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Transformers #1
Transformers: Hardwired
Welcome to a new world of action and adventure. Welcome to a new generation of Transformers A cosmic civil war fought between two powerful factions -- the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons -- has spread across the galaxy, and the latest beachhead is a world called Earth Caught in the middle is humanity, and sides have quickly been taken.
Who will win the final battle? And when the war is over, will there be enough of Earth left for the victors?
Who will win the final battle? And when the war is over, will there be enough of Earth left for the victors?
320 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 2003
3 people are currently reading
162 people want to read
About the author
Scott Ciencin
163 books78 followersScott Ciencin was a New York Times best-selling novelist of 90+ books. He wrote adult and children's fiction and worked in a variety of mediums including comic books. He created programs for Scholastic Books, designed trading cards, consulted on video games, directed and produced audio programs & TV commercials, and wrote in the medical field about neurosurgery and neurology. He first worked in TV production as a writer, producer and director. He lived in Sarasota, Florida with his wife (and sometimes co-author) Denise.
(Also wrote under the pseudonyms Nick Baron and L.J. Oliver)
(Also wrote under the pseudonyms Nick Baron and L.J. Oliver)
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 6, 2022
“Трансформърс” е една от най-обичаните фантастични поредици на всички времена, а за връх в нея се считат историите от първото поколение, появили се на анимации и по-късно развити в комикси. Hardwired е следващото ниво на ъпгрейд, епичен роман за познатите герои, който отново изправя едни срещу други Аутоботи и Десептикони… но и не само.
Прочетете повече в Цитаделата:
https://citadelata.com/transformers-h...
Прочетете повече в Цитаделата:
https://citadelata.com/transformers-h...
November 29, 2010
http://www.amazon.com/review/R33IU6EK...
Let me state right off the bat that I love Transformers in all of its incarnations, from G1 through Beast Wars up to the current line, Armada. I'm also an avid reader, and a fan of sci-fi franchise novels like Star Trek, Star Wars, and X-Files. So "Transfomers: Hardwired" seems like it would be right up my alley, right?
Well...not really, it seems. There are so many things wrong with this book, I couldn't possibly list them all here. Here's a taste, though: (1) This book was not edited. The typos average about one PER PAGE from misued apostrophes to missing spaces, quote marks, and the occasional missing word. There are also many instances of switching tenses in the same sentence, and similar mistakes that would have been caught had this book been proof-read. But it obviously was not. (2) The Transformers characters are dull and uninteresting, for the most part. With so few characters actually appearing, you'd think the characterization would come through. But it doesn't. Prime and Megatron get some, and Bluestreak gets a little more. But that's about it. Besides Starscream, and perhaps Soundwave and Grimlock, the rest of the cast is virtually interchangeable. (3) The human characters are all very cliched and uninteresting. Franklin is the typical tough-guy gov't operative. Spike is your everyday angsty anti-hero hero. (4) The plot itself feels vaguely familiar, as if its many components have merely been rehashed from old TF comics and cartoons. (5) The "mature" feel the author tries to give the book is possibly the biggest letdown. The unnecessary profanity sounds weird and forced, especially coming out of the mouths of giant alien robots. And there's a large amount of pointless blood and gore that turned me off to the book practically from the get-go. It's also fairly disturbing how casually the author kills off Transformer characters -- especially since most of the "deaths" serve no real purpose, storywise.
On the positive side, it fits into the continuity of the current Transformers comics by Dreamwave. In fact, one of the book's best points is the characterizations of Prime and Megatron -- very much their DW comic selves, but expanded slightly. Also, Bluestreak gets quite possibly some of the best characterization he's EVER received. I also must admit that the last half of Hardwired is much better than the first. Though I found the first chapter or two to be very good, the next 150 pages or so turned me off so much that picking it up to read at night actually became quite a struggle. But the last half I actually {gasp!} enjoyed somewhat.
Still, the whole thing reads like weak fanfic.
Let me state right off the bat that I love Transformers in all of its incarnations, from G1 through Beast Wars up to the current line, Armada. I'm also an avid reader, and a fan of sci-fi franchise novels like Star Trek, Star Wars, and X-Files. So "Transfomers: Hardwired" seems like it would be right up my alley, right?
Well...not really, it seems. There are so many things wrong with this book, I couldn't possibly list them all here. Here's a taste, though: (1) This book was not edited. The typos average about one PER PAGE from misued apostrophes to missing spaces, quote marks, and the occasional missing word. There are also many instances of switching tenses in the same sentence, and similar mistakes that would have been caught had this book been proof-read. But it obviously was not. (2) The Transformers characters are dull and uninteresting, for the most part. With so few characters actually appearing, you'd think the characterization would come through. But it doesn't. Prime and Megatron get some, and Bluestreak gets a little more. But that's about it. Besides Starscream, and perhaps Soundwave and Grimlock, the rest of the cast is virtually interchangeable. (3) The human characters are all very cliched and uninteresting. Franklin is the typical tough-guy gov't operative. Spike is your everyday angsty anti-hero hero. (4) The plot itself feels vaguely familiar, as if its many components have merely been rehashed from old TF comics and cartoons. (5) The "mature" feel the author tries to give the book is possibly the biggest letdown. The unnecessary profanity sounds weird and forced, especially coming out of the mouths of giant alien robots. And there's a large amount of pointless blood and gore that turned me off to the book practically from the get-go. It's also fairly disturbing how casually the author kills off Transformer characters -- especially since most of the "deaths" serve no real purpose, storywise.
