Dave's Book Rant:

     Transformers: Fusion (Book 3)

     Another long delay on this one, not really sure why, maybe Cian had a
lot of other committments he needed to work this around.

CAPSULE

     A bit of a short read at 221 pages, but a good one.  Oh, it's not high
literature or anything, but it is certainly competently crafted.  It gets a
little plot-devicey at times, but the conclusion was generally satisfying.
Only caught a couple places where the editing missed stuff.  Recommended.
$6.99/$10.50Cn/#5.99UK 

RANT

     Another story taking place over a rather short period of time, although
there's a break of 3-4 days in the middle of it to allow for healing and so
forth.  It picks up a few days after Annihilation, as well.

     I retract my criticism of the Keeper plot peaking too early, as it turns
out they weren't quite as disposed-of as initially seemed.  In fact, very
little of the damage inflicted in Annihilation was permanent, and several
apparently dead characters were returned to full strength by the beginning of
Fusion.  So, not a lot of actual annihilation in Annihilation.

     Then again, there wasn't much fusion in Fusion either.  The
Constructicons were revealed to have been stuck in Devastator mode as a
result of the climax of Annihilation, and the uneasy truce between Autobots
and Decepticons flickered on and off in this book, but the idea of fusion
really didn't enter into the main plot.

     Cian did a good job of NOT belaboring points, especially given the large
number of scenes where character A will be catching character B up on
events.  The writing in general wasn't scintillating, but it was well-crafted
enough to not get in the way.

     Plotwise, it went pretty well.  Annihilation really remains the climax
of the trilogy, since this book was all about keeping the Keepers from coming
back, rather than defeating them at the peak of their powers.  The Matrix was
once again a plot device, as well as being the macguffin that everyone was
after (first Megatron has it, then the Keepers have it, then Spikes tries to
get it, then Optimus goes after it).  While not quite reaching the "use it to
open a jar" point lampooned in SuperDeformers, it did feel like it had become
too mundane.  I hope that Cian leaves it alone in the next book (which he's
reportedly writing).  On the plus side, Cian doesn't spend any time cleaning
up after Hardwired this time out, so he does get to concentrate on moving
thigns forward.

     Plot summary: Prime hands over the Matrix to Megatron while the cyborg
Townsend is sent back from the Void by the Keepers to construct a gate for
them.  This business done, Megatron gives the Matrix to Omega Sentinel and
takes off for Washington to have a little talk with the President about that
whole nuclear missile thing from Annihilation.  The Autobots mope around a
bit before Townsend pops up and takes control of Bluestreak (he also nabs
Starscream later on).  Greaves the supergenius decides he made a lot of
mistakes in the previous two books and sets out to woo Spike and Isolde
Holden (the reporter who's friendly to the Autobots).  He makes both
Cybertronian factions an offer to share tech and ideas, but this gets messed
up by Townsend, who also gets his hands on the Matrix and stuffs it into the
Void.  Meanwhile, the President is trying to lure both sides into an ambush
where nanotech disassemblers will be used on them.  The Autobots figure it's
an ambush, and work with the Decepticons to set up a G1 cartoon style battle
as a trap of their own.  Somewhat inconclusive results, as neither side is
totally ambushed, but Omega Sentinel seems to have started turning good.
Spike tries to get the Matrix back, but fails.  Big battle at the end, Prime
goes into the Void, people change sides a lot, Prime gets the Matrix, Omega
Sentinel sacrifices itself (and Devastator) to destroy the Keepers.  Sekrit
human spaceship finds Devastator adrift in space in the epilogue.

     I've left out a lot of plot points, but that's the basics.  :)  If
future Transformers novels are at this level rather than at the level of
Hardwired, I look forward to them.

     Dave Van Domelen, notes the President is never named, but he does seem
to act like a "not as dumb as he looks, but not as nice either" version of
Dubya.