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A review by mburnamfink
Damnation Alley by Roger Zelazny
2.0
Damnation Alley is pure post-apocalyptic cheese, decorated with some ideas of genuine weirdness that uplift an otherwise mediocre by-the-book thriller. Roughly 25 years after a nuclear war, America is a blasted wasteland, with California and Boston the only two nations of any importance left. Boston is afflicted by a deadly plague, and California has the cure. The problem is the 3000 miles of howling atomic desolation between the two. Only one man is bad enough to make the journey; Hell Turner, last of the Hell's Angels and vicious killer. And to do it, he has a customized, armor-plated, rocket-packing, flame-throwing, all-terrain driving machine.
This book is at it's best when Zelazny is describing the deadly landscape. The sky is full of howling winds carrying the rubble of civilization, which rains down like artillery. Giant rabid bats and mutated Gila lizards rule the desert. The rest of it just feels very obligatory. Here's places where it's still 1970, before The Bomb. Here's some rustic farmers who are innocent and helpful. Here's an attack by a motorcycle gang. Good post-apocalyptic fiction uses the end of the world as an acid to etch away the cruft of civilization, revealing what is essential about human nature. Here, Zelazny uses it as a canvas to airbrush thunderstorms and giant bugs.
This book is at it's best when Zelazny is describing the deadly landscape. The sky is full of howling winds carrying the rubble of civilization, which rains down like artillery. Giant rabid bats and mutated Gila lizards rule the desert. The rest of it just feels very obligatory. Here's places where it's still 1970, before The Bomb. Here's some rustic farmers who are innocent and helpful. Here's an attack by a motorcycle gang. Good post-apocalyptic fiction uses the end of the world as an acid to etch away the cruft of civilization, revealing what is essential about human nature. Here, Zelazny uses it as a canvas to airbrush thunderstorms and giant bugs.