Terminator Dreams FROM THE PUBLISHER
"In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, John Connor (Nick Stahl) and Kate Brewster (Claire Danes) face the harrowing last day before Earth's conquest by Skynet, and survive only because of the heroic sacrifice of a T-850 (Arnold Schwarzenegger) set back in time by the Human Resistance to protect them from the newest, most lethal terminator, the T-X Terminatrix (Kristanna Loken). But they can't prevent Judgment Day." "Now, in 2029 A.D., they head the Resistance, dedicated to the survival of human life on Earth ... and the destruction of the machines whose sole purpose is the extermination of the human race." "The war with the machines has taken a heavy toll on everyone in the Resistance, especially on Danny Avila. He endured terrible stress, even dreamed of the terrible future, just before the start of mankind's war for survival, then was on the run - a hellish ordeal that lasted for years." Finally he joined up with John Connor and became a vital member of the Resistance, making invaluable contributions to the effort to defeat the machines that stalk mankind. But now Connor is asking Danny to make a sacrifice that only he can make, to help save the world from the robots. By doing something that seems impossible. In a world ravaged by a decades-long struggle, even the impossible is worth trying, if it might end the war. Danny, with memories nobody else can even guess, could help end the war ... but doing so may very well kill him.
FROM THE CRITICS
Publishers Weekly
Adolescents of all ages will have fun with Allston's rock-'em sock-'em riff on the characters and settings of last summer's Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. It's shortly before "Judgment Day" (supercomputer Skynet's attempted annihilation of humanity), and cyberwizard Danny Avila is refining the arch-robot Terminator into America's ultimate fighting machine. He dreams ominously of robots gone rogue, destroying their creators. Jump to 2029, and Daniel, now a middle-aged amnesiac fighting alongside human resistance leaders John Connor and his wife, Kate, dreams strange dreams of the past he can't consciously remember, dreams that spill over into the sleep of his fellow guerrillas and draw Skynet's wrath down on them. Caught in a horrible dilemma where he must help produce the very weapon that may wipe out the human race or risk being fired and thus become impotent to help future humanity, present-day Danny tears through one wild and lethal chase scene after another, while in 2029 Connor, supported by his daughter Kyla's Hell-Hounds, takes on wave after wave of advance-model Terminators. Breathless action and unstoppable pace propel both parallel plots to so relentless a denouement that the cardboard human characters, their equally two-dimensional robotic nemeses and their all-too-predictable motivations scarcely matter. Arnold's adventure fans, rejoice; this is the stuff that role-playing dreams are made of. (Dec. 29) Forecast: This franchise spin-off should benefit from the holiday release on DVD of Terminator 3. Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.