brilliant prequel to the game adds depth to the universe and characters. slickly written and fast paced combat scenes ( )

I have read all of the Gears books, they are all well written and add a lot of depth to references made in the games. In Anvil Gate the survivors have begun to rebuild on the old Locust Stronghold however a new foe arises and the COG have to band together with the stranded to survive. The book series gives insight into the minds of Col. Hoffman, Anya and others. If you enjoyed the games I highly recommend the books. ( )

Gears of War one of the top selling games but now New York's #1 best selling author has turned it into a series more violently detailed graphics, drama,war,love,hate, good against bad. I love the gears franchise i am a huge gears fan i also would hope to join the army when I get older that's what dragged me to this book and the cover of it two of smartest people on delta squad sarge. Fenix and Damon Baird with their lancers fighting off locust. This books is amazing you can literally picture whats going on in the book. If your a Gears fan then Karen Traviss has brought you another amazing book to read. ( )

I'd been looking forward to reading the story of Anvil Gate ever since I played Gears of War 3 and especially after I finished reading the first two books. However, it just wasn't what I expected.

Following the pattern of the series, what happened at Anvil Gate is told via flashbacks, while in the present day humanity continues to struggle to survive. But unlike how I felt about Aspho Fields and Jacinto's Remnant, I had little to no interest in the flashback sequences. The story of Anvil Gate isn't bad, just that it was completely overshadowed by the much more exciting events that was happening in the present day. So often I just felt like skimming the sections with Anvil Gate just so I could get back to what was happening to our characters on Vectes, which I felt was more the "main story" in this novel.

But Karen Traviss continues to give good insight into the personalities of the main characters. This time, we get to learn more about Damon Baird who I didn't really care for while I was playing the game, but I grew to like him more because of this novel. However, I was disappointed that there wasn't more of my favorite character Sam Byrne, given how in her backstory she is from Anvil Gate, but I did get to find out more about her parents. ( )

The third book in the Gears of War series by Karen Traviss follows on directly from events at the end of the last book Jacinto's Remnant and is still building up to the finale of the video game Gears of War 3. Delta Squad and remaining Cog Forces have settled alongside the inhabitants of a sheltered naval outpost at Vectes. They maintain an uneasy truce with a group of Indie refugees who hold a valuable source of Imulsion. The two sides struggle to bury an enmity that burned for generations during the Pendulum Wars. Bands of Stranded pirates nibble at the order that both sides crave. And if that wasn't enough, boats are going missing or found bereft of crew, mysterious holes punched through the hull.
For all you lovers of Damon Baird (there must be someone out there...don't all holler at once) you'll love this one as Traviss has a good go at poking around in Baird's uber-cynical smarty pants noggin.
Possibly less effective are the flashbacks featuring a young Adam Phoenix pining over lost reliquaries while fighting in an urban hell of war theatre. In the same timeline a young Hoffman commands the defence of Anvil Gate and resorts to questionable though pragmatic tactics that will haunt him forever. I did love the story of Bai Tak, the Pesanga volunteer with his team of grinning machete wielding hill men. You'll remember him from the Aspho Fields flashbacks in book one. The main timeline moves along a bit more with the CoG learning how to combat Lambent and that data disc from Gears 3 finally turns up to wallop an even bigger wedge between Hoffman and Prescott.As ever the characterisation is superb, with great dialogue alongside more introspective examinations of the main players and the effects of war on human morality. Oh and there's a fair bit of backs to the wall Gear on Glowie action... and with Lambent involved that means plenty BOOOOOM!!!! Enjoyable stuff. ( )