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A review by aoc
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
3.0
I've a certain fondness for settings that don't immediately bash you over the head with what they're all about, and Damnation Alley is right up my, pardon the pun, alley as far as that concern is raised. In fact I would argue it could've benefited from presenting more of its world, but that would get in the way of a tight story with a very simple goal and tunnel vision with getting there.
Sometimes after WW3 the world has certifiably gone downhill. Our protagonist Hell Tanner comes as close to being a psychopath as one might be and still fulfill the role of the protagonist... who is also coerced into being the Nation of California's hope of getting certain medication to Boston, Massachusetts where a strain of plague has broken out threatening to make the city and wider area very extinct. With a pardon, for crimes both known and unknown, waved to his face it falls to the very last of Hell's Angels to run the infamous continent-wide Damnation Alley and survive whatever dangers a post-apocalyptic world can throw his way. Bats the size of cars included.
With that I've pretty much told you everything.
All things considered this is a very straightforward "get from point A to point B" story almost becoming something of a travel log at times. Types of danger may differ depending on where you are, but be it deadly winds that have made flying impossible or biker gangs in more civilized areas this is a cruel world and police states are the last refuge of civilization. Which is why I would've appreciated hearing more about it beyond merely couple of walls of text novel throws at you. Tanner himself remains the protagonist throughout, but you do get brief other POVs as well. Those primarily serve to put into perspective what's happening elsewhere to build up desperation and urgency this vital shipment presents. Beyond some action scenes, this IS an armored vehicle armed to the death, I found Hell Tanner's musings on nature of things to be the highlights and seeing him change as the week goes by. He does fall that under hyper competent protagonist type who are just so good at everything they do, but this is [largely] balanced out by his harsh life and how stunted he appears out of his element.
One segment that puzzled me were some jumbled chapters towards the end where I couldn't tell if that was plot-induced Hell going mental or very abstract form of storytelling.
Sometimes after WW3 the world has certifiably gone downhill. Our protagonist Hell Tanner comes as close to being a psychopath as one might be and still fulfill the role of the protagonist... who is also coerced into being the Nation of California's hope of getting certain medication to Boston, Massachusetts where a strain of plague has broken out threatening to make the city and wider area very extinct. With a pardon, for crimes both known and unknown, waved to his face it falls to the very last of Hell's Angels to run the infamous continent-wide Damnation Alley and survive whatever dangers a post-apocalyptic world can throw his way. Bats the size of cars included.
With that I've pretty much told you everything.
All things considered this is a very straightforward "get from point A to point B" story almost becoming something of a travel log at times. Types of danger may differ depending on where you are, but be it deadly winds that have made flying impossible or biker gangs in more civilized areas this is a cruel world and police states are the last refuge of civilization. Which is why I would've appreciated hearing more about it beyond merely couple of walls of text novel throws at you. Tanner himself remains the protagonist throughout, but you do get brief other POVs as well. Those primarily serve to put into perspective what's happening elsewhere to build up desperation and urgency this vital shipment presents. Beyond some action scenes, this IS an armored vehicle armed to the death, I found Hell Tanner's musings on nature of things to be the highlights and seeing him change as the week goes by. He does fall that under hyper competent protagonist type who are just so good at everything they do, but this is [largely] balanced out by his harsh life and how stunted he appears out of his element.
One segment that puzzled me were some jumbled chapters towards the end where I couldn't tell if that was plot-induced Hell going mental or very abstract form of storytelling.