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Doom #2
Hell on Earth
They were creatures seemingly spawned straight from the pits of Hell - demons, zombies, fire-breathing imps - all too horrifically close to the stuff of nightmare to be real. But they were. And on the inhospitable moons of Mars, Corporal Flynn "Fly" Taggart, Earth's last line of defense against a seemingly inexhaustible supply of alien warriors, beat them back almost single-handedly.
But Taggart discovers that the war had barely begun... for while he was fighting them on Mars, the hellish creatures had established a beachhead on Earth itself. Now, with the aid of a fourteen-year-old female computer genius, an unrepentant Mormon sniper, and the best soldier in this woman's army, Fly Tagart must defeat the invaders - and their treacherous human allies - yet again...
But Taggart discovers that the war had barely begun... for while he was fighting them on Mars, the hellish creatures had established a beachhead on Earth itself. Now, with the aid of a fourteen-year-old female computer genius, an unrepentant Mormon sniper, and the best soldier in this woman's army, Fly Tagart must defeat the invaders - and their treacherous human allies - yet again...
248 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published August 1, 1995
About the author
Dafydd ab Hugh
27 books42 followersDafydd ab Hugh (born David Friedman) is a U.S. science fiction author.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 52 reviews
December 27, 2010
As mentioned in my review for 'Knee-deep in the Dead':
"Embarrassed to say I've even own this. The book reads like a 10 year old's story in an English class: "And then I did this and then I did that".
Possibly the worst novel adaptation of a video game in existence."
"Embarrassed to say I've even own this. The book reads like a 10 year old's story in an English class: "And then I did this and then I did that".
Possibly the worst novel adaptation of a video game in existence."
November 15, 2023
The book is o.k. It’s written very dorky, and deviates too far from the game. It feels more like a kid’s book rather than demons coming to earth to wreck havoc. It’s not horrific at all, it doesn’t give you that horror feeling that the game does. All in all, it just feels like a low budget alien invasion book.
June 28, 2019
I don't know if Ab Hugh and Linaweaver didn't get around to finishing Doom 2 before writing this one or if they just realised that there's only so many ways you can write about a guy moving through a linear level shooting at monsters and then doing it again a bunch of times, but Hell on Earth doesn't track the game nearly as closely as the first one did: it clearly draws inspiration from the first pseudo-episode, but that's about it.
Not that this newfound freedom does them any good: the writing is abysmal even compared to the first book's piss-poor effort, and adding more talking characters (which, unfortunately, also take turns as first-person narrators) only highlights how deeply incapable either author is of writing believable dialogue. Allowances have to be made for video game novels, of course, but there are limits to what readers of any genre should be expected to put up with.
I'm subtracting another star because the authors just couldn't keep their shitty political opinions to themselves, too. I don't know much about Dafydd ab Hugh (other than that he's an American who changed his name from David Friedman, so there's presumably no shortage of brain worms there), but Linaweaver is your typical SF crypto-fascist libertarian, light on the crypto (though not to the point that it obliterates the libertarian: the fourteen-year-old girl character 1. exists, and 2. is described as ``a foxy little item''), and it shows, constantly, to a genuinely unnecessary degree.
Look, I know Doomguy is canonically a marine and while the decision to make him a US marine, specifically, was one made by these two hacks and not the hacks who made Doom itself, any story that has to portray any kind of marine sympathetically is obviously going to have its share of deeply questionable moments. Those questionable moments absolutely don't have to include approvingly quoting Oswald Spengler.
If these books had been written and published one at a time instead of ordered and then thrown together all at once over some cocaine-fueled three-day weekend, this one would have killed the series. As it is, it pretty much did: the third book is almost impossible to find for less than €50 now, and I'm going to guess it's not because people bought it en masse and then loved it so much they don't want to sell their copies.
I'm still going to review the last two, because I did already buy them, unfortunately (not for €50). At least they're second-hand, so Ab Hugh and Linaweaver aren't going to see a penny from those sales.
(This edition is an original mass-market paperback, and while it's not as bad as the Amazon POD of last time, it manages to be missing page 133 and duplicate page 156. It's not physically missing a page, or anything—page 132 is followed by page 134 overleaf, and page 156 is page 156 on both sides. I'm not sure how that even happens, but it's fitting that the publisher gave about as much of a shit about this book as the authors did. I'm just glad I had one less page to read.)
Not that this newfound freedom does them any good: the writing is abysmal even compared to the first book's piss-poor effort, and adding more talking characters (which, unfortunately, also take turns as first-person narrators) only highlights how deeply incapable either author is of writing believable dialogue. Allowances have to be made for video game novels, of course, but there are limits to what readers of any genre should be expected to put up with.
I'm subtracting another star because the authors just couldn't keep their shitty political opinions to themselves, too. I don't know much about Dafydd ab Hugh (other than that he's an American who changed his name from David Friedman, so there's presumably no shortage of brain worms there), but Linaweaver is your typical SF crypto-fascist libertarian, light on the crypto (though not to the point that it obliterates the libertarian: the fourteen-year-old girl character 1. exists, and 2. is described as ``a foxy little item''), and it shows, constantly, to a genuinely unnecessary degree.
Look, I know Doomguy is canonically a marine and while the decision to make him a US marine, specifically, was one made by these two hacks and not the hacks who made Doom itself, any story that has to portray any kind of marine sympathetically is obviously going to have its share of deeply questionable moments. Those questionable moments absolutely don't have to include approvingly quoting Oswald Spengler.
If these books had been written and published one at a time instead of ordered and then thrown together all at once over some cocaine-fueled three-day weekend, this one would have killed the series. As it is, it pretty much did: the third book is almost impossible to find for less than €50 now, and I'm going to guess it's not because people bought it en masse and then loved it so much they don't want to sell their copies.
I'm still going to review the last two, because I did already buy them, unfortunately (not for €50). At least they're second-hand, so Ab Hugh and Linaweaver aren't going to see a penny from those sales.
(This edition is an original mass-market paperback, and while it's not as bad as the Amazon POD of last time, it manages to be missing page 133 and duplicate page 156. It's not physically missing a page, or anything—page 132 is followed by page 134 overleaf, and page 156 is page 156 on both sides. I'm not sure how that even happens, but it's fitting that the publisher gave about as much of a shit about this book as the authors did. I'm just glad I had one less page to read.)
April 14, 2013
The second book in the series. Marines Fly and Arlene have a plan to escape the Martian moon by rigging up a rocket from spare bits of scrap. But back on Earth, their problems really begin. Falling into a pocket of Morman resistance fighters, they learn that Humanity's leaders are working with the aliens. New monsters abound, as the two Marines, an ex-soldier Morman and a 14 year-old computer hacker, attempt to get to LA to knock out the aliens forcefield.
I enjoyed this more than the first, as it had a bit more of a storyline and hadn't been twisted around to make it feel like the game. The constant swapping from narrator to narrator got a bit annoying after a while, but it was a good way to see different parts of the story. The plot line was a bit tenuous in places - I didn't really get why the different law enforcement agencies were working with the invaders, nor why the Mormans seemed to immune. But these books are supposed to be a bit of no-brainer entertainment - and they definitely fit the bill :)
I enjoyed this more than the first, as it had a bit more of a storyline and hadn't been twisted around to make it feel like the game. The constant swapping from narrator to narrator got a bit annoying after a while, but it was a good way to see different parts of the story. The plot line was a bit tenuous in places - I didn't really get why the different law enforcement agencies were working with the invaders, nor why the Mormans seemed to immune. But these books are supposed to be a bit of no-brainer entertainment - and they definitely fit the bill :)
July 8, 2016
Well played.
I last read this during the late 90's when I was a little kid. Of course at time the book kicked ass even for being from a trendy video game. As I reread this at my current age, its still fairly entertaining. It is an improvement compared to the first novel, Knee Deep in the Dead, in that the first novel was essential mimicking the pace and structure as though you were playing the individual levels to the game. With this book there was more liberty in creating an original story, characters, and settings. An interest note regarding the whole book is the constant references and quotes relating to the Book of Mormon. In fact one of the characters is very open about his beliefs, his explanations are very detailed, and they make a good story in discussing his temptations.
Obviously this is not exactly Nobel Prize winning material but the over all story is entertaining, its brief moments of jokes are spot on, and is capable of creating horrible scenes you would find in any traditional horror movie.
I last read this during the late 90's when I was a little kid. Of course at time the book kicked ass even for being from a trendy video game. As I reread this at my current age, its still fairly entertaining. It is an improvement compared to the first novel, Knee Deep in the Dead, in that the first novel was essential mimicking the pace and structure as though you were playing the individual levels to the game. With this book there was more liberty in creating an original story, characters, and settings. An interest note regarding the whole book is the constant references and quotes relating to the Book of Mormon. In fact one of the characters is very open about his beliefs, his explanations are very detailed, and they make a good story in discussing his temptations.
Obviously this is not exactly Nobel Prize winning material but the over all story is entertaining, its brief moments of jokes are spot on, and is capable of creating horrible scenes you would find in any traditional horror movie.
July 24, 2020
What the hell?
May 31, 2020
It looks like I read this book about ten years ago and, for some reason, never wrote a review for it. I'm not going to be able to provide the greatest assessment of the book like I would normally prefer. I really have no interest in re-reading this book though, which is why I'd rather go over some parts that I do remember a bit.
The first book tried to give you a feel of the video game as Doom Guy (named Flynn Taggert) could fight his way to the demons appearing on Mars. I was excited to continue the adventure to Earth, because Doom II was one of the games I remember fondly playing when I was middle school. Alas, that whole story was short lived. "Hell on Earth" deviates from the game quite a bit and creates its own story about well armed Mormon's fighting against the demons. I guess the Mormon religion was the right choice? That wasn't really my main issue anyway, the whole problem was that it just devolved into painfully bad writing. Not that the first book was a literary masterpiece, but I, at least, wanted to have another fun adventure. Giving the Doom Guy a name is sort of bad enough, but re-naming all the demonic characters started getting really tedious at this point too. They also add more characters to the entourage that started with Arlene and Fly... and now it feels like Jurassic Park with the plucky child hacker girl... who isn't the worst character, but it's all so cliché.
"Hell on Earth" was a quick read, as you'd expect from this book, but it wasn't entertaining in the way the first book is. They tried to make this like more of its own story instead of doing much of anything with the game and I don't know why. Ah well, if you liked the first book, this is where the series might take a nose dive for most people. Other people might like the more unique story approach, but either way this felt less like a Doom setting to me.
