Death of the Planet of the Apes

This a very entertaining and enjoyable book. The author weaves together elements from the original five films, the comics, the animated and live action TV series, material that was proposed but unused in the original films, and even themes from the new movies, and creates a novel that compliments and deepens our understanding of the original material and tells a compelling new story as well. The book mostly takes place during the timeline of the second movie, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, but also includes flashbacks to the 20th century and follows George Taylor on adventures never shown in the movies. A reader does not need to be a POTA expert to enjoy this book, although it would help to see the first two movies. For those who love the franchise, this book is a rich addition to the legacy.Longtime fans have debated the seeming continuity errors, inconsistencies, and mysteries between the various entries in the Apes franchise. Such as: Why is 3978 shown as the year in the original movie while 3955 is given in the first sequel? How does Cornelius know far more about the past in ESCAPE, when he knew almost nothing in the first two films? How did Milo manage to repair the spaceship? What was the ANSA? How did 20th Century humans get interstellar technology and a planet-killing bomb in the first place? This book answers these questions and more in ways are seamlessly integrated with existing canon.This book is far more than merely settling old minutiae-level questions or merely a knock-off of the original stories. It is an intriguing SF novel that explores familiar characters in new settings while expanding the POTA universe with new thought-provoking situations and interesting new characters with several unexpected and surprising developments.One nitpick, Maddox should have been introduced as holding a higher rank.Overall, this is a great book and I’m looking forward to other books like this one. I hope the author will continue with books set in the other movies. There are many other mysteries to explore and stories to be told in this universe. Please write more soon!

A quick and interesting read that fills in many of the "missing" pieces of the classic "Apes" saga. He works in elements from the movies, the TV series, the old "Marvel" magazine/comic and even a nod to the reboot movies (Apes together strong ). The pieces manage to fit well, although the mutant - creature ele.ments threaten to take it over the top. The book gives a new perspective to viewings of "Beneath the Planet of the Apes ". A fun read for Apes fans old and new.If you enjoy this book, check out "Conspiracy on Planet of the Apes" - same author, same kind of cool story

Drew Gaska has done it again! I was first introduced to Mr. Gaska’s work through his “Conspiracy of the Planet of the Apes” novella beautifully illustrated by Matt Busch and published by Archaia in 2011. That novella told the events of the first Apes movie from the point of view of different characters having “off screen” adventures such as astronaut Landon and ape scientist Milo while also introducing all-new characters. It masterfully filled in gaps and fixed continuity errors. My only problem with it was that it ended with so much more of the story to be told. Now, 7 years later, we get the sequel..."Death of the Planet of the Apes" takes a similar approach with the second Apes film and tells more off screen adventures of characters from the films as well as many other characters (some introduced in Gaska’s first novel, others introduced in this new novel). And to my delight, this is a huge novel - not a short novella like I was expecting.I don’t want to spoil the story, but I will say that Mr. Gaska manages to create a truly engaging story (I could not put this book down!) while masterfully integrating plot lines from so many Apes sources (including the Marvel comics Apes magazine from the 70’s) and fixing even more continuity errors that have crept up between the films. Doing so is not an easy task - often when writers try to tie together characters and plot lines from different, continuity-riddled sources the final product comes off like cheap fanfiction. Never once does that happen here - every sprinkle of a character or plot line from a tangential Ape story (no matter how obscure) is done brilliantly. The only other author I have seen do this as well is Peter David (having done that in books for many genre properties such as Star Trek and Babylon 5). Gaska’s writing style finds the true voices of the well-known characters from the films, injects a fair amount of humor into such a dark story, and moves at a breakneck speed. You will not be disappointed!In a recent interview on the “Talking Apes” podcast, Drew Gaska said he has a 5-book plan he’d like to execute. I can only hope that means he plans on taking a similar approach with the remaining 3 Apes films. I would love to see what he could do with "Conquest of the Planet of the Apes" to flesh out that storyline, make it more believable and connect it better to the final film.Now if only the 2nd and 3rd Buck Rogers novella’s Mr. Gaska has written will finally get published...Go Ape!

I Loved this book. I hope he writes more books on the movies and I wish he would write a book on the tv series telling how the astronauts get home as Galen told on the telefilms on tv and what happened to Galen. I would love for Mr. Gaska to tell more on how the apes took over and started speaking between Conquest and Battle and how Ceaser turned over rule to the lawgiver. I hope they keep writing more apes stories.

As a POTA superFan, I really enjoyed this novel perhaps even more than Mr. Gaska’s previous work, Conspiracy on the Planet of the Apes. While both are fun reads, the lower price point and paperback format really helped this time around.The novel does a great job of filling in the gaps in the original series - Where did Taylor & Nova rise off to? When did Cornelius & Zira get married? He also fleshes out the backstories of Taylor, Brent, and other characters quite well. He even incorporates an idea the producers of the films toyed with, but didn’t utilize - I won’t spoil it here.I’d love it if he were able to finish the series with side stories for Escape, Conquest, and Battle. Keep writing!

I have a great fondness for the original movie, if fondness is the right word - saw it with my dad, then saw it again as the first film I ever went to see on my own, and its left a strong impression on me - that specific world, which you wont really find in the source novel, (which is really a satire in the tradition of Gulliver's Travels). You don't find that world again in the later 'Apes' series either, of course, or the TV series that eventually followed. You only get to glimpse it in the first two films, because its blown up in the end of the second one. This book allows us another glimpse of that complex, chaotic world, it's politics, its religious dogmas, its warmongers and peace protesters - its unique character - a world on the eve of destruction. You might be surprised at some of it, but its still a gift to fans of the original film and the thought-provoking themes it explored - and all the angst, all the bile and self-hatred. Ah, how I've missed Taylor. The book does a great job of weaving its plot around the known events of the first two films, and finds many ways to tie up loose ends, and even tie in characters who appear in later spin-offs like the TV series - lots of flashbacks give us Taylor's backstory, and allows for his meeting them and training with some of them. The book also captures the garish madness of Beneath the Planet of the Apes, finally giving us Taylor's untold chapter, where he is caught and interrogated by the mutants in the Forbidden Zone.

I like how this book fills in the blanks. As we get to see what happened to Taylor after the first planet of the apes. Also a little bit of his back ground. Leading up to his launch into space. Events in the second flim are kept in the book. Which is good. So if your a fan of the films I recommend this book.

A truly great book, fits seamlessly into established 'Apes' canon and introduces excellent new characters into the story without taking anything away from the existing story framework.Inspired me to create fan art, a book I will happily read again in the not too distant future.More please and possibly an animated film version?

This book should be read by all Apes fans & Syfy fans I won’t t spoil it just buy it you won’t be disappointed.

I liked it joined the dots of the films especially Beneath to Escape