#Greg Keyes

[crynwr-drwg]

I don't know if this is an unpopular opinion or not, but I fully believe they need to make more IRL Elder Scrolls books

Like how they did with these:

These two books were honestly fucking sick, especially with what they did with alchemy stuff in it.

I definitely believe there are problems to be had with doing too MANY books (like WH40k, for example) but doing barely any is similarly criminal imo

[ape-apocalypse]

Road To The Kingdom - Firestorm Tie-In Novel

Dawn of the Planet of the Apes: Firestorm is a prequel novel written by Greg Keyes for the second movie in the reboot trilogy. It takes place soon after the end of the first film, about a week after the apes escaped into the redwood forest beyond San Francisco and the Simian Flu began to cut through the human race. This novel is a fantastic bridge between Rise and Dawn, giving us more insight into characters we met in the first movie who will feature in the next, as well as fleshing out the fall of society. 

The book does very well juggling between the two massive plots of Caesar's apes avoiding their human hunters and the Simian Flu tearing through the city. Though we don't see Will or any other humans we met in Rise, they give us many new human characters: a reporter trying to make the connection between the escaped apes and the new virus, an emergency room doctor dealing hands on with outbreak casualties, and an ape researcher and a former hunter who have been brought in by Gen-Sys to capture Caesar's group. While I thought I wouldn't care about the humans because the apes are always my favorite characters, all these humans in different locations and with different stories keep the story from dragging; I ended up enjoying the final days of humanity almost as much as Caesar's story. The book also gives us the first introduction to a human character who will become important in Dawn: Dreyfus, the leader of the human colony played by Gary Oldman. Going into the movie, his backstory isn't very clear other than he was in some position of power before the end and he lost his wife and children. But the book goes really deep into his story of a former police chief running for mayor and wanting to protect humans. Rereading the book in 2024, the parallels of the Simian Flu with the Covid outbreak definitely rings true (much like the YouTube shorts).

But no matter how good the human characters are, what I enjoyed most about this book was seeing Caesar and his escaped apes start to adapt to life in the wild. Even while they're being hounded by the humans chasing them, they have to figure out how to care for sick/injured apes and where to get food without humans to feed them. A great moment for Caesar is when he thinks to himself that he never thought beyond escaping from the human city; his realization that there is more to figure out than just dodging humans shows how he goes from accidental ringleader from the sanctuary to the wise authoritative leader of the apes of the next two films.

Though surprisingly, the true star of this book isn't Caesar; it's Koba. We get numerous detailed flashbacks of Koba's life before ending up in the Gen-Sys lab and receiving the brain enhancing drugs. From the death of his mother to being an abused TV star to arriving at the labs as a test ape. In the films, Koba's hatred of humans shines through and is unquestionable; you don't need the backstory to understand why he carries a grudge against all humanity. But reading the details really did break my heart. And getting his backstory revealed as he learns to work with other apes, as he proves his loyalty to Caesar by rescuing injured apes rather than wrecking vengeance on humans, you actually have hope that he could be happy now that he was free with other apes. 

Another great part of the book is getting to see the very beginning of Caesar and Cornelia's courtship. Since one of my disappointments with the films are the forgotten female characters, I was glad to see Cornelia here, challenging Caesar's orders when it came to taking care of injured apes. Though her role is still small, I liked seeing her get a little time to flesh out her character.

Firestorm is officially labeled as a prequel (which is why I have it listed first as I'm trying to go in chronological storyline order), but I actually enjoyed reading it after seeing Dawn. While I think it can still be appreciated in any order, I liked getting to meet Koba in the movie and seeing him as a great complicated villain, before then learning his backstory and growing your sympathy for him, while also thinking about how tragic it is that he couldn't let go of his hate. Whatever order you decide to read them in, Firestorm by Greg Keyes is a wonderful expansion on the movies that I would label as required reading for fans for the expansive and enjoyable story it shares.

Intro / Previous / Next

[greatrunner]

"[...]When the shock wave hit them, Chen grabbed Mark’s hand. He was so surprised he nearly forgot they were about to die. He gripped back. It felt good. Warm, familiar."

"[...]But when it all sorted out, they were floating. Maybe not for long, but for now. The power was still on, if a bit jittery. He was still holding Chen’s hand. He didn’t let go. “Are you okay?” he asked her. Breathless and wide-eyed, she nodded. She didn’t let go either. He thought how long it had been since he’d held anyone’s hand, had the simple comfort of being physically in touch with another human being. It was especially nice in the face of pure terror…"

Memory is a monster, but I'm relieved to learn that mine hasn't completely fabricated events as I remembered them. It only did that a little bit.

