Gears of War: Anvil Gate by Karen Traviss follows closely on the heels of the alliance between the Gorasni and COG remnant in Jacinto's Remnant. In it, Marcus Fenix and the rest of Delta Squad and Jacinto survivors and the rest combat a force deadlier than the Locust Horde. It's called: the Lambent. And it's invading Vectes Naval Base. Can Colonel Victor Hoffman and Delta Squad defend it like Hoffman defended Anvil Gate? Only time will tell.
The book opens with Corporal Damon Baird in a bar when Bernie Mataki walks in with a dog and announces her plan to hunt down the Stranded who are still terrorizing them. Trescu, the leader of the Republic of Gorasnaya, invites the COG to visit their imulsion drilling platform Emerald Spar to see how it can better be defended against Stranded forces. Bernie, Anya, and Samantha Byrne are attacked by four Stranded and the three women capture them. Hoffman tries to extract information, and when he runs out of options, he turns things over to Trescu who promptly kills one of them to soften up the youngest. He tells Trescu what he needs to know and the COG works from there. Meanwhile, Marcus, Sam, Dom, Baird and a couple of the Gorasni guys are searching for a missing trawler. The citizens are rioting when Marcus arrives and calms people down. Baird's trying to piece together what happened with Jace Stratton. Fishermen haul in a glowing fish and everyone freaks out. Baird blows it up, taking the boat down. Baird pieces it together that the Lambent have been attacking the fishing boats. Prescott wants it kept quiet which pisses Hoffman off as he thinks the people ought to be told the truth. On patrol, Bernie and a few others listen to Scepter as it reports seeing a weird tree inside a boats hull.
Thirty-two years earlier, during the 62nd year of the Pendulum Wars, Victor Hoffman, a lieutenant in the COG army, gts ready for another day at Anvil Gate (a.k.a. Anvegad). Meanwhile Adam Fenix is getting ready to ship out for Tyro in Western Kashkur. In the small nation Pesang, Bai Tak signs up with the COG to feed his family. Adam waits in Tyro for the UIR to invade. The UIR have changed targets and began a siege on Anvil Gate by blowing up the road way, cutting them off from the rest of Kashkur.Sander's dies, Adam and the 26 RTI (Royal Tyran Infantry) try to reach Anvil Gate and Hoffman's holding the fort. Bai Tak and six Pesanga soldiers are met by Padrick Salton who takes them to Hoffman. The siege isn't going well. Hoffman surrenders after days of fighting and uses that to kill his captors. Pad Salton, Bai Tak, and the Pesanga soldiers hold out while the civvies, including Samuel Byrne's wife and unborn daughter, flee for Jacinto. Samuel Byrne dies during the siege. Adam, after seeing and hearing how bad the fighting at Anvil Gate was, quits the COG army to become a scientist to find a way to stop war.
In the present, Baird and the rest of Delta go with Clement and her crew to investigate Trescu's missing ship. Lambent stalks appear in the ocean. Baird grabs his Lancer and tries to take it down by himself. He succeeds and is rescued by Dom and Marcus in Gettner's Raven. They learn that the Lambent are heading for Emerald Spar. The COG and Gorasni fight to save the imulsion platform but to no success. The Lambent destroy the rig and the Gorasni remnant join the COG on Vectes. Gettner tells Baird and company that the Lambent are en rout to Vectes. Hoffman persuades Lyle Ollivar to get his Stranded together and fight off the Lambent. Hoffman arranges Vectes Naval Base to have the same kind of traps and breaches that he'd made at Anvil Gate. The battle is severe but with minimal losses o n the human front. A pair of Lambent leviathans show up and Baird wrecks the coastline using the Hammer of Dawn to deal with one while Michaelson's navy takes out the other one. After the fight, the Stranded flee, leaving the COG and Gorasni to the island. Hoffman, no longer having confidence in Prescott, breaks into his office and steals a disk. Bernie hunts for her dog, mac, who ran during the fighting. She finds him amidst a growth of Lambent stalks. The novel ends with her calling to Vectes for help.