On the positive side, it fits into the continuity of the current Transformers comics by Dreamwave. In fact, one of the book's best points is the characterizations of Prime and Megatron -- very much their DW comic selves, but expanded slightly. Also, Bluestreak gets quite possibly some of the best characterization he's EVER received. I also must admit that the last half of Hardwired is much better than the first. Though I found the first chapter or two to be very good, the next 150 pages or so turned me off so much that picking it up to read at night actually became quite a struggle. But the last half I actually {gasp!} enjoyed somewhat.
Still, the whole thing reads like weak fanfic.
March 19, 2024
This wasn't what I expected. For one thing, I felt like I got dropped in the middle of the story. I found out later it's following the continuity of the Dreamwave Transformers comic series, which I don't know much about. For another, there's a ton of graphic violence. It almost reaches the point of parody at points with the large number of violent deaths. There's also some sexual content, although not much really. It's almost like the sex and violence was thrown in just to say "this isn't for kids! See?!"
Overall it was an an enjoyable read, but like I said, the continuity is baggage I'd have rather done without. I'll still continue with the trilogy, but I thought this would be a little better.
Overall it was an an enjoyable read, but like I said, the continuity is baggage I'd have rather done without. I'll still continue with the trilogy, but I thought this would be a little better.
September 6, 2020
Your not reading this book to have a great read. Your reading it because you're at the beach, find of transformers from your youth and this book happens to be in your possession. Given all that it's a good pick up.
January 1, 2023
If you like transformers, you might enjoy this as I did. But if you have little to know knowledge, I feel it wouldn't stand up as much. The writing is very direct and some of the lore is weird.
You're really telling me that JAZZ can't dance?
You're really telling me that JAZZ can't dance?
November 2, 2007
Book 1 in a 3-book story arc. Takes place in the Transformers Universe set up in the Dreamwave Transformers series from 2002 (two 6-issue mini-series and an ongoing series that was canned after 10 issues). This series takes place, roughly, in the universe established by the generation one cartoon series (the "roughly" has to do with the fact that events depicted in the animated movie are not a factor in the comic, hence eliminating seasons 3 and 4 from the original cartoon in regards to the Dreamwave series AND certain technologies (read: space bridge) do not exist in the Dreamwave continuity). This book picks up where Dreamwave left off and describes a race of creatures known as the Keepers that are significantly more powerful than the Transformers. Certain Transformers are captured and forced to entertain the Keepers in gladiator-style combat. (It turns out that there is a deeper reason for this forced combat not related to "entertainment".) This book describes bot battles quite well, and finally gives Starscream the chance to shine by leading the Decepticons. Unfortunately, the text was edited poorly and I found many typos. Also, this book takes the stance that Transformers are huge and ALL of them use mass-displacement when transforming to their vehicle/alt modes.
May 21, 2014
I'm not a hardcore fan of the Transformers (didn't see all the latest movies) so I started this book with only the old TV series.
The first chapters were good, I saw glimpse of more depth than I thought a Transformers novel could have... but the hope crashed after that.
Plots are really bad, if it was not the nostalgia for the Transformer, not sure I would I finished the book. Battles are boring, humor not that funny... thing happen out of nowhere.. few chapters you can skip without missing on the story.
Humans dies by thousand.
Spoilers: 3 plots in the book
1. Optimus, Bleustrike, Jazz and Megatron got kidnapped by an almighty being who can do anything : supposed to be the moral side of the stories
2. Starscream taking controls of Las Vegas and humans living happily in that.
3. Spike suddenly wanted because since he was inside a Transformer once, he got some power over the machine, but he can't remember (but not consciously used it a few time)
Not sure I will read the other books of the trilogy.
I don't know if it's a Goodread mistake listing Troy Denning as the authour unless it's a pseudonym but normaly Denning offered better writing than this.
July 2, 2010
It's rare to see a franchise book take a great amount of depth into the characters as well as the storyline. Being a TF fan, it was pretty much a given I'd read anything that slapped the name to it...but I was very surprised to find this trilogy of books was actually really, really good! It's mostly based on the classic cartoon series, with a few slight twists (Spike being older and having a family...but not like in the third season of the show, because it's set in a realistic "modern" world).
August 12, 2016
I would not say this was the worst book I have ever read. This was the worst thing of any kind I have ever read, that that puts it below an embarrassingly long run of Punisher 2099. Far too much time is spent making terrible things happen for no purpose but to make the book "adult", and the characters are treated so poorly that these childishly "mature" cruelties only have an impact if you only care about them from other sources. I wouldn't even recommend it to fans like myself; I'd recommended even more strongly against it.
January 23, 2008
Read this book on a plane....seriously you can read it in about 3 hours. Pretty good...but it wont change your life.
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July 13, 2011Book One is called "Hardwired"
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews