Crimson Skies [Mass Market Paperback]

The Phantom Prototype pits international detective Paladin Blake against a mysterious conspiracy with a dire plot for mass destruction, to further a sinister political goal! Written pre-9/11, a simple delivery job turns into a desperate fight to prevent a devastating aerial strike on an innocent city. The Phantom Prototype was written by SF author Eric Nylund, who wrote last year's HALO novel, and gives us a portrait of Blake as hardboiled dick in a noir situation. Blake comes off a bit shinier than most hardboiled detective stories, mostly because he's too busy saving his can to misbehave.

On the flip side of the law, The Manchurian Gambit draws international pirate Genghis Khan into a web of intrigue as he tries to get free of his money troubles. Along the way, he rescues fair maidens and heads off on a quest that might free the Chinese people from a foreign aggressor-all for a buck, of course. I'd never hear of Michael B. Lee before this story, but he turns in a good story about a bad man.

Somewhere in the middle of the law, Bayou Blues is a story of Nathan Zachary and his efforts to make a buck off a town under a Louisiana despot's thumb, and maybe do a good deed. This is the original story, by Crimson Skies guru Eric Trautmann. It rocks along at a goodly pace, and comes off a lot like the good stuff in The Maltese Falcon. I never liked Nathan Zachary in any of the earlier Crimson Skies fiction, or the original computer game, but here Nathan is more a Han Solo rogue than the smarmy egotist he comes off as in other stories.

One of the things I like about all of these stories is that the heroes mostly fight and think their way through their problems, with bruises and cracked heads. Most adventure stories have the heroes more or less skate through (more in movies than books, I guess) with not much danger. The Crimson Skies stories come off more like Die Hard, with the heroes getting slammed around a bit. That gives them a bit more grit than a lot of stories.

The first story, about Paladin Blake, while interesting, came off as a little dry to me. Some of the "plot twists" were a little contrived for my tastes, but the action was solid enough, and the ending was great.
The second story, about Johnathan "Genghis" Kahn, was easily my favorite. I wasn't sure if I'd enjoy a story that made the "bad guy" out to be the hero (and he IS a bad guy - he steals, he lies, he cheats, he kills for fun - he's definately an unsavory character) but the story was hilarious, and a lot of the plot twists totally broadsided me; I never saw 'em coming. It was great, especially the very end.
The third story, about Nathan Zachary, was a bit shorter than the others, and I wasn't sure I'd like it at first. The portrayal of Nathan wasn't what I was used to based on the PC game (I don't know how he's portrayed in the XBox game and if it's different) and I was expecting a wider array of characters instead of focusing mainly on Nathan. The action, however, was the best of the three stories, and the "air race" at the end was absolutely great. The story simply got better as it went along.

If you liked the XBox game, or like Crimson Skies in general, I'd definately recommend giving this book a shot. It's well-worth the money.

This is a collection of three novellas, two of which were originally published on the official Crimson Skies website. Done in the style of the old pulps, each story follows one of the main Crimson Skies characters as they fly, flight, and con their way to save the day, or line their pockets their pockets in the process. Highly recommended.