Customer Reviews

Deathlands: Breakthrough

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This newest novel brings us readers back to the world of a past novel titled "SHADOW WORLD", in which people from a parrallel universe come thru to our earth with armor and weapons of which the deathlands had never seen before. Ryan Cawdor was kidnapped and taken to the other parrallel earth where a different kind of war was waged and Ryan earned a new name - SHADOW MAN.
In this newest novel, a newer and bigger threat comes thru in the guise of gentetically engineered female warriors with the coolest weapons and huge wags that have not been introduced in this universe before. The leader female named Dredda otis Trask is a breath of fresh air in this series, she is a warrior bred for this kind of work and she is a colorful and interesting character indeed!
This novel is written so differently than your normal writers of Deathlands in that the writer takes you on a adventure rarely seen in this series such as parallel universe's that I hope Ryan and his band will visit more often. The bad guys are so bad and well equipped in this novel that you really wonder how in the heck is Ryan and his band of warriors going to succeed in this one. The villains armor repels conventional bullets and the female warriors have superhuman strength with weapons that will turn you into a pile of goo.
My only complaint is the seemingly rushed ending and the final battle was a little disappointing to this hardliner action reader, but it left you wanting for more. Gold Eagle books needs to keep this writer around and I for one will be looking forward to their next book. This is a 16-year-veteran of DEATHLANDS who still thinks this series is still going strong. You folks who have given up on this series need to come back and try this one!

I thought this was the best one yet in the Deathlands series. I felt I was right with Ryan and the group as they got their butts out of one prediciment after another.

I loved the stealth technology and the landscapes arround Salt Lake. I hope Dredda gets patched up and comes back to get Ryan again. Mr. Axler was on roll with this one and I can't wait for the next.

With the last few books I was begining to wonder about the future of the Deathlands books in general. I must say that with this new book as an example whoever filled in for James Axler when he died is doing a wonderful job. In this new book the companions show development(osmething very much lacking in other books). I personally can't wait for the next installment and hope that the next book is continued where this one left off.

This book was very exciting and an enjoyable book to read. However, I was disappointed with the characterizations which did not ring true to Ryan and the companions. There was no discussion within the group about how to get to Moonboy. They obviously jumped, but everyone knows you can't control where the jump will take you. The next scene shows Ryan leaving the rest of the group on the floor of the chamber to get a breath of fresh air ON HIS OWN! He would NEVER leave the group in the chamber. What kind of redoubt was this? Was there food or water? I want to know if these poor people got a hot shower! After leaving the redoubt, the group started walking. Dean didn't protest walking in the protected middle of the group with his gun buckled down...please...anyone who knows Dean knows this would never happen. Throughout the book he is portrayed as a dumb kid with no experience. This is ridiculous. When they arrived at Gabhart's camp, they had to cross an area of open ground. Ryan didn't even listen to anyone's opinion or plan how they would make the crossing. This was totally out of character. I gave this book 4 stars because it was a good read. The plot was great, the weapons cool, and the setting was extremely clever with all the glass. In my opinion, this is a sci-fi book, not a Deathlands book. I've read all the Deathlands books and part of the attraction is the development of the characters. There is no conversation, no planning, no humor, and no personality for the group. It was like going to your friends' house and finding a bunch of strangers wearing masks that look like your friends. Please, please bring back the previous author or request that the present author (who wrote a good book) read all the previous books in order. Thanks.

Breakthrough delivers, the book had a smooth feel to it compared to some of the latest novels in the series though I do agree with the previous review that the ending was rushed a tad bit. The series has still got some life in it and I hope that it will stay strong for awhile. I have been reading this series since the beginning and I hope the writer can continue to keep it fresh. For all you readers out there Axler has another series called Outlanders that is just as good if not better.

"Breakthrough" is a worthy sequel to the previous story "Shadow World".

"Shadow World" plotline delt with a group of mercenaries from another reality who kidnap Ryan and take them to their world. The merc's world is a reality where the nukecaust never happened, and the earth is groaning and dying under the weight of 100 billion people. The solution for this reality's humanity is to colonize the Deathland's reality.

In "Breakthrough", the story picks up with a few of the characters from "Shadow World". Dr. Huth, who is the scientist who invented the reality trans, is back, but accidently [fell] into [the]Deathlands from the doings of Cawdor and Co. in the previous story. Dr. Huth gets a cheery Deathlands welcome, as he is truly a fish out of water in this reality.
The main protagonist, Dredds Otis Trask, is a woman on a mission. Genetically enhanced, she is hellbent on setting up a beach head in Deathlands and enslave the locals into mining radioactive material to power her invasion force.

"Breakthrough" is fast paced, and seems rushed in some spots, especially the end of the story. There were alot of unanswered questions as to how Ryan and his group got back to Moonboy via the mat-trans. The previous reviewer mentions this, but in earlier Deathlands novels, Mildred came upon a CD with all the codes to each mat-trans unit. So controled mat-trans jumps are possible, but never re-hashed in this story.
"Breakthrough's" ending not only sets itself up for more sequels, but also reprocussions that will affect Ryan, Kristy and their friends. It will be interesting to see how the ending of this storyline plays out in future Deathland novels as well as Outlander novels.

The alternate reality storyline in Deathlands seems to be a pleasant change of pace in the series. This novel mentioned briefly on the inside cover that Deathlands would be undergoing changes come June (which is the time the next book comes out). What ever changes Gold Eagle is considering making, they should definitely explore alternate reality stories in future novels.

In a previous novel of this series, Shadow World, Ryan Crawdor and the group, discovered the existence of a parallel Earth. That Earth was the same as this one in history, people and places until the horrible nuclear war that devastated this planet and created the Death Lands. On the other Earth, while they avoided the horrors of a nuclear war, they faced unbelievable horror due to uncontrollable population growth. On that world, five major companies ran the world, had stripped it bare and were feverishly working on research to move the rich and powerful to a new world leaving the rest of the population to die. They have to evacuate that Earth, because not only have they stripped it bare of materials, they accidentally released a microbe that is consuming everything it touches. As the green fungