Out of the Darkness (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, #3) by Peter David

Out of the Darkness (Babylon 5: Legions of Fire, #3) Reviews

• 
  Stephen

  4.0 stars. Satisfying conclusion to a really good tie-in series to Babylon 5. Probably more enjoyable to fans of the show (of which I include myself) as it is assumed that the reader is familiar with much of the backstory. A fast paced, enjoyable read.
• 
  Maggie

  While I loved the first book of the Legions of Fire trilogy, and the focus on the Centauri characters in general, I felt this book and the middle book had a great deal of wasted potential. The kidnapping of David Sheridan was a momentous enough event that it could have covered the entire book and added a tight thriller/political conflict element. Not to mention the fact that how the kidnapping took place and the events that surrounded it was one of the greatest questions left over from the episode "War Without End, part 2" in Babylon 5.
  
  A few other things that irritated me in books 2 & 3:
  
  - Senna is almost entirely missing from this book, despite the fact that Londo made major concessions to the Drakh to save her in Book 1. Also, despite being portrayed as an intelligent woman she has somehow, inexplicably, become no better than a governess. I liked the tie in to "In the Beginning", but I would have preferred a better reason for her becoming the caretaker of those children than "she has nothing better to do".
  - The Prime Candidates in general. I understand that Nazis were bad, but does every evil empire have to be modeled after them, including obvious Hitler Youth analogies? I found it hard to believe that the Centauri as a culture would ever become Fascist. In my mind they were all too egotistical and aristocratic to allow themselves or their children to become the faceless drones to another man's ambition as they do with the Prime Candidates. Basically I just felt it would have been less lazy on the part of the author to pick a different "evil empire" to model the Drakh takeover after, perhaps the French Terror or the Roman proscriptions.
  
  - Mariel's mind rape. I found this plotline infuriating beyond words and insulting to the characters of both Vir and Mariel. Vir would never allow such a thing to happen, and even if he could not prevent it due to ignorance he would never continue to associate with those responsible, in this case the Techno Mages. The fact that the Techno Mages blame the horrific lobotomy they commit against Mariel on Vir is disgusting, as they drop terrible news on him in the worst way possible, ask his permission to take revenge on her while he's in a moment of weakness, then essentially destroy her mind and personality without any forewarning that this was the step they were going to take. While Vir is at fault for giving permission, he never could have anticipated the abhorrent steps the Techno Mages would take, and I found it especially despicable that the author presented this event as if it were a moral failure on Vir's part, rather than the tragedy/murder that it was. Nevermind that Vir of all people would know not to ask for favors from mysterious strangers! That's the whole point of his conflict with Morden! He would never in a million years acquiesce to a bargain with people like the Techno Mages, he knows better and to show otherwise is to ignore his character development in the series. Also, was it really necessary at all to have this plotline at all? Why couldn't Mariel have been involved in events of her own power, perhaps as a double-agent, rather than as a mind-wiped slave?
  
  -The lack of G'Kar. We are told that G'Kar and Londo, two of our favorite characters from the series, spent months together in the palace and yet we see almost none of it. I can't help but wonder if the author did not feel up to the task of writing G'Kar, as in general he should have had a much larger role in the way events played out. My personal pet peeve was the fact that he always addressed Londo Mollari as "Londo" in this book, even though in the TV series he almost uniformly refers to him as "Mollari" and no reason for this sudden familiarity is given.
  
  - Vir was incredibly out of character in books 2 & 3. I understand that there was some character development, along the lines that he has had to grow up and take on the responsibility of saving his people, but that's basically ignoring all the character development he had in seasons 4 & 5. Book 1 gave Vir some great, in character lines, but by the end of the trilogy he was unrecognizable.
  
  - Durla, the author's original character and Londo's villainous Prime Minister, was an utterly uninteresting and pathetic character for all the screen time he received. He felt like a straw man and a buffoon. I would have much preferred that he was shown as intelligent and dangerous, along the lines of Lord Refa. At least then his rise to power would have been believable. His obsession with Mariel in the face of her apathy was frankly pathetic.
  
  - The wrap up and salvation of Centauri Prime felt extremely flat to me, like it was rushed towards the end of the book. Multiple plotlines (like the mining planet?) got dropped along the way and the plot threads couldn't seem to tie together at all. It seems as if the author either got lazy or just ran out of time. A huge disappointment for a book that had all the built in elements for a great epic.
  
  Elements I liked were largely confined to Londo's POV, which the author pulled off fairly well. I understand that as a prisoner, Londo couldn't really be central to events but as the best written character in the story this too was a huge disappointment. I generally like Peter David as an author, and I love the material that was covered in these books. It just felt like the author lost focus on the characters after Book 1 and made a very sloppy effort to wrap up one of the most interesting storylines in the Babylon 5 universe. Honestly it deserved better.
  