The first book tried to give you a feel of the video game as Doom Guy (named Flynn Taggert) could fight his way to the demons appearing on Mars. I was excited to continue the adventure to Earth, because Doom II was one of the games I remember fondly playing when I was middle school. Alas, that whole story was short lived. "Hell on Earth" deviates from the game quite a bit and creates its own story about well armed Mormon's fighting against the demons. I guess the Mormon religion was the right choice? That wasn't really my main issue anyway, the whole problem was that it just devolved into painfully bad writing. Not that the first book was a literary masterpiece, but I, at least, wanted to have another fun adventure. Giving the Doom Guy a name is sort of bad enough, but re-naming all the demonic characters started getting really tedious at this point too. They also add more characters to the entourage that started with Arlene and Fly... and now it feels like Jurassic Park with the plucky child hacker girl... who isn't the worst character, but it's all so cliché.
"Hell on Earth" was a quick read, as you'd expect from this book, but it wasn't entertaining in the way the first book is. They tried to make this like more of its own story instead of doing much of anything with the game and I don't know why. Ah well, if you liked the first book, this is where the series might take a nose dive for most people. Other people might like the more unique story approach, but either way this felt less like a Doom setting to me.
Read
August 20, 2017Read the review of the entire series (plus much more ranting on the overuse of exclamation points!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) at The Books in My Life.
“I know how to get us across to Earth, Fly!” Arlene shouts at the conclusion of book one. Don’t worry, the worst cliffhanger is yet to come, making this throwaway line tame. Of course she knows how to get them across to Earth.
Through the mail rockets! Which Fly has to engineer! How is he able to do this!? Because he used to work on cars!!!!
My apologies. The overuse of exclamation points in this series is infectious! Dammit.
In order to get the reader to not question the science here, the writers include an excerpt from a rocket manual that will put you to sleep after three sentences. This seems unnecessary. Is anyone really going to question the science of Doom?
So they make it off Deimos and head for Earth just before their air runs out. The journey doesn’t take long, as the aliens hi-jacked Deimos, Pluto’s other moon, and used it as a space ship to journey to our planet and commence the invasion. (Don’t worry, it gets so much more ridiculous. Stop interrupting me!)
Fly and Arlene land in the desert outside Salt Lake City and begin to trek to the Mormon Mecca. It seems the Mormons have spent their lives preparing for the apocalypse, thus preventing the aliens from wiping them off the map. Fly and Arlene are brought before the President of the Twelve, who is not entirely sure what to do with them, so he gives them an escort, Albert, and tells them they cannot leave the city. The two get to the top of one of the buildings where they know there is a radio, and they trick the attendants into evacuating the room so they can get enough time to contact their superiors, which they do. Their superiors tell them to high tail it to Washington just before Albert catches the two and takes them back to the President.
Again, spoilers are coming. Again, they don’t really matter, so keep reading.
Fly and Arlene have made a huge mistake. The government has surrendered to the invaders. Now the military knows Fly and Arlene are alive, and they are going to attack Salt Lake City. Yes, the President of the Twelve could have shared this information up front and probably provided proof. Yes, the government and aliens already knew about the Salt Lake stronghold, so they could have attacked before now. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. What matters is there is now a reason to move the plot forward.
To repent, Fly and Arlene head out for L. A. with Albert and a teenage computer hacker in an attempt to disable a force field set up outside the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Back to shooting bad guys!
Of course they make it to their destination, and of course they’ve screwed themselves at the end of the novel. Fly and Arlene are stuck in the top floor of an L. A. skyscraper where they’ve just disabled the whatchamacallit, allowing Jill and Albert to fly to Hawaii, where the good guys await. Don’t worry, they’re able to get there because Jill, being an intrepid computer hacker, can pilot aircrafts. Problem is, Fly and Arlene are trapped inside the tower by a team of baddies about to bust through the door and mince up our heroes.
Have no fear, Arlene comes to the rescue with the most eye-rolling of final lines: “Flynn Taggart…bring me some duct tape from the toolbox, an armload of computer-switch writing, and the biggest, goddamned boot you can find!” Ugh.
Look, it’s not a bad book for the type of book it is. It’s actually more enjoyable than its predecessor because it doesn’t have the game’s levels to rely upon anymore, so the authors had to come up with something kind of original, and they succeed on a few fronts. Religion is injected as a motif. Arlene, the militant atheist, is conflicted between her prejudice against Mormons and her growing affection for Albert. Albert faces several crises of faith, but remains strong in his convictions. Fly talks about Catholic nonsense. Jill is subjugated by the oppressive patriarchal system of Mormonism. There’s no preachiness here, though that’s coming down the pike in the final two entries. For now, you’re treated to what might happen when you throw a vastly different group of characters together to fight a common threat.
Unfortunately, this is hampered by the same problems as book one. The narration now switches between four characters, yet they somehow all manage to sound the same, especially Fly and Arlene. Jill seems genuinely different, but is a poorly written caricature of a moody teenager, saying things like “gnarly.” Christ.
The cardinal sin for this one, besides the continual overuse of the exclamation point, is the zombie grocery store sequence. Arlene and Albert go to a grocery store to retrieve rotten citrus fruit to mask their smell. (Zombies smell like year-old limes). Inside is a zombie infestation, but the two don’t need to worry because the zombies are just shopping. Arlene pontificates on how sad it is that capitalistic futility is so ingrained in our culture that the zombies, though brainless, still go through the motions. It seems humans are more zombie-like than we’d like to believe.
