Dark Goddess

I received this book very quickly after ordering it and it was in excellent condition.

Dark Goddess is another epic adventure by Mark Ellis. It ties up (or does it?) the story arc about the Annunaki Overlords and Tiamat, the giant sentient spaceship. The book is fast-paced and reading about the heroes now after ten plus years feels like a visit with old friends. I particularly liked Shizuka's inclusion in the novel. Lilitu is possibly the nastiest enemy the Cerberus warriors have faced, and that's quite the statement. It's not a surprise that Overlord Enlil has been scheming against her. As for the "death" of Team Phoenix in the prologue...I have to admit that after "Sun Lord" by Victor Milan I never read any other fill-in OL books by him, so this was only my second exposure to the group, the first being in the excreble "Awakening" of several years ago. Their demise really didn't mean as much to me as to other fans. However, Dark Goddess is a colorful adventure epic, jumping from the coast of Florida to the Sinai desert to Egypt and then to outer space. If you could cross Indiana Jones with Stargate SG-1, then you would probably get something very close to Dark Goddess.

Back when Babylon 5 was running on television, creator J. Michael Straczynski used to refer to some episodes as being WHAM episodes, where he would kick over all the tables and knock the characters back on their heels. Usually a WHAM episode would in some way completely redefine what the overall story was about, and it would always spin the story off into some new and unexpected direction. Much like Tomb of Time or Children of the Serpent, Dark Goddess is absolutely a WHAM episode for the Outlanders series. The prologue of the book serves up the long-overdue demise of Team Phoenix, in a way that is spectacularly and deliciously harsh. To borrow a phrase, I suspect the epitaph on their gravestones read "They died as they lived - stupidly". I was already set to give the book the highest possible rating just based on the first dozen pages, and then it got better. The first act is set primarily in Florida on the Gulf Coast, with our leads facing off against the somewhat comically named Billy-Boy Porpoise. Although Mr. Porpoise certainly excels in creating a strong brand identity, he is perhaps not the best at correctly predicting the outcome of his actions. Ah, well, live and learn. Or not. Very quickly the book moves into the meat of the story, with Overlord Lilitu plotting to wrest control of Tiamat from Enlil, a plan which requires the involvement of the Cerberus crew. As always, the story features globe-trotting high adventure with Ellis' trademark alchemy of science fiction and ancient mythology. All of the major characters give great performances, with a particularly strong role for Shizuka. By the end of the climactic battle, the series is once again completely redefined. I would easily rank Dark Goddess as being among the very best of the Outlanders series.

It was over before it truly began. The reign of the Overlords, after their transformation was record breaking in how brief it was. See, its things like this that sets Mark Ellis' Outlanders apart from all the vast majority of the other series that are available for reading. Pretty much everything that is published by Gold Eagle is Episodic, or Stand Alone. They have no impact at all in the overall picture of the series. Deathlands had it years ago, when Laurence James wrote it, and then the short period of time that Mark Ellis, Mel Odem and another gentleman named Terry were working together to try and keep the continuity intact. However, that is long since gone, and the other series that GE puts out are suffering from it as well. Rogue Angel, Mack Bolan, Stoney Man, they're all episodic and thus suffer from it. In many ways, Outlanders has more in common with a Television series than it does a book series. Take Stargate SG1, Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica, Jericho, and Heroes just to name a couple. Each show has an overall Story Arch, and in some cases, the entire year is a story arch, such as what you have with Heroes. But at the same time, each show has individual episodes that don't have much to do with the overall story arch, but still contribute to the series. Outlanders is just like that. The first thirty or so novels the overall story arch dealt with the Cerberus Exiles attempting to overthrow the powerful Baron's while at the same time learning about Humanities hidden past. Then the overall arch changed in Children of the Serpent. The Barons became the lost Annunaki pantheon, the Overlords. Now, the arch has taken a major turn once again. The events in this novel deal a major blow to the Overlords, with the death of not two, but possibly all of them, and the destruction of Tiamat. Individual episodes are good, but the episodes that contribute to the overall story arch are by far and far the best. And this novel is one of the best the series has to offer to date. Don't fret, it has everything that the fan of the series has come to expect over the years. Exotic locals (Egypt, the Sinai desert, even space). Beautiful women (the introduction of another character as well, someone who's true intent has yet to be revealed), adrenaline pumping excitement - especially towards the end... hell, who could ask for anything more? Oh, the death of Team Phoney - Err... Team Phoenix. Top notch, 5 out of 5.