So, today I finished reading The Bourne Legacy. I feel mentally robbed of the wondrous characters that Ludlum created. If he was one to bemoan the destruction of his fictional universe post-mortem, he'd not only be rolling in his grave, but screaming his ass off at the same time.
Eric Van Lustbader created an interesting story. In its own right, it would have been a story that I probably would have read eventually, and might have enjoyed. The problem is that he tried to take his idea and fit it into the Bourne universe, and then he plastered Ludlum's name right on the cover in huge letters, making it appear that Ludlum had given his stamp of approval (something that I'd be hardpressed to believe he could have been coerced to do had he been alive).
What follows would normally be called spoilers. But, if that could be the case at all, then I'd say the whole damn book was a spoiler for the wonderful universe that Ludlum had created with his first three novels, the original trilogy. Lustbader (I'll still use respect by using his last name, even though he showed no respect to Ludlum) really didn't seem to grasp the universe that he was trying to enter.
Marie has always been an important part of each Bourne novel. She has never allowed David/Jason to shut her out; to take her out of the action. She has always ignored him and it was always in his better interest in the end. So, where was Marie in this novel?
Hidden.
What the hell? Jason sends her a text message to hide, and so, she does? She knows to attempt no communication until she gets the next coded text message? That doesn't sound like the Marie that I know, the Marie that I've spent countless hours getting to know while reading the original trilogy.
But, I sound bitter. It can't be that bad, can it? Oh yes. And it gets worse.
Mo and Conklin are killed straight-out. So, two of the three key people in the Bourne history are now completely removed. That is a rather bold move for an impersonating author to do to another brilliant writer's universe. But maybe he knew what he was doing? I could only hope. Half way through the book though, I knew that it was for naught.
I'm not exactly sure if Lustbader read the other books and knew the character that he was writing. We learn on the last page that this book is happening about 6 years after Ultimatum (it's Jamie's 11th birthday, and he was 5 during Ultimatum). Since he was 50 in Ultimatum, that puts him around the nice old age of 56. During Ultimatum, Ludlum made it a point to remind us that he was 50, and let us know that Bourne wasn't in the same form as he used to be as Delta. The way that Legacy was written, it sounded like he was a brisk 39-year-old in top form, who just happened to get the shit kicked out of him a lot, and was constantly wounded.
Bourne didn't seem 56 in this book, and that really upset me. There was an acute loss of realism here. But that still isn't all of it.
Bourne isn't Bond. He doesn't have a Q. So why was Deron (and on that note, where's good-'ol Cactus?) trying to play the part by giving Jason a "ceramic gun?" "It's a prototype. Let's say this, you name the price based on its use to you. I trust you'll be fair." Ugh. I think I'm going to hurl. Bourne never needed props like that before. He was an opportunistic man who managed to find what he needed, wherever he was. That ceramic gun came in handy too often, and was used way too much throughout the book. That quote from Deron really made me squirm in my chair, because it was just calling attention to how important that would be during the whole book. Puke, I say.
I'll have to go a little easier on Khan (and that name. I couldn't help but hear Khaaaaaaaaaan! every time I read it), but not much. He had Ozskar, whom was as close to Q as you could get without just calling him that. And then he had his magic coat.
Bourne saw that the inside was composed of a number of pockets, all of which looked filled.
"What d'you have in there?" he asked.
"Tricks of the trade," Khan said unhelpfully.
Maybe that's just how the more modern assassins work, with magic, but it just seemed too much for me. Both Bourne and Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan! got out of situations too many times in unbelievable fashions (and yes, I do believe that his capture of the impersonator in Ultimatum was realistic, especially compared to all of this crap). There were also far too many convenient similarities between characters. Zina and Khaaaaaaaaaaaan were shown to be way too similar at the end of the book. And Lustbader even had the gall to allow for the insinuation that Khaaaaaan was (metaphorically) the brother she had been searching for for all these years.
Then you had Annaka and Khaaaaaan who both hated their fathers, at least at some point in the story they both did.
There were the all-too-comical-because-they-weren't-supposed-to-be scenes where you had chains of "tailing" people, all thinking that they weren't being tailed (a simple example was when Khaaaaaan was tailing McColl who was tailing Anna (who was going to see Jason at the bio-lab)). All just too unrealistic.
Spalko had no good reason not to shoot Bourne with the ceramic gun when he was leaving with Annaka. It was a "classic" mistake made by the bad-guy, whereas Ludlum's badguys never really seemed to make that mistake (well, Carlos never seemed to kill Bourne when he should, but I'll let that slide)...
But wait! That's not all!
With Alex's death, he was quits with them, even though the DCI himself had asked him to stay, even though he actually liked and respected Martin Lindros, the man responsible for having the sanction against him lifted.
Like they had to explain that? Lindros had read Bourne's file and the DCI knew Bourne as well. Why would they even ask. It was well established that Bourne detested the government and wanted nothing to do with them. And what about Karpov and Robbinet? During Legacy, we learn that Bourne saved both of their lives on different "missions" that he was on. Missions? What missions? Bourne was never on missions. He was Delta during Medusa in Saigon. And then he was Bourne. The assassin. For 3 years. Chasing Carlos. He never did missions. Ludlum did mention that he had prevented some of the Jackal's jobs from taking place, but they were never "missions." I want to know who this mythical character is that Lustbader is spinning his yarn for.
Now, I have to take a moment and acknowledge the fact that Lustbader did tell a tale that I still found interesting, and is likely better than any story of that style that I could ever write (although, I'll still try my darnedest). My main issue with his story is that it seems to completely destroy the entire Bourne mythos.
And to that end, my final cry of frustration: Ludlum let his characters throw around classified information a little too freely, and the bad guys seemed to be able to get info on him way too easily, but I'd still say that at the end of the original trilogy, less than 200 people probably knew that David Webb == Jason Bourne. Well, now at the end of Legacy, the whole damned world knows, yet it doesn't seem to impact David/Jason at all. What the hell?
ARGH!!!!!
I could go on and on and complain about the large number of inconsistencies in this book, but I think that I'd just explode with frustration. As it is, I think that I've made a pretty clear point that The Bourne Legacy should be avoided if you care about the Bourne mythos. If you just want to read a somewhat entertaining, although wholly unbelievable, and somewhat predictable, book, then please, by all means, get it through my affiliate link: The Bourne Legacy.