[haveyoureadthisscifibook]

vote yes if you have finished the entire book.

vote no if you have not finished the entire book.

(faq · submit a book)

[bornitereads]

The Final Prophecy - Greg Keyes

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order book 18

Reread: Jan 2024

The penultimate book of the New Jedi Order series! You know when I started my reread of NJO I thought I could finish it before the end of 2023. Lol, did not happen. I could have if I applied most of my free time to reading, but sometimes a bitch needs to also do other things.

Anyways, two storylines here. One with Wedge Antilles and his military operation in Bilbringi. An operation which goes south fast because the Yuuzhan Vong have finally started disrupting communications by destroying holonet relays. The other storyline is all about the Yuuzhan Vong. Discontent on Yuuzhan'tar (Coruscant), evidence from Zonama Sekot pointing to Yuuzhan Vong origins, Nom Anor making prophecies he thinks are bullshit. In the end three Yuuzhan Vong are extracted from Coruscant by Tahiri and Corran Horn and go to Zonama Sekot. Revelations are had, betrayals are made, Nom Anor is an absolute dick.

I like the focus on the Yuuzhan Vong in this book, the introduction of more nuance into them as a species was a wise call imo. They are not a monolith, and I appreciate the depth that was added to them. I also liked that when they arrived at Zonama Sekot they landed very far from the other Jedi already on planet. It gave the Yuuzhan Vong characters time to process Zonama Sekot without influence. It was also nice to have, like, second? third? rank characters have their time without anyone of the Skywalker lineage involved.

Info: Del Rey; 2003

[badmovieihave]

Bad movie I have Tequila Body Shots 1999

[notholaenas]

What books have you done this to?

Instagram / Shop

[catalogue-the-pages]

War for the Planet of the Apes: Revelations (2017) - Greg Keyes - series #3

[damnflirtyape]

(Excerpt from Firestorm by Greg Keyes)

I think... some of the most painful elements in Dawn are the moments that Caesar realizes that Will is almost certainly dead. Out in the forest for a decade, learning to lead, to build a village and take care of such a vast group of apes, he can live in denial. Will is akin to Schrödinger's Cat; if Caesar cannot see what is happening in the city, see evidence of his adoptive father's death, then it cannot have happened. But then he's back in his old home and it's overgrown and falling to pieces and long abandoned. Will and Caroline are not there. And then Malcolm asks who Will was, the lack of recognition further evidence that Will is not in the Colony. I can't even imagine what Caesar's feeling at that moment. Who was Will? Someone who kept his mother in a cage for experiments, someone who defended him from harm, someone who held him when he was sick or scared, someone who gave him toys and treats and played with him, someone who kept him alone away from other apes, someone who took him to his beloved trees and let him climb to his heart's content, someone who lost him and sent him to be kept in a cage with a cruel tormentor, someone who followed across the bridge through chaos and danger to beg him to come home. He was his father.

[fragglez]

HIII‼️‼️‼️

I I would like to hear ur thought process behind Koba and Caesar if u don’t mind, I think it’d be a very interesting dynamic but I wanna hear ur thoughts since ur the one who put the idea out :D

(Unless ofc, if ur tags in that one post were just the entire thought process and I’m just thinking too deep into it lol 😭)

HIII ‼️‼️ thank you so much for asking... I will absolutely love to elaborate

Welcome to: A Hopefully Legible Collection of My Thoughts on Caesar/Koba ™ (actually it's mostly just Koba... i stay biased) im gonna divide it into the different movies begging w Rise

RISE + Book:

okay so Koba isn't in Rise a lot and we don't really get a lot of information HOWEVER in the book "Planet of the Apes: Caesar's Story" by Greg Keyes we get this quote

(the narrator is Maurice btw) in which Koba thinks so fondly of Caesar he becomes Issape Newton

DAWN + book again:

dawn is complicated because at first we see Koba as this super loyal guy who will do anything to protect Caesar and his fellow apes, and then later in the movie he does a full 360

There's a deleted scene that happens after Koba saves Caesar and Blue eyes (I think)

"You saved my life today, Koba"

what a sad miserable guy that man would do anything for Caesar just look at him

after the hug Caesar stands infront of all the other apes while still holding onto koba, and says "Apes together strong" while Koba looks at him like he's the only person in the whole world

that dude is in love ↑

Koba worshipped Caesar like he'd do anything for him, so when Koba starts to believe Caesar cares more about humans than apes that's when he begins to turn "evil" Everything Koba did was to protect Caesar, I'm confident that in Kobas mind killing Caesar is what he had to do to protect him and his family

