Hagberg, David

About the Author:

David Hagberg is a former USAF cryptographer and has spoken at CIA functions.  He lives in Florida.

AVERAGE REVIEW SCORE:

2 out of 5

(1 book)

Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines

The novellisation of the third Terminator movie.  This book, like the film, has varying degrees of quality but is mostly on the poor side.  The chase scenes, whilst dramatic, rapidly become repetetive and, eventually, irritating.  The later scenes, in which the T-1s and H-Ks are unleashed by the T-X, however, are brilliant, really capturing the the robot-foot-crushing-human-skull feel of the movies.  Swinging back the other way, the attempts at creating emotional interaction between the characters are feeble at best. 

Where the book outstrips the movie is in the occasional parts where it reveals more than we see on film.  I particularly enjoyed the prologue, showing a bit more of mankind's war-torn future, but also little bits, like where the T-X enlarges her breasts specifically to distract a police officer, add an extra bit of interest to the story. 

Something I found really annoying, however, (being picky about such things) was the massive continuity error in which, at the beginning, John Connor sends the Terminator back in time, but later on it's stated that his wife sent it back and by that time John was already dead.  These things really bug me, particularly when you consider that it could easily have been sorted out with a bit of effort from an editor or a proof-reader. 

I loved the concept that Judgement Day is, ultimately, inevitable but that just wasn't enough to counterbalance the fact that the story is pretty bland in general.

2 out of 5

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Terminator (here)