Uluru Destiny (Outlanders)

Rating:
Summary: Tricked for the last time!
Review: I bought Uluru Destiny without checking the author's name on the copyright page but I realized by the second page this was another mistake-fest by Victor Milan.
I managed to struggle through the mismush of a plot but everytime the story got started it always came to a crashing halt because there were major mistakes every few pages, like Lakesh being old again, Kane having a beard, the barons now all of sudden having strong immune systems instead of the other way around, and even better a dead guy, Neukirk coming back to life!!!
Even if Ulura Destiny had been good all the mistakes distracted me so I was always waiting to come across them and then it became a contest to see how many I could find every chapter. This is no way to write a book in an ongoing series.

I feel tricked for the third time by Milan's hacked out Outlanders books but it's for the very last time. I'll look for the author's name next time.

Rating:
Summary: A disappointing mess
Review: If this author's previous entry into the Outlanders saga (Sun Lord) was unsatisfactory, then Uluru Destiny does it one better-or worse. Sun Lord at least had an intriguing if not fully explored plot.

This book's plot is murky, disjointed and quite frankly doesn't make very much sense. Combined with shockingly poor characterizations of the main cast and a dismal grasp of the series background (the barons are now immune to most diseases instead of the other way around, as has been established since the first book, Lakesh is old again, a dead character has been returned to life?), I found Uluru Destiny to be appallingly bad.

Yes, there was plenty of action but shoot-outs and torture scenes do not make up for the many shortcomings of this book. I read an ongoing series because I have an emotional connection to the main characters. When imposters take the place of those characters, it's difficult for me to find much of anything to praise.

This was a hollow, superficial exercise with every one of the characters diminished to superficial personality traits. Brigid Baptiste, who along with Grant and Kane has been part of the primary "trinity" of the series since the beginning is reduced to little more than a walk-on, so the author of Uluru Destiny can have his promiscuous and hateful version of Domi take the center stage again.

One of the reason I've been a follower of the Outlanders series for so long is that the main writer, Mark Ellis weaves thoughtful, intelligent plots filled with complex and interesting characters, particularly in his portrayal of heroic women, whether it's Brigid, Fand, or DeFore.

Uluru Destiny, like the other two entries by Victor Milan, has the same shortcomings in his style. He doesn't show any affinity whatsoever for writing convincing female characters and that has always been one of the main "draws" of the Outlanders series to me. Without that quality, it might as well be the Deathlands series.

The basic plot about Australian aborigines possessed by an alien computer intelligence was poorly developed, especially when it referred back to the events of the earlier Outlanders novel set in Australia, Far Empire. Either the author of this book didn't read Far Empire or he only skimmed it, because there were a lot of unresolved questions which carried over and affected my understanding of what was supposed to be happening.

I might have been able to overlook some this book's other flaws if the main characters had rung true, but without that, Uluru Destiny was a disappointing mess. Full of double-talk, nonsensical plot twists, unbelievable, implausible and outright unlikable characters, this is a book I cannot recommend to other Outlanders fans.


Rating:
Summary: Third strike
Review: Uluru Destiny, the third Outlanders book by Victor Milan is very disappointing for a lot of reasons, the main one being that it started out very good and about the first quarter had a lot of promise. It doesn't have the sheer volume of continuity errors, mischaracterizations and misunderstandings of his first two but it had enough. That and a confusing, rushed ending turned the book into a disappointment.

The basic plot is good, but once again a little confusing. A previously unknown member of the baronial hierarchy has set up an empire in the South Seas and is preparing an invasion of Australia. At the same time, a group of aborigines who have super-powers start materializing in the Admin Monoliths of various villes looking for an ancient relic.

Their quest is connected to Mount Uluru in Australia, and they ask for Cerberus help to find the relic. The book jumps back and forth with one group accompanied by Kane and Domi going to the Dewa Raja's island empire which seems inspired by the Arabian Nights and the other part of the aborginies group teamed up with Brigid and Grant-even though that team disappears from the book about halfway through and doesn't show up again until the last chapter.

Although there is some good stuff in the book and the Raja's kingdom is colorful I had a hard time buying into it. The whole thing about him being a rejected part of the baronial hierarchy wasn't explained very well and if he was, he didn't seem to worry much about hygiene.

The barons have been described as having very weak immune systems, but the Dewa Raja didn't seem to care about living in what seems like a filthy third world country. He also doesn't seem very smart.

Austrailia as a setting was already featured in Far Empire and though the events of that book is mentioned, once again we have a Milan OL book that doesn't have even a glimpse of Quavell, even though there's a really strange scene with Brewster Philboyd, characterized completely differently than he ever has been before.

Milan also introduces a new and useless archivist character, Sally Wright who for an unexplained reason calls Brigid "Dr. Baptiste." I've read every OL book, a few more than once, and except for the parallel casement Brigid from Outer Darkness, that's the first time she's ever been called that.

When did she receive her Ph.d? From what insitution? Night school? Also, there's another Sally character in the book and I got the two confused a couple of times.

Yet another Cobaltville Mag with a grudge against Kane is dragged out, one we never heard of before but Milan tries to tell us this guy, Vladek was the worst one yet. He was a cheap, one-dimensoinal character, a rip-off of Pollard, pulled out of Milan's butt with no thought.

If Vladek was that evil, that much of a big bad dude how come he wasn't chosen by Salvo to go on the raid in Mesa Verde Canyon way back in Exile to Hell, how come he wasn't around in Omega Path when Kane, Grant, DeFore and Domi invaded Cobaltville to rescue Lakesh? There are several books where the Cobaltville Mags are featured where he should have shown up if he was all that much of a super bad-boy.

Speaking of Domi and Lakesh once again its those two characters who suffer the most damage on their characters. Their relationship isn't even hinted at, its ignored so Milan can have Domi act like a `ho again. And also, Lakesh is suddenly a spindly old man who needs his glasses, looks like Gandhi and now talks like Apu from the Kwikie Mart. HUH?!?

There's a confusing comment about Lakesh's nanites malfunctioning but it makes no sense. Maybe its nanites that raised Neukirk from his grave on Mars and had him hanging around the redoubt after Maccan killed him in Mad God's Wrath. Wow, it sure would be nice if these books were actually edited every once in while wouldn't it?

Milan introduces another female Pit Boss, Maureen Orion who is such a rip-off of Boss Klaw from Doomstar Relic I don't know why Milan bothered coming up with a new name for her.

Overall, the problems with Uluru Destiny are about the same as they were for Sun Lord and Awakening-for every scene you like, there are two that you don't and at least one you hate.

Despite what one reviewer said there are more than a "few" mischaracterizations. For example, Kane is described as having a pepper and salt beard and he's really badly off his game in this book. Maybe he has nanites that are malfunctioning too. He acts like a doofus, gets tricked, insulted and victimized all over the place, even though his "big, scarred hands" are mentioned to the point where you roll your eyes every time you come across it.

The ending of the book is rushed and confusing and actually happens over a TV screen, with the Cerberus warriors watching from a distance. But by then, I'd stopped caring.

In some ways, Uluru Destiny was more disappointing than Milan's other two OL books because it started out so promisingly and I hoped the third would be the charm. But large chunks of it are slow and even boring, some scenes make no real sense and when he favors `Slut Domi" again while giving Brigid Baptiste very short shrift for the third time, that was it for me.

This was Milan's third strike for me. Hit the showers, you're out.


Rating:
Summary: Exciting action/adventure reading!
Review: Victor Milan gives us another wild romp through the Outlanders universe.
Aside from a few mischaracterizations and other elements from that set up by the illutrious author Mark Ellis, Milan still delivers an exciting adventure yarn.

Interesting and somewhat bizarre new characters are introduced here to the Outlanders group, embarking them on an insidious war in far off Australia.

If you like fast-paced action/adventure, along with sci-fi/fantasy type themes, then this one's for you.