Guest Review: The Sentinels Books 4 – 6

by RAHeadley

The Sentinels is a series of books written by Van Allen Plexico, http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/plexico/ .

The next three books in the series are titled:

Volume 4: The Shiva Advent

Volume 5: Worldmind

Volume 6: Stellarax

The collected trilogy can be found here on Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Sentinels-Omnibus-Van-Allen-Plexico/dp/0984139273

These books are a continuation of the fantastic superhero novels that began with volume 1, When Strikes the Warlord, continued in volume 2, A Distant Star, and ending with volume 3, Apocalypse Rising.  To get the most out of these next 3 novels, you really need to have read the first 3, which I reviewed recently on Comic Critique here, https://comiccritiqueblog.wordpress.com/2012/12/03/guest-review-the-sentinels-books-1-3/.  This second omnibus is over 700 pages.  As with the first series, there are more great illustrations in these books as well.

Plexico’s storytelling does not disappoint with these new volumes.  In fact, it appears his skills as a writer have improved.  His descriptions and dialogue are top-notch and you already feel familiar with the main characters.  Whereas the first trilogy was definitely a cosmic level story, this next trilogy really kicks it up a couple of cosmic notches!

I decided to give a bit more info on these volumes than the last ones but there’ll be no spoilers, I hope.

Volume 4, The Shiva Advent, wastes no time in jumping back into action with the Sentinels team with the very first chapter.  The author also provides a very nice listing of “who’s who” in the series at the beginning of the book.  There is also a new character introduced that harkens back to a favorite of mine from the X-Men of the lucky 80’s.  A new menace to the entire galaxy is introduced but it’s not what you think it is.  We also start learning more about the background of the superhero, Ultraa, and see that the origins of 2 others are closely tied to him and to a Great Rival, The Gray Man.  The Great Rivals, those beings of vast cosmic power, begin moving around the cosmic chess board, placing themselves for the next grand move.  The excellent back story to the main villain from the first series, The Black Terror, also begins.  There is so much that begins building in this book, setting the stage not only for the next volume, but for the entire “The Rivals” trilogy.  You can’t miss this one, true-believers!

Volume 5, Worldmind, continues the story with an injured Vanadium in the custody of the Worldmind’s legions.  He is set to stand trial before the great cosmic entity even as the Worldmind threatens to destroy the Earth itself.  The Sentinels must devise a plan to stop the Great Rival with one of their most powerful members, Ultraa, apparently out of the picture.  A powerful new hero is introduced in the form of the Star Knight, who’s real identity is told in a classic comic book origin.  Wolf, of whom we’re never really sure of his allegiances or plans, makes some bold moves that will have lasting effect.  Unfortunately for the Sentinels and planet Earth, another Great Rival, Stellarax – the Star That Lived, is on it’s way to Earth.  This book closes with an unexpected fourth Great Rival bursting onto the scene after a long absence.  This book obviously segues to the next, last, and most powerful story in this series.

Volume 6, Stellarax, is the last part of this space opera story.  It’s all been building to this point and Plexico’s excellent story telling skills don’t disappoint.  In my opinion, this book is the best of the first 6 thus far.  All 4 Great Rivals are getting ready to do battle with the Earth caught in the middle.  The cosmic virus, the Blight, is also spinning out of control threatening to not only consume Earth and the Great Rivals, but the entire universe!  The action as always is phenomenal and seeing our heroes forced to participate in a “Contest of Champions” just reminds us, the readers, of Plexico’s vast comic book knowledge and how well he puts that to the page.  I’m actually not going to give any more details on this book as Plexico puts so much into it that you’ll find yourself staying up late at night to finish it.  He winds this series down to an excellent conclusion.

Esro Brachis, Lyn Li, Ultraa, Mondrian, Vanadium, and the others are so well developed that find yourself experiencing what they experience as you read their stories.  After living with them for 6 richly told stories these people are as much alive and real as Marvel or DC’s longer running characters.

