What is the general consensus for the Doom novels?

[Luke Dacote]

I've recently read the first two Doom novels by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver and I was just curious as to what other Doom fans' opinions are towards them. I found the first two books to be a decent reads. I originally picked them up because I'm working on a Doom screenplay (Still a work in progress) and I needed some pointers but I quickly liked them for their own merits also.

I like how they created an actual character for Doomguy who isn't one note nor is some lunatic (Ala Doom comic). At first I didn't agree with the idea that he gets a sidekick but in the long run it makes sense. It would have been extremely dull if the whole book was just Taggart going from room to room, fighting monsters and reminiscing about stuff. Which is why, in some ways the second book was superior. Sure it has a slow beginning and is a lot more loosely based but the last two thirds keep you invested thanks to the interactions between the characters. And yeah, some of the dialogue is corny and I would have personally liked a more supernatural explanation for the demons. I didn't like how Hell was completely removed from the story, despite the fact that one of the main themes in the novels is Religion.

Anyway I was wondering on whether I should get the third book. For some reason, it's the priciest of all 4 novels and I've heard that the story goes downhill after the second book. So any thoughts? Did you like the novels or are they better forgotten?

[Waffenak]

I enjoyed them, you must tune your brains to certain frequency because those books written with tongue in cheek. Wait till you start reading 3rd book in the series. You either hate it, love it or don't form any opinion because your mind just melted reading it. I also recommend you read doom 3 novels: worlds on fire and maelstrom. After I finish book I'm now reading I start reading masters of doom by david kushner.

[Devalaous]

I cant find them anywhere, not even in libraries, but I want to read them just because of how ridiculous the third book gets (Yes, ive had all that loooong spoiled)

Surprised noones made a wad adaption of it yet :p

[Luke Dacote]

Waffenak said:
I enjoyed them, you must tune your brains to certain frequency because those books written with tongue in cheek. Wait till you start reading 3rd book in the series. You either hate it, love it or don't form any opinion because your mind just melted reading it. I also recommend you read doom 3 novels: worlds on fire and maelstrom. After I finish book I'm now reading I start reading masters of doom by david kushner.

Great, thanks for the response. I probably need to get around to actually playing Doom 3 though before I get to the novels.

Ragnor said:
I cant find them anywhere, not even in libraries, but I want to read them just because of how ridiculous the third book gets (Yes, ive had all that loooong spoiled)

Surprised noones made a wad adaption of it yet :p

I got a second hand copy of the first book and a brand new, reprint copy of the second book for a cheap price on Amazon. You can get the fourth book pretty cheap also but the third book for some reason is quite expensive. And yeah a WAD based on the books would be pretty awesome.

[MFG38]

I've read all of the books at least once. I feel that the first two out of the four follow Doom's initial plot pretty closely, but the other two fuck it up.

[Deleted_Account]

The Doom novels by Dafydd ab Hugh and Brad Linaweaver don't exist to me. I think the Doom 3 novels are okay though.

[chexwarrior]

It honestly bums me out that the monsters are not from Hell.

[YouAreTheDemons]

Chex Warrior said:

It honestly bums me out that the monsters are not from Hell.

Not me though. I personally think demons in science-fiction is kind of cheesy. But back on topic the novels are alright, the last one is hard to understand but there's an explanation for the ending.

[Koko Ricky]

Read the first and oddly, the third, and own the second (but haven't been able to bring myself to read it). I was not impressed by either. Both had a lot of potential but ultimately felt very high school.

[Magnusblitz]

I actually love all four books, though this wasn't my original opinion. When I read them as a youngster, I liked the first two (and half the third, until they meet Sears and Roebuck) - because those were what followed the Doom game storyline. There were tons of identifiable locations, monsters and situations, especially in the first book. The second book is a bit more vague but fits Hell on Earth, and there's some recognizable stuff (such as Gotcha!'s Cyber-vs-Spider fight, though its moved to a train car). The Mormon stuff and the Fred aliens and humans in the future was all very weird and didn't belong in my demon-killing books!

However, reading them as I grew older, I came to appreciate it. Yes, it's weird, and doesn't quite fit "Doom", but I think it makes for cool conceptual science fiction. The idea that most aliens evolve much slower, and that alien invaders would cook up an artificial army that looks like our bogeymen, the handling of pair-bonded aliens, or the crazy-fast evolving of the Newbies, the humans afraid of death... all very cool stuff. Had they stuck with "they're actually demons from hell" there'd be nowhere for the story to go except a generic "marines go into hell, blow up the big bad Icon of Sin."

So yeah, the dialogue isn't great, but I'm a sucker for the tongue-in-cheek nature of all of it, and there's a lot of little scenes I love with the Klave and Ninepin. It's an enjoyable romp. My main complaint would actually be that the ending is a bit abrupt/unsatisfying.

I can definitely see how losing the "demons from hell" aspect would piss people off, but I liked the "designed to look like demons on purpose" explanation and felt it was worth the change because of the interesting story that flowed from it. In comparison, I hated the "genetic mutation" explanation in the movies because it didn't provide anything interesting, just a really stupid "good people are super, bad people are demonic" nonsense. So, there's obviously a lot of Your Mileage May Vary here.

[Luke Dacote]

Magnusblitz said:

In comparison, I hated the "genetic mutation" explanation in the movies because it didn't provide anything interesting, just a really stupid "good people are super, bad people are demonic" nonsense.

The explanation in the movie was simply lazy. It was a huge rip off of Resident Evil's T-virus and just didn't fit for a Doom movie. Zombies just act like generic Horror movie zombies and the supposed Imps (at least, that's what I thought they were) don't even throw fireballs. And why did that one legless Scientist turn into the games Pinkie demon unlike the others? Just because his name's 'Pinkie'? That's really lazy, not to mention dumb as hell.

[Gez]

Doominer991 said:

Not me though. I personally think demons in science-fiction is kind of cheesy.

That cheese is the identity of the Doom brand.

I also don't see why the supernatural is okay in all time periods past and present, but not the future. It's kinda like thinking Harry Potter should have been set in medieval Britain...

[Clonehunter]

The Doom 3 novels were decent, though the second one seemed sorta rushed. The Doom movie novel was better than the film itself, though that isn't really saying a lot. And I've only read glimpses of the original four, as I only have the second one and would like to read the first one first. I like the cover art for the last two though, and wish higher quality versions could be found without all the text. TVTropes bears some interesting stuff on them though, including the nonsensical endings. Granted, the amount of goof in it seems right for Doom, or at least 90s Doom.

[Da Werecat]

Luke Dacote said:

And why did that one legless Scientist turn into the games Pinkie demon unlike the others?

Because he was legless.

[Tompig]

They were ok, got really tired of hearing about Arlene Sanders every two fragging minutes in the first one though. (Seriously can we not go two sentances without 'I love her but I don't but I do, gaaah demons!')

[Waffenak]

Clonehunter said:

I like the cover art for the last two though, and wish higher quality versions could be found without all the text.

Russian covers of original doom novels are also awesome. I want to own them just because of the awesome cover art. Have never seen those versions on ebay