2000 AD Online Forum

Thought I'd start this thread as a repositary of reviews for the new range of 2k novels. I'll be bunging up reviews of those I've read and if others want to post reviews of the same books, or others then that'd be great. Starting off with -

JUDGE DREDD: BAD MOON RISING by David Bishop.

Night time in the Big Meg is never a safe time to be out. The crazies, the futsies, the perps, the juve gangs, the lunar-loonies, they're all out in force. Usually creating trouble for the Judges, often trying to kill each other in a variety of interesting manners. But tonight, in one of the poorest sectors of the Big Meg, things are going to get out of control. Racial tensions are creating problems between the human citizens and the aliens that want to make their home on Earth. And Judge Dredd is caught in the middle.

An enjoyable, easy read that shows that Da Bish has continued to improve since penning his Virgin Dredd novels there's lots to like about this book. As the main plot builds to boiling point we follow Dredd through a series of vignettes showing the sort of things he can expect to encounter in any given night on the streets. Particularly entertaining were the scenes with the suicide cult and the ugly pageant.

Whilst Dredd busts heads the rival factions of aliens and humans plot and counter plot giving the novel a nice narrative shape. It's a good sign that there are shades of grey to everyone. The aliens aren't merely noble, hard done to goody goodies and whilst never condoning organised racism Bishop does show the kind of background that leads to the humans acting the way they do. You never quite sympathise with them but you begin to understand how they've ended up so bitter and angry.

As well as all this there is a third plot strand about corruption within the sector house at which Dredd is temporarily placed. Featuring a character from Bishops previous novels this strand is well integrated with the rest of the novel and ties in well with the conclusion.

I enjoyed reading this, though it wasn't perfect. In his brief cameo Giant seemed a little too close to speaking like Shaft for my liking and anyone who has heard Bishops latest Big Finish audio will recognise elements from the conclusion that are replicated. But it's still a fun enough novel. It seems true to the character and location we've come to know and it bodes well for the rest of the line and Bishops upcoming novels in particular.

Link: Offical site - amazons cheaper.

Here's what I thought of it:

Link: LINK!

I'm reading this at the minute, and there's the odd line that makes me cringe, a bit like a fifth-form english student's attempt at vampire fiction might.  It all seems a bit too over-angsty and wordy, and Dredd's characterisation is way off.  He seems defensive and out of depth and it just doesn't work so far (page 178).  Dialogue's not too great, either.  David seems to like big-chested women, too.
Might get better later on, might not.  We'll see.

I was thinking about giving one of these novels a shot so all opinions on them will be appreciated.

If anyone out there's got the Duhram Red one 'd appreciate knwoing what they think.  It might be interesting to see the guy's take on Durham.

DC - The closet Red fan.

A good review DXB. I pretty much agree there. As you say, it wasn`t perfect. While I was reading it I found the awkwardness of some of the writing distracting. There were a fair few redundancies.
  When you say his other novels, do you mean from the old line of Virgin Dredd novels?

Chicken, I just sent my review of the Red novel to Gavin yesterday.
I'd say that if you're a fan, then you'll love it.