I thought this was a strong finish to the series. Not so nitty-gritty and one on one battles like the earlier two books [which is what we like, Mano E Terminatoro?], but a really good overall story about John becoming John Connor the great leader.

I personally enjoyed reading about Judgement Day and the immediate events before and after. The end was a bit rushed, with '4 Years Later', '7 Years Later', etc frequently popping up, but Stirling was not trying to encompass the whole war, just the beginning and the end.

What I really liked was the realization that everyone, terminators, Reese and Uncle Bob, all went through the time machine within minutes of each other. It wasn't a protracted, multiple time event. Time travel happened once, then that was it. Certainly makes it easier to understand the movies, even if it does go against the Comics canoninicalness.[which I don't think is even a real word.] ( )

This book is incredible. It is no written master work, nor will it be any more than what it is now in the eyes of the world, but it is incredible all the same. If you are even reading this review, you should be reading this series.

Spoilers? They don't matter. You know how this ends. It is nothing more than sci-fi geek porn dictating events that ultimately lead to the same conclusion as the movies you have already watched or the comics that Dark Horse os prepping to release. Humans die, robots are destroying.. the story is all in the details of how it happens.

After a fight in Antarctica, John Connor is tearing himself apart. before dying horrifically, his girlfriend entered a code base which would permanently disable SkyNet from moving forward into existence. John pushed the button to activate the kill code... Or did he? Everything he remembers is muddled, it is fuzzy and mixed up and highly emotional. Perhaps he was wrong and was told NOT to activate the code. He doesn't dare tell his mother that he may have unraveled their entire effort and helped bring SkyNet online.

SkyNet performs a test run, globally unnoticed, taking control of various electronically controlled "smart vehicles" and murdering thousands. Human kind is fought on multiple fronts by both machines and Human traitors, who have sided with the machines in an effort to save the planet from Humans.

John Connor's father, in child form is introduced. Everything in this trilogy culminates in the final book and 'The Future War' begins.

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ReBlurb:
Not needed, three lines from the publisher are more than adequate.


Rear cover summary:
"The machines are awake--and aware.
There is no destiny but the one we have created,,
There is no turning back-- The future is now. ( )

The future war is now, September 20, 2009


Story (not much different than the movies, just more details of what happened where):

Despite (and maybe because) of their best efforts John Connor and Sarah Connor have failed in preventing Skynet from becoming self aware. Most of the world is caught unaware as the nuclear missles fall and kill billions in a matter of minutes. All that is left are those who were quick enough to get to shelters, the fledgling resistance members and eco/anti technology groups that unknowingly serve skynet. The only hope for humanity is for John Connor to rise up to his destiney and take the fight to skynet before it attempts to go back in time and change history so he never exists.

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This was a pretty good book considering how many differnt versions of the story their are (the orignal movies, the new movies, the tv series etc). It definetly keeps moving and you want to know what happens next. My only problem with this book was that toward the end it did start to jump forward a lot. In one chapter you would be 5 years in the future and then the next chapter you might be another 10 years in the future. I guess the author go told to wrap the series up when he still may have had another book to write. It doesn't detract from the story in this book it just seems like a lot is crammed into the last 5 or 6 chapters. I would recommend this to anyone who likes the terminator uninverse and wants more details as to why this and that happened and those who like good scifi adventure stories with plenty of action. One side note this is part of a trilogy, but you dont have to read the other two to enjoy this one. My guess is they kind of stand alone. m.a. ( )