Novel Reviews

#1 Voices by John Vornholt 
Plot:  Taila is framed and is on the run from the PsiCorps; Garabaldi visits Earth and Mars to clear her name.

This was on the whole a by the numbers novel.  The continuity appearances of Bester, Harriman Gray, Deuce, and Kosh were all interesting but don't make up for the curious nature of the novel.  The first half on the station is interesting enough, and is pretty interesting when it comes to Kosh helping Talia learn to use her telekinetic powers.  The bombings against PsiCorps and the intrigue of military teeps versus PsiCorps were all interesting.  Then Talia and Deuce run off station and end working together, hiding out with reclusive Indians who live in the desert on Earth.  Right...  Then Garabaldi teams up with Gray to help clear Talia's name on Earth and Mars.  This part was also a little weird.  Sure it was interesting to visit these worlds, but somehow it just doesn't seem right.  In addition to this, the characters all seem a little flat.

#2 Accusations by Lois Tilton 
Plot: Ivanova is caught in a far-reaching conspiracy between Raiders and Earth, leaving her out of a job.

This novel was great but extremely complicated, a great mystery for Ivanova to solve.  The action versus the Raiders and intrigue of the Earth corporate system were all very interesting.  A great mystery novel, unfortunately with all the twists and turns it became so complicated the characters ended up having to summarize the book several times so the reader could follow.  Still very entertaining and handled very professionally with realistic characters.

#3 Blood Oath by John Vornholt 
Plot:  G'Kar fakes his death and travels to Narn when a Blood Oath is taken against him.  Ivanova and Garabaldi follow.

A pretty straight forward action novel and on the whole a light enjoyable read.  An interesting continuation of "Parliment of Dreams", it featured some good material for G'Kar but was actually more of a Ivanova-Garbaldi novel.  The visit to Narn was pretty interesting with great descriptions of the canyon cities.  There was plenty of action, but the bit with our heroes hiding in the ancient grave caves got a little weird (reminds me of a Doctor Who story actually) and there was a nice big shoot-out at the end with some tactical thinking, always a delight.

#4- Clark's Law by Jim Mortimore 
Plot:  Sheridan and visiting aliens get caught in the web of President Clark's new capitol punishment law.

This novel started off GREAT but quickly descended into the worse B5 novel I've ever read!  The preludes about President Clark explaining the situation of Earth being economically dependant on her colonies so can never give them freedom was extremely interesting and actually explains a lot about Clark's actions throughout the series.  The first arrival of the Tuchaq were extremely interesting what with the wierd rituals, then there was a nice bit of bloodshed in a battle and the Tuchaq belief that loosing consciousness means becoming a soul-less one.  THEN... there was about 50 pages of dense, dense, DENSE descriptions about how the 'soul-less' Tuchanq was in a cargo bay acident and the crew's efforts to rescue her.  The worst reading I've done, absoluely impossible to follow and totally inconsistant with what we know of the station, an absolute dead weight.  Then there's this ridciulous subplot about the widow of a alien-screwing human who got killed by the Tuchaq; why is this here?!  Who cares?!  There's nice appearances of Morden, the Shadows, President Clark, etc that are enjoyable.  There's even a bit where Morden saves Garabaldi's life and says he's valuable (this plays out in the series' fourth season!).  All in all a terrible, terrible novel.

#7 The Shadow Within by Jeanne Cavelos 
Plot:  The story of Anna Sheridan's arrival at Z'ha'dum; Sheridan's first adventure on the Agamemnon.

This was the first 'arc' B5 novel but it was actually pretty slow most of the time.  Anna's first discoveries of the Shadow tech and meeting Morden are all interesting but pretty slow.  The Sheridan subplot on the whole was pretty uninteresting and done in the most uninteresting possible mannor.  It was interesting about B5 opening and Homeguard trying to destroy it.  The final bits where Anna stumbles across the Shadows is the really interesting part but it wasn't exactly a classic.

#9 To Dream in the City of Sorrows by Kathryn M. Drennan 
Plot:  The story of Ambassador Sinclair's life on Minbar.

This was probably was the best B5 novel yet; it was totally 'arc' and explained the great mystery of what happened to Sinclair for that year and a half on Minbar.  The origan of the Rangers was extremely interesting, but most of the training stuff and Marcus' origan was pretty slow.  The first third of the novel about Sinclair not knowing what's going on, not very interesting.  However the Sinclair-Sakai and Sinclair-Marcus relationships were great.  Best of all, the appearance of Ulkesh and Sinclair's suspicion of him.  The finale where Sinclair, Sakai, and Marcus fly White Star protype fighters to attack the  Shadows attacking the Babylon 4 time rift was great!  The loss of Sakai was quite a twist, and final bit where Marcus opens a message from Valen/Sinclair that says "I found her" was very touching.  A great novel.

