This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 29, 2012.

Meg: Origins

By Steve Alten – Gere Donovan Press – August 16, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

Many people would characterize the Meg series as a guilty pleasure. I think it's silly to get apologetic about one's choice in entertainment, but I'd certainly admit that Alten's books are goofy. The subject matter (giant prehistoric sharks!) is so appealing, however, that I have no trouble ignoring the creaky bits and enjoying the ride.

I've always liked sharks, and Alten focuses on one of the most interesting of all: Carcharodon megalodon, ancestor to the great white shark. Through some REALLY flimsy science and frantic “ignore the man behind the curtain” hand-waving Alten brings the megalodon up from the Mariana Trench to where it can snack on people for four books, with a fifth on the way.

Meg: Origins is an e-book prequel novella to his first story, Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror. The events in this prequel are referred to a number of times throughout the series, making this prequel fairly redundant and unnecessary. Still, I was lured in by the premise (giant prehistoric sharks!) and the $0.99 price tag. The story had all the familiar issues—stilted prose, paper-thin characters, chunks of scientific exposition that still manages to seem hinky—but as with the other books, the giant prehistoric shark action makes up for the weak spots. Did I mention this book has giant prehistoric sharks(!) in it?

Steve Alten is not an especially technically skilled author, but he is a very enthusiastic one. It's easy to imagine him at his computer thinking “Oh man, wouldn't it be cool if THIS happened?!” and then tapping away frantically. The 12-year-old inside me agrees: yes, it would be totally cool. Radical, in fact.

I doubt I'll pick up his non-Meg stories, but as long as he keeps writing more books about giant prehistoric sharks(!), he's got a customer in me.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 11, 2019.

The Phantom City (Doc Savage #10)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – 1933

Review by Robin Marx

After what seems like too many America-bound stories (The Red Skull, The Czar of Fear, Quest of the Spider), this entry is a return to globe-trotting adventure. After being attacked by a group with high-tech weapons (basically rail guns, which was surprising to see in a story this old) Savage is approached by an Arab seeking to hire the Helldiver submarine (last seen in The Polar Treasure) for mysterious reasons.

Put simply, this is the sort of story I read Doc Savage for. It has a brisk pace, world travel, a lost civilization, subhuman savages, advanced technology, and an exotic beauty. It was nice to see the return of the Helldiver submarine, as it seems like gear, treasure, and vehicles acquired in pulp stories and comics all too often evaporates between episodes.

I was starting to lose interest in the series after bland installments like The Red Skull and The Czar of Fear, but this story was a return to form. It looks like the following volume is another story set in America, but hopefully it maintains this level of energy.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on May 30, 2018.

The Sargasso Ogre (Doc Savage #8)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – 1933

Review by Robin Marx

Returning from their last adventure, upon leaving Egypt Doc Savage and his companions have their ocean liner hijacked by modern day pirates and taken to the Sargasso Sea. Doc Savage finds himself working to protect both the passengers of his ocean liner and a shipful of beautiful castaways while dealing with well-entrenched enemies led by the titular “Sargasso Ogre.”

This was one of the better entries in the Doc Savage series so far. It felt a bit more grounded than some previous installments (i.e., no giant poisonous bats this time), but it included exotic locations, an interesting antagonist, and plenty of action.

Doc's companions didn't seem especially effective this time, so Doc is left to do most of the heavy lifting. The women presented in the story were surprisingly well-rendered for the time. Their leader instantly falls for “woman-proof” Savage, of course, but she and her crew prove to be brave and resourceful.

Bruze, the “Sargasso Ogre,” is one of the more interesting opponents portrayed in the series so far. He's physically intimidating, but in his one hand-to-hand combat with Doc he immediately realizes he is outmatched, and spends rest of the book actively avoiding another fight, instead relying on animal cunning to put Savage in danger. The moment in which he receives his comeuppance is rather abrupt, but it makes for an exciting scene of poetic justice.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 9, 2017.

The Red Skull (Doc Savage #6)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – 1933

Review by Robin Marx

Doc Savage is hired to investigate a criminal conspiracy and incidents of sabotage involving a dam being built by the Desert Mining Construction Company.

While not without merit, this is probably the blandest entry in the Doc Savage series so far. There are some nice action scenes and Monk's secretary Lea Aster, the sole female character, shows a great deal of ingenuity in getting word out to Doc Savage after she is kidnapped by hoods. This volume was also completely absent of dated racist stereotyping, but this is probably because the book takes place entirely within America's borders. Exotic locations are a big draw for me when it comes to pulp fiction, so their absence in this story was a definite negative. While physically present for most of the story, another weakness is the fact that Savage's five companions also do not have much dialogue.

The criminal conspiracy at the heart of the story is interesting, as is the fact that Doc Savage spends a great deal of time surrounded by people who may or be secret saboteurs. However, once again the masked mastermind is dramatically revealed to be...a minor, unobtrusive supporting character who we are given no prior reason to suspect. This seems to happen frequently in the Doc Savage stories. A little foreshadowing would go a long way when it comes to adding some impact to the final reveal. All in all a C effort.

