Gen¹³ : Netherwar

Gen¹³

by Christopher Golden

Five teenagers brought together by the covert operations organization I/O to become the United States government's next generation of super-powered operatives: GEN¹³

Unwilling to be I/O's pawns, the teens escaped the orgnization's clutches with the help of renegade agent John Lynch, who soon became their mentor and friend.

Now, in their greatest adventure, the young heroes must stop the operatives of I/O from gaining access to the demonic power of the Hellgate - and possibly from destroying the world as well!

234 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

CHRISTOPHER GOLDEN has been called “the king of the horror-thriller.” The New York Times bestselling, multi-award-winning storyteller has made his mark in many mediums, as a writer of novels, screenplays, animation, audio dramas, and comics, and as an editor of landmark horror anthologies. His work has been published in dozens of languages around the world. Winner of the Bram Stoker Award, the Shirley Jackson Award, and the Audie Award, he has been nominated for others, including the British Fantasy Award. His best-known novels include Road of Bones, The House of Last Resort, All Hallows, and his latest, Carry Me to My Grave. He lives in Massachusetts, where he watches too many movies and eats too much chocolate.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

The original Gen13 was one of the best hero teams around a generation ago; they were young and smart and cool, didn't have the weight of decades of previous continuity on their shoulders like Teen Titans or Gen X, but they always managed to get the job done and work well as a team when they had to. Fairchild, Grunge, Burnout, Rainmaker, and Freefall never became first-rank household names, but their first comics are worth reading, as is this first prose novel. There's a Vatican connection that seems a bit tenuous, but the witty banter and snappy dialog keeps the story moving and the character development becomes as important as the plot line.

[Paz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lento y tremendamente plano.

[Nick McDowell · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far better than it could have been. Since none of the characters introduced in the book could appear in the then ongoing comic series and none of the comic book characters could be allowed to grow develop or have arcs in a spin off novel it was very difficult for the authors to develop tension. By putting the titular characters in the back seat and making them a feature of the book rather than the focus Christopher Golden and Jeff Mariotte were able to tell a kind of neat story and avoid Starwars Christmas Special levels of badness.

[Willow Redd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been a fan of Christopher Golden since I read his X-Men: Mutant Empire trilogy of novels some years ago. Since then, I’ve always been on the lookout for his stuff. And later, when I started getting into Hellboy, I found many of the HB novels were also Golden’s work. So, when I saw that he had written a Gen13 novel, I was definitely curious.

And the story he has created here is definitely within his wheelhouse, as the team is approached by a Cardinal with a very vital mission; keep the gate of Hell closed. It’s right out of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which he would also write novels for), in fact the team is faced with a literal Hellmouth, only they call it a “HellGate.” In fact, Grunge and Burnout talk about Buffy, and the “new show” that’s about to start with a “Sarah somebody” in the lead. Also, Grunge is sure that Hell is in Los Angeles. Sounds familiar...

And, of course, what would a Gen13 story be without their old I/O enemies being right in the middle of everything? Lynch and his kids end up facing an army of Keepers and hordes of demons in order to help the Cardinal save the world from the apocalypse. And it all goes down in Las Vegas.

So, if you’re a fan of Gen13 or Christopher Golden’s writing, or just a fan of good supernatural action/adventure, give this one a read.