All in all, a good, solid novel. Probably the second best in the Gears of War novel series. It's pack full of emotions from Hoffman worrying about what he did at Anvil Gate to defending the COG's last base with Gorasni soldiers, and Dom still trying to come to terms with how he killed his wife. I'd recommend this novel for any fan of the game series.
The book opens with Corporal Damon Baird in a bar when Bernie Mataki walks in with a dog and announces her plan to hunt down the Stranded who are still terrorizing them. Trescu, the leader of the Republic of Gorasnaya, invites the COG to visit their imulsion drilling platform Emerald Spar to see how it can better be defended against Stranded forces. Bernie, Anya, and Samantha Byrne are attacked by four Stranded and the three women capture them. Hoffman tries to extract information, and when he runs out of options, he turns things over to Trescu who promptly kills one of them to soften up the youngest. He tells Trescu what he needs to know and the COG works from there. Meanwhile, Marcus, Sam, Dom, Baird and a couple of the Gorasni guys are searching for a missing trawler. The citizens are rioting when Marcus arrives and calms people down. Baird's trying to piece together what happened with Jace Stratton. Fishermen haul in a glowing fish and everyone freaks out. Baird blows it up, taking the boat down. Baird pieces it together that the Lambent have been attacking the fishing boats. Prescott wants it kept quiet which pisses Hoffman off as he thinks the people ought to be told the truth. On patrol, Bernie and a few others listen to Scepter as it reports seeing a weird tree inside a boats hull.
Thirty-two years earlier, during the 62nd year of the Pendulum Wars, Victor Hoffman, a lieutenant in the COG army, gts ready for another day at Anvil Gate (a.k.a. Anvegad). Meanwhile Adam Fenix is getting ready to ship out for Tyro in Western Kashkur. In the small nation Pesang, Bai Tak signs up with the COG to feed his family. Adam waits in Tyro for the UIR to invade. The UIR have changed targets and began a siege on Anvil Gate by blowing up the road way, cutting them off from the rest of Kashkur.Sander's dies, Adam and the 26 RTI (Royal Tyran Infantry) try to reach Anvil Gate and Hoffman's holding the fort. Bai Tak and six Pesanga soldiers are met by Padrick Salton who takes them to Hoffman. The siege isn't going well. Hoffman surrenders after days of fighting and uses that to kill his captors. Pad Salton, Bai Tak, and the Pesanga soldiers hold out while the civvies, including Samuel Byrne's wife and unborn daughter, flee for Jacinto. Samuel Byrne dies during the siege. Adam, after seeing and hearing how bad the fighting at Anvil Gate was, quits the COG army to become a scientist to find a way to stop war.
In the present, Baird and the rest of Delta go with Clement and her crew to investigate Trescu's missing ship. Lambent stalks appear in the ocean. Baird grabs his Lancer and tries to take it down by himself. He succeeds and is rescued by Dom and Marcus in Gettner's Raven. They learn that the Lambent are heading for Emerald Spar. The COG and Gorasni fight to save the imulsion platform but to no success. The Lambent destroy the rig and the Gorasni remnant join the COG on Vectes. Gettner tells Baird and company that the Lambent are en rout to Vectes. Hoffman persuades Lyle Ollivar to get his Stranded together and fight off the Lambent. Hoffman arranges Vectes Naval Base to have the same kind of traps and breaches that he'd made at Anvil Gate. The battle is severe but with minimal losses o n the human front. A pair of Lambent leviathans show up and Baird wrecks the coastline using the Hammer of Dawn to deal with one while Michaelson's navy takes out the other one. After the fight, the Stranded flee, leaving the COG and Gorasni to the island. Hoffman, no longer having confidence in Prescott, breaks into his office and steals a disk. Bernie hunts for her dog, mac, who ran during the fighting. She finds him amidst a growth of Lambent stalks. The novel ends with her calling to Vectes for help.
All in all, a good, solid novel. Probably the second best in the Gears of War novel series. It's pack full of emotions from Hoffman worrying about what he did at Anvil Gate to defending the COG's last base with Gorasni soldiers, and Dom still trying to come to terms with how he killed his wife. I'd recommend this novel for any fan of the game series.