I don't remember which movie this quote was from but:

"From humans Koba learnt hate"

and from Caesar he learnt love, so when Caesar started "prioritizing humans" he turned back into hatred

↑ again it's Maurice telling this

WAR:

I don't have much more to say cus Kobas dead in this one rip dude but

Fellas is it gay to hallucinate your dear old friend (who you murdered) calmly caressing your face telling you to join him in the afterlife??? just asking

Summary:

uhh yeah this is pretty much everything hope you enjoyed like and subscribe 👍 yeah the movies are tragic and i feel like caesar/koba just makes everything so much more tragic and i love that pain and suffering on planet earth <3

+ an extra little treat

[artbyblastweave]

I've always felt that the Fallout IP has gone weirdly untapped in terms of expanded universe material, specifically novels and comics. Basically just All Roads for Fallout, then ten years of nothing, then a runaway smash-hit tv show- so like, clearly there's some kind of appetite for stuff in the EU space, probably no shortage of talents who'd love to work on such a thing. I'm not saying that they should do this, or that it would be good if they did, I'm just curious as to why they didn't try to milk that cow, particularly now that I'm remembering that a lot of the other runaway-smash-hit game franchises that Bethesda-Fallout is contemporary with did try their hand at tie-in novels. Did those collectively flop? That would hold neat explanatory power. Maybe the Greg Keyes Elder Scrolls duology was them trying their hand in that space and recoiling. Hmm.

[merethicera]

i think the elder scrolls novels are like. the funniest possible execution of that idea. Greg Keyes was given what seems to be free reign to do whatever he wanted with elder scrolls and he decided the best use of that was for it to be a sick and twisted cooking show. like yeah clavicus vile is there but mostly its about frying evil garlic in a dastardly pan

[monsterblogging]

List of Official/Official-Adjacent Pacific Rim Media

Here's a list of Pacific Rim media for y'all Pacific Rim fans who want to check out as much of it as possible!

PACIFIC RIM (2013 FILM) Usually considered the primary text of this franchise. Pacific Rim fans mostly agree it's good.

PACIFIC RIM NOVELIZATION BY ALEX IRVINE The novelization of the 2013 film. The book's writer, Alex Irvine, had texts from Legendary Pictures work with, but some of the information was outdated. Furthermore, the book has a cynical, smug tone and comes off like it's written for the type of audience who thinks CinemaSins is actual media criticism. The only thing it's really good for is for scraping out lore, but it's full of contradictions and occasionally uses outdated lore, so you have to compare/contrast it with other materials.

TALES FROM YEAR ZERO Authored by Travis Beacham, this comic explores the origins of the PPDC and the Jaeger program. It's interesting for lore, but story-wise, it might not be engaging if you aren't into Travis Beacham's particular romantic storytelling tastes. Also, if you're a puritan who gets offended when main characters are kinda fucked up people, this isn't for you.

TALES FROM THE DRIFT Authored by Travis Beacham, this comic tells the haters-to-lovers story of Duc and Kaori Jessop, pilots of Tacit Ronin. Mildly interesting for lore, and another romance-oriented story. (Beacham loves those.)

PACIFIC RIM: MAN, MACHINES, & MONSTERS The official artbook. Has some interesting information and lore, though it also contains a few typos and references outdated worldbuilding.

TRAVIS BEACHAM'S TUMBLR After Pacific Rim's release, Travis Beacham answered many fans' questions. While he was often cryptic and straight-up refused to answer certain questions for fear that he'd spoil a future story, he still provided quite a bit of insight. You can visit his old blog at travisbeacham.tumblr.com

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING Largely panned by fans of the original film. Partway through production, the sequel to Pacific Rim was handed off to another director, and many plot elements were hastily changed with little to no regard for the rich worldbuilding developed by Travis Beacham and Guillermo del Toro, or even story coherency. The film never gives really your brain space to breathe, so it's very difficult to follow the story. Moreover, it misses the thematic and allegorical tones of the first movie, and lacks its occult influences. Overall, it's a hollow followup to Pacific Rim.

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING NOVELIZATION BY ALEX IRVINE Fundamentally, it's the same story as Pacific Rim: Uprising. The upside is that Alex Irvine's writing is significantly improved, and the story is much easier to follow in novel format. The downside is that you don't have John Boyega's acting talent.

PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING JUNIOR NOVELIZATION BY BECKY MATHESON It's more or less the same as above, but edited down for a younger audience.

