Night of the Phoenix

The Guardians #4

by Richard Austin

Having survived the nuclear winter that resulted from World War III, America and the Guardians, a four-man team of extraordinary warriors, face new threats from Yevgeny Maximov, dictator of the Federated States of Europe

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Action

218 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 1985

About the author

Richard Austin is a pseudonym of Victor Milán

Reviews

[Paperbackbooks86 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book four of the ongoing Guardians series was easily the worst of the series so far. The author went back to the never ending word salad. Pages and pages of unnecessary details about anything and everything. The biggest complaint in the series so far was the never ending extra descriptions of pointless things, that made the book a chore to read. In the last book, it seemed as if the author was getting away from the descriptions, and focusing on the action.

It made the third book the best and made me excited to jump into book four. Instead, book four came back with a vengeance of negatives. The first half of the book is essentially a recap of the first three books. The back end of the book finally picks up and reads much better.

Unfortunately, this book finds our leader stuck in a love story, which I was hoping wouldn’t happen. The ending is a bit of a disappointment for some of the villains, and overall, I found myself not very interested in this one.

I’ve said it in each review so far, book 5 seems like the book that take the series in a new direction, based off its cover. It depicts a more Rambo esq story and is shorter in length, leaving me to believe we will get more action and less descriptions.

You do need to read book four however to continue the story, but be ready to find it a chore. 2.5-3 out of 5 stars.

[Judge · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked this one up back in the 80's and finally got around to it. Did not know it was book #4 in a series. Might have liked it a bit more if I had read the first 3 books. However, I still was able to read it as a standalone book. Had some good action from time to time, which made it a quick read. Based on this book alone I will probably not look for any further books in the series.