontz Frankenstein sci-fi

Review: City of Night

Introduction
City of Night is book two of Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series and picks up right where book one left off. After killing Randal Six with their newly fire arms Deucalion takes Arnie to the Tibetan monastery he lived after for years and then they prepare to take on Victor or die trying.

While all this is going on victor orders the termination of detective O’Connor and Maddison by Benny and Cindi Lovewell. After a game of cat and mouse Carson and Michael take on the Lovewells and just barely survive the encounter.

Meanwhile more and more of Victor’s creations begin experiencing interruptions of function as Victor’s empire rots from the inside and he’s too arrogant to see it.

The Good
Overall I liked this book especially the confrontation between Victor and Deucalion at the Hands of Mercy. it was a long time coming and I liked how it rattled Victor.

I also liked the interaction between Benny and Cindi Lovewell, especially the scene when she brings up the voodoo god Ibo. This came out of nowhere as the New Race were supposed to devoid of superstitions. I guess it’s all due to her program dropping out.

I also found the interaction between Erika Five and the creature that came out of Jonathan Harker interesting to say the least.

The Bad
Overall I don’t have much bad to say about this book. Sure I found the main plot line about taking out Victor to be the most enjoyable, though some of the other plot lines like Erika’s and Chameleon’s to be enjoyable, some parts of the book just dragged in places and could have been cut to ratchet up the tension.

I also wasn’t a fan of the will they or won’t they get together between Carson and Michael. Luckily this is only a small part and is handled masterfully by Koontz so it doesn’t dominate the narrative like in some stories.

The Verdict

If you liked Prodigal Son be sure to check out City of Night.

Dean Koontz Frankenstein sci-fi

Review: The Prodigal Son

Introduction
Prodigal Son is the first book in Dean Koontz’s Frankenstein series. The basic premise is that Victor Frankenstein, now going by the alias Victor Helios, has set up shop in New Orleans, and has begun replacing prominent figures with those his own creations, called The New Race.

Victor loathes the human race and fancies himself as a god and seeks to overthrown the old race with his machines of bone and blood. Forget the Victor of old who was forced to scavenge body parts from graveyards, over the two centuries he’s been alive Victor has moved on from such crude methods.

His creations are grown in tanks and educated with direct to brain downloads so they have an encyclopedic knowledge of the world even though they are only weeks old. They are also programmed to be more durable than the old race, as they have Two hearts and other redundant systems, including a skull that is so thick one the highest caliber ammunition will penetrate it.

Moreover every member of the New Race is programmed so they can’t murder anyone unless they are instructed by Victor, and they can’t kill themselves or Victor for that matter.

Things are going smoothly for Victor until one of his creations begins killing people, drawing the attention of the media and police. Enter detective Carson O’Connor and her partner Michael Madison who in the course of investigating the killings stumble upon Deucalion, Victor’s first creation, who has vowed to destroy him and agrees to help Carson and Michael take on Victor.

The Good
Overall I found the book to be an engrossing good read. I especially liked the characters of Randal Six And Deucalion and also the thought that went into the technology Victor used to create those of the New Race. Loved how Koontz drew you in from the first page and didn’t let up the action a bit.

The Bad
My only complaint would ave to be the short chapters and the head hoping. Often times just a one story line was heating the chapter would switch another plot line. This left my head spinning and pulled me out of the story when it would happen. A lot of times after a decent sized chapter there would be ones of only a few pages that didn’t advance the plot all that much and could have been omitted.

The Verdict

If you like sci-fi and horror then do yourself a favor and pick up this book.

Dean Koontz Frankenstein scifi