Exodus

July 1, 2010
Transformers: Exodus is precisely the origin story that the franchise needed. Its entertaining, filled with the sort of epic battles Transformers lend themselves to, and keeps readers breathless with anticipation even though we already know how it ends. Megatronus was a gladiator until he got his name and started thinking about the way Cybertrons caste system diminished the bots potential. Orion Pax was a data workera librarian, reallyunder the master archivist. The archivist is more than he seems, and provides a great deal of context for the history of Cybertron, and a few key deus ex machina twists. Orion Pax, now known as Optimus Prime, is an honest character, who never asks for the greatness that is forced upon him; Megatron, on the other hand, is an egomaniacal tyrant. But in the framework of a political revolution and the civil war that overthrows a system that had practically calcified, there are terrible fights, friendships made and broken, and the beginnings of a genuine epic; above all, its fun to read.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2010, American Library Association.)