Rating: 
Summary: Hardwired was above average
Review: A great book to read but lacking in the proofing department. I have not read many books but the ones I have read don't make these kinds of mistakes. There are quite a few although they do not necessarily take away from the story. This story picks up shortly after the G1 volume one comic and ties in some of the gap between volume one and volume two. It also gives some explanations as to the what and why of the volume one comic. I am writing vaguely but I don't want to ruin the story for anyone. All in all a great read. After years of not even thinking Transformers I get back into the series with great stories such as this. It is a little gory but seems like it is geared toward adults more so than children.
Rating:
Summary: Finnaly a book for 80's children
Review: Although the books typos (athough I am the last person to complaine)was a bit bad. The book as far as imagination and depth is really well done. Well due to be able to write a book about Transformers for the fans who are now all grown up might have been a hard task due to the fact that the Transformers were created geared toward children in the first place. Being older when Transformers were on the air and my paretns rule no toys after 10 I never owned a Transformer toy yet my collection consited of comics and anything I could sumuggle in and hide. I also enjoyed watching the show with my younger brother. What happened I think is the show and comic started having problems when the cast got way too big and you really couldn't get into depth much. Although you could feel for the charicters who did. Of course one thing intrested me the most in this book and that was yet another story of Prime's past show, comic now this one. All different although I must say I like this one the best.
Rating: 
Summary: Adult... yeah... right...
Review: As a devoted fan of the Transformers for the past 19 years, i can say unequivocally that this book is the bottom of the barrel in Transformers literature. From the beginning, this book is unnecessarily violent, describing in far too much detail the way humans die in a Transformer battle. Sexuality comes into play in chapter 2, where Spike's sexual relationship with a woman is described in far too much detail for good taste (especially the little line about Spike implying that the two of them were "doing it" in the backseat of a Transformer). In addition to being disgusting and out of character for the Transformers in all their incarnations, the relationship does not fit in with the established relationship between Spike and his girlfriend/wife Carly, who were pretty much together from 1985 on according to all other sources. Buy a Furman book instead. Maybe the next books will be better, if the author uses a mature writing style directed at mature readers rather than sixteen year-olds wishing to be mature.
Rating:
Summary: Out with the Armada---The Origionals are the best!!!
Review: Being a Transformers fan from the begining, I found that the book was awsome. I truley am into the original (or G1) Transformers, and thought the book brought them from their golden years and put them into "todays" events. I even liked how they threw in the human factor and made the story come more alive. I mean, big robots trampling all over the earth, how do normal humans feel about it.
I believe in stories to be great, there is not really a definite good or bad side. Everything has a mix, and the book brought that emotion out into the Transformers world. I, for one, am looking forward to the next two books, and hope that fuel is added to make this book come more to home than it already has.Good Job, Scott Ciencin!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: "Adult fiction" written by a 10-year old
Review: Excitement and optimism were my initial reactions when I saw this book on the shelf. Disappointment and confusion are my reaction as I return Hardwired to the shelf. The greatest weakness of this "work" is the plotline - or lack thereof. The author skips erratically between at least 3 distinct plot threads, none of which are particularly engrossing or solid. To be blunt, the story reads like a traffic accident involving "Gladiator", "Con-Air", "Ocean's Eleven", "The Hulk", any of a number of Star Trek episodes, and childish glee after opening Optimus Prime as a birthday present. The story thread involving Las Vegas and the Autobot attempt to save the city is devoid of continuity and convoluted. The disappearance story concerning Prime, Megatron, and 200 citizens of earth is brutal but poorly contrived. This is but another "alien abduction story" and is unoriginal in premise. The arc involving Spike and Franklin is uninspired and plays more like an "X-Files" knockoff than anything involving Cybertronians. The writing style is reminiscent of child action-figure play: "and then this happens, and pretend that Soundwave didn't see that coming..." The story degenerates into stream-of-consciousness story telling as opposed to well crafted fiction. Death abounds, gore persists, and sexual innuendo appears in unnecessary places. An "adult" Transformers story need not involve "language, sex, and violence" - what it needs is plot depth, an engrossing story, and good overall characterization. The characterization of Optimus is a good start, although in the final analysis, it also fails to present him as anything more than a two-dimensional action hero. The combat sequences are cliche' and uninspired - in essence, fighting breaks out whenever the author writes himself into boredom. The audience that reads this work will do so out of nostalgia and hope. The responsibility of the author, then, is to carefully craft an entertaining fiction worthy of returning to the "good-old days." Unfortunately, this book fails to deliver as a coherent, meaningful, "adult" reinterpretation. I loved Transformers as a kid, and I am diappointed that an attempted return to that world was actually less than met my eyes.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Cool
Review: I am all for The Transformers being brought into the adult realm of Sci Fi Novels. Its perfect science fiction. Now it isnt the greatest book i have ever read but Its a great start. Hopefully after this trilogy more TF novels will come out. Sex, Gore, Violence. etc.. are all parts of the book but it just sums up the adult theme. I for one, will be glad to have less human interaction in future TF novels, and focus more on the charecters.. As we get a glimpse of classic charecters personalities. Soundwave, Starscream, Megatron, Grimlock, Optimus Prime, and a few more..are among the main Tf's involved. I personally found the Soundwave and Starscream alliance interesting..since this plays into the Dreamwave universe. Well have fun reading this one, I did.
