Outlanders: Tomb of Time

This latest book in the Outlanders saga is a great piece of fast-moving entertainment. As always, it's rich in drama, action, atmosphere and characters. Recommended highly.

Another Outlanders science ficion / pulp masterpiece, with cracking dialogue, cool dinosaur rides, and action, action, action. Makes one wonder why the current Deathlands suck out loud ...oh, wait, different writer under the "James Axler" pen name. Amazing how the man behind the curtain makes a project sing, or, unfortunately, hit a series of bum notes. Highly recommended!

Tomb of Time is a terrific read, a return to the glory days after the somewhat disappointing Purgatory Road and the travesty of Sargasso Plunder. All of the heroes are back with their personalities, IQs and sense of humor intact and once again they're facing an old enemy who has an awesome power at his command.This novel almost seems like it was written to make up for the lapses of the previous pair. The scenes set in the ruins of Chicago are vividly written and spooky, made more so by the introduction of the fanatical Megera and her Furies. Once Brigid, Kane, and Grant get to Thunder Isle, the mystery of Domi's apparent death and resurrection is solved while another one is dumped in their laps. And of course it wouldn't be an Outlanders novel without plenty of action and mayhem!I can't think of any single book in any series I have every read that featured a deadly weapon that carbonizes people, faceless fanatics haunting bombed out ruins, a time-trawled serial killer from 19th century England, a machine that might make people immortal, a Pacific island populated with prehistoric cave bears and Tyrannosaurs, a charismatic master villain, a female samurai--and a whole lot of swashbucking derring-do. In some scenes, I could almost hear the John Williams score.And though I like action as much as anybody, what made this book sing for me was the interaction between the heroes and the villain. Those were the best parts of teh book. They flew off the page. The dialogue was sharp, witty and downright hialarious in places. One thing about Tomb of Time comes through loud and clear--the surefire way to kill the Outlanders series is to condemn it to the revolving door system of writers that plagues most of Gold Eagle's other series.That policy pretty much ruined Deathlands for me since I never knew the quality or consistency of the book I was getting. It could be good, bad (mostly bad) or terrible so I stopped buying them.Outlanders is far more complex than Deathlands, much more cutting-edge and up to date in its sensibilities so it's hard to picture another writer coming in with the same feel for the characters, much less the imagination and skill of the main writer. Sargasso Plunder pretty much proved how hard that is.If readers were put off by that book don't give up on Outlanders. Tomb of Time more than makes up for it!

The latest Outlanders offering by Mark Ellis has as usual been an action packed roller coaster ride from the opening sentence to the very last sentence. The return of one of my favorite Outlanders villians made this excellent novel that much more enjoyable. Coming on the heels of Sargasso Plunder, which did not pack the same kind of punch that Tomb of Time did, had this novel returning the loyal reader to the Outlanders universe that we left behind at the close of Purgatory Road. The mystery of thunder island and the question of who or what saved Domi from what would have been certain death is answered here. But as always and in true outlanders fashion more questions were raised in this novel then were answered. My hat goes off to Mr. Ellis who has done it again, proving again why Outlanders is far above your average Sci-fi action series. Anyone who loves the Outlanders series will not be disappointed by this novel.

This latest novel of the Outlanders saga is by far one of the best to date. Mark Ellis is back with a vengeance! The book starts off where PURGATORY ROAD left off, our charismatic characters Kane, Grant, Baptiste, and Domi are back in what was once Chicago looking for further evidence on just what happened on that fateful day when Domi was supposedly imploded and dissappeared. Their searching of course is interrupted by a severe chem storm and a strange supply of characters with arcane powers. The small group are split up and vulnerable to the strange denizens of the doomed metropolis and a mad mother nature. If die-hard fans of Deathlands will remember, this was the only place that held a chron-jumping facility and the story deals with this and a diabolical character comes back stronger than ever - and die-hard fans of this series will remember him! The ideas behind this storyline are many and great, I always loved the concept of time travel. The background 'feel' of this particular novel really enhanced the story along with the new breed of bad guys that are introduced here. I find it hard to review a book and not give anything away for the readers to enjoy, so I won't ever do that, but for all you newcomers and avid fans alike - this one's for you! As always, it leaves you wanting more and more. I hope that time travel is delved ever deeper in this series that can take it to a whole new level. Will our small band of heroes get trapped in time? Read this latest novel and find out.