Transformers: The Veiled Threat: A Novel

Transformers Movie Tie-In Novels #1.5

by Alan Dean Foster

Life on earth has changed forever, as humans and their courageous robotic allies, the Autobots, must warily work together to protect the planet from the destructive forces of the evil Decepticons. At the headquarters of NEST, tech sergeant Epps and captain Lennox both guard and assist cyberneticist Kaminari Ishihara and the brooding Russian AI genius Petr Andronov as they explore the differences between organics and bots. All around them, alliances fray, distrust grows, suspicions mount, and traitors come out of the shadows.
Meanwhile, Optimus Prime, the powerful leader of the Autobots who is also part of NEST, plays defense, as battles flare up from Australia to Zambia. But escalating Decepticon attacks will culminate in a final confrontation from which no one--man or machine--will emerge unscathed.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 24, 2009

About the author

Bestselling science fiction writer Alan Dean Foster was born in New York City in 1946, but raised mainly in California. He received a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA in 1968, and a M.F.A. in 1969. Foster lives in Arizona with his wife, but he enjoys traveling because it gives him opportunities to meet new people and explore new places and cultures. This interest is carried over to his writing, but with a twist: the new places encountered in his books are likely to be on another planet, and the people may belong to an alien race.

Foster began his career as an author when a letter he sent to Arkham Collection was purchased by the editor and published in the magazine in 1968. His first novel, The Tar-Aiym Krang, introduced the Humanx Commonwealth, a galactic alliance between humans and an insectlike race called Thranx. Several other novels, including the Icerigger trilogy, are also set in the world of the Commonwealth. The Tar-Aiym Krang also marked the first appearance of Flinx, a young man with paranormal abilities, who reappears in other books, including Orphan Star, For Love of Mother-Not, and Flinx in Flux.

Foster has also written The Damned series and the Spellsinger series, which includes The Hour of the Gate, The Moment of the Magician, The Paths of the Perambulator, and Son of Spellsinger, among others. Other books include novelizations of science fiction movies and television shows such as Star Trek, The Black Hole, Starman, Star Wars, and the Alien movies. Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a bestselling novel based on the Star Wars movies, received the Galaxy Award in 1979. The book Cyber Way won the Southwest Book Award for Fiction in 1990. His novel Our Lady of the Machine won him the UPC Award (Spain) in 1993. He also won the Ignotus Award (Spain) in 1994 and the Stannik Award (Russia) in 2000.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

Big fan of Alan Dean Foster and both his Transformers prequels. Good to see a little more of Lennox and Epps.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

Transformers: The Veiled Threat's title obviously refers to the more malevolent "robots in disguise" that is the focus of this novel. The evil Decepticons return once again to conquer Earth under the command of Megatron's treacherous second lieutanant, Starscream.

What I thought was odd about this novel is that you don't need to have seen the first Transformers film in 2007 to understand the plot. The characters, Transformer and human, are introduced all as if this is their fictional debut. Even some of the new characters, like the Autobots Longarm and Knock Out, or the scientists Kaminari Ishihara and Petr Andronov.

Optimus Prime retains his infamous "gentle leader" dispostion, which will no doubt please some of the older fans of Transformers. Bumblebee, also known as "Satan's Camaro" or "the Lubricator" does not appear in the novel, but is mentioned several times. Ratchet and Ironhide, respectively the medic and the weapon's specialist, play prominent roles in the story, a joy for some readers who barely saw them on-screen in the last film. Longarm and Knock Out(who are themost prominent of the new arrivals) are introduced as Autobots who have come to Earth to answer Optimus' rallying call to the stars.


Robert Epps and William Lennox head the organization known as N.E.S.T.(Networked Elements - Supporters and Transformers), a band of troops and Autobots dedicated to wiping out the Decepticon threat. Both Lennox and Epps are both fleshed out, and Epps often provides a sense of humor to the situation.


What's important is that the robot cast is completely fleshed out: from arguements, mourning, and battles; to a unique and often amusing views of our species.

The plot is thick, and will have you saying "Uh oh", worrying, and on edge. And even though this novel is a worthy example of Transformers story-telling, the film it precedes may not be worthy to the throne this novel has set.

Transformers: The Veiled Threat may sound like something for "nerds", but, when you read it throughly, it's definetly more than meets the eye.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought the tie in Transformers Ghosts of Yesterday was much better then this one. The plot was fairly weak and seemed to be more like a comic book minus the beautiful artwork. There were plenty of fight scenes but very little depth to the book.

[Shelby]

This Transformers book made me really happy. I loved every page!

[Megan Cheang · Rating 4 out of 5]

My favorite scène, when Kaminari played J-pop while preparing for sleep inside Optimus the truck. And Ironhide glad he was not the one hosting her because he isn’t that polite not to destroy the music player.
Bruno the villain is an idiot. He has everything and he wants to risk it for more power by allying with Decepticons. Even their names show how untrustworthy they are, and they obviously view humans as insects!

[Benjamen Dees · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating: 4.0 / 5.0

[Anthony Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just an alright story to continue the saga. Nothing earth shattering and no information any TF fan would not already know.

