Rating: 
Summary: A Campaign of Shock and Awe
Review: F'get Donald Rumsfeld. Mark Ellis is the master of shock and awe, once more flexing his mental muscles and stretching the post-apocalyptic world first invented by Jack Adrian and expanded by Lawrence James. From the in the grit world of the Deathlands, Ellis has expanded to a universe where time and space can be the plaything of a mad god, and our only hope is... well... that would be telling. This was a disorienting novel, and I kept waiting for the "intro" to be over and reality to snap back to normal time, but the whole book is the wholly satisfying and intricate construction of a world nearly 30 years after the Imperator Wars, a world full of sadness and amazement. There are glimpses of what the Cerberus exiles can do to make the Baronies and the Outlands into, and the sad outcomes of a world gone mad. Old enemies and a new enemy arrives, and I have to say, the old enemies were treats to meet, and the new enemy is wow. And as always, Kane proves himself bad, bad man- physically, mentally and verbally, even at age 60. I love it when Kane cuts loose. At his age, he's a man who can outplan... well that would be telling. Just read this book, darm it. Woo!
Rating:
Summary: Could not put this book down!
Review: How does Mark Ellis do it? Just when I think I've read the best that he has to offer, he blows me out of the water with another masterpiece. As I read these OL novels, I am completely immersed in the story and the plot. Talon and Fang is one of those which kept me turning the pages until the late hours.. Great character development, typical Outlanders humor, and of course the mystery and suspense that only Mark Ellis can weave. This novel represents a major event in the mythology of Outlanders. Most series novels of this type put you right back where you started from, without altering the fabric of the characters or the format. Talon and Fang takes an extra step and goes beyond this limitation. This book has action, adventure, life-threatening situations, romance, and mystery. More than your usual action/adventure beat the bad guys plot, this book brings familiar characters a little closer to real life. If you liked the intertwining threads of the other novels in this series you'll love Talon and Fang.
Rating:
Summary: Could not put this book down!
Review: How does Mark Ellis do it? Just when I think I've read the best that he has to offer, he blows me out of the water with another masterpiece. As I read these OL novels, I am completely immersed in the story and the plot. Talon and Fang is one of those which kept me turning the pages until the late hours.. Great character development, typical Outlanders humor, and of course the mystery and suspense that only Mark Ellis can weave. This novel represents a major event in the mythology of Outlanders. Most series novels of this type put you right back where you started from, without altering the fabric of the characters or the format. Talon and Fang takes an extra step and goes beyond this limitation. This book has action, adventure, life-threatening situations, romance, and mystery. More than your usual action/adventure beat the bad guys plot, this book brings familiar characters a little closer to real life. If you liked the intertwining threads of the other novels in this series you'll love Talon and Fang.
Rating:
Summary: A freash look
Review: If you are tired of the hum-drum watered down mess that the "Deathlands" serise has become well then my friends this is the book for you. Set in the future with nost of the Cerburus warriors dead or aged this book provides a freash spin on things. Kane (old now) wants to find some way to get back and warn his old friends of all that will take place in order to do so he has to walk into the very belly of the beast. Lets just hope he hasn't lost his edge. My Impression-Great book, how one central point is resolved is very inventive!! Well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: A freash look
Review: If you are tired of the hum-drum watered down mess that the "Deathlands" serise has become well then my friends this is the book for you. Set in the future with nost of the Cerburus warriors dead or aged this book provides a freash spin on things. Kane (old now) wants to find some way to get back and warn his old friends of all that will take place in order to do so he has to walk into the very belly of the beast. Lets just hope he hasn't lost his edge. My Impression-Great book, how one central point is resolved is very inventive!! Well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: A freash look
Review: If you are tired of the hum-drum watered down mess that the "Deathlands" serise has become well then my friends this is the book for you. Set in the future with nost of the Cerburus warriors dead or aged this book provides a freash spin on things. Kane (old now) wants to find some way to get back and warn his old friends of all that will take place in order to do so he has to walk into the very belly of the beast. Lets just hope he hasn't lost his edge. My Impression-Great book, how one central point is resolved is very inventive!! Well worth the money.
Rating:
Summary: Loved this book!!
Review: It's when you come across books like Talon & Fang that you know your money spent on a series is well-spent!! I loved this book! I think it is quite possibly the best in the whole series.
