Bourne Legacy

Bourne Legacy by Eric Van Lustbader, 453 pages

After reading Bourne Legacy I am concerned with where the series is headed. Not only does Lustbader kill of two main characters in the first chapter, he also introduces one by the name of Khan. Khan is an assassin that wants to kill Bourne for abandoning him in Cambodia. He also claims to be his son Joshua who Bourne was led to believe was killed along with his wife and daughter. This leads to all kinds of flashbacks that help fill in some of the back story in Jason’s life. The rest of the plot, terrorist trying to kill everyone at an antiterrorist summit seems rushed and secondary to the Jason and Khan fight.

There is also a distinctive loss of David Webb, Jason Bourne’s true identity. While all of the Ludlum books have his mind in a battle between the two, David’s presence is absent throughout most of the novel. This is especially odd given the fact that so many of the memories he is rediscovering are from when he was David Webb. It also makes the character seem more one dimensional as now he is only a super-agent, and not the professor he pretends to be. Sort of like Indian Jones, boring professor by day, awesome kick-ass guy who saves the world by night.

Bourne Identity also only mentions David's wife in passing until the end. There is no concern for her thoughout the novel, not even a passing thought about what she might be going through when he is "killed" and none of her trying to help him. This trying to help was also a main part of the Ludlum series. Marie was always there for David, and was trying to make sure that the part that made him David was not lost to Jason Bourne. I know that Lustbader wrote her off to a safe house somewhere, but with Ludlum that wouldn't have stopped her.

While it seems that Lustbader is missing some of the key elements that made the Bourne novels a step above the rest, Bourne Legacy was still a good book. It will be interesting to see if this continues into just another spy novel series, or if the next book can bring back some of the qualities that elevated it above the rest.

The Bourne Ultimatum

The Bourne Ultimatum by Robert Ludlum, 611 pages.

It is hard for me to put into words how good this book was except maybe to give an example. In the last two days I have read over four hundred pages of it and have only grudgingly put it down.

The Bourne Ultimatum is probably my favorite of the trilogy as it continues the main story line of Jason’s hunt for Carlos the Jackal. This third book also introduces a “new” threat in the form of a modern day Medusa. With both of these shadowy organizations come webs of spies and informers, along with traps for Bourne and those helping him.

There are a lot of little things that Ludlum mentions that make the story easier to accept as believable. Where some novel series never show the character aging or showing signs of age, Ludlum does. This not only makes the characters believable but changes the super-agent story enough to make it something different. He also doesn’t make anyone near invincible or extremely lucky. Each person does what you expect they can do.

While this is the final book of the Bourne trilogy written by Ludlum it’s not the end of the Bourne series which still continues thanks to Eric Van Lustbader. Hopefully his writings will be of the same quality and detail that Ludlum put into all of his works.

A fellow blogger on here (Tiger Reed) has suggested reading all of Ludlum’s books. At first I was thinking my reading list was long enough as it is, but after seeing how Ludlum can spin a novel together I might just have to make room.  

P.S. The conch shell getting stabbed by a railroad spike was back on the cover. I noticed its disappearance with the second novel, maybe it only has something to do with the hunt for the Jackal?