Crimson Skies

Rating:
Summary: Fun, but sloppily written
Review: 'Crimson Skies' is an enjoyable read, and serves to provide some detailed background material to the game. While all three of the stories were well done and had good character development (although the bad guy in the second story should have been a bit nastier), I found the 'technical' side of the stories to be sadly lacking. Granted, 'Crimson Skies' is a fantasy set in an alternate world. But when you start describing helium-filled Zeppelins as having steel frames, extensive armor plating and batteries of five inch guns, you are leaving all resemblance to reality far behind. I guess some might consider this to be poetic license, but to me it just seems like sloppy research. I mean, the U.S. Navy really did develop a series of airships in the 30's that were designed to launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft. In the age of the Internet, it's pretty easy to find the history, plans and specifications of the 'Akron' or the 'Hindenburg'. Why describe Zeppelins that defy the laws of physics when, with a few hours of research, you could describe realistic airships instead? For another example, the final story makes use of the fact that the hero has a 'secret weapon': his mechanic has equipped his plane's engine with a 'nitro boost' system - but it can only be used for short periods of time because 'the pump has to build the nitro pressure back up'. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think that by the 1930's people had figured out how to build pressurized canisters. And even the briefest research into the history of drag racing would show that the time limit on the use of nitrous oxide was based on the fact that the dramatically increased horsepower tended to cause engines to throw rods, pistons and other normally internal engine parts through the side of the block. The problem with nitro wasn't running out of it, but shutting it off before the engine blew up. So why did the author invent an elaborate problem that doesn't exist, when the real problem is both simpler and more dramatic? The stories actually have some very clever ideas in them (like using nitrous oxide in an airplane engine, or building a Zeppelin with a full-length flight deck), but they're spoiled by the authors not bothering to find out how these ideas could actually work.

A little serious research would have paid off in other ways as well. The 1930's was a Golden Age of Aviation, and the chances for an airplane buff to play 'what if" are almost unlimited: What if a helicopter like the Bell 47 was developed in the '30's? What if Howard Hughes had gotten the Spruce Goose to fly? How about some top-secret plans for the fighters and bombers that were really used in WWII? Did the wide spread use of military Zeppelins preclude the development of navel Aircraft Carriers? (this last point was a serious debate in real life). And a little research into how to fly airplanes (or better yet, a few hours of actual flight instruction in a Cessna) would have yielded much more realistic descriptions of the flight scenes. Of course, I'm sure this book was targeted at people who are into video games rather than those who are seriously into classic airplanes. And I didn't expect the publisher to hire a Martin Caidin or a Tom Clancy to write a tie-in book to a video game. But they could have at least given the three authors a copy of Microsoft Flight Simulator and said "Here, play with this for a week and then write the story".

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining Pulp Novella Collection
Review: A collection of three novellas, two originally published on the Crimson Skies website, one previously unpublished. All are highly entertaining.

The Phantom Prototype pits international detective Paladin Blake against a mysterious conspiracy with a dire plot for mass destruction, to further a sinister political goal! Written pre-9/11, a simple delivery job turns into a desperate fight to prevent a devastating aerial strike on an innocent city. The Phantom Prototype was written by SF author Eric Nylund, who wrote last year's HALO novel, and gives us a portrait of Blake as hardboiled dick in a noir situation. Blake comes off a bit shinier than most hardboiled detective stories, mostly because he's too busy saving his can to misbehave.

On the flip side of the law, The Manchurian Gambit draws international pirate Genghis Khan into a web of intrigue as he tries to get free of his money troubles. Along the way, he rescues fair maidens and heads off on a quest that might free the Chinese people from a foreign aggressor-all for a buck, of course. I'd never hear of Michael B. Lee before this story, but he turns in a good story about a bad man.

Somewhere in the middle of the law, Bayou Blues is a story of Nathan Zachary and his efforts to make a buck off a town under a Louisiana despot's thumb, and maybe do a good deed. This is the original story, by Crimson Skies guru Eric Trautmann. It rocks along at a goodly pace, and comes off a lot like the good stuff in The Maltese Falcon. I never liked Nathan Zachary in any of the earlier Crimson Skies fiction, or the original computer game, but here Nathan is more a Han Solo rogue than the smarmy egotist he comes off as in other stories.

One of the things I like about all of these stories is that the heroes mostly fight and think their way through their problems, with bruises and cracked heads. Most adventure stories have the heroes more or less skate through (more in movies than books, I guess) with not much danger. The Crimson Skies stories come off more like Die Hard, with the heroes getting slammed around a bit. That gives them a bit more grit than a lot of stories.

Rating:
Summary: "It's an era where swing is king and pilots rule"
Review: Crimson Skies is a game world created by Microsoft and Fasa, where it's an alternate 1937 and the United States has broken up into several independant nations. The rail lines and freeways have all been destroyed, so travel and trade is now only possible by air. This lead to the rise of airborne pirate gangs and the hijacking of cargo zeppelins. The North American nations responded by forming their own national air militas or contracting private companies to keep their cargo, and themselves, safe. It makes you wonder just how things would be like if history was just a little different.

This is a collection of three novellas, two of which were originally published on the official Crimson Skies website. Done in the style of the old pulps, each story follows one of the main Crimson Skies characters as they fly, flight, and con their way to save the day, or line their pockets their pockets in the process. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome action and adventure
Review: I picked up this book after getting the original PC game, and having fallen in love with the storyline and setting, I figured it'd be worth it to read up on some of the fiction. I haven't played the new XBox game at all, and the plots of the three stories don't deal with the game much (more its setting and characters than its actual plot) although the third story, "Bayou Blues" implements some characters I've heard are in the XBox game.

The first story, about Paladin Blake, while interesting, came off as a little dry to me. Some of the "plot twists" were a little contrived for my tastes, but the action was solid enough, and the ending was great.
The second story, about Johnathan "Genghis" Kahn, was easily my favorite. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy a story that made the "bad guy" out to be the hero (and he IS a bad guy - he steals, he lies, he cheats, he kills for fun - he's definately an unsavory character) but the story was hilarious, and a lot of the plot twists totally broadsided me; I never saw 'em coming. It was great, especially the very end.
The third story, about Nathan Zachary, was a bit shorter than the others, and I wasn't sure I'd like it at first. The portrayal of Nathan wasn't what I was used to based on the PC game (I don't know how he's portrayed in the XBox game and if it's different) and I was expecting a wider array of characters instead of focusing mainly on Nathan. The action, however, was the best of the three stories, and the "air race" at the end was absolutely great. The story simply got better as it went along.

If you liked the XBox game, or like Crimson Skies in general, I'd definately recommend giving this book a shot. It's well-worth the money.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Good!
Review: Short Review for quick buyers,
I liked this book. I was hoping more on Nathan Zachary (the main charcter of the Video Games) But its got some pretty cool tales on his enimes like Paladin Blake.
This is for the aviator or mystery type reader.
Check it out!