I was pretty excited about this prequel to the new Transformers movie, especially since Foster wrote the prequel to the previous movie, and I really liked that one. But he really fell down on the job this time. Ponderous and stilted, this novel makes the Transformers boring, and their human companions even more so. Glad I got it from the library and didn't actually pay for it.

Partly hampered by being trapped between two movies without a whole lot that could actually happen, the story is mostly set-up, with a few inconclusive confrontations between the Autobots and Decepticons. Optimus Prime and his human allies have set up a secret base from which to track the activities of the Decepticons on Earth, who have now divided into two factions. One is led by Starscream, with the intention of enslaving Earth's humans and looting its Energon, while the other plans to rescue and resurrect Megatron. It was filler, easily skippable. ( )