Avenger Books

I read the 3 books in a row and wasn't bored by any of them.
When I got to the third on I was hoping to hear about Quinn and his "Jane Doe" but Seamus Malone and Ainslie didn't disappoint as she was half-sister to Terrence Sullivan [connected character in all 3].

Seamus Malone has a head injury from a sniper's bullet. Amnesia could have been expected. And I caught the reference of his always looking in the newspapers for something - of course Ainslie shows up in the society section and her picture triggers something in Malone's lost memory.

Ainslie ran out on Pearson McNeil when she was just about to walk down the aisle [and with Bailey about to give birth]. It was surely the smartist thing she could have done.
Even Tara, her adopted daughter, wondered if she should be having second thoughts.

It must have been those green eyes that gave Malone away even though he tried to hide fom her. She tracked him down to a made for action building and survived an attack from "them".

On the run from "them" and still "they" kept finding Malone. I kept wondering if Noah Watkins was "the Executioner" until it was proven otherwise.

Paul Cosgrove, Malone's erstwhile partner who "saved" him was collateral damage.

I loved the characters - the search for the mysterious "Executioner" - the "on the run" plot - the inclusions of the previous characters - I read for entertainment and not to pull the plot or writing apart - so understand this trilogy is one of the best I have ever read so far - oh yes, and the legend of the geese.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED --m - Definitely a keeper set - what a wild ride.

If the bride-to-be Ainslie O'Connell hadn't seen the derelict pushing the shopping cart, she might have married the wrong man. Because that "derelict," who now suffered from amnesia, was Seamus Malone - the only man she'd ever truly loved. The man she'd buried two years ago! The man she thought she'd known... but really hadn't. Ainslie knew that unmasking a secret from Seamus's shadowy past as a soliar of fortune would guarantee his safety. But her greatest challenge lay in convincing Seamus he'd never be truly alive without her by his side!

Third in The Avengers series

Harper Allen offers another wonderful Avengers tale in "The Bride and the Mercenary." Right before her wedding, Ainslie O'Connell is stunned to see a homeless man outside the church who bears a striking resemblance to Seamus Malone, the man she'd loved and lost two years ago. Throwing caution to the wind, she goes after him. Soon she finds herself on the run with a man with no memory, running from assassins who will stop at nothing until he's dead. Can Ainslie convince him he knows her, when she's no longer sure she knew him at all?

"The Bride and the Mercenary" is a solid tale by this author, though it doesn?t rank with her best. It features most of the elements her fans have come to expect from her: nonstop action, creative storytelling, a strong-willed heroine and a highly romantic tone. Allen fills her story with many inventive touches that make it unique. I loved Seamus's hideaway. I loved that Ainslie was a boxer. I loved that she had an adopted daughter, but that the kid wasn't a big part of the story. It was just part of the heroine's character. I love the attention the author gives to minor characters we meet along the way. Witness how fleshed out the hero's former partner is in a few pages compared to how some authors can fail to develop their characters in entire books.

That said, I didn't enjoy "The Bride and the Mercenary" as much as the first two Avengers books. If those books were fantastic, this one was only very good. It was somewhat disappointing to see the third book in this series be an amnesia story when the first Avengers tale, "Guarding Jane Doe" was also an amnesia book. Seeing amnesia strike twice in such a small group of people, let alone the first and third books in a series, is a little far-fetched for me. Just like in GJD, the amnesiac here is convinced he must be a bad person and a murderer, though this conflict is much more frustrating and exhausting than it was in the earlier book. It's also a little too easy to predict what's really going on and most readers will figure out who the villain is early on, though the road there is filled with unexpected twists and turns.

One of the pleasures of Allen's books is that unlike many romance novels these days, they are romantic. They aren't just two people with a lot of sexual chemistry or a lot in common who get to know each other over 250 pages and decide to get married in the end. Allen's books have such a strong sense of romantic atmosphere that the reader can truly feel these are two people who are meant to be together. This is one author who manages to capture the magic of falling in love. Her heroines are some of the best around and her heroes are strong, honorable men any woman would fall for.

While "The Bride and the Mercenary" wasn't as surprising as the author's other books, it was a pleasure to read, being swept up in the action and emotion of good romantic suspense.

