Cannibal Moon (Deathlands #77) [Mass Market Paperback]

James Axler (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Gold Eagle; First Edition edition (March 13, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373625871
• ISBN-13: 978-0373625871
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,214 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easily the best DL title in years, June 3, 2007

By 

Ron Miles "code monkey" (Orlando, FL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cannibal Moon (Deathlands #77) (Mass Market Paperback)

I'll say it right off the bat: Cannibal Moon is without a doubt the best Deathlands title I have read in years. In fact, it is in my opinion one of the best of the entire series.

Right off the bat the book avoids the trap that so many past books in the series fall into. You know the tired old setup - the companions jump into a new redoubt, often with a jump nightmare sequence, explore the redoubt, maybe fight a few squatters or animal invaders, wander away from the redoubt to find the nearest ville, and then get trapped in the evil schemes of the local Baron. It usually takes a third of the book just to get to the main conflict of the story, and that conflict is usually xeroxed from a dozen previous books in the series. Not so with Cannibal Moon.

The first smart thing the author does is starts right in the middle of the action, setting up Mildred to be captured by a group of Cannies while defending a small ville. Within the first few pages Mildred is infected by the virus that causes the oozies and turns the victim into a cannibal. Hot on the heels of that happening, the companions learn about the Cannibal Queen who threatens to overrun all of the Deathlands with her rapidly growing Cannie army. The companions are faced with traveling into the very heart of enemy territory against hopeless odds in order to save their friend and to put an end to the Cannie threat. All of that setup happens in the first few pages, and the story quite literally crackles with action from that point forward.

The author fills in important back story along the way, but doesn't spoon-feed it to the reader. It would be easy to miss little details, like the fact that it takes the companions several jumps before they reach a redoubt close enough to their destination to set out on foot. None of those jumps are explicitly depicted, but instead are referred to quickly in passing. If it doesn't have a direct bearing on propelling the story forward, the book doesn't waste ink on it. The end result is a tight, gripping adventure with nary a moment to catch your breath along the way.

After so many years of decline with only a few bright spots along the way, I really hope this book was a sign of things to come. There are several more books in the pipeline from this author, and I look forward to them all.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cannibal Moon Shines Brightly!, March 20, 2007

By 

Apollo Reader (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cannibal Moon (Deathlands #77) (Mass Market Paperback)

In the latest Deathlands novel, James Axler,(aka Alan Philipson in this particular volume), creates a whole new scenario never before seen in a Deathlands novel before.

Along with what is probably the most accurate cover artist design yet by this new artist, (who still can't seem to see the picture perfect Ryan Cawdor design by the much missed Michael Herring), Alan Philipson throws the reader right into the exciting mix of action/adventure in the first chapter that Deathlands fans are known to expect. It is truly a great start.

Philipson starts not with the companions awakening from a new jump, but instead starts with Ryan and the companions fighting off a large, heavily-armed cannibals who are overrunning a ramshackle ville, stealing children for future meals. Mildred starts out Chapter 1 as a lone pursuing rescuer of the captured children being carried away into the foothills of the dark mountain caves of the cannibals. Mildred battles a group of cannibals inside a den of sin, but only manages to get captured herself. When she awakens to find herself a captive of the cannies, she realizes that these cannies are capable of force her to eat their dead, thus infusing her with a verile virus plague that Mildred has learned can be spread by the eating of the infected flesh, or the drinking of blood.

Having been force-fed human flesh by her cannie captors, Mildred finds herself horrifically infected to become a cannie, creating a deep craving for human flesh. Mildred is forced to make a secret pact with Ryan to chill her if this happens.

Mildred and the companions then find out about a possible cure from a cannie prisoner, learning of a freezie woman who has become Queen of the Cannies back in Jak Lauren's homeland in the bajous of Louisiana.

Alan Philipson does a splendid job here of creating one of the darkest chapters in the ever-growing Deathlands saga. And he does a pretty good job of keeping the main Deathlands character 'in character'. Especially that of Mildred and Doc Tanner. There are some very interesting tidbits of these two characters during some interesting discourse between them and Ryan.

But also, therin lies the rub of the problem in this new Deathlands adventure. Philipson starts out solid enough, but fails to show the deep affection that J. B. Dix has for his woman, Mildred. Even though I'm an action/adventure junkie, I personally thought this novel would have shined more with a bit more drama and less action. The long-time readers and diehard fans like me would much more prefer a dramatic showing of the companions battling their inner fears of one of their own being possibly infected with something as verile as a cannie plague. The love and caring between J. B. and Mildred is not present here, and Jak becomes much too cold towards his friends here.

That should have been reverse. The readers must be engrossed with the main characters' inner feelings and deep caring for one another. Just being 'tough' and/or a chilling machine is not enough. You must show the love and courage between the companions to keep the readers fully immersed in keeping up with these characters with each and every volume. The characters have to grow. But they have unfortunately grown stagnant.

Why does Ryan go through hell here to save Mildred, but doesn't do everything in his power to find his own son, Dean? That alone should be the central theme running in this series now. The original writer, the late great Laurence James would have done it so. (And he had actually done just that in a few books.)

And I wondered why and how everyone seemed to be so heavily-armed? From norms in convoys to the cannies themselves - everyone had tons of RPGs and machine guns and ammo. Where did all of this come from? A redoubt? Which One? Why didn't Ryan and the companions wonder at this? To have both a car and a weapon with bullets in Deathlands is paramount to being something akin to being rich. Now everyone has high-powered weapons? Not having anything, along with the scrounging of weapons and food, along with the savagery of post-nuke America was the allure of reading a Deathlands novel.

But some great things shone brightly in this new DL adventure. The Deathlands companions get introduced to the rock band ZZ Top. That was done very well. Something that the original writer used to expound upon. Also there is a jump dream sequence that was handled with aplomb. It was things such as this that gave Cannibal Moon a feel for the old days of DL, along with a new touch that has been much needed.

But this installment of Deathlands IS a step above the last two novels, which were written by Nick Polatta, who usually writes some of the most outstanding stories. And who is also going to be the writer of the upcoming next volume, titled Sky Raider.

But despite some of my personal misgivings, Cannibal Moon is still worth reading for diehard fans of this series. And for newbies who don't know any better, and haven't read the older volumes, this should come across as a rousing adventure. What the writers need to pay attention to, more than anything, is the search for Dean, as well as their feelings for one another. This is only touched upon nowadays, if not totally ignored altogether.

Thanks Alan Philipson for giving us another exciting adventure. Although this one was fun, I still think your debut novel, Skydark, along with the duo novels, Shadow World and Breakthrough, are your best yet. And I'm sure this author's next endeavor will be something new and exciting, showing DL readers a fresh scenario never before used nor seen.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars cannibal moon, May 6, 2007

By 

Ron Smullin (clinton, Wa. United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cannibal Moon (Deathlands #77) (Mass Market Paperback)

This is one of the best in the Deathlands series I've read.. I had a hard time putting the book down. Lots of action! Looking forward to the next book comming in June.