Thank you, George A. Romero! This blatant rip-off of the greatest film ever made, Dawn of the Dead (1979), is an embarrassing inclusion. I suppose it is to be expected since the source material is dwindling quickly. Perhaps Hugh and Linaweaver can craft an original plot for the second half of this “classic new space opera.” (Seriously, this oxymoron is printed on the cover of the original run).
They can. And it’s so very, very bad.
“I know how to get us across to Earth, Fly!” Arlene shouts at the conclusion of book one. Don’t worry, the worst cliffhanger is yet to come, making this throwaway line tame. Of course she knows how to get them across to Earth.
Through the mail rockets! Which Fly has to engineer! How is he able to do this!? Because he used to work on cars!!!!
My apologies. The overuse of exclamation points in this series is infectious! Dammit.
In order to get the reader to not question the science here, the writers include an excerpt from a rocket manual that will put you to sleep after three sentences. This seems unnecessary. Is anyone really going to question the science of Doom?
So they make it off Deimos and head for Earth just before their air runs out. The journey doesn’t take long, as the aliens hi-jacked Deimos, Pluto’s other moon, and used it as a space ship to journey to our planet and commence the invasion. (Don’t worry, it gets so much more ridiculous. Stop interrupting me!)
Fly and Arlene land in the desert outside Salt Lake City and begin to trek to the Mormon Mecca. It seems the Mormons have spent their lives preparing for the apocalypse, thus preventing the aliens from wiping them off the map. Fly and Arlene are brought before the President of the Twelve, who is not entirely sure what to do with them, so he gives them an escort, Albert, and tells them they cannot leave the city. The two get to the top of one of the buildings where they know there is a radio, and they trick the attendants into evacuating the room so they can get enough time to contact their superiors, which they do. Their superiors tell them to high tail it to Washington just before Albert catches the two and takes them back to the President.
Again, spoilers are coming. Again, they don’t really matter, so keep reading.
Fly and Arlene have made a huge mistake. The government has surrendered to the invaders. Now the military knows Fly and Arlene are alive, and they are going to attack Salt Lake City. Yes, the President of the Twelve could have shared this information up front and probably provided proof. Yes, the government and aliens already knew about the Salt Lake stronghold, so they could have attacked before now. Whatever. It doesn’t matter. What matters is there is now a reason to move the plot forward.
To repent, Fly and Arlene head out for L. A. with Albert and a teenage computer hacker in an attempt to disable a force field set up outside the blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. Back to shooting bad guys!
Of course they make it to their destination, and of course they’ve screwed themselves at the end of the novel. Fly and Arlene are stuck in the top floor of an L. A. skyscraper where they’ve just disabled the whatchamacallit, allowing Jill and Albert to fly to Hawaii, where the good guys await. Don’t worry, they’re able to get there because Jill, being an intrepid computer hacker, can pilot aircrafts. Problem is, Fly and Arlene are trapped inside the tower by a team of baddies about to bust through the door and mince up our heroes.
Have no fear, Arlene comes to the rescue with the most eye-rolling of final lines: “Flynn Taggart…bring me some duct tape from the toolbox, an armload of computer-switch writing, and the biggest, goddamned boot you can find!” Ugh.
Look, it’s not a bad book for the type of book it is. It’s actually more enjoyable than its predecessor because it doesn’t have the game’s levels to rely upon anymore, so the authors had to come up with something kind of original, and they succeed on a few fronts. Religion is injected as a motif. Arlene, the militant atheist, is conflicted between her prejudice against Mormons and her growing affection for Albert. Albert faces several crises of faith, but remains strong in his convictions. Fly talks about Catholic nonsense. Jill is subjugated by the oppressive patriarchal system of Mormonism. There’s no preachiness here, though that’s coming down the pike in the final two entries. For now, you’re treated to what might happen when you throw a vastly different group of characters together to fight a common threat.
Unfortunately, this is hampered by the same problems as book one. The narration now switches between four characters, yet they somehow all manage to sound the same, especially Fly and Arlene. Jill seems genuinely different, but is a poorly written caricature of a moody teenager, saying things like “gnarly.” Christ.
The cardinal sin for this one, besides the continual overuse of the exclamation point, is the zombie grocery store sequence. Arlene and Albert go to a grocery store to retrieve rotten citrus fruit to mask their smell. (Zombies smell like year-old limes). Inside is a zombie infestation, but the two don’t need to worry because the zombies are just shopping. Arlene pontificates on how sad it is that capitalistic futility is so ingrained in our culture that the zombies, though brainless, still go through the motions. It seems humans are more zombie-like than we’d like to believe.
Thank you, George A. Romero! This blatant rip-off of the greatest film ever made, Dawn of the Dead (1979), is an embarrassing inclusion. I suppose it is to be expected since the source material is dwindling quickly. Perhaps Hugh and Linaweaver can craft an original plot for the second half of this “classic new space opera.” (Seriously, this oxymoron is printed on the cover of the original run).
They can. And it’s so very, very bad.
