Scan barcode
angrywombat's review
1.0
OK, maybe 1.5 stars...
This is FULL of rather offensive and non-sensical things.
Anyway.. basically this is the story of Steve Brickman making his way into the lands of the Iron Masters to rescue his two mute allies (Cadillac and Clearwater). There are lots of shenanigans along the way, mainly about how Steve manages to infiltrate the Iron Master society with the help of various people he meets on the way (and his federation backers)... Cadillac has set up a project to make planes for the Iron Masters, but needs help finding a way to power the ultralights when the Iron Masters have a phobia of electricity....
I dont think this could be written today, and the whole Iron Master culture just felt strangely out of place. It was Samurai culture (aka James Clavell's Shogun in post-apoc america...) but with strange names, and convoluted cut throat politics that didn't make a lot of sense.
Basically the Iron Masters just didn't make sense for me, basically feeling like a complete anachronism that had no reasoning/backup for its existence...
That being said - the first half of the book was just a shuffling of pieces to get everything in place, and then the second half was actually an interesting story of Steve trying to gain the trust of an alcoholic Cadillac... Then trying to convince him to come back home.
If I felt this was going to stick around in the Iron Master lands, I think I'd stop reading now. But it looks like we've left them and are headed back to the Amtrak/Plainsfolk conflict which gives me something to hope for,
This is FULL of rather offensive and non-sensical things.
Anyway.. basically this is the story of Steve Brickman making his way into the lands of the Iron Masters to rescue his two mute allies (Cadillac and Clearwater). There are lots of shenanigans along the way, mainly about how Steve manages to infiltrate the Iron Master society with the help of various people he meets on the way (and his federation backers)... Cadillac has set up a project to make planes for the Iron Masters, but needs help finding a way to power the ultralights when the Iron Masters have a phobia of electricity....
I dont think this could be written today, and the whole Iron Master culture just felt strangely out of place. It was Samurai culture (aka James Clavell's Shogun in post-apoc america...) but with strange names, and convoluted cut throat politics that didn't make a lot of sense.
Basically the Iron Masters just didn't make sense for me, basically feeling like a complete anachronism that had no reasoning/backup for its existence...
That being said - the first half of the book was just a shuffling of pieces to get everything in place, and then the second half was actually an interesting story of Steve trying to gain the trust of an alcoholic Cadillac... Then trying to convince him to come back home.
If I felt this was going to stick around in the Iron Master lands, I think I'd stop reading now. But it looks like we've left them and are headed back to the Amtrak/Plainsfolk conflict which gives me something to hope for,
bookhero6's review
3.0
So far in the series, this is my least favorite, and, to be honest, it has a lot to do with the extensive use of racist epithets for people of Asian descent used by people from the Federation. Every time I saw one of those words, I cringed and that definitely colored my opinion of the rest of the book, which was honestly very exciting and far more complex than the first two books. The story is really starting to pick up.
brian's review
4.0
Steve Brickman's journey carries him to the land of the rising sun - the Eastern seaboard of the USA in this case. After the war, various boat people landed there and set up a feudal Japanese style society, with a Shogun, Samurai and the other non Japanese races given menial tasks.
Slightly longer than the previous books, this has a lot of setting up to get people in place, but introduces a whole new cast of characters and place names (which are the American place names given what the author must have thought was a "Japanese"/Oriental sound).
There's a list of the place names at the front along with which areas they are relating to (such as Aron-giren being Long Island etc) to help you get an understanding of them.
There's a lot going on as Steve has to try and Cadillac and Clearwater away from the Iron Masters' while not upsetting his Federation masters too much.
Slightly longer than the previous books, this has a lot of setting up to get people in place, but introduces a whole new cast of characters and place names (which are the American place names given what the author must have thought was a "Japanese"/Oriental sound).
There's a list of the place names at the front along with which areas they are relating to (such as Aron-giren being Long Island etc) to help you get an understanding of them.
There's a lot going on as Steve has to try and Cadillac and Clearwater away from the Iron Masters' while not upsetting his Federation masters too much.
More...