Borderlands: The Fallen

by John Shirley

Borderlands is a fantastic game.  It’s funny, addictive, has a unique graphical style and tons of loot to find.  The one thing you don’t really think of when it comes to Borderlands is its story.  I don’t mean to be disparaging at all, it’s not that the story is bad, it just isn’t ver deep.  It’s coherent, there are many memorable, and truly funny characters. On top of that it’s filled with laugh out loud moments. When it comes to plot though, it’s pretty thin and largely throwaway.  Find the vault, collect loot.

That being said, I wasn’t expecting a lot out of this book.  The fact that it’s written by John Shirley gave me some hope, he’s the author of Bioshock: Rapture, the prequel novel that I quite enjoyed.  All I was expecting out of this book was some mindless enjoyment, and it totally delivered.  Just like the game, the plot is pretty thin.

There’s a crashed alien ship, and a bunch of people are trying to find it so they can loot it.  Of course in the Borderlands fashion, many people are willing to kill without remorse to obtain this treasure, and much fighting and killing ensue.  The book does have some fun characters, cool guns, and exciting action.  Roland, the Commando from the first game is here, and he plays a fairly major part.  There are also a lot of nods to the game that will make players happy.  Things like the psychos screaming their memorable lines while in a fight.  I doubt it will blow anyone away, but it’s worth a read if you love Borderlands or are just looking for a fun, quick sci-fi book.