Gears of War: Anvil Gate Book

'Philosophical, moralistic choices and deep thinking in a Gears novel - who knew!'

Here we go with Karen Traviss third novel in the Gears of War series, Anvil Gate. It has a sort of daunting ring to it - the read itself wasn't, but blimey this one doesn't pull any punches. You may puke on the way while reading this, blood and guts aplenty.

I've seen death, I've seen the dead - reading about it doesn't really bother me. I'm sure that's just not me, as a society we've become desensitised towards certain taboos - death, war, religion, violence, ethnicity etc. I'd throw 'free thinking' within that analogy, but then it means a slightly different thing to me - where are all the great thinkers of our age? There was a reason I went off a tangent here - the characters in Gears novels represent each of the ethos I've mentioned - Baird the free-thinker, Marcus violence, war and death. Dom really does come across some issue regarding his race and then there's Hoffman, who surprisingly represents pretty much everything I've mentioned, the best and the worst. For a character in the game who really is a bit of an arse, Karen Traviss hopefully got some praise for writing in some real and raw characteristics that some writers are afraid to commit to their pages - taboo subjects. I'd argue that many writers want to be a commercial success (obviously), whether that's their novel selling well, or a Twilight 'I want to sale the film rights' hope. The majority of the topics mentioned seem to either get skimmed over or ignored. This novel in no way does that - in some ways Anvil Gate sticks a finger up to the established carebears out there. Hey these are my own thoughts, I'm most likely wrong, but still it's how I viewed this particular piece of fiction.

Damn it, I forgot about my tea *slurps*

Anvil Gate has a similar feel towards its structure, it places a heavy emphasis upon survival but also delves into the political vacuum that has been left by, well, no government. Still Chairman Prescott leads the COG, or so he thinks. What's left of the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) has fractured into four separate entities; the citizens of Pelruan (citizens of the tiny island that was left untouched by the Locust hordes) who hate the UIR (Union of Independent Nations) and the Strandard (survivalists types - do anything to anything, sorts!) and COG. All attempt to make an uneasy alliance for the greater good, that being the survival of humanity. Should be fairly easy now the Locusts are all dead, right? Wrong! There's a new dastardly foe afoot - no I'm not telling you who, sheez read the novel. Tensions run high in Anvil Gate more so than in any other of the books. The whole "The ends justify the means" become the posit of the day.

This time around Baird takes front row seat, that being it's written in first person perspective from his point of view. Traviss has a different take on Baird than the games. In the console games he is an arsehole to put it bluntly. In this book he is still an arse but becomes more likeable as the jack-of-all-trades loveable rouge sorta persona. I like that - throw in a bit of heroism and he turns into a tangible asset. His loyalty to Cole and Marcus really come to the fore here. Out of all of Delta Squad (Marcus, Dom, Cole and himself), Baird is mostly suited for this post war rebuilding era due to his scientific mind and engineering skills - it feels like he actually matters now.

Dom is still broken over his wife Maria and begins to make amends for his self-loathing by attaching himself to Marcus.

Bernie is still around, though more so in the background this time over, though she is rushed to bring forth the actually topic of this novel, that being the Siege of Anvil Gate. A 36 year past old conflict Colonel Hoffman was involved in - his choices still haunt him today. Hoffman and the elusive Anvil Gate, the "defining moment in his career" as we have read previously. I didn't find the flashbacks this time around nearly as compelling as they were in Aspho Fields but they were still interesting. Some of the decisions he makes aren't for the faint hearted.

The author really knows how to set up little clues along the way, little details that end up mattering a lot later on in the novel. We see the roots of the Hammer of Dawn in Adam Fenix's (Marcus's father) mind in this novel, we see the first possible hint at the Locust with Elaine and we see the first fractures of the COG here in the novel beginning with old grudges from the Pendulum Wars.

We also finally get to see the Lambent again, being absent in Jacinto's Remnant, we get a clear glimpse at how dangerous this new enemy is and how what little peace we had after Gears 2 is now gone as well. It's a tough read at times, but it's vastly improved from the previous novels in my opinion.