The book is chockfull of action, but that gets to be a distraction as well. Obviously the authors were trying to make sure the audience (primarily film people) got the concept of zipping into battle on armored spiders with cool martial arts weapons. However, Hunter has arachnophobia, one of the big things about his character, that gets largely ignored when it’s no longer convenient.

The book is a fast read and the younger audience should enjoy it.

In Spider Riders: Quest of the Earthen, Hunter is celebrating his victory. Three of the shards have been returned to the Oracle, but five of them remain in enemy hands.

The focus shifts to Mantid’s buddies in this one. Mantid is the leader of the Insectors. Fungus Brain has immense mental powers and Aqune has invented huge Mecha-Spiders that can potentially destroy the real battle spiders of the Turandot.

After several skirmishes and a few victories, Hunter knows that everything is on the line and that he needs to stop the production of the Mecha-Spiders. In order to do that, he has to penetrate the Insectors’ city. Death Star, anyone? And that particular plot convention was old even before George Lucas dusted it off to present one more time. Most of the old pulp heroes had to walk into the enemy’s lair at one time or another to save the day. Even today’s audience isn’t going to be surprised when Hunter and Shadow manage to succeed even against outrageous odds.

Spider Riders: Reign of the Soul Eater introduces the menace of Sklar, a fifty-foot tall skeleton with mind control powers. Okay, I admit that skeletons are kind of creepy looking to begin with, but part of me wants to know how they move without ligaments and muscles. But I digress.

Overall, the series is an easy and fun read for juveniles and teens who want a touch of SF balled up in their anime adventures. Unfortunately, there’s not more here than that. Readers who want deep character development or world-building miss out to a degree. The book series did spawn the television show, and it produced 52 episodes that were aired in the United States and Japan, but it failed to catch on as well as everyone had hoped. Still, there are fans out there waiting for the DVD set.