June 13, 2022
1) "Comes a time when you have to say the hell with it, if only for a moment. Arlene and I had recently faced the worst thing anyone can face, worse than the monsters or dying in space. We knew what it meant to lose your sanity... and come back to yourself again. Arlene started whistling 'Molly Malone.' She'd picked one of the few songs to which I knew the words. I sang along. All that was missing was a bottle of Tullamore Dew, the world's finest sipping whiskey. As it was, our duet seemed to transform the lengthening shadows of dusk in Utah into the cool glades of Ireland. I wondered if doom had come there. Were there demons in Dublin?"
2) "'In space,' she said finally, 'on Phobos, we found a giant swastika.' She let her observation hang in the air, waiting for the Mormon to respond.
'What do you think it means?' he asked.
Arlene sighed. 'I don't know; except it's a reason for me to hate them more.'
'I would hate them just as much,' said Albert, 'if you had found the cross up there, or the flag of the United States, which I believe was also inspired by God. A symbol used by aliens means nothing to me. We know them by their fruits.'
'Oh, fug,' said Jill. 'This is like being back in class. Don't give me a test, Albert.'"
3) "The next town along the line was Buckeye. We ditched the truck cab, then waited for night. We found an alley and enjoyed the busy sounds of night life in this modern world: troop trucks every few minutes, the tramping of little zombie feet, screams of pain, howled orders from hell-princes, and the occasional earthshaking tread of steam-demons. Even more soothing to our shattered nerves were mechanical sounds that reminded me of the spidermind, evidently a smaller model. I wondered if this one got better mileage.
'Have you noticed an odd thing?' whispered Arlene.
'You mean besides everything?' I replied."
3) "Inside the main part of the store, the fluorescent lights were on and burning steady. But the refrigeration was off, and there was a rotten smell of all kinds of produce, milk, and meat that had been let go before its time.
'Ew,' said my Mormon buddy, and he hit the center of the bull's-eye. The meat smelled a lot worse than the bad vegetable matter. And oh, that fish! If I hadn't been wide awake on adrenaline—compared to which caffeine is harmless kid stuff—I would never have believed what I saw next. Nothing on Phobos or Deimos had the feeling of a fever dream compared to the spectacle of...
'Hell in the aisles,' breathed Albert.
The grocery store was as busy as a Saturday afternoon in the good old world. Mom and Dad and the kids were there. Young lovers wandered the aisles. Middle-class guys with middle-sized guts in ugly T-shirts pushed shopping carts down the center aisle with no regard for who got in the way. Nothing had changed from the way it used to be... except that everyone was dead.
[...]
They didn't eat any of the groceries. They seemed caught up in the behavior of the past, as if the program had been so hard-wired into their skulls that not even losing their souls could erase the ritual of going to the grocery store."
4) "'Don't worry about me,' Jill said, following my example and kicking the corpse. 'They're just bags of blood, and we've got the pins. It's no big thing.'
No one was joking now. Arlene looked at me with a worried expression. This was no time to psycho-analyze a fourteen-year-old who was doing her best to feel nothing. This sort of cold attitude was par for the course in an adult, a mood that would be turned off (hopefully) in peacetime; but hearing it from a kid was unnerving.
The words just out of her lips were the cold truth we created. Do only the youngest soldiers develop the attitude necessary to win a war? Until this moment, I wouldn't have thought of Arlene and myself as old-fashioned sentimentalists; but if the future human race became cold and machine-like to fight the monsters, then maybe the monsters win, regardless of the outcome."
5) "'As I said, his name's Ken Estes. He's a computer software designer slumming as a CIA analyst. Low-level stuff, not a field agent or anything. He was born in—'
'No time for the family background,' I interrupted. 'Keep him focused on how and why he became a cybermummy.'
Somewhere, water was dripping. I hadn't noticed it before, but it was very annoying while waiting for Jill to pass on the messages in silence. Finally, she spoke again: 'When the aliens landed and started the war, Ken was told by his superiors that the agency had developed a new computer which the operator accessed in V.R. mode.'
'What's V.R.?' Albert asked.
'Old term; this guy's in his thirties! Virtual Reality; we call it burfing now, from 'body surfing,' I think.'
'Oh, the net,' said Albert."
6) "We took Sig-Cows off'n the first two zombies we killed; better than the pistols, even though they were still just 10mm. The next one had a beautiful, wonderful shotgun. I'd take it, even if it was a fascist pump-action."
2) "'In space,' she said finally, 'on Phobos, we found a giant swastika.' She let her observation hang in the air, waiting for the Mormon to respond.
'What do you think it means?' he asked.
Arlene sighed. 'I don't know; except it's a reason for me to hate them more.'
'I would hate them just as much,' said Albert, 'if you had found the cross up there, or the flag of the United States, which I believe was also inspired by God. A symbol used by aliens means nothing to me. We know them by their fruits.'
'Oh, fug,' said Jill. 'This is like being back in class. Don't give me a test, Albert.'"
3) "The next town along the line was Buckeye. We ditched the truck cab, then waited for night. We found an alley and enjoyed the busy sounds of night life in this modern world: troop trucks every few minutes, the tramping of little zombie feet, screams of pain, howled orders from hell-princes, and the occasional earthshaking tread of steam-demons. Even more soothing to our shattered nerves were mechanical sounds that reminded me of the spidermind, evidently a smaller model. I wondered if this one got better mileage.