• 
  Mikael Kuoppala

  In this final book of the “Legions of Fire”-trilogy we get an answer to almost every question the Babylon 5 TV-series left unanswered.
  
  The famous Star Trek author Peter David offers a story that is structured in a way that doesn't allow the reader to lose any interest for a second. The story is packed with insightful characterization, story twists and dramatic moments, is emotionally stimulating yet by no means is it sentimental or overly melodramatic.
  
  “Out of the Darkness” is necessary reading for anyone who watched the TV-series, since it offers so many answers so many viewers have been searching for. It gives you something to think about for days.
  
  "Out of the Darkness" is, without a doubt, the best Babylon 5 novel so far. Indeed it’s one of the best if not the very best Babylon 5 story ever told in any medium. A masterpiece, truly and honestly.
• 
  TheHornedSkull

  The last book of the Centauri Chronicles is so desperate to finish itself that you almost feel bad for it.
  Anything exciting is shoved into brief dialogue exchanges or diary entries.
  
  Vir is horrible. Senna has been reduced to a boring love-interest desperate to get into Vir's waist coat. The technomages are just as useless as always. Sheridan is angry. Delenn is a wilting flower. David Sheridan is under-utilized. Doctor Franklin is a doctor.
  
  When this book isn't dull, it's infuriating.
  
  I guess that's the problem with the whole series.
  It was like someone realized that the fans wanted to know more about Centauri culture and Londo's fate. But then the books were sent through a bizarro filter and we end up with sex-jokes, Centauri quoting Winston Churchill and Londo hiding out in his throne room and writing in his journal about stuff that would be much more exciting to go into than say... David Sheridan's birthday party!
  
  I would do anything to go back in time and stop myself from reading this series.
  
  And even if you sit there, shaking your head, thinking like me all those years ago that ‘surely, it can’t be that bad’, and that I am overreacting…
  
  then fine.
  
  But when the inherent awfulness has seeped into you, and you realize you can’t even enjoy the show the same way you used to, remember that I warned you.
• 
  Eric

  I really enjoyed this. It was wonderful to get to have the gaps filled in, the arc completed, watching Vir come into his own. The final piece was perhaps a bit simplistic, but sometimes the simplest stuff works best. Now, I just need to see if I can find books about the Drakh plague, and the stories that would have comprised the spin-off series.
• 
  Joel Hacker

  Probably the weakest of the official books outlined and sanctioned by JMS. I'd say, if you're a huge B5 fan/completionist, read it, otherwise skip it. There's a lot of important dangling plot threads from the show(s) that get wrapped up here which is great for completionists...but as a standalone book, or even as the finale to a stand-alone trilogy, it doesn't work wonderfully.
• 
  Deborah

  Great tying up of the bits left outstanding from the series. Does Vir become emperor? What happened when Sheridan jumped forward? Did David get the Drakh implant? And very satisfying as an ending.
• 
  J. Andrew

  A heartbreaking and satisfying end of the Babylon 5 Centauri story.
• 
  C.S. Areson

  Great to hear the rest of the B5 story.
• 
  Matthew Smonskey

  I honestly think this was the only expanded universe book series I really loved for any franchise. I was sad it had to end.
• 
  Debra Manskey

  A relatively satisfying ending to the Legions of Fire trilogy, concluding the arcs of several much beloved characters from the TV series.
• 
  Stephanie Johnston

  Better than the second book in the series. Pulls together a lot of loose threads in a fun and entertaining way.
• 
  Michael

  Peter David's Centauri trilogy comes to a conclusion with a rivetting and entertaining book. To say I'd been looking forward to this one is a bit of an understatement. But I will admit I approached this book with a bit of excitment--and a bit of dread. After the superlative set-up not only by Babylon Five but also by the first two parts of this trilogy, part of me was prepare for a disappointment.
  
  It never happened.
  
  In a short 250 pages that literally fly by, David answers the questions raised by such superb B5 episodes as "War Without End" and "Coming of the Shadows." He brings to a close the character archs for Londo and G'Kar in satisfying ways. And even though long-time B5 fans know how it all ends, the journey there and the emotional ramifications of what we discover in the end may surprise you. I will admit they surprised me.
  
  I would love to sit here and bring up plot points from the book, but to do so is to ruin the reading expereince. You've got to come to it with a set of fresh eyes to really enjoy what happens here. I will say this--if you watched and enjoyed Babylon Five, pick-up this trilogy. It's got the goods. And if you've got someone you are trying to hook on B5, this is a good place to start. David does a nice job of keeping the plot going while giving subtle reminders of important points to the readers. He doesn't summarize who episodes but he does give enough clues so that it will jar memories of long-time fans and let fans who might not have seen the series yet in on the fun. I will warn you this trilogy is far more satisfying if you've seen all of Babylon Five's run, but if you're a new fan or just want a good read, you can't go wrong here.
• 
  Gabriel

  It was the dawn of the third age of mankind, ten years after the Earth/Minbari war. The Babylon Project was a dream given form. Its goal: to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call, home away from home for diplomats, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanderers. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million, five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of the last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
  
  The final entry in the Legion of Fire Trilogy, and pretty much the best of the bunch.
  