Rating:
Summary: Strange world, wonderful novel!
Review: Six years ago Exile to Hell, the first in the Outlanders series introduced Kane, Brigid, Grant, Lakesh and all the colorful concepts and vivid ideas. The books were filled with great adventure in exotic places, gory battle scenes, wonderfully sexy women, armored heroes, world-threatening menaces and fascinating villains. Readers of the last two and half years worth of books know that the mysterious Sam the Imperator has made in-roads in consolidating all the baronies under his rule. Now 27 years (OL time) after Exile to Hell, the novel Talon and Fang shows the results of all those adventures and it's not pretty. Kane is a battle-scarred wacko living in a half-demolished Cerberus redoubt with only a samurai sword, a crazy plan and the least likely person imaginable as his companions. The world is at peace due to the final victory of Sam many years before but the cost has been very, very high and he secretly arranged it to be exceptionally high for the Cerberus warriors. But Kane is suspicious and when he gets suspicious he takes action. In this case, the action he takes can save all of humanity, throughout history. I can't think of too many heroes who have a duty like that thrust upon them, but since Kane is fundamentally a hero instead of a killer, he accepts the responsibility, regardless of the price. He knows that survival at any cost isn't always possible or even desirable. It's a strange world for Kane (and the reader), one in which most of the characters we've come to admire and even love through 24 previous books have changed greatly. It's sad to read about the Consolidation War because of all the personal tragedies suffered by the main characters. Talon and Fang proves once and for all that not only is Outlanders the best sci-fi series published today, the author shows that an adventure novel can be written that is intelligent and doesn't skimp on the action. The action in this novel is varied from one scene to another and therefore rivets the reader's attention. This book has a lot of emotional depth to it and there are some scenes that I found difficult to read because they were upsetting (hey, after all these years I consider the characters my friends and family!). Mark Ellis handles all the characters expertly here (even new ones, like the delectable but dangerous Tanvirah as well as unexpectedly returning ones), and finds a full role for Bry, a character who has been around since the beginning but only in a supporting capacity. The author also impresses some of his own ideas about the nature of heroism and self-sacrifice. If any book in the OL series establishes the basic differences between it and DL, Talon and Fang may be the one. And as usual, the writer has also researched his science, and brings us a new and very original take on time travel. I also loved the cover and all the little details worked into it. This is a wonderful novel to read, not just a great Outlanders novel. I can't recommend this one highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe the best in the whole series!
Review: Talon and Fang could be one of the best in the whole series so far. It has one of the most original plots of them all of the ones I've read. Along with the action it has lots of heartbreak too. I can't wait for the next one in this two parter.
Rating:
Summary: Classic status!
Review: Talon and Fang is a great, great book. A little heavy compared to the previous novel in the series but only because it's a complex plot; which resolves a number of story lines from the past few years. Regardless, it's a fantastic Outlanders adventure with the fate of human free will hanging the balance. Although most of the story is set nearly 30 years in the future, it still features the classic Outlanders characters and situations and manages to expand on them. As with any good adventure, there has to be a causal effect to make the story play out and here in lies the imaginative plot. It's a very important book in the series, maybe the most important to date. So much goes on in this book--new characters, new concepts, and tragedies so heart-wrenching that I had trouble getting through some sections. If there was any question about Kane and Grant being fundamentally good men, true heroes of the classic breed, Talon and Fang answers that once and for all. Kane's choice at the end and the results of it brought tears to my eyes. To summarize: Twenty-seven years in the future, a physically and emotionally scarred Kane tries to prevent the Imperator and his "adaptive Earth" from coming to pass by manipulating temporal fault lines ( which I do not pretend to understand) by retrieving an old enemy from "zero time". A lot of nasty things have happened in the last 27 years, and Kane wants to change the course of events in the past ( but he can't leave his present time) and make sure the Cosolidation War never happens. So what happens? I'm not going to give it away! Go read it yourself! It's a thoroughly engrossing book. (sitting at the dinner table reading instead of eating and if you know me you know how unusual that is.) Excellent writing, storytelling, a plot that keeps you riveted and characters you love, despise and pity. Mark Ellis has brought Outlanders to the point of classic series status, with characters and ideas worthy of the best of Star Trek, Star Wars, X-Files and Farscape.
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