Collision: Book Four of the Secret World Chronicle
Author: Mercedes Lackey, Cody Martin, Dennis Lee, Veronica Giguere, Larry Dixon
Publisher: Baen Books
Publishing Date: 2014
Pgs: 570
Dewey: F LAC
Disposition: Irving Public Library - South Campus - Irving, TX via InterLibrary Loan from Hurst Public Library, Hurst, TX
=======================================
REVIEW MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS
Summary:
Destroying the Thulian North American Headquarters has not made life easier for ECHO, or the world. The Thulians continue their attacks, first in unpredictable incursions, then with another all-out assault on ECHO, orchestrated against ECHO headquarters across the world.

Dominic Verdigris has not given up on his effort to obtain The Seraphym for himself, in order to use her to avert his own fate at the hands of the Thulians. Nor have the heroes of ECHO and the CCCP found life anything but harder.

Belladonna's duties have increased a thousand-fold, and now she has responsibility for the lives of every metahuman in ECHO on her conscience. Obviously using the intelligence gathered from the raid on the North American Thulian base to find the main Headquarters is of paramount importance--but once it is found, can she manage to convince the armies of the world to follow ECHO into an all-out attack?

Then Red Saviour risks everything on a risky gambit of her own: send her "wolves" of the CCCP to find the Thulian Headquarters, despite the dangers, and despite the consequences of blowing everything on this hazardous gambit that could very well end, not in victory, but with the world in flames.

_________________________________________
Genre:
Science Fiction
Superheroes
Metahumans
Powers
Comics
Aliens
Nazis
Space Opera
Adventure
Dystopia
War
Mech

Why this book:
Superheroes vs Nazis and Aliens…c’mon, if you know me, you know me.
_________________________________________
The Page 100 Test:
√◄ - good to go.
∞◄ - read on.

The Feel:
This is good homage stuff. The character archetypes would fit in any comic book universe, even their own. Reading this feels like a huge comic book mega event, but not having to buy 56 issues of multiple different comics to get the whole story.

Least Favorite Character:
Sera. Through the whole first act, she’s a one-trick pony pining away for Murdock and the loss of her celestialness, though how much of that she’s actually lost is up for debate.

Favorite Scene:
Bulwark doing a combination of Wolverine’s Fastball Special and Speedball/Unus the Untouchable turning himself and Bella into a racing kinetic-powered hamster ball which he doesn’t know how to stop as they fall back in headlong retreat from Death Sphere and Kreiger Troopers.

Favorite Concept:
Thru John Murdock's resurrection and Sera the Seraphim's problems, we are reintroduced to the world half destroyed by neo-Nazis and Aliens with superheroes battling to save what is left of it. Mostly John’s as Sera disappears into brushed aside anguish over John not returning her feelings and not being the same man anymore, sob***.

Hmm Moments:
"It does not matter that people know we are fighting for them, Ms. Parker. It only matters that we fight." I like the line.

Meh / PFFT Moments:
Sera's PTSD/loss of self/unrequited love/searching for herself and decision paralysis is going to wear if we return to it in depth over and over again. Twice already feels like too much. Though her sob*** over John is old too.

The battle at the ruins of Carter High School is badly coordinated from an authorial point of view. Could've been a quarter the length and much more focused. And the stratagem of the Kreigers and the wolf is asinine. We all get Magneto's the pawns go first idea, but failure to employ your assets in the battlefield until your ground troops have been chewed up is stupid.

The Sigh:
Uhm the "we need to do on-site intelligence gathering" and then the next chapter, their first mission, they find their target. Sigh.

After just saying that she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth, Saviour gives Sera and John the untrusting look after they revive Bear. [pinches bridge of nose] Not sure if that's a too many cooks situation or what. Story bible should've caught it. An editor should have caught it. Hell, it was less than a couple of pages apart

Turd in the Punchbowl:
The Djinni-Dopelganger thing, I can't remember if the readers were aware of that in previous books. It's an unnecessary layer. There's been plenty of double-dealing. Really doesn't need more. Or is the D-D thing an actual thing? Are they really just one or the other? Or are both of them runing around? Or are one of them pretending to be the other one while the other one is around too? . ...shapechangers, so difficult to follow.

The Swiss Army Knife/Deus ex Machina aspect of John and Sera is a bit much. In any situation, they've got just what they need and the instinctual knowledge of how to use it.

Juxtaposition:
As much as I disliked the Carter High School fight, I did like the reverse Fastball Special.

The Unexpected:
And we finally see what Verdigris is afraid of, brain in a box indeed…and who is likely to put him there.
_________________________________________
Last Page Sound:
So the Penny subplot is left dangling. The Russian scumbag is a Russian scumbag. We're not sure what happened with the D-D thing. Belladonna's Independence Day speech at the end is all bluster. They don't know where they are. They've had since the end of WW2 to figure out what humans are made of and how well they stick together. I know the characters acted like it was an awesome and awe-inspiring speech, but it wasn't. Better to have closed on the fall of Ultima Thule and opened next on the Metisian episode instead of having it be denouement and anti-climax.

Conclusions I’ve Drawn:
570 pages a pop. I'm not sure that I'm in for more. Over 2200 pages deep in the story and not sure if I want to invest more time and effort. I like the characters. And some of the scenes are great. ...we'll see.
======================================= ( )