'Have you noticed an odd thing?' whispered Arlene.
'You mean besides everything?' I replied."
3) "Inside the main part of the store, the fluorescent lights were on and burning steady. But the refrigeration was off, and there was a rotten smell of all kinds of produce, milk, and meat that had been let go before its time.
'Ew,' said my Mormon buddy, and he hit the center of the bull's-eye. The meat smelled a lot worse than the bad vegetable matter. And oh, that fish! If I hadn't been wide awake on adrenaline—compared to which caffeine is harmless kid stuff—I would never have believed what I saw next. Nothing on Phobos or Deimos had the feeling of a fever dream compared to the spectacle of...
'Hell in the aisles,' breathed Albert.
The grocery store was as busy as a Saturday afternoon in the good old world. Mom and Dad and the kids were there. Young lovers wandered the aisles. Middle-class guys with middle-sized guts in ugly T-shirts pushed shopping carts down the center aisle with no regard for who got in the way. Nothing had changed from the way it used to be... except that everyone was dead.
[...]
They didn't eat any of the groceries. They seemed caught up in the behavior of the past, as if the program had been so hard-wired into their skulls that not even losing their souls could erase the ritual of going to the grocery store."
4) "'Don't worry about me,' Jill said, following my example and kicking the corpse. 'They're just bags of blood, and we've got the pins. It's no big thing.'
No one was joking now. Arlene looked at me with a worried expression. This was no time to psycho-analyze a fourteen-year-old who was doing her best to feel nothing. This sort of cold attitude was par for the course in an adult, a mood that would be turned off (hopefully) in peacetime; but hearing it from a kid was unnerving.
The words just out of her lips were the cold truth we created. Do only the youngest soldiers develop the attitude necessary to win a war? Until this moment, I wouldn't have thought of Arlene and myself as old-fashioned sentimentalists; but if the future human race became cold and machine-like to fight the monsters, then maybe the monsters win, regardless of the outcome."
5) "'As I said, his name's Ken Estes. He's a computer software designer slumming as a CIA analyst. Low-level stuff, not a field agent or anything. He was born in—'
'No time for the family background,' I interrupted. 'Keep him focused on how and why he became a cybermummy.'
Somewhere, water was dripping. I hadn't noticed it before, but it was very annoying while waiting for Jill to pass on the messages in silence. Finally, she spoke again: 'When the aliens landed and started the war, Ken was told by his superiors that the agency had developed a new computer which the operator accessed in V.R. mode.'
'What's V.R.?' Albert asked.
'Old term; this guy's in his thirties! Virtual Reality; we call it burfing now, from 'body surfing,' I think.'
'Oh, the net,' said Albert."
6) "We took Sig-Cows off'n the first two zombies we killed; better than the pistols, even though they were still just 10mm. The next one had a beautiful, wonderful shotgun. I'd take it, even if it was a fascist pump-action."
October 31, 2020
Doom: Hell on Earth is the second installment in the old Doom novels. This is the one I originally read in college, though I enjoyed it this second time nearly as much as the first. In it, the protagonists; United States Marine Flynn Taggart AKA DoomGuy and Arlene Sanders return to Earth from Mars' moon Deimos, which has mysteriously moved into Earth orbit. Upon returning home, they find out that the Demon invasion they thwarted at such effort was only one of multiple axes of an all out demon invasion. The Human population of Earth is in grave peril. Flynn and Arlene hole up temporarily with one of the few surviving resistance centers and start planning a way to strike back at the Aliens responsible for the invasion at large.
PROS:
Clever. Who survives, who is putting up a fight, and who sides with the demons is both tongue in cheek and logically well supported. You'll find yourself nodding, chuckling, and rolling your eyes.
Dialogue. Since there are more humans in general, and more main characters added, there are a greatly increased variety of conversation options rather than just Flynn and Arlene agreeing with each others' every move. Jill, the teenage hacker, is rebellious, snarky, eager to prove herself, and a lot of fun. Albert, the LDS sniper, is defensive about his beliefs, valiant, and totally into Arlene, which makes for some interesting culture clashes with the Marine Duo.
Real places. I mean, technically, Mars, Phobos, and Deimos are real places, but the human settlements on them are all speculative fiction. In Hell on Earth, all the places are real (or real-ish). There is a train terminal where they go to find one. Disney does have an office in Hollywood. You see what I'm getting at.
CONS:
Short. Yeah, I know, I have (and will) put this as a con for all the Doom Books. But it keeps being true.
Cliffhanger. Ugh, does this book ever have one. Like, it just ends thonk in the middle of a fight. On the top of a building. With no way out. With the evac plane already gone. Even knowing I already have the next book it was frustrating. I can't remember how this didn't annoy the bejeezus out of me back when I read it the first time.
Bad editing. Okay, so smack in the middle of the book, there is a section where a part of book one is inserted. I don't think it was on purpose. I would think it was just a fluke of the copy I have, except when it happened this time, I remember being confused about it last time. So, it might be pervasive. There are also a lot of words that are hyphenated, that don't need to be. Like Com-plicated. I think these were where words cut off and went to the next line in an earlier edition. It's not a huge problem, but it manages to get annoying after a couple hundred odd pages.
Still, for all its warts, Hell On Earth is a good read. I liked it enough on my first read through in...what...1999 to keep me looking for the rest of the series all of this time. It’s definitely Worth a read if you come across it.