★★☆☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 24, 2012.

The Rocketeer: The Complete Adventures

By Dave Stevens – IDW Publishing – October 2009

Review by Robin Marx

Like many people, I first encountered The Rocketeer through the 1991 movie. The character seemed so pitch-perfect that I took it for granted that he dated back to the golden age of pulp, so it was surprising to find out that his first appearance was as late as 1982.

This volume collects the entirety of the all-too-brief comic series, cut short by creator Dave Stevens's death from leukemia at 52. And it's great, my only complaint it that there isn't more of it. The pace is fast, the action exciting, and the whole tone of the series is exhilarating and fun. I especially appreciated the sly references to pulp heroes like The Shadow, distinctive horror actor Rondo Hatton, and pinup queen Bettie Page. The artwork, complete with remastered color, is stunning as well.

Highly recommended to pulp adventure fans.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 24, 2012.

Rocketeer Adventures Volume 1

By Various – IDW – December 14, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

This anthology series resurrects the Rocketeer, a great character that had been largely out of action since creator Dave Stevens's fatal bout with cancer.

The talent tapped for this miniseries make a valiant effort to deliver adventure yarns in the spirit of the original. While the final product is well worth a read, living up to the creator's original work proves an impossible task. There's some great storytelling on display—particularly with one story hinting about the Rocketeer's Pacific War exploits—but the artwork is a bit weak for some stories. And while anthology stories are nice, I missed the longer plots from the first series.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 19, 2016.

The Man of Bronze (Doc Savage #1)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – March 1, 1933

Review by Robin Marx

I had heard a bit about the titular “Man of Bronze,” but had never previously had the chance to read one of the stories. As a fan of pulp fiction I read this, the first of the Doc Savage novels, with great interest.

Both the characters and the story lived up to expectations. Doc Savage was, as expected, a paragon of mankind. He's a genius with the physique of an Olympian. His close friends—a lawyer, geologist, chemist, historian, etc.—are equally as remarkable, but I found it interesting that even in their chosen specialties, they're still second to Savage himself. Savage is basically perfect. And while this would grate in many forms of literature, it's easy to accept in pulp fiction from this time period. Savage is JUST that good.

While I had a bit of trouble keeping Savage's five friends straight (some have more of a presence in the story than others), I enjoyed their first adventure. The pace was brisk and it involved both strange assassins and the treasures of a lost Mayan civilization deep in the jungle. Just the kind of thing I was looking for when I picked up this book.

This book is a product of its time, but I was pleasantly surprised with how the Mayans were treated in this book. They weren't all ignorant savages, many of them were shown to be intelligent, civilized, and generous. They worked with the main characters and had agency, rather than being presented as inferior cannon fodder. There's only one named female character in the book, but she too is shown to be bright and resourceful, and is never reduced to a mere victim or damsel in distress.

I found the ending to be a bit abrupt, but the heroics and breakneck pace of the story appealed a great deal. I look forward to reading future installments in the series.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 6, 2012.

Secret Operative K-13

By Joel Townsley Rogers – Black Dog Books – April 17, 2012

Review by Robin Marx

Set during World War I, this pulp tale (serialized in Everybody's Magazine from late 1928 to early 1929) focuses on a British spy far behind German enemy lines and the Sopwith Camel pilot (Richard “Big Dick” Fahrnestock) sent on a suicide mission to rendezvous with the enigmatic operative.

From the earliest pages, this book has a considerable amount of cheese, with General von Schmee speaking like Colonel Klink. Monocles abound. Keeping things fair, the British and American characters are also heavily stereotyped. The British squadron commander is straight out of Blackadder Goes Forth (“Eh, what?”) and Big Dick Farhnestock is the epitome of the big, dumb-as-a-brick, tough-as-nails American hero. The espionage plot is functional but not spectacular, with enough twists (and a couple obvious ones) to provide a few surprises over the course of the book.

One of the exciting things about pulp fiction is that it often surprises you; many pulp stories are much better than you'd expect them to be. They were churned out at a brisk pace by writers who were generally more interested in paying that month's bills than creating anything of any lasting artistic value. Even so, a fraction of these stories stand the test of time, presenting a surprisingly original character or presenting a beautifully rendered action sequence. Unfortunately, this is not quite up to that level. The first 75% of it is enjoyable dumb fun, but the climax is so gripping that the story as a whole actually suffers. The last quarter of the book reveals Joel Townsley Rogers as a fairly talented writer, which makes me wonder why there was so much cheesiness in the earlier chapters. Laziness? Tight deadlines?

Released for the first time in book form by Black Dog Books, I'd only recommend this to existing pulp fans. It's a fun story, but too uneven.

★★★☆☆

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