Infinity Breach

OUTLANDERS: INFINITY BREACH is a strong addition to this series. James Axler has the Cerberus team stumble onto a secret Antarctic laboratory with a lot more than they bargained on retrieving - a super-genius man from the past and an alien weapon that might just have the power to finish off life on earth. As established characters Grant, Brigid and Kane battle a rival team from the murderous Millennium Consortium and the nightmare effects of the activated 'Godkiller' blade, an even greater peril notices the inadvertant activation of the weapon and may threaten the entire human race. This is clearly laying the foundations for a big saga and it will be fascinating to see how it develops. Axler introduces a new character called Abraham Flag, first aware of the 'Godkiller' all the way back in the 1930s and his adventure then connects directly and effectively to the unfolding events in the Antarctic many years later. He proves to be the key both to understanding the mystery of the 'Godkiller' and what eventually comes looking for it... James Axler sets up tense situations in interesting locations well. He's great at dialogue and getting characters across vividly in what they say. The sense of mystery about the weapon and the drama of what happens when it starts its weird effects is urgent and intensified. The crisis, which convincingly threatens every remaining human being on the planet in the 23rd Century, is effectively resolved in a way which leads the story on into the next part of what I hope will be a major saga. INFINITY BREACH has impact, is great genre fiction and entertains with imagination and skill. Ed Griffiths

After a slow set-up, things really kick in to gear once the true nature of the mysterious artifact is revealed. The 'villains' of the piece wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Dr Who and are as menacing as they come, there's also some nice dialogue exchanges - SPOILER ALERT - after Flag is revived he is surprised by Brigid swearing - something which I've always found unecessary in the series. grumbling aside, there are some nice ideas here, Flag is a superb character (I actually prefer him to the usual gang - sorry!) and I really hope he'll be back someday.... This is my favourite book in the series so far - if this standard keeps up I'll be reading Outlanders for many years to come.

Review of Outlanders; Infinity Breach By James Axler The latest book in the Outlanders series, set in the early twenty third century, finds a trio of explorers/adventurers; ex magistrates Kane and Grant and Brigid Baptiste (an archivist with an eidetic memory), who are working for the benevolent Cerberus Organisation in pursuit of an ancient Annunaki artefact, the stone knife `Godkiller'. This mysterious weapon turns out to have been sequestered in "the secret laboratory of Abraham Flag". The fact that this `Laboratory of the Incredible' is hidden deep within the Antarctic circle is the first clue to which well known 1930s pulp hero has been used as the template for the eponymous Abraham Flag. (Similar to `Doc Atlas' in Michael A Black's Melody of Vengeance which I reviewed last year... for those of you who bother to follow my reviews.) Beware Spoilers follow! Indeed, like that novel, `Infinity Breach' is a homage, both stylistically and literally, to the pulp era with a good proportion of the novel being told in flashbacks detailing the contretemps between Dr. Flag and exotic Italian femme fatale Signorina Demy Octavo (Geddit?) during which the devastating power of this Star God weapon is first awakened. There are also brief, tantalising glimpses in the back stories of several powerful relics and artefacts in Flag's museum-like fortress. A museum, the team soon discover, that still has the 250 year-old superman in residence, albeit frozen in a state of Cryogenic suspension. Their acquisition of the `Godkiller' artefact is complicated by the unfortunate arrival of a bunch of well armed mercenaries belonging to the rival Millennial Consortium led by another dominant femme fatale whose fine figure Axler once again goes into some detail delineating. Heated competition for the Godknife ensures before the weapon's power is once again accidentally unleashed. The muti-dimensional blade "cutting into the body of God!" creates an injury in the fabric of reality and initiates the arrival of shimmering beatific angels. However, these ethereal beings turn out to be both disconcertingly indestructible and determined to eradicate all humans whose DNA has been corrupted by the alien Annunaki... even if that means exterminating every human being on the planet.. Purely out of love of course. Towards the end of the novel Flag is hurriedly defrosted in the hope that he can help shed some light on the whole situation. He immediately takes over... figuratively as well as literally by virtue of instantly becoming the most interesting character in the novel (this one of the problems with using these `Doc Savage' type characters; they do tend to hog the limelight and become the main focus of the story.) The unflappable 250 year-old adventurer soon uses fairly basic science to defuse the threat of the annihilating angels in such calm, competent way that you do start to wonder why everybody else seemed to be getting so worried and het up merely by bunch of hovering