[.ca] Dark Angel : After the Dark (ISBN 0345451848)

VERY Disappointing for true DA fans!:
I just finished reading both "sequel" books - this and "Skin Game." The author did a great job making the characters as real as they were on the show - but the books themselves left much to be desired. If these were meant to be episodes during Season 3, they would have been great. But, as a wrap-up of the books, they fell way short. The first book resolved none of the questions left at the end of the TV run, so I had great hopes for this second book. Unfortunately, the resolution of our questions was left to the end of Book 2, and it was not done well or in depth. To give you an idea of how cursory the author's dealings were with the actual questions we wanted answered: there was no mention of the runes that popped up on Max's skin until the last 60 pages of the book. The cult's' "evil" plans, which were extremely lame, didn't really figure into the book until the end, either. To top it off, all of a sudden Max kept remembering people from her pre-Seattle days, such as Moody and Seth - this is apparently an attempt to get us interested in buying the prequel book from this author, Before the Dark, which I will NOT be doing. I felt like I was trying to read a book with pop-up ads, thanks to this marketing ploy. On the bright side, the author did do a really good job making the dialogue fit with the characters we know and love. Still, I'm going to stick to the DVDs and read fanfic to get the answers that FOX wouldn't let us have!

Satisfies a huge fan's needs...mostly.:
This final book in the Dark Angel trilogy is very true to the characters on the show. Max Allan Collins did a GREAT job in capturing each character's personality and humor. Very impressive; like another reviewer said, you can almost see the characters doing/thinking/feeling what you're reading on the page. The "however," however, is that the conclusion is a little weak. The entire second season was building up to a season 3 all about the runes, snake cult, and Max being the "one." The book's conclusion to that plotline is VERY anticlimactic. What helps me overlook this flaw is that everything else concludes nicely (stuff that's not related to Ames White and his cult; mainly, a certain virus, among other things). If you listen to the commentary on "Freak Nation" in the second season DVD's, the writers tell you everything. Collins pretty much followed that idea, EXCEPT at the end, which was, as I already explained, anticlimactic and made me feel as though the snake cult story was a waste. That's too bad, because this whole book works around the snake cult thing. Throughout the book, though, the witty dialogue, cool fight scenes, and flashbacks kept me busy enjoying it. Weak ending, but still really fun to read. It's definitely worth it. Every DA fan has to read this book. After all, it is the last DA "episode" us die-hard fans have to hold on to. Oh, BTW I agree - very cool "twist" at the end. We'll need at least another book to address it though. So Max Allan Collins, what're you waiting for? Get working.

Good book bad ending...:
This book was great just like the two preceding it. It answers the rest of the questions about the series not answered in Skin Game but leaves the book quite open ended. This was slightly disappointing but could mean another book will come out which would be cool. Another book I highly recommend.

Does a Little Justice, But Not What I Expected:
It takes only a true literary genuis to give fans what they want and to give Dark Angel the justice that it deserves. I am not saying that Mr. Collins did this, but I am not saying that he did not do this. All the fans wanted, or at least I wanted , is to see the Max/Logan problem figured out, and to see what was going to happen to the trasgenics and what about the ruins? It was hard to say that the book really did it justice I mean the Max/Logan answer did a little justice but not very much. The ruins were rarely mentioned except for at the end which was completely confusing! The only thing that I think was given proper justice in this book was the whole transgenic dealio. I am not saying that this book was horrible I mean sure it tied up most of the loose ends, but what about all of the other problems that came up in season 2. I would definetly buy this book, but agreeing with other reviewers I think that it does not have the answers that I wanted,and I will read fanfics and write fanfics to give true justice to the thing that is Dark Angel.

Book clears up many of the loose ends...:
The book read like an episode of the series-I could almost hear the characters speak as I read. However, the author relies on his other two books for themes and situations, instead of the series (which I guess you might expect from the third book in his trilogy), but he gives enough background so that the reader isn't lost by not having read his other two books. All-in-all, the book gives at least some closure to the abrupt end of the series--\o...\c. Speaking of closure, the book left wanting more. Other reviews have called the ending "lame". Maybe the author was setting us up for another book. But seeing that his contract was for only three books, I doubt it. Since no other books are likely in the works, the author needed to add an epilog to explain the ending. Who knows, maybe someday he will. \o...\c