Dark Genesis: The Birth of the PsiCorps (PsiCorps Trilogy 1) by J. Gregory Keyes 
Plot: The first century of the PsiCorps, beginning with the discovery of telepaths which is led by Senator Crawford.

This book is a strange combination of history and novel.  The first half and second half star different characters, which is a shame because Senator Crawford in the first half is a very entertaining character.  He understands the inevitable problems and bloodshed so he engineers it to happen with the minimal casulties.  Of course he's despised by teeps for controlling them.  Also starring the first half are some teeps, including Blood Alexander (Lyta's great-great-grandmother, I think) who is first a rouge then the top teep in the MCA.  The novel basically shows the PsiCorps leader then the Resistance.  In both halves is Kevin Vacit, a hidden P13 teep who becomes Director.  What's really interesting is when Vacit investigates the teep's mysterious origans and finds out about the Vorlons!  It reveals a big secret about Lyta- she's had a Vorlon inside her family lineage!  It also shows the origan of Bester, who is an Alexander as well!  He was the daughter of Fiona, leader of the Resistance and Vacit's secret daughter.  I think Bester is Lyta's Father!  This book is excellent, but it's occasionally slowed down by endless Resistance action chapters, which detract from Vacit and his search for the Vorlons, which was easily the most interesting part of the novel.  Another slight disappointment:  we hear about first contact with the Centauri but don't get to see it.  Oh well, it's about the teeps not the Centauri.  Another slight dissapointment is it never mentions the several world wars that JMS mentions in the show every once and a while.  Classic, especially considering that not a single B5 regular is in it:  the closest is Bester as an infant.  If you like PsiCorps at all, you will love this novel!

Deadly Relations: Bester Ascendant (PsiCorps Trilogy 2)  by J. Gregory Keyes 
Plot: The story of Bester's life from 6 years old to becoming a PsiCop just before the series begins, as he looses his humanity thanks to repeated tragedy and loss, and discovers a conspriacy within EarthGov connected to the Shadows.

Even better than Part One, a truely classic novel.  This novel is very much the life of Bester, and we get very deep into his psyche from his childhood to his growth into a man.  His life is very beautifully described, how he is something different from the rest of the teeps.  This is truely a classic novel, with themes and symbolism and the story of man turned evil, it's like an explanation for Hitler almost.  It also of course details what life is like for a telepath living in the PsiCorps.  In an interesting subplot, a cruel mundane now rules PsiCorps (officially) after Vacit's death has a particular hard-on to screw over young Bester, because of his Vacit connection.  A minor nit: Vacit and Monkey are the only characters from the first novel to appear, and they have extremely brief one page cameos in their deaths.  Not much carry-over from the first book.  Without going into detail this book is an absolute classic, I feel like I should be colormarking imagery in passages for my English class!  An strange happens though: the final fourth of this novel is very different from the first three fourths.  It is straight forward and plot based, with a cruel Bester.  We no longer see his thoughts just him and the Earth conspriacy.  The close characterization earlier is absoluely gone.  In fact, it seems like JMS himself wrote the last fourth, and without insulting JMS, apparantly he can't write a personal character story about Bester with symbolism and themes the way Keyes can.  The straight forward tone is very distracting, and while the conspriacy is interesting it is only seen in a very half-assed mannor.  Cameos by Lyta and Byron are nice but their whole histories with Bester are not shown, so their cameos seem very sudden and useless, out of place in a story about how Bester became the monster he is today.  Still a classic though, the best B5 novel yet.

Final Reckoning: The Fate of Bester (PsiCorps Trilogy 3) by J. Gregory Keyes 
Plot: (after Crusade's 5 years)  After loosing the telepath crisis, Bester is a fugitive from the new PsiCorps and from Garabaldi.  He hides in Paris on Earth, where he falls in love with a Mundane woman while Garbaldi catches up to him.