  It clues in the events that happened after the final episode, and satisfactory resolves the issue of Vir becoming Emperor, a question that I had since the finale.
  
  On a side-note, by god, I hate that cover. Not all of it, but the colours look muted, and dry, and Delenn, by god Delenn. I suppose that she's meant to be clinging to Sheridan in fear, but it looks like she's sneezing. The cover artist does know that she doesn't look like that, right? I should know, I have met Mira Furlan twice.
• 
  John Guzzardo

  As with any TV series, I am very reluctant to read most novels based on the series because of the simple fact they tend to diverge significantly at certain points. Peter David is one of the few authors whose works I am a genuine fan of, for no other reason than he stays faithful to the series itself. "Out of the Darkness" takes Babylon 5 fans and casual readers alike down a rabbit hole of intrigue, lies, war, politics, and redemption with amazing imagery, brilliant dialogue, and the sort of expounded plot that keeps your attention while providing critical details. David develops the characters of the Babylon 5 universe in such a way one wonders why this trilogy was never made into a movie series in first place (thanks for nothing, Warner Bros!) A few small glitches in style and continuity vis-a-vis book and series are easily resolved using some inventive flashback moves, but what this book lacks in minor issues it makes up for in so many other ways.
• 
  Amber

  In the third book the series plot comes to a head, while intersecting well with the flashes in time we saw in the TV movie.
  
  As I said about the first and second books, aside from the fact that the author has a tendency to get in a character's head and have them go over the same thoughts just in slightly different wording two or three paragraphs in a row, which gets frustrating after a while and is hard to believe no one helped him edit out so many redundancies and duplications, it's also a well written book with a strong, driving plot and I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoyed the Babylon 5 television series.
• 
  Tommy /|\

  The final book of the trilogy, and it does not disappoint. Vir rises up and becomes the leader of his people before he even wears the crown. The final days of Londo are filled with mystery and intrigue, along with some excellent witty commentary between himself and his nemesis/friend G'Kar. Overall, an excellent ending to a most excellent side-story in the Babylon 5 storyline. All three books are well worth your time to pick up and read, especially if you enjoyed the sniping between Londo and G'Kar in the tv series.
• 
  Brian

  A thoroughly engrossing finale to the trilogy that extends the story that unfolded during the TV series and movies run. If you're at fan of Babylon 5 and have seen the series and movies, you really cannot go wrong with this trilogy. All 3 books are welcome additions but this final chapter in the trilogy builds off the previous two books and the TV series/movies so well that you really feel like you're watching new chapters of the Babylon 5 universe unfold and seamlessly fit right in with the existing universe.
  
  Highly recommended for any Babylon 5 fan.
• 
  Michael Thompson

  The best of the series. The ending is perfect. Complets the book series and the TV show most satisfactorily. I want to comment on Michael Garibaldi's role, but I don't want to spoil it for Garibaldi fans. Let me just say he lives up to his reputation and had the best line in the series. I had to pay $20 on eBay for the trilogy just to find a copy of the last book, and it was well worth it.
• 
  Mark Baker

  We circle back to season 3 for the climax of the fight for Centauri Prime. We saw brief flashes of this in season 3, but this book puts a few of them in a completely different light. It's must reading for fans of the TV show.
  
  Read my full review at
  Carstairs Considers.
• 
  Jennifer

  David makes up for some of what I considered the weakness of the second book, although he can't mitigate it entirely. There are some good Londo and G'Kar scenes in this as well, definitely the high point of the book.
• 
  Claudio

  Excelente final de la serie. Esperaba con ansia los lazos con los episodios de "la guerra sin fin". Sin soltar spoilers, creo que es una más que digna secuela de Babylon 5, altamente recomendada para los fans.
• 
  Jo R. Lee

  A great conclusion to the trilogy, with Sheridan, Delenn and their son David also becoming heavily involved. As well as Garibaldi, who has a great scene with Vir and the Drakh Shiv'kala, but I don't want to spoil anything.
  I could hardly put each book down.
• 
  Miroslav Vasil

  Liked it a lot. Really a must read for Babylon 5 fan.
  
  It fills in the blank spots in the series and Peter David narrative is very good.
  
  Highly Recommended for any sci-fi fan although it may be a good idea to watch Babylon 5 series first before reading this trilogy.
  
• 
  Kate

  Very enjoyable. The ending seems a little to tidy for Babylon 5.