Rating: 
Summary: Vaguely Similar to Mutant Empire
Review: I may give this book a higher rating if not for that. However, as yet, it isn't even a really good copy. Transformers will never have the same impact as the X-Men. It just won't happen, since Transformers are not really relatable, but everyone feels like a mutant sometimes. The storytelling isn't necessarily bad, it just is too much deja vu. In addition to that, the editing was atrocious. Some things are forgivable: forgetting to hyphenate a complex adjective isn't very surprising. However, when words are misspelled, in the wrong tense, MISSING, or otherwise mangled, it makes it difficult to read an otherwise sub-par book. Not a book that I would buy again. Matter of fact, I probably won't buy the rest of the series, either. This is not the Transformers you remember. They are all whiny and uninteresting and the editing is terrible. Barely a reader, not a buyer. Rent it or borrow it instead. Ciencin can do much better, though. For example, read The Night Parade. Fairly frightening and very graphic. A great book with a lot of cool imagery. This seems hastily put together in comparison. I wouldn't be surprised to find book two within three months. I really wouldn't bother.
Harkius
Rating:
Summary: Very poor attempt at cashing in on nostalgia
Review: I was delighted to stumble across this book. A real-life Transformers novel. It should be cool. Then I started reading it. Everyone else has mentioned spelling and grammar errors, so I will not say anything more about that. My biggest beef with the book is the characterization. Optimus sounds a lot like Rodimus Prime, whiny and doubting. After being in command of the Autobots for 4+ million years, Prime would not have these kinds of doubts. Prowl is supposed to be second in command, yet takes orders from Bumblebee. Prowl is also supposed to be a highly intelligent and logical warrior, yet comes across as an stupid oaf. Soundwave talks way too much. Sideswipe can actually fly with Air Force jets and then gets blown to bits by one shot from Devastator. Bluestreak gets some nice characterization, but then gets killed by Jazz. the Autobots I know and love would have found a way to escape and not not only kill each other, but not lead to human deaths as well. And then there's some disparity with Transformer weapons. Devastator can disintigrate Sideswipe and an entire squadron of F-16s with one shot, while Starscream can navigate a dangerous canyon, yet F-15 pilots are inept and crash into walls like TIE fighters in an asteroid field. Prime can slice Megatron's arm off with one pass of his energon axe. There is no way the way would have lasted for so long if the Transformers were so brittle. As a fan since the beginning of the U.S. Transformers toys, this is one novel to avoid. A pure stinker. And what was with putting the word "transform" in italics every time a robot converted to their alt form? We KNOW they transform, that's why we're reading it. DUH! Piece of literary garbage. Almost as bad as some of the current MechWarrior novels, but that's a different story.
Rating:
Summary: This book is is NOT more than meets the eye!
Review: I was really disappointed with this novel! My impression of this book, is that Mr. Ciencin never bothered to watch the series, or he's not really a big fan of the show. Secondly, he didn't do a very good job editing his manuscript. The grammer errors in the book are inexusable! Then the physical description of Spike Witwicky is totally off base. Spike has brown eyes and brunette hair, he doesn't s have blue-eyes, or dishwater blond-brown hair! Second of all, some of the players in the story were written totally out of character. Skywarp would NEVER challenge Starscream for the Decepticon leadership!! Soundwave's loyalties lie with Megatron, not Starscream. Soundwave would've formed a plan to rescue Megatron. Starscream may be an arogant jerk, but he's portrayed as a Hitler like dictator! Also, you don't mess around and change the canon, and killing off some of characters like Bluestreak and Thundercracker, and one of Reflector's robots! I certainly hope Hasbro didn't commission this awful dime store piece of trash! They would've been better off to hire some die-hard objective Transfans to write a novel. If you haven't read this book yet, skip it! If this is part 1 I'd hate to see what's in the pages of part 2!
Rating:
Summary: This book is is NOT more than meets the eye!
Review: I was really disappointed with this novel! My impression of this book, is that Mr. Ciencin never bothered to watch the series, or he's not really a big fan of the show. Secondly, he didn't do a very good job editing his manuscript. The grammer errors in the book are inexusable! Then the physical description of Spike Witwicky is totally off base. Spike has brown eyes and brunette hair, he doesn't s have blue-eyes, or dishwater blond-brown hair! Second of all, some of the players in the story were written totally out of character. Skywarp would NEVER challenge Starscream for the Decepticon leadership!! Soundwave's loyalties lie with Megatron, not Starscream. Soundwave would've formed a plan to rescue Megatron. Starscream may be an arogant jerk, but he's portrayed as a Hitler like dictator! Also, you don't mess around and change the canon, and killing off some of characters like Bluestreak and Thundercracker, and one of Reflector's robots! I certainly hope Hasbro didn't commission this awful dime store piece of trash! They would've been better off to hire some die-hard objective Transfans to write a novel. If you haven't read this book yet, skip it! If this is part 1 I'd hate to see what's in the pages of part 2!
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