PROS:
Clever. Who survives, who is putting up a fight, and who sides with the demons is both tongue in cheek and logically well supported. You'll find yourself nodding, chuckling, and rolling your eyes.
Dialogue. Since there are more humans in general, and more main characters added, there are a greatly increased variety of conversation options rather than just Flynn and Arlene agreeing with each others' every move. Jill, the teenage hacker, is rebellious, snarky, eager to prove herself, and a lot of fun. Albert, the LDS sniper, is defensive about his beliefs, valiant, and totally into Arlene, which makes for some interesting culture clashes with the Marine Duo.
Real places. I mean, technically, Mars, Phobos, and Deimos are real places, but the human settlements on them are all speculative fiction. In Hell on Earth, all the places are real (or real-ish). There is a train terminal where they go to find one. Disney does have an office in Hollywood. You see what I'm getting at.
CONS:
Short. Yeah, I know, I have (and will) put this as a con for all the Doom Books. But it keeps being true.
Cliffhanger. Ugh, does this book ever have one. Like, it just ends thonk in the middle of a fight. On the top of a building. With no way out. With the evac plane already gone. Even knowing I already have the next book it was frustrating. I can't remember how this didn't annoy the bejeezus out of me back when I read it the first time.
Bad editing. Okay, so smack in the middle of the book, there is a section where a part of book one is inserted. I don't think it was on purpose. I would think it was just a fluke of the copy I have, except when it happened this time, I remember being confused about it last time. So, it might be pervasive. There are also a lot of words that are hyphenated, that don't need to be. Like Com-plicated. I think these were where words cut off and went to the next line in an earlier edition. It's not a huge problem, but it manages to get annoying after a couple hundred odd pages.
Still, for all its warts, Hell On Earth is a good read. I liked it enough on my first read through in...what...1999 to keep me looking for the rest of the series all of this time. It’s definitely Worth a read if you come across it.
June 5, 2018
Til tross for et for det meste heidundrende tempo klarte ikke "DOOM: Hell on Earth" å holde meg interessert veldig lenge. Jeg tror ikke det er på grunn av at Doomguy og Doomgirl ikke er særlig spennende, eller at snikskyttermormoneren og tenåringshackeren de har med seg er kjedelige. Boka er rett og slett ikke skrevet godt nok. Den er full av one-linere og teite vitser, men det blir færre og færre av disse, og noen av dem (særlig de som involverer den ovennevnte tenåringen) er rett og slett ekle. Dette er nok en følge av hvordan ab Hugh og Lineweaver er som forfattere, men jeg synes en redaktør fint kunne stilt spørsmål ved det. Bare fordi det er DOOM det er snakk om betyr det ikke at vi ikke kan forvente en viss litterær standard.
På den gode siden er det såpass mange vitser at over halvparten treffer, mens de som bommer fort blir glemt. Doomguy og Doomgirl har god kjemi, og det er i teorien ganske artig at mormonernes rare tendenser har gjort dem til noen av de eneste menneskene som har klart å stå imot romvesnene. Derfor er det synd at forfatterne ikke gjør med det. Alle vitsene om skattetilsynet og offentlig sektor er også ganske artige, men boka bærer preg av en viss liberalistisk tendens som jeg fint kunne klart meg uten. Boka har et klart språk som gjør det lett å se for seg hva som skjer, og den er ikke redd for å være litt tullete til tider. Ikke like bra som "RE: The Umbrella Conspiracy", men bedre enn mange nok ville ventet.
På den gode siden er det såpass mange vitser at over halvparten treffer, mens de som bommer fort blir glemt. Doomguy og Doomgirl har god kjemi, og det er i teorien ganske artig at mormonernes rare tendenser har gjort dem til noen av de eneste menneskene som har klart å stå imot romvesnene. Derfor er det synd at forfatterne ikke gjør med det. Alle vitsene om skattetilsynet og offentlig sektor er også ganske artige, men boka bærer preg av en viss liberalistisk tendens som jeg fint kunne klart meg uten. Boka har et klart språk som gjør det lett å se for seg hva som skjer, og den er ikke redd for å være litt tullete til tider. Ikke like bra som "RE: The Umbrella Conspiracy", men bedre enn mange nok ville ventet.
December 19, 2022
This book is better than the first one, since it has more of a plot than just action. The perspective shifts between the characters of Fly Taggart, Arlene, Albert the Mormon, and the 14 year old girl Jill. Fly and Arlene stumble upon an outpost of Mormons that represent the resistance against the aliens. Arlene is really uncomfortable around the Mormon faith. They try to radio in to their commander but the President of the Mormons catches them. Communications are very tight because the Mormon outpost is trying to detect any impostors. The aliens, whom the Mormons identify as demons, have the technology to develop a human-like entity. Fly and the gang end up agreeing to go to Los Angeles to try to disable a shield that is blocking movement. The U.S. Government has betrayed the country by joining forces with the aliens. Fly and the gang stumble upon a man who is comatose but whose brain is somehow dialed into the alien network. The aliens have spiderminds that connect to many other aliens. Jill's computer expertise is needed to try to use the comatose man to disable to defenses of the aliens. The gang heads off to Hawaii.