The Order always had an uphill battle, it was a straightforward superhero book in a market glutted with them.

It had some memorable characters, a neat narrative hook of having characters narrate their life stories as if in a documentary, and great art.

But it was canceled fairly soon after this book came out and whatever long-range plans or subplots the writer had in mind were quickly wrapped up in volume two. So Vol 1 ends up the set-up to a big let down with the next book.

Matt Fraction is one of the most prolific of Marvel's new wave of young writers - and one whose name consistently promises quality comic books. The Order is no exception - it's probably the best book that no one was reading until it was too late. Early in the book, the team's captain is talking to its PR agent, asking her how to make sure people don't hate the team. She replies, essentially, that they don't have to fear hatred, that The Order has no brand recognition, no big name heroes, and that the concern is that people will be apathetic. Little did Fraction probably know, writing this exchange, that he was prophesying the comic's downfall. Several months in, the book was selling poorly, Marvel was moving both Fraction and the artist, Barry Kitson, to other projects, and Fraction decided that he'd rather pull the plug on the book and end it with dignity than have it linger on painfully, and so the series ended with issue 10. A sad story. Should it prevent you from picking up this book? Absolutely not.

This volume, "The Next Right Thing", collects the first half of The Order's 10 issues, and it is excellent. The Order is part of Tony Stark's 50 State Initiative to put a superhero team in each state. Based in California, The Order is made up not of established superheroes, or Camp Hammond graduates (as seen in Dan Slott and Christos Gage's Avengers: The Initiative), but rather celebrities: washed-up or discontent actors, athletes and so forth who are given intensive training and given superpowers by the government, in exchange for a year of superhero service. Each issue of the book focuses on a different member of the team. Fraction's writing is good, his humor is actually funny, and each character is distinct and interesting with real motives and, of course, plenty of baggage. Unlike some team books featuring lesser-known or new characters, I had no problem keeping the characters straight, even during busy action scenes. Each issue reads well on its own while moving forward the bigger story. And Barry Kitson's art is beautiful, clear, clean without being boring or static.

Even in these days with a glut of good superhero comics, The Order stands out as a fun, excellent series that certainly deserves better than it got. I highly recommend this book to any fan of good superhero comics.

This story focuses on one team coming out of Iron Man's Initiative to put a government sanctioned super hero team in each of the 50 states. This is the team for California, and as you would expect, heavily influenced by Hollywood and the "celebrity" movement. You get a group of "stars" who have different reasons for wanting to become a superhero, but they all seem to want to be "famous". I think Matt Fraction does a good job of highlighting a different hero in each part of bigger series story, and really taps into America's obsession with celebrity. Since all The Order superheros are government made, existing only in this story, their future and lives are always in jeopardy. I found this to be one of the most exciting parts of the story, as truly anything could happen. The artwork is absolutely fantastic and probably the main reason I picked up this book. Barry Kitson's great detail, costuming, and design really makes the story come to life. I can't wait to read more of the story.

This was my first Johnstone western novel. I wanted to see if he is on the same scale with L'Amour and Kelton. His characters do not have the same heart as the other two authors. The main character, Frank Morgan, is a misunderstood gunman who is constantly attacked by assassins, wannabes, and other scumbags. It is beyond belief how many times Morgan is missed by his enemies' bullets. It's similar to Star Wars where the stormtroopers almost never hit their targets. All that aside, once you buy in to the premise that the hero is unstoppable, his adventures are quite interesting. He even attends the 1892 Chicago World's Fair and becomes briefly involved with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West review. If you love seeing the bad guys get their comeuppance, love flying fists, knives and bullets, then this is the book for you.

IT'S A NORMAL WILLIAM JOHNSTONE BOOK. ENJOYABLE WESTERN ACTION. IF YOUR A
WESTERN BOOK FAN YOU'LL LIKE THIS ONE.