This is definitely the best B5 novel yet, in fact it read like a classic novel.  It definitely surpassed Part Two.  Bester has easily become the most devealoped character in the B5 universe as a result of these two novels.  The opening bits of the novel, with Bester on the run were extremely exciting plus we get an extremely interesting look into Garabaldi's new happy family life with Lise and their 4 year old daughter Mary, which is darkened by his continuing hunt for Bester.  In the meantime we get a facinating look at the future world, after the Telepath War after the Crusade Drakh Plauge crisis.  For the first time really we get a view of the B5-era Earth and what it is like; it is not much different than it is today just a few floating cars.  (Yes I know we visited Earth last novel but that was before the B5 era really)  It's really interesting how the new PsiCorps works, how the Excalibur is so popular, how Earth has strict quarantine laws now, how the galaxy is being explored more than ever thanks to the Excalibur, etc.  Once Bester gets in Paris, things slow down a bit but remain just as interesting.  The concept of Bester falling in love with a middle aged Mundane woman sounds laughable, but Keyes is a brilliant writer of dialogue and somehow inexpicably it works perfectly here.  Bester becomes a completely sympathetic character even though he mercilessly kills anyone and no longer feels the slightest remorse at killing teeps.  The love story progresses slowly and realistically.  Meanwhile Bester gets a job as a novel critic, which serves to make this book feel even more classy and Bester criticizes these non-existant books (the author must be very confident of his own work in order to do this!).  A minor nit; Bester is haunted by the ghost of Byron.  This seemed just a tad silly, and at times this novel felt one big fat sequel to Season Five (which is a bad thing!).  Then we get to the final third of the novel, the final chase between Garabaldi and Bester.  I must say never before in a novel have I felt so drawn into it, totally experiencing the events.  It is because I know that this novel ends with Bester's death and in this final chase, who knows how it will end?  Will Garbaldi kill Bester?  It seemed a certainty.  The ensuing chase across Paris was extremely tense and exciting.  And as for hilarious scenes, how bout Garabaldi getting stuck in a garbage chute with Bester above him, taunting him as he is about to kill him?  Another tiny nit; in the final chase through the streets, it's down to Bester and Garabaldi.  A lucky cop hits Bester with sleepers, thus depriving him of his telepathic abilities.  This was a horrible plot twist!  It robs Bester of a fighting chance!  It's like the author says well its the end Bester must be caught by Garbaldi... he can't have his powers!  And plus, when it's down to a gunfight tween Bester and Garbaldi, it starts raining so the PPGs don't work, thus alleviating Garbaldi of the easy way to kill Bester.  Please!  It basically says if it wasn't raining, Garabaldi would have done the 'dark' thing and killed Bester, in other words Garabaldi's character hasn't grown better even though Keyes claims this later on.  Plus there is a semi-ridiculous fist fight between Garabaldi and Bester, when Bester 30 years older than Garbaldi.  But aside from a few dumb things, this final chase was extremely involving.  Then we get the denouement; Bester's trial where he gives a stirring speech about how humanity declared war on telepaths the moment they existed, he was only responding in kind.  It was very stirring and ultimately true; Bester was the good guy after all!  Plus it gives some wonderful connections to Book One.  We get to see an aging Bester in jail on sleepers (though being deprived of his precious powers for a decade should have been played up much more).  We get to see Bester's (and the world's) reaction to Sheridan's 'death'.  Then the end, when Bester realizes that the new heroes of the telepath movement, his secret parents the first rebellers, and plus him as a baby gives him the final insult on them and he dies... with his paralyzed hand unclenched.  Again a nice connection to Book One, and an extremely sad and touching death for Bester.  Many people have complained we didn't see the Telepath War, and I was very disappointed too, but this was a truely amazing novel that I really love.  And besides we got most of the rundown of what happened; Sheridan intervened to somehow end the war (it was on the backcover if you're wondering) and Lyta ambushed Bester but he sensed her coming and somehow managed to kill her.  Plus, Lyta removed Garbaldi's asimov not to harm Bester.

The Long Night of Centauri Prime (Legions of Fire Book One) by Peter David 
Plot:  In the years after Season Five, Emperor Londo lives under Drakh control as the Centauri are slowly transformed into a repressive dictatorship by the ambitious Durla.  Meanwhile, Vir begins to learn the truth about Londo and the Drakh.

