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thecrankyreader's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.5
Its start slow and it has so many moving parts. I didn't really know who or what the story was about till half way through. Then it tried to bring everything together. I really wanted to like it! I'm going to try the second one and hopefully that is much better
bahbadook's review against another edition
3.0
3.5/5
This was...odd. Admittedly, this is my first foray into 1980s science fiction so I do not quite know if this is a usual text or not.
Full disclosure, I did not listen to the GraphicAudio version. I found the text online. So there were some formatting issues that made the POV changes hard to deal with. Also worth commenting on is that the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the book was flipping around in time and it is very clearly a non-linear narrative. So that on top of the formatting made what I read not easy to read. I do not know if the GraphicAudio version clarifies things and makes them easier.
But the book was good enough that I'm curious to see if that is the case; as in, I would willingly listen to something that I've already read.
On to the story aspect. It reminds me a lot of the Fallout universe. And I mean, I've done a lot of research into the Fallout timeline, especially Pre-War. Give it a slightly different style and remove the radiation magic and it could be Fallout canon or fanfic. So if you like Fallout for the story and backstory, you'll probably greatly enjoy that book.
The worldbuilding was great. The descriptions were a little graphic for the violence and gore but certainly nothing I haven't read before. The language is Fallout or Doom levels.
I'm still lost as to what was happening in the first couple of chapters and I lost track of one guy. Also, it was a little...I don't know. Most of the plot threads wrapped themselves up more or less neatly. But the book doesn't do a super great job of letting the reader know where the characters are. I don't mean not knowing where the Darks are. There were several instances where I had thought characters had gone one way and they had actually got a different way.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy the book. It kept me curious through most of the thing, especially about where it was leading. The plot did meander quite a bit before it got to the point but I spend enough time with fantasy novels that do the same thing and neatly tie up the disparate threads. Because this was my first time reading this author, I didn't know if he would do that, but I trusted he would and he did, more or less. I still have some questions but they're questions that the characters have too and I'm very curious about Pre-Boom America (again, I think this is a Fallout translation that makes me want to know how they got to the point at where they're at).
All in all, a pretty decent book. Would read book 2 but not immediately. Definitely could make a good audiobook for long car rides.
This was...odd. Admittedly, this is my first foray into 1980s science fiction so I do not quite know if this is a usual text or not.
Full disclosure, I did not listen to the GraphicAudio version. I found the text online. So there were some formatting issues that made the POV changes hard to deal with. Also worth commenting on is that the first 1/2 - 2/3 of the book was flipping around in time and it is very clearly a non-linear narrative. So that on top of the formatting made what I read not easy to read. I do not know if the GraphicAudio version clarifies things and makes them easier.
But the book was good enough that I'm curious to see if that is the case; as in, I would willingly listen to something that I've already read.
On to the story aspect. It reminds me a lot of the Fallout universe. And I mean, I've done a lot of research into the Fallout timeline, especially Pre-War. Give it a slightly different style and remove the radiation magic and it could be Fallout canon or fanfic. So if you like Fallout for the story and backstory, you'll probably greatly enjoy that book.
The worldbuilding was great. The descriptions were a little graphic for the violence and gore but certainly nothing I haven't read before. The language is Fallout or Doom levels.
I'm still lost as to what was happening in the first couple of chapters and I lost track of one guy. Also, it was a little...I don't know. Most of the plot threads wrapped themselves up more or less neatly. But the book doesn't do a super great job of letting the reader know where the characters are. I don't mean not knowing where the Darks are. There were several instances where I had thought characters had gone one way and they had actually got a different way.
Despite these flaws, I did enjoy the book. It kept me curious through most of the thing, especially about where it was leading. The plot did meander quite a bit before it got to the point but I spend enough time with fantasy novels that do the same thing and neatly tie up the disparate threads. Because this was my first time reading this author, I didn't know if he would do that, but I trusted he would and he did, more or less. I still have some questions but they're questions that the characters have too and I'm very curious about Pre-Boom America (again, I think this is a Fallout translation that makes me want to know how they got to the point at where they're at).
All in all, a pretty decent book. Would read book 2 but not immediately. Definitely could make a good audiobook for long car rides.
markj's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Goo start to a fun pulp fiction series.
frater's review against another edition
5.0
One of the reasons I rate this book so highly is because I was expecting so little from it, and it is very rare that I have been so completely surprised.
On one level, it contained all of the elements I would expect from a post-nuclear-holocost-survivalist-novel, lots of focus on gun models (which mean nothing to me), scaly flesh-eating mutants, slowly awakening psionic powers in the more "acceptable" mutants, bands of killers roaming the badlands, baronies run by cruel, insane gang leaders, all the tropes of the genre. This is pretty much what I expected.
What I didn't expect was a well crafted, tightly plotted action adventure taking place in a fully realised post apocalyptic world. I didn't expect the author to be able to portray such a believable set of characters, who somehow retain a glimmer of nobility underneath the vicious, dog-eat-dog attitude they have had to learn simply to survive.
What I most of all didn't expect was to finish this book, which ends on a cliff-hanger with the main driver for the next hundred books already in place, immediately thinking - pass me the next one, that was incredible!
This book is, in my opinion, a shining example of why pulp should never be written off as pap.
On one level, it contained all of the elements I would expect from a post-nuclear-holocost-survivalist-novel, lots of focus on gun models (which mean nothing to me), scaly flesh-eating mutants, slowly awakening psionic powers in the more "acceptable" mutants, bands of killers roaming the badlands, baronies run by cruel, insane gang leaders, all the tropes of the genre. This is pretty much what I expected.
What I didn't expect was a well crafted, tightly plotted action adventure taking place in a fully realised post apocalyptic world. I didn't expect the author to be able to portray such a believable set of characters, who somehow retain a glimmer of nobility underneath the vicious, dog-eat-dog attitude they have had to learn simply to survive.
What I most of all didn't expect was to finish this book, which ends on a cliff-hanger with the main driver for the next hundred books already in place, immediately thinking - pass me the next one, that was incredible!
This book is, in my opinion, a shining example of why pulp should never be written off as pap.
whatmeworry's review
4.0
This is far from perfect, but there's a lot to like about it and I have to say it exceeded my expectations. It's the first of a long series of novels set in a post apocalyptic America and started in the 1980s. That sentence probably tells you a lot of what you need to know and the book delivers the extreme violence and despair you'd expect, but there's an inventiveness and playfulness to the storytelling that lifts it enough to make it a fun and satisfying read.
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