Rating: 
Summary: Part 2 of a great series!
Review: This book is extremely easy to get into as it picks up where the last book left off. You already know most of the characters and begin with a wetted appetite for more terminators! This book is just like the first--REALLY AWESOME! I must admit that I'm an avid T fan. If you are, then read the first, and then read this one!
Rating:
Summary: Part 2 of a great series!
Review: This book is extremely easy to get into as it picks up where the last book left off. You already know most of the characters and begin with a wetted appetite for more terminators! This book is just like the first--REALLY AWESOME! I must admit that I'm an avid T fan. If you are, then read the first, and then read this one!
Rating: 
Summary: Couldn't have been written by Stirling...
Review: This was a really bad book. I kept looking back at the cover to see if I could find (in small print) a co-author who had actually written it. It's hard to believe that Stirling would want to take "credit" for this turkey by himself, particularly after the Infiltrator gem. I fully concur with scifigaltx's review. It has the feel of multiple screenwriters - not necessarily authors - who have communicated their portions by email among themselves.Has the economy sunk so deeply that the publisher has laid off all of the editors who would normally be paid to point out inconsistent points of view and motivations? Where is the reality and believability that Stirling brings to his writing? Can someone tell the real author that action sequences are most effective when they are forced upon the protagonists? Action in this nonsense is always the result of stupidity on the parts of all concerned, and is never a surprise. The real surprise is the first awful book from S. M. Stirling. It happens to all authors, I suppose, but it's disappointing just the same.
Rating:
Summary: exciting action-adventure "Terminator" thriller
Review: Twice Sarah Connor and her son John have been able to prevent Judgment Day, the time when Skynet becomes sentient and declares war on its creators the human race. After the last attack on Cyberdyne, the company that was started to create the Skynet program, the American government took the project away from the independent contractor and placed it in the hands of scientists hidden away in a top secret installation in Antarctica. One of the scientists on the base is an Infiltrator, an organic computer in human form that wants to make sure that Skynet will come into existence. John and Sarah Connor and their ally and good friend, ex-spook Dieter Von Rossbach have put into place a group of people who will be ready to fight when Judgment day arrives and the machines try to annihilate humanity. When the Connors and Dieter learn about the base in Antarctica, they prepare themselves to once more go up against an enemy determined to destroy them. T2: RISING STORM stays true to the story line developed in the Terminator movies and takes the plot one step closer to the day the Skynet computer becomes sentient. Although this is an exciting action-adventure thriller, it is also human relationship drama. The mother-son bond between Sarah and John is beautiful to witness and the audience truly feels sorry for the lives they must lead if they want to prevent the extinction of mankind. Harriet Klausner
Rating:
Summary: Stirling asleep at the wheel on this one
Review: What a complete let down after the terrific T2: Infiltrator also by Stirling. This books is a compilation of technobabel crossed with some juvenile fantasy idea of romance that reads as if was jointly written by a room full of screen writers who couldn't agree on anything, and so instead compromised on everything. Here are some of the most nauseating examples that render it impossible to suspend your disbelief: a fully functioning T101 that already has it hands on Dieter is destroyed with a sledge hammer (remember what it took to stop a T101 earlier), despite that fact that both the Sector and the Infriltrators know of their base in Paraguay the Conners and Dieter return it no less than three times from sabotage mission. No surprise the bad guys keep showing up in Paraguay to kill them. The brilliant Tricker can't recognize the Serena Burns clone even with prolonged contact because she died her hair and is wearing glasses. The Serena Burns clone assembles proto-nanites by picking at her fingernails while walking down the halls because it has the slackest camera surveillance. Virtually every player from the original movie is reintroduced including Dr Silberman and even Donald the orderly. The convolutions of the time loops have degenerated from implausible to down right stupid. Save your money. This isn't even worth your time reading it to check it out from the library for free
Rating: 
Summary: Worthwhile Back Story
Review: With the third installment of this trilogy arriving in theaters next summer, "T2 Rising Storm", provides a great deal of new information that ties all three of the films together. As with the previous installment, "T2 Infiltrator", S.M. Stirling is once again the writer. This sequel essentially starts within days of the previous story's end, and sets up the next presentation that will be in the theaters. All of these episodes whether written or filmed, involve essentially the same looping story. By definition it has to be fairly repetitive, but the creators of the series manage to keep the storyline fresh. Since there are events that always are of major import in the present, the future is altered which then allows for the next installment of the present to be altered as well. That may read like a convoluted sentence, but the constantly shifting events in the past and future that change one another can get a bit confusing. The major difference in this tale is those that help to finally bring sentience to Cyberdine's computer. This is the key event that has always been one of the prime occurrences to be stopped, and I was surprised to find it documented in the book as opposed to the film. The character of John Connor also develops as much in this part of the story as he had in any other. He has never had the luxury of being young, and now at 17 he is faced with very real, mature emotions and relationships that are personal, and go a long way toward forming who he will become. The book moves from South America, to college campuses in New England, and even to Antarctica. People that are already fans will certainly enjoy the tale, and if history is an indicator of the future, next summer's movie will have an even greater fan base than the first two.
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