[tammy (eskel's version) · Rating 4 out of 5]

optimus for president

[Greg Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compared to the disjointed, lackluster mess that was "Ghosts of Yesterday" preceding it, "The Veiled Threat" is a much more cohesive read and smacks of Foster's signature enthusiasm and sense of wonder for all things alien. The novel is set in the years prior to the second Transformers film, and largely covers the same terrain as the "Alliance" comic series, for those familiar. Starscream is in full command of the Decepticons here, and he manages a ragtag handful of 'Cons in sabotaging several crucial dams. For those well-versed in franchise lore, his troops are the heavily-armored Payload, the grimy killing machine Macerator, and the lithe, wise-cracking Dropkick. Macerator is Foster's creation, as are a number of other bit-player Decepticons throughout the novel, including a four-armed Constructicon, twin 'Con Ospreys, and a variation of the film's diminutive Reedman infiltrator. The action scenes in "Veiled Threat" are breakneck and absolutely top-notch, most especially the wild climax battle in which Dead End & Swindle show up for a death race and good ole' Barricade returns for Round Two...with Optimus. If you're a fan of the franchise, there's really no excuse for you to pass this up.

[Don · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was okay, it just lacked a plot. Literally, it had no plot. For the first 200 pages it just one Autobot/Decepticon fight after another. Foster depicts the fights well, but that's all there is. Around page 200 he introduces the idea that a small group of Decepticons are trying to resurrect Megatron, but apparently that plot thread is concluded in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen because Foster does next-to nothing with it. At about page 250, he introduces a human trying to work with the Decepticons to kill Optimus Prime, but that's wrapped up in 30 pages. (The book is just north of 280 pages.) Then the book just kind of stops. The human bad guy we just met has been killed and the only character different in any way is Starscream, who now knows there is distention in his ranks.

The end.

I liked the idea of Decepticons workng against Starscream, but Foster does nothing with it. Had he, the book might not have been so pointless. As it stands, though, this book was pretty much a waste of time unless all you want to see are fight scenes. (A trait similar to the movie that follows, from what I read.)

[Billy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is about what happened after robots called Autobots and Deceoticons from a planet called Cybertron came to Earth to find a cube shaped thing called the All-Spark. It was used by the Decepticons to make more of their kind so that they can take over the universe. The Autobots were trying to destroy the All-Spark. They go around the world looking for clues on why the Decepticons whouldn't leave, even after their leader, Megatron, died. I picked this book up because I wanted to know what happened after the first movie. I finished this book because I wanted to know what happened after the first movie. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone because it isn't as good as the movie.

[Victor Orozco · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alright book. Nice to read up on what happened with the Autobots after Transformers. I like that alongside Epps and Lennox they had the honor of working alongside several humans within NEST. Kami and Petr were the best characters. Interesting how the Decepticons worked with a human, nice considering this would be done on-screen in Transformers 3. Thing that didn't make sense was Frenzy, was he malfunctioning or attempting to fight back Simmons? While I appreciate the idea that we go to know how bad things got with Simmons, I just wish he had something to do. C+.

[Sheila · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it better than the movie! Interesting plot, fun lines, a super hot "guest star," and the occasionally awesomely awful line. Like so:

"Nearby, despite his strongest efforts, [spoiler:] found himself weakening in the face of the pitiless punishment being doled out by the implacable Ironhide."

Potentially accidental alliteration for the win!

[Randy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alan Dean Foster is a favorite. Any time you read one of his books, whether an original or a tie-in, you can be sure it will be a fast read. He's very good in the tie-ins at taking a bare bones script and making a real novel from it.
This novel is a prequel tp the second Transformer movie and sets up things nicely.

[Gwen Tolios]

I haven't read the movie adaptations, but I much preferred this one to The Ghosts of Yesterday. There's interesting plot elements, lots of new characters, and tons of details about the TF world that I loved. I was surprised about the loose ends that were hanging around at the end of the novel. Especially since they were not fully resolved in the second movie.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought this one was pretty good. Just hope this book ties in better to the new movie than Ghosts of Yesterday did with the first Transformers movie. Loved the short appearances by Barricade and Frenzy and can't wait to see them in Revenge of the Fallen

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

One word: AWESOME!
Love the action and characters! There could have been a wee bit more 'mystery' to it, but I still love it al in all. I own it it now! :D

Currently 2nd favorite book out there. Read it: 5 times now.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book only took me about 5 days to read, and that's mostly because of how boring the book was.

I'm only giving this two stars because the author has great writing and world building skills, but other than that, this book was a flop.

[Casey K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

These prequel books are great. It gives you a ton of insight into the history of the characters, and hints as to where the story will go. And Foster is a great author.

[Patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another TF prequel adaption with Starscream! Once I see the new movie (or look at one of the many kids books I got today) I'll have an idea what some of these robots look like!

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

... well, it was a pre-cursor to the movie. But it didn't really add anything to the movie.

[Seanz O]

Definitely want to see a movie or something on this!

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a fun read, light and I felt, had a good handle on the characters.

[Darby]

Gives better understanding to movie.

[Doreen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story seems to have too many plots or none at all.