Speculation that I contributed in any way to Miguel Batista's, "Avenger of Blood"are untrue. I had nothing to do with the development or concept of this book. This book is entirely the work of Miguel Batista.
It is true that I did at one time date Miguel. We parted amicably and I wish him well.
I am quite impressed with this work,and will look forward to reading his next Novel.
Elizabeth Estacea
Real name: Elizabeth McGraw

Elizabeth Estacea once a Model and Singer, began working as a Criminal Investigator while dating Miguel Batista. So this book isn't a great shock as to genre. But it is intrifuing although he is still developing his form. It's a solid effort,he had help from several specialists on details. So he did his research,I'd recommend it for a good weekend read.

Being rather new to the Avengers had this volume of Avengers Assemble leaving me scratching my head. This volume is definitely for folks who know the Avengers and have known the Avengers for years and years and years. Overall the story wasn't bad, but having just read Avengers Assemble volume 2 and the Ultron story within, this volume is just a quagmire of history.

Perhaps I would feel different if I knew the old characters and understood their significance. But, considering I have enjoyed both the first and second volumes of Avengers Assemble, knowing as little as I do about them, my only guess is that this volume relies more on the readers knowledge of the past. I constantly felt like the scenes I was witnessing should be more dramatic, should have more significance if I just understood the complex relationship of these villains to the characters. I know Perez/Busiek is a great team, but Perez actually leaves the series during this volume, which is somewhat of a sad turn for the series.

It has some highlights, some "evidently" dramatic turns, but overall, not nearly as good as the previous volume. If you are a long time fan, this book is for you. If you are a newbie, or just want to collect the best, then avoid this volume.

The Busiek/Perez combo for me is the quintessential Avengers creative team and in this collection they prove their prowess yet again.

Following the Ultron Unlimited story arc that features in Avengers Assemble 2 this volume sees a huge clash over the skies of New York guest staring many big marvel names a very interesting line-up change, Silver Claw leading the team back to her South American homeland and a very well executed crossover with the Thunderbolts featuring Count Nefaria. If you're a new fan of the current marvel product you owe it to yourself to pick up these beautiful volumes and get a look at some of the Avengers recent history. In fact, the Busiek/Perez run is the ideal starting spot as Busiek has a thorough knowledge of Avengers history and manages to fit in a great deal of it while telling these new tales.

Volume 3 continues the great presentation of the series and contains what I'd probably call the most consistently good issues of the first three volumes. Five stars.

Waiting breathlessly for the arrival of first time published Joe Sanstrums novel, A Childs Avenger, I was not disappointed when I tore through it. This "who done it" captured me from the first page. Mr. Sanstrum's raw, gritty , in-your-face style leads the reader thru a series of twists ( of a knife ) and turns ( whos going to be the next victim ). The subject matter is not for the faint of heart, yet it begs to be told. If you are looking for a great new quick read this is the book to purchase. Thumbs way up for Joseph Sanstrums A Childs Avenger. I look forward to future works from this budding new author ! WAY TO GO JOE !

Mr. Sunstrum has the reader cheering for the "Avenger" and racing through the book to find out who it is. A wonderful wodunit in the likes of Patterson. Could not put it down till I figured who the Avenger was. I am telling all my friends to put this book on their list of "MUST GET" because Mr. Sunstrum is going to be very big, very soon....

One of Marvel's most misused characters, the Man-Thing gets the mature themed MAX treatment with Dead of Night. Dead of Night is a more of a tribute to the classic EC horror comics of old and Tales From the Crypt more than anything else, and each issue features an intro and outro from the Cryptkeeper-esque Digger who offers up bad puns and unfunny jokes to boot. Man-Thing himself gets a more modernized origin as scientist Ted Sallis gets transformed into the monster that can burn those who fear him, and throughout this mini-series we witness the Man-Thing crossing paths with mutants, A.I.M. soldiers, and witchy seductress Jennifer Kale. Writer Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa (Sensational Spider-Man, Marvel Knights 4, Nightcrawler) manages to provide some of the goods here, but his MAX themed treatment of Man-Thing just seems like the guy is holding back a little (even though there are moments of blood-letting). Considering just how far some of the more recent MAX mini's have been pushing the envelope, Dead of Night just feels a little tame. There's a variety of artists working here, including Kano, Brian Denham, Nic Klein, and longtime Ghost Rider penciler Javier Saltares with inks from industry vet Tom Palmer; all of whom do mostly solid work. Nick Percival provides the wonderfully rendered Digger sequences that bookend each issue collected here as well. All in all, Dead of Night Featuring The Man-Thing is a quick and mostly entertaining read, but fans that are hoping for a no-holds-barred, blood drenched take on Marvel's swamp monster will be a bit disappointed here.

This is a nice, classic homage to the EC comics of old, given an gritty modern twist by including Marvel's Man-Thing character. All four issues are here with strong links between the separate stories.
Of particular note, is artist Nick Percival and his wonderful spooky painted bridging sequences with the 'crypt keeper' style character, Digger. All in all a good quick read with great art!

Good and detailed information on this aircraft and very usefull as background knowledge for one of my book projects.

Got this book for a friend's dad who flew as gunner on a TBM-3 Avenger in WWII. It brought back a rush of memories -- turns out he used to have this exact same manual when he was stationed aboard USS Yorktown, the Essex carrier. We took a stroll down memory lane with this book, which is a really neat historic document. It's full of photos and diagrams, and a lot of fun to read with a friend. You really get the inside scoop on this plane by reading this manual, I think it's just an exceptional addition to my bookshelf of WWII aviation books.

The art in this series does not dissapoint. The lines are clean. The action is very easy to follow. The weapon designs are very cool. The character designs are also fabulous.

The story is a different matter. Gil-Dong claims to have a very clear goal with wanting to return his city to it previous glory and freedom. It seems to me there are a lot of side tracks and just not getting the job done. Se-kwon has introduced a lot of characters, which has set up a very rich world. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of background on most of the characters. This leaves me not caring for them very much and not remembering them very well.

I say this series has a lot of possibility. The action alone will not bore you. Maybe you'll get more out of the story than I did.

utopia's Avengers art is great, but its story is a "So-So" story, I mean they could have done some things better (there's somethings that need more explaining, but I'm not sure if they will explain), but its still pretty good.

If you have not read the first two books in the "Ben Sylvester Mystery Series" (I haven't), then you'll find that this third book of the series takes off a little too fast, and is rather confusing at first. Reference is made to characters and events of the first two books, and this left me as a newcomer to the series rather baffled at times. This is, however, probably not a weakness of the book - it just means that it was not intended to be read independently, but only in the context of the rest of the series.

Even so, the cross currents of CIA, FBI, CSIS, Libertec, Juanita's government, Juanita's rebels (confused? - me too!), and numerous double crossers on various sides is difficult to keep track of at the best of times! The terse style keeps the action moving quickly, and I found that only by reading very slowly I could follow the intrigue. As such, this is not an easy book to read. Even though it primarily has entertainment value, you need to work hard to keep up with all the various characters, plots and sub-plots.

That's not to say this is not a good book. It is, particularly when the above is taken into consideration. Lovers of adventure and mystery are sure to enjoy the constant action which rarely lets up. The main character, Ben Sylvester, finds himself rolling from one danger to the next, chapter to chapter, and in this way the author continues to sustain interest throughout. There is constant intrigue and suspense, as Ben meets with attempts on his life, kidnapping, government rebels, and more. At times Ben seems to be just as confused as the reader as to who the good and the bad guys are, and in this sense the reader shares in his frustration.

What I especially enjoyed about this book is that it didn't just have a thin veneer of token Christian content. Unlike the shallowness that characterizes much contemporary Christian fiction, "Avenger" boasts sharp characterization, and thoughtful dialogue. Although the action surrounding Ben Sylvester is fast and furious, it is not so fast that we don't get the chance to understand his thoughts and feelings. On the contrary, these feelings are portrayed vividly, and I found myself partaking in his struggles. Ultimately, the real struggle in this novel is not a physical one, but a spiritual one: Can Ben be the "avenger" and execute justice on his enemy, or will he let God be the "Avenger" by leaving vengance to God? It is this underlying struggle with bitterness, anger, hate and revenge that makes this mystery a solidly Christian book. What the reader gains is more than a fast ride with thrills and spills, but a renewed understanding of a Biblical attitude toward revenge. By the time I had turned the last page, my initial frustration had vanished, and I was eager to get hold of the first two titles of the series.