As a MASSIVE nerd of the original Bionicle, I'm thrilled that it has continued. But like the sets, the book has increased in price since the hiatus, which is to be expected, given 5 years of inflation. It's about as long as the previous generation's books, though the text seemed a bit larger to me.



When I first heard an accredited author such as Windham would be writing the new books, I was thrilled. After reading it, I'm not so excited. First of all, the second half of the book almost exactly follows the online animations word-for-word, though not all the animations have been released yet, so a look further into the story was appreciated. Back on point. Since the book follows the animations so closely, the dialogue is, frankly, terrible. I even caught myself reading in the online narrator's voice, such as "Adededbeda heeyah that weeyad voys in my headagain" and "I AM THA MOSTAH AFF FAIYAUGH!" One plot hole I was hoping would be answered was, "Why didn't protectors of previous generations summon the Toa to awaken Ekimu centuries ago, even when it first happened?" This question is not answered. And I'm very, very disappointed.



Second problem with the writing: Greg Farshtey, the writer for 97% of the last generation's books, regularly interacted with fans young and old, getting a feel for just how much information they could grasp. Like the online animations, Windham has taken the liberty of spoonfeeding us the information out of a jar of Gerber's, SEVERELY underestimating our collective age and intelligence. I doubt anyone with this level of reading comprehension would even want to read a book lacking illustrations.



Third, for characters that have been around 14 years, the Toa have VERY bland personalities. When they show even the slightest sign of development, they contradict their previous generation's incarnations, which again is due to the online animations' writer.



Now, the good. The first half of the book gives us a GREAT insight into the history, culture, and geography of Okoto, or at least better than I remember reading about Mata and Metru Nui. Though the latter had movies, comics, and video games to flesh them out instead. The book describes exactly how the island was separated into regions, and why the masks were scattered, something sorely lacking from the animations, and both names and elaborates on the Protectors, only one of whom got a speaking part online. I have to say I was most impressed by Korgot, Protector of Earth's willingness to break the father-to-son tradition of the protectors, as she is female. Very, VERY glad we finally have a main story non-water female character (Roodaka and Gavla withstanding)



Along the top of every page is the Okoto alphabet, which the fans have yet to fully decode. Between sections, though, there are bits of legible Okoto symbols spelling out characters' names, though it's a bit bothersome that the name only matches up with the following character once.



In short, Windham starts off very well, fleshing out the island when he has the creative freedom. But as the book goes on and he's restricted by the animations, well... The book ends up being just as terrible as the animations. But I don't care, because BIONICLE IS BACK!