Unlike the Bester Trilogy, this book is more conventional in its storytelling, which is nice to return to.  While nothing particularly epic occured, this novel was a very intriguing devealopment.  Peter David remains the best writer of all things Centauri.  It's really great to see what happens after Season Five, what happens to Londo and Vir and the Centauri/Drakh.  Londo's situation is very involving, the worst punishment imaginable.  His desperate attempts to warn Vir of the truth are very touching.  We get a new cast of Centauri regulars, mainly Durla and Senna.  While there's nothing spectacular about them they are competent.  Senna saving Londo from suicide was pretty touching.  Best of all we get much needed facts on the nature of the Drakh.  They have a group mind, the Drakh Entire, the one who controls Londo is called Shiv'kala, we learn about the origan of Keepers as well as Sleepers and Dreamweavers.  The Drakh remain essentially 2-dimensional villians unfortunately, but pretty cool ones.  The sleeper plot to kill Sheridan was interesting only in Vir's involvement, and I presume the 'Hidden Base' the Centauri are unearthing is the Shadow Planet Killer used in "Call to Arms" (it's mentioned in the book's back text).  The best part of this novel is the brief appearance of some Technomages, who slowly aid Vir to combat the Drakh.  This is an extremely cool plot devealopment!  I suspect that Kane is actually Gideon from "Crusade"; we also learn that Technomages are forbidden from lying or altering reality.  Unfortuately bits of this novel become mini-novelizations of "The Fall of Centauri Prime" and "Objects at Rest".  Also, while I liked the appearance of Timov, Londo's only wife, I didn't particularly care for the appearance of Mariel.  She seduces Vir and Durla has a crush on her, how un-interesting.  Her only use seems to be making Durla hate Vir.  I can't wait to see Vir and the 3 Technomages fighting the Drakh!

Armies of Light and Dark (Legions of Fire Book Two) by Peter David 
Plot:  Vir works alongside Technomages to expose the Drakh on Centauri Prime.

This is a very cool novel that presents some major events in the story line, some major revelations, and some major character growth.  What more could you ask for?  Vir is really the star of this novel, and his character's evolution over the course of this book is really excellent.  Not to mention the fact how cool it is seeing Vir working alongside Technomages against the Drakh!  And that opening action sequence where they destroy the Shadow Base... WOW!  Why couldn't we see neat stuff like this on B5 during the Shadow War!  Also very cool how it sets up the Drakh attack on Earth as well as Galen's involvement in it.  Plus, we get some major revelations about the Technomages and Galen in particular.  The middle third of the book perhaps slows down a bit with Mariel, but it's a horrible tragedy that Vir put upon her (again, amazing character growth), not to mention Vir's determination to keep the Alliance out of the Drakh conflict and handle it himself.  Even at the end of B5Y5, I would never imagine Vir as being the leader of a resistance movement to unseat the Drakh.  Wow!  I like the Londo diary interludes, which manage to sum up Centauri political events as well as the timeline.  The final third, when the Alliance visits the Centauri, was also very exciting.  Particularly Garibaldi and G'Kar going, Welsh getting killed (quite a shocking plot twist!), and Vir personally gaining revenge on the killer.  Amazing stuff, though I wish more was resolved in this novel, for I fear the final one will be a tad rushed with so much material to cover.  And of course we FINALLY get to see young David Sheridan (though not his Keeper/betrayal... not yet!).  Part Three should be really great.

Out of the Darkness (Legions of Fire Book Three) by Peter David 
Plot: Durla and the Drakh plot war with the Alliance; Vir's Resistance strikes back when David Sheridan is taken.

Definitely the best B5 novel yet.  Moreso than the final season of the series THIS is the ending to the story we were all waiting for, and the novel is just full of major revelations and events in the history of B5.  Shiv'kala revealing himself to Vir.  G'Kar revealed to be spying on Centauri Prime trying to protect Londo.  David being taken over by the Keeper and leading Sheridan and Delenn to Centauri Prime.  Vir revealing the truth to Garbaldi and managing to put a knife to his neck.  The final half of the novel in particular is just totally involving and epic.  Detonating the Tower and revealing the Drakh, Mariel killing Durla, Shiv'kala detonating some of the planet bombs, all the brilliant intertwining with "War Without End 2" and "In the Beginning".  The final moments between Londo and Vir were real tear-jerkers, nowhere else was the tragedy of Londo's life delivered so perfectly.  Londo's final moments with G'Kar were almost as moving.  It's all classic stuff.  There's only a few weak spots in the whole thing: after a three novels of buildup the Centauri never actually went to war with the Alliance which was a major let-down.  The Drakh came off as quite the paper tiger in the end, particularly Shiv'kala.  It's absolutely ridiculous that the Technomages didn't know about the Drakh being in the Tower or the planet bombs.  And David with the Keeper didn't do any shocking betrayal or anything, he just went to Centauri Prime, which was another big let down.  But even still, wonderful stuff!  Notice that Galen never appears or get mentions in this novel, which almost definitely means that he got killed at some point in CRUSADE.

Casting Shadows (Passing of the Technomages Book One) by Jeanne Cavelos 
Plot: During Season One; Galen is inducted into the Technomages as they investigate the threat of the Shadows.