THE ART AND MAKING OF PACIFIC RIM: UPRISING The PRU artbook. I've never read this one, so I couldn't tell you what's in it aside from the very obvious.

PACIFIC RIM: AFTERMATH A prequel comic to Pacific Rim: Uprising written by Cavan Scott, Aftermath tells two stories: one focuses on Jake Pentecost and his relationship with his father; the other on what happened to Hannibal Chau and Joshua Griffin (one of Vulcan Specter's pilots) after the kaiju war. The comic makes excellent use of the lore, and the stories are great.

PACIFIC RIM: AMARA A prequel comic that focuses specifically on Amara Namari. I have mixed feelings about it; the mini-Jaeger designs were great but I felt that the actual storyline was a little melodramatic. I dunno, read it for yourself and see what you think.

PACIFIC RIM: ASCENSION A prequel novel to Uprising by Greg Keyes, this story gives life and focus to many characters who didn't get a lot of attention, including the Kaidonovskys and the cadets. Mako Mori is given the narrative respect she deserves, and Hermann Gottlieb's characterization is top-notch. The author makes use of the lore provided by Legendary Pictures to weave a rich and fascinating narrative that puts the actual Uprising film to shame.

MAKING OF/BEHIND THE SCENES VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE There's a number of videos out there on YouTube, which you can find by searching up.

PACIFIC RIM CONCEPT ART There's quite a lot of concept art out there. You can start here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, or search Pinterest or whatever search engine for Pacific Rim concept art.

PACIFIC RIM: THE BLACK A cash grab produced by Netflix, The Black disregards Pacific Rim's rich worldbuilding and follows bland, generic cartoon protagonists through a bland, generic cartoon plot loosely - loosely, mind you - based on the films. It tries to be dark, but it has all the skill of a sixteen year old edgelord about it. Also, the production values are nonexistent. You will miss absolutely nothing worthwhile by skipping over it. If for some reason you really want a Pacific Rim story where child soldiers are framed as a good thing, just read Pacific Rim: Ascension. If you want dark, watch Pulp Fiction or From Dusk 'Til Dawn. If you want a story where somebody makes a religion out of turning people into monsters, watch Midnight Mass or play/watch a no-commentary playthrough of Resident Evil 4 or 8. If you want an AI that looks after two stranded children, watch 3Below. Seriously, there is nothing The Black does that something else doesn't do infinitely better. "But most of these aren't Pacific Rim stories-" Wrong. Any story can be a Pacific Rim story if you're not a coward. And just about anything is a better Pacific Rim story than The Black.

PACIFIC RIM: BLACKOUT Prequel comic to Pacific Rim: The Black. Haven't read it, but it's written by the same guy who wrote Aftermath so it's probably a sight better than The Black.

[brokehorrorfan]

Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire's novelization will be published in paperback, e-book, and audio book on April 16 via Titan Books. The film hits theaters on March 29.

The 320-page book is written by Greg Keyes (Godzilla: King of the Monsters and Godzilla vs. Kong novelizations), based on the screenplay by Terry Rossio (Pirates of the Caribbean), Simon Barrett (You're Next), and Jeremy Slater (The Umbrella Academy).

The almighty Kong and the fearsome Godzilla face a colossal undiscovered threat hidden within our world, challenging their very existence – and our own. The latest epic will delve further into the histories of these Titans, their origins and the mysteries of Skull Island and beyond, while uncovering the mythic battle that helped forge these extraordinary beings and tied them to humankind forever.

Pre-order Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

[bornitereads]

Edge of Victory II: Rebirth - Greg Keyes

Star Wars: The New Jedi Order book 7

Reread: Nov 2023

While the first Edge of Victory book was one story about Anakin on Yavin 4. This one has many plotlines. And not all of them converge at the end. It's kind of like a bunch of separate novellas all put together. All the major characters are in the book, including Anakin and Tahiri after their trauma inducing time on Yavin 4. Jaina is getting tricked into attacking a civilian Yuuzhan Vong target. Jacen is being annoying again, fighting with his father. In happier news however Mara gives birth to her and Luke's son, Ben. Not before almost dying first though.

I couldn't really remember what happened in this one. Which in a series this long is no surprise, but the best bits stick out. And no bits here stuck out. I remember liking it at least. But again it didn't stick so just one of the lag points of the series.

Info: Del Rey; 2001

[santoschristos]

“Love is the one thing we’re capable of perceiving that transcends dimensions of time and space.” — Greg Keyes

The Importance Of Giving Women Space

art by Bambashkart