Be on the lookout for Plexico’s next book in the series.  Volume 7, Metalgod, will be available in the not too distant future!

Well done again Mr. Plexico!

Guest Review: The Sentinels Books 1 – 3

By RAHeadley

The heroes in Plexico’s Sentinels series of novels. Property of Van Allen Plexico

The Sentinels is a series of books written by Van Allen Plexico, http://www.whiterocketbooks.com/plexico/

The first three are titled:

Volume 1: When Strikes the Warlord

Volume 2: A Distant Star

Volume 3: Apocalypse Rising

The trilogy is also available collected together in Sentinels: The Grand Design from Amazon.com, http://www.amazon.com/Sentinels-The-Grand-Design-Omnibus/dp/0984139257/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_4

These books are fantastic superhero novels drawing on the classic Avengers stories from Marvel Comics. Plexico has extensive knowledge of The Avengers and it is reflected in the excellent writing for the Sentinels series. Each book is around 250 pages, give or take a few.  It is one of those rare reads where you find your eyes moving faster to get to the next word or sentence, but because all those individual words make up some great parts, you find yourself going back and reading them again to make sure you didn’t miss anything.  There are also some very good illustrations throughout the book as well which help to visualize how the author views his characters.

I can’t help but draw parallels to some of the cosmic storytelling by the likes of Roy Thomas, Jim Shooter, and a bit of Jack “King” Kirby, all who contributed so much to the classic Avengers.

I’ve tried to provide a brief synopsis of each volume without giving everything away.

Volume 1 introduces the main characters including a classic comic-book villain.  The introduction of Lyn Li who becomes Pulsar is reminiscent of the classic X-Men books from the 60’s where you meet a mutant just discovering her powers. Esro Brachis, the genius inventor turned superhero, is a wonderful take on Tony Stark/Iron Man. Ultraa is an almost Superman type hero with his powers, although I like Plexico’s twist on them. The super villain, The Warlord, is a great blend of Dr. Doom, Kang, and some of Plexico’s own elements. You can almost hear The Warlord speaking the well-written villainous monologues as you read them.

There are also other characters introduced in this book, including the peculiar Cavalier, that appear in the rest of the series but the gist of this volume is to bring the heroes together.

Volume 2 continues the story with Vanadium, introduced in volume 1, as a member of the team.  I view Vanadium as a Silver Surfer/Vision-esque type character, but again with Plexico’s own twist. A new character is also introduced, Mondrian, an alien female that becomes integral to the story-line, now and in the future.  Each of the other characters are represented well, but just as volume 1 focused more on Lyn Li, the central characters for this book are Esro and Mondrian.  A new villain shows up, a type of Ultron meets the Super-Adaptoid as well as continuing with The Warlord.  Volume 1 could have been the only story he wrote about the Sentinels but this book may as well have said, “To be continued next month”. This book also goes much further out into the cosmic story telling that Plexico is so good at, which concludes in volume 3.

Volume 3 is the last part of this trilogy. Plexico does a brief recap of volume 2, but you really need to read them in order to get the best effect. This is also the conclusion of the first trilogy which has the Earth at the center of a cosmic struggle with the fate of the planet itself hanging in the balance!  Full of alien invasions, alliances with other races, and even super-villain on super-villain action!  Ultraa is the main man, so to speak, in this book and Plexico does a great job with him.  He is a very powerful character, again think Superman type powers, and it is good to see him shine.

While I do point out some similarities between Plexico’s characters and those of mainstream comics, there is no doubt the he puts his own fresh spin on them.  Including a very good way of focusing on how the characters act alone or together instead of just what their powers and abilities are.  Additionally, the action scenes he describes are just as good as seeing them drawn out in all their Four-Color glory.

I hope I have not been too vague, but I don’t want to cheat you, the reader, out of enjoying these fine stories for yourself!

I will do a review on the next trilogy in the near future.

Excelsior, Mr. Plexico!