Yet another stellar and moving B5 novel.  Of course as a part one, it's a little on the slow side, with more of an emphasis on Galen's back story than actual events, and the narrative does seem a tad more drawn out than a normal novel.  While Galen quickly rose to become a favorite character in Crusade, this novel did a spectacular job in making Galen a fully revealed character who I truly came to care about.  The first half of the novel doesn't have much going on at all, though it's certainly interesting to learn all the secrets of the Technomages (without ruining their mystique it is vital to note) and introduce all the Technomages.  Galen's relationship with Isabelle was particularly well done, and in their short time together it became terribly tragic and moving.  Galen and Elric also had a wonderfully establishment and moving relationship.  It's extremely interesting to see the Technomages learning of and dealing with the Shadow threat, it's a vital untold story to the B5 Saga.  Galen's spell of destruction is an interesting plot development.  Once Galen and Isabelle go investigating the Drakh it picks up quickly though.  It's great to see the Technomages in action for once, and against the Drakh and an actual Shadow too.  This kind of thing, in addition to a detailed establishment of the Shadows' gathering, is the kind of details we needed to but didn't see in the actual show, so it's great to get it here.  Burell's secret investigation into the Tech was interesting but didn't seem particularly important, unless they're leading into a shocking revelation about the true origin of the Tech (JMS previous said the Technomages got their Tech from the Shadows, didn't he?).  The fights between Technomages was great stuff (though it wasn't on a large-scale level of course).  Isabelle's death was incredibly tragic and moving, beautifully portrayed, and well contrasted with the events of the episode "Chrysalis".  Kell's failed secret plan was good stuff, and I'm curious what Elizar intends to do with a frozen Shadow teep.

Summoning Light (Passing of the Technomages Book Two) by Jeanne Cavelos 
Plot: During Season Two; the Technomages prepare to flee the Shadows while Galen confronts them.

Another masterpiece that reveals major story arc events with a great sense of epic-ness and poignancy.  While Book One moved a little slowly in introducing the many characters, this one is all action.  These characters are all extremely real and developed, and their passing here is marked with great sadness.  The writing is exceptionally superb, and got me crying on several occasions.  The Technomages are revealed as the turning point of the Shadow War, it's all wonderfully involving.  Kell's end at the hands of Elizar is a wonderful but sad sequence.  The intercutting between Galen and Blaylock infiltrating the Shadows and Elric's false second front on Babylon 5, expertly spliced into "Geometry of Shadows" makes for a very exciting read.  It's amazing how the events of that episode are given so much more meaning (though in a few places they're obviously inconsistent with the actual episode and later ones).  There are several great action sequences of Galen's rage against the Drakh and the Shadows, which are particularly great because they actually fight the Shadows, something never really done in the series.  This is like the missing, and better, chapter of the Shadow War from the series!  But the greatest scene is when Elizar reveals the truth to Galen, and in turn turns everything we knew or thought we knew on our heads.  The Technomages get their tech from the Shadows!  It explains everything about the Technomages, everything.  Why Galen and all Mages are so full of rage, why Galen's one term spells bring destruction and Shadow communication, etc.  Though this fact had been spoiled by JMS before, the context was not, and this is still a incredible and shocking scene.  And it adds a great deal more to the passing of the Mages, because by breaking their Shadow alliance their days are ended, and they will slowly wither away.  It's extremely tragic, and played up expertly in the book.  The entire ending of the book is extremely tragic and moving.  Elric's rage towards Londo at first seems odd but soon makes sense, and when Londo's 'kindness' puts Carvin on the doomed transport it truly is horrible.  The only real fault with this novel is that Anna Sheridan just *happens* to be the one Shadow vessel the book keeps running into.  The Kosh chapters serve as an excellent frame that finally explain a little bit about Kosh's motivations, and the fact that the Technomages' Passing was his pivotal reason for changing is even better.  Kosh's intervention on Galen was an interesting little twist.  As the Technomages leave known space, things become their most tragic.  Aldwyn stricken with grief at Carvin's death and begging Galen to fight with him was perhaps the most tragic thing of all.  Galen's new purpose, to find all the one-spells, gives his character an amazing full circle that was not apparent until now.  The final chapter entailing the Shadow Hybrid and Galen meeting Gideon was a great ending bit that finally reveals the big secret to CRUSADE (which again was already revealed in the released but un-filmed Crusade scripts but was still great).  However the Crusade scripts make the Technomages' reason for leaving to be Earth's Shadow Hybrid experiments, whereas here it is just an ancillary reason.  Kosh ends the novel saying that Galen and the Mages have transcended their Shadow origins, and it really is true.  Can Book Three possibly be any better?