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careythesixth's review
4.0
Yeah, yeah, yeah, go, Jack, go! I felt like the last couple of RJ were unnecessary in terms of moving the plot forward, but we're back on track. Too bad there's only one more RJ book to go before I have to go back and fill in the gaps with The Adversary Cycle. I'm ready to see how this all plays out.
braydin's review
4.0
Its hard to write non-spoiler reviews for the series at this point. The books have really moved from self contained stories with elements of an over-arching plot to a focus on the big picture. The last 5 books or so in the series bring the conflict with the Otherness to the foreground and don't wrap up as nicely as the early books in the series. Still they're good reads and I recommend the series to anyone looking for a modern horror/dark fantasy type series.
vkemp's review
4.0
This series is hard to classify in my reading classification system; it is crime fiction because crimes take place but it is also paranormal because the plot centers around the struggle between the Ally and the Otherness for Earth. What to do? What to do? I'm sticking with paranormal.
Repairman Jack has been recruited to fight the Otherness. The Ally's previous paladin, Glaeken (now known as Veilleur), who fought for a millenium has been allowed to retire and he is aging. Veilleur wants Jack to take over; Jack, being Jack, is resisting. However, Jack fights for the Ally and protects mankind, in particular Gia, his girlfriend, and Vicky, her daughter, as always. In this episode, the Septimus Order unleashes a botnet designed to take down the Internet which replicates itself, turns on any computer linked to the Internet and begins downloading videos. The resultant use of bandwidth crashes all networks. Rasalom, as the figurehead for the Otherness, believes this will kill the Lady, who is is the figurehead for the Ally, because she is sustained by humanity. It's all very complicated and if you have not read the rest of the series, do not begin with this one. Start with "The tomb," written in 1998 to find out "The secret history of the world." Conspiracy theorists will love this one.
Repairman Jack has been recruited to fight the Otherness. The Ally's previous paladin, Glaeken (now known as Veilleur), who fought for a millenium has been allowed to retire and he is aging. Veilleur wants Jack to take over; Jack, being Jack, is resisting. However, Jack fights for the Ally and protects mankind, in particular Gia, his girlfriend, and Vicky, her daughter, as always. In this episode, the Septimus Order unleashes a botnet designed to take down the Internet which replicates itself, turns on any computer linked to the Internet and begins downloading videos. The resultant use of bandwidth crashes all networks. Rasalom, as the figurehead for the Otherness, believes this will kill the Lady, who is is the figurehead for the Ally, because she is sustained by humanity. It's all very complicated and if you have not read the rest of the series, do not begin with this one. Start with "The tomb," written in 1998 to find out "The secret history of the world." Conspiracy theorists will love this one.
mikekaz's review
4.0
This is the end, almost. The penultimate book of the Repairman Jack series. And in this age of binge watching an entire TV season over the weekend, I'm doing a mini-equivalent and pushing through with the end of Repairman Jack and the Adversary Cycle. Straight from GROUND ZERO through FATAL ERROR and ending with NIGHTWORLD. Over the years, I might have missed nuances across the books but since the final books are all out, I'm going to finish them back-to-back. FATAL ERROR goes back to the usual Repairman Jack procedure, but with extras.
Russ, Jack's go-to computer guy, brings Jack in to help Munir who is having problems; it turns out that Munir's wife and son have been kidnapped. After not wanting to help, Jack relinquishes and agrees to doing what he can. It turns out that the Septimus Order and Kickers are behind it since they needed access to Munir's code to help them bring down the Internet. Basically a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack coordinated with physically bringing down a few key Internet Provider stations. A bit of hand waving but nothing that incredulous or unbelievable; we've all seen worse in movies and TV. Anyway, it's all an effort by The One to kill The Lady who is helping Earth in the battle between The Ally and The Other.
If that last sentence made no sense, then you need to go back to the beginning of the Repairman Jack series or the Adversary Cycle. Preferably both. For us regular readers, this book builds the tension and excitement. I can feel the pressure as things are building to a culmination in the new NIGHTWORLD. Next up, I'm actually going to go backwards in time but fill in a gap from this novel. REPRISAL which I originally read in 1996 occurs during the same time frame as FATAL ERROR. I'm going to re-introduce myself to some of the other characters that I'll be seeing before the end.
Russ, Jack's go-to computer guy, brings Jack in to help Munir who is having problems; it turns out that Munir's wife and son have been kidnapped. After not wanting to help, Jack relinquishes and agrees to doing what he can. It turns out that the Septimus Order and Kickers are behind it since they needed access to Munir's code to help them bring down the Internet. Basically a massive Distributed Denial of Service attack coordinated with physically bringing down a few key Internet Provider stations. A bit of hand waving but nothing that incredulous or unbelievable; we've all seen worse in movies and TV. Anyway, it's all an effort by The One to kill The Lady who is helping Earth in the battle between The Ally and The Other.
If that last sentence made no sense, then you need to go back to the beginning of the Repairman Jack series or the Adversary Cycle. Preferably both. For us regular readers, this book builds the tension and excitement. I can feel the pressure as things are building to a culmination in the new NIGHTWORLD. Next up, I'm actually going to go backwards in time but fill in a gap from this novel. REPRISAL which I originally read in 1996 occurs during the same time frame as FATAL ERROR. I'm going to re-introduce myself to some of the other characters that I'll be seeing before the end.
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