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Book Reviews – Transformers: Exiles

Book Review – Transformers: Exiles

One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall!

I loved TF: Exodus, and couldn’t wait to read the sequel. Sadly I wish I never read Exiles.

First let me say the good things I liked about this book. Number one I loved all the new bots that showed up. Like Blurr, Wreck Gar, Silverbolt (at this point I don’t remember if he was featured prominently in Exodus), and Prowl. Really that’s where my likes end, and honestly there is only one reason why! That reason being that TF: Exiles relies heavily on the Unicron Trilogy. *HEADDESK!* 

First of all we as Transformers fans know what a huge mcguffin and plot device The Matrix Of Leadership is right? This book takes that to a new level when it says that it’s moving inside Optimus Prime’s chest. This was just creepy to me. It was like Alex Irvine was saying Optimus had a living being inside of him. I don’t think Cybertronians can be pregnant can they? I understand that The Matrix is a living force, but the way that I read the book it sounded as if the Matrix would pop outta Prime at any given moment. I understand the point of Exiles is to chronicle the voyager of the Autobots to find the AllSpark, but did it have to take 12 or 13 chapters to even get a notion of what the Decepticons were doing?

The book takes place in several places, but the main two are a planet called Velocitron and of course Junkion. As I said before I like reading about Blurr and his exploits, and I understand that that Matrix was leading Optimus to finding something important. However the parts where they were on Velocitron just didn’t thrill me at all.

So Junkion and Wreck Gar….. Well the one big thing is that Wreck Gar and the junkions do not speak TV. At least I didn’t infer them to be speaking TV. Again without giving anything away the Matrix sends the Autobots here to find something. Oh and boy do they ever. A ancient Cybertronian artifact. The one thing I haven’t mentioned so far is that from the point of being on Velocitron to landing on Junkion there is a spy amongst the Autobots. Now I’m not gonna give away who it is, but that was an interesting twist.

The final thing I’ll say about TF: Exiles is another thing that BORED ME TO DEATH! Which was the “Parts 1-4” of Alpha Trion’s writings in the Covenant. This was the same issue I had with Exodus.  I understand every book needs to have exposition, but these were just endless prattling. I nearly stopped reading the book because of this “mini-chapters”  Again without spoiling the book for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, I’ll say I wished it would have ended with Optimus letting out a battle cry. However there is an epilogue, and it bored me to tears as well. I was happy to stop reading at the end of the 40th chapter. There just had to be one more Covenant entry from Alpha Trion, and then the epilogue though. UGH! *HEADDESK*

As someone who loved the story in Transformers: Exodus, I must say I was very let down with Exiles. This is a minor thing for me, but I think the reason why I wasn’t immersed in Exiles was because it’s paperback format only. Yes there are E-Book versions, but I prefer my books in hardcover edition. It is easier for me to read them that way. Another reason why I didn’t think this book was because of the pulling from the Unicron Trilogy storyline. I’m not saying it had to be GEE-WUN, but still it didn’t carry the same awesomeness that Exodus had.

Book Rating: 3/10

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TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

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