I'm not sure why I keep reading and increasingly liking these books. They're pretty dumb, painfully affected, and are only as stylish as joyless repetition of "fuck" can make them.

But they truck along nice and violent-like at such a good pace, with enough spectacle and action to apparently make me a committed fan of the series. ( )

This third volume in the saga of the Gweat and Tewwible Avery Cates is non-stop action from beginning to end. Amazingly enough, this series just keeps getting better and better. (However, the books do need to be read in order for most enjoyment. The first two books, The Electric Church and The Digital Plague are also fantastic and well worth a read.)

This series follows the Gunner Avery Cates as he kills his way through all of his problems in a disturbingly bleak future history. Lots of dark humor, and plenty of bullets flying keeps the reader riveted to the story. This is one of the best science fiction/action series out there. ( )

Rather bloodthirsty which made it seem like it was drawn out. Not as good as the previous ones in the series. ( )

I won this book thru Library thing and I have never read anything by this author. I always hate that I am picking up on something that is #3 in the series. I am not a fan of science fiction anyways and I found in certain parts of the book, I felt lost. I think this book is more geared towards men who like the sci-fi adventure novels. The language is a bit strong more for mature audiences. All in all, a good book to win a copy. ( )

I like these books. They are exactly what they are meant to be: violent noir adventures, set in a nasty future. Avery is a product of his times, and while I can't say I *enjoy* going along with him given the sort of things that tend to happen to him, I am entertained by it.

Having said that, there were not one but two twists towards the end of The Eternal Prison that I did not see coming, and the fact that this is not the end of the series was not one of them.

I can't wait to see what happens to our foulmouthed hero next. ( )

I had thought Jeff might be wearing thin his character, but this book surprised me. I won't go into details as to why it did because that will ruin what I see as a twist. To me Somers work are perfect for anyone looking for a mixture of the hard-boil detective style with science fiction, futuristic society stories.

A fast-paced, action-filled, dark and dystopic sci-fi revenge story. With cyborgs!

As The Eternal Prison has been my first encounter with the Avery Cates series, I was concerned that I'd be lost without having read the first two books. This turned out to be an unnecessary worry; The Eternal Prison stands on its own rather well. When Somers alludes to events from previous parts of the series, it's pretty easy for the uninitiated reader to connect the dots. He doesn't belabour these points either, so I wouldn't imagine that a seasoned Avery Cates reader would find them bothersome.

How to say this wouldn't delving into spoilers... Hmm. I especially enjoyed the twist roughly half-way through, which made the previous slightly odd structure suddenly make sense. Well played, Mr. Somers. Well played.

Readers averse to swearing may want to steer clear, however. It's effective, given Avery's character, but may be overwhelming to some. ( )

This is the third in the series. It started well, but I was disappointed when I realized that
this was not the end of the series. I did not find any overall structure, Avery Cates continues
to shoot his way through life and his friends die at regular intervals. ( )

Spanning close to a year, this book is split in to 4 parts. The first half of the novel rotates between two different stories involving Avery- Avery's mission to kill Dick Marin, and Avery's time in jail.

Seemed slightly confusing at first, but it was easy to hop on the rail with Avery and ride through this adventure with him.

In Digital Plague we last saw Avery as broken man physical and mentally, just not caring about anything anymore. In Eternal Prison, we see the doggedly determined, vicious Avery back in action.

Could not put this book down! ( )

The third, and not at all final book in Somers' Avery Cates series finds Avery old and broken and tired and alone in the decimated remains of New York among the leftover survivors of the plague of the previous book. After wiping out the Electric Church and its clumsy first generation avatars, then nearly wiping out the human race as a plague carrier and helping Dick Marin stage a coup, Cates starts the third book by getting arrested rather than being killed because he is a "Person of Interest".

The story then alternates between his time in a prison reminiscent of the camps in The Bridge on the River Kwai and Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, through to his ultimate escape and the story of a post-escape Cates back at his job as a gun for hire. By the time the two story and time lines join back up at the end of the first part of the book the surprise revelation is really only a surprise to Avery himself.

The rest of the novel follows Avery through this world he has largely created, to New York, then Moscow and back to the desert prison camp. The System Cops and a new Army are at war for control of the remains and each faction has a use for Cates. Avery, of course, plays a role in ending the war while playing whatever side is most advantageous for the moment. A pawn with just a little bit of free will.

While the Cates of The Digital Plague was a man on a mission to kill everyone and everything in his path, thinking it was for his own righteous reasons, the Cates of The Eternal Prison spends a lot of his time not really caring if he lives or dies. Cates learns a lot about himself, and realizes that he is happiest when he is "on a rail", following a clear and set path, to his own ruin, someone else's, or both. Indulging his fatalistic side lets him absolve himself of responsibility both for himself and for the consequences of his actions. Even so, he still has a personal mission of revenge to carry out, and that mission will carry him and us through to a fourth novel and the world after the triple apocalypse of psychotic homicidal robot priests, digital plague and civil war.

This time through Cates is a little less foul mouthed, not much less violent, and a bit more self aware. The Eternal Prison is a good read, and it will draw you along the rail, right next to Avery. ( )

Spring09

Spring09