June 5, 2020
I picked up this one because I heard it was weird, and it sure delivered. This is the second book in a novel series adapting the original video game Doom. This particular volume features a lapsed Catholic Marine man, a kickass Marine woman with a problem with religion, a devout Mormon survivalist, and a fourteen-year-old hacker. It does in fact set Salt Lake City as the survivalist capital of the world, humanity's last remaining hope, which is just fantastic. The point of view changes with no warning every few chapters, and that's wildly disorienting, but it does feel pulpy. It also includes random bits of scripture, both from the Bible and the Book of Mormon, throughout.
Wow.
Wow.
July 13, 2020
While I ended up with a somewhat dodgy copy from book depository (missing page 132 and having 2 page 156's) this story continues where the previous book left off. While including alot more religious tones having Arlene and Fly encounter other humans and work together to take down the demonic invasion does take an interesting tone. While it felt somewhat short It does include quiet a bit of action scenes, introducing some of the enemies from the 2nd game and like the first one ends on a cliffhanger. However it has driven me to read the 3rd and then eventually the 4th book worth a read for those that love the doom games.
January 8, 2024
Holy cow buds.
You can’t write, you don’t understand how people in real life actually talk to each other, your ideas on politics, religion, and just about everything else (including your ideas on statutory) are way off base, you obviously don’t understand the simplicity of these games and managed to screw up the plot of the most basic video game since Pong, and you really just need to give up.
It’s one thing when directors screw up movie adaptions of games, but you had one really simple job and that was too much for you.
Give up.
You can’t write, you don’t understand how people in real life actually talk to each other, your ideas on politics, religion, and just about everything else (including your ideas on statutory) are way off base, you obviously don’t understand the simplicity of these games and managed to screw up the plot of the most basic video game since Pong, and you really just need to give up.
It’s one thing when directors screw up movie adaptions of games, but you had one really simple job and that was too much for you.
Give up.
March 12, 2022
A bit of a step back from the relatively strong first book in the series, but still great fun...
I understand that some might say "the book has some silly moments", or "the writing is a bit bland", but hear me out - the authors are showing their love for "Doom" in every word.
And this is something that we should respect.
The main goal is entertainment and fan service and with this book we receive exactly this.
I understand that some might say "the book has some silly moments", or "the writing is a bit bland", but hear me out - the authors are showing their love for "Doom" in every word.
And this is something that we should respect.
The main goal is entertainment and fan service and with this book we receive exactly this.
August 8, 2017
Almost as good as the first one, but with some differences. The most important one is that there's more than one person telling the story now, so we get to know different points of view. It also has more characters than on the previous book.
The aliens/demons, the carnage and the action are all still there, which makes this a fine sequel to the first amazing book.
The aliens/demons, the carnage and the action are all still there, which makes this a fine sequel to the first amazing book.
September 17, 2017
Such a great and fantastic ride. Once again, you have to have little expectation of a video game-based novel (sorry, don't mean to offend), but I was so pleasantly surprised. This book features great writing, intriguing action, character development, as well as references to James Joyce and William Faulkner. Great, great, plot. Can't wait to read the next book in the series.
May 19, 2020
Loved this one just as much as the first. The authors make it clear that the second book in the series is a break from the video game storyline while still keeping the feel of the original game. Been slowly but surely hunting these down to re-read them, and I'm loving every minute of it. You just don't get books like this anymore.
March 24, 2022
A little surprised that the religion bashing/explaining was in here (mostly Morman & Roman Catholic), was never sure what to expect. Which I guess helps flush out the characters since everyone internally has their own opinion on things.
It was interesting throughout, what more can you ask for on a novel based on events from the Doom 1 & 2 games?
It was interesting throughout, what more can you ask for on a novel based on events from the Doom 1 & 2 games?
August 19, 2023
Falling deeper into my preteen novel re-read, and this was a pure low in both writing, and connection to any of the source material, it’s also littered with typos and grammatical errors.
Anyway, I still fucking absorbed it like being stuck with an abusive parter and I’m gonna keep reading the remainder, so judge away all you wish hah
Anyway, I still fucking absorbed it like being stuck with an abusive parter and I’m gonna keep reading the remainder, so judge away all you wish hah
September 21, 2021
Super jízda a opět je nutné brát v potaz, že se jedná o román založený na videohrách. Tato kniha je velmi čtivě sepsána, nabízí zajímavou akci, vývoj postavy a také odkazy na Jamese Joyce a Williama Faulknera.
October 24, 2023
Narratively, notable improvement on the first in the series! But also feels like only part of a story - there wasn't really a completed narrative arc. Feels like he wrote one big story after the first, then sliced it up arbitrarily into a bunch of different books.
September 16, 2017
Once the characters finally got to Earth, I liked this book. "Go west, young lady. Find us somewhere safe to park..."
February 2, 2020
Enjoyable
As a fan of the video game I was a dubious about this series of books but so far I have been very impressed.
As a fan of the video game I was a dubious about this series of books but so far I have been very impressed.
September 16, 2020
Read A Few Times Love The Video Game
June 25, 2021
This is an excellent book, I can't stop reading it.
November 18, 2021
WTF? The demons are turning into aliens. The train is cool, so I gave it one star for that, and the other star is because it smells like toilet paper.
Read
September 26, 2023Pretty good continuation of DOOM. But honestly it could've ended at the first.
Read
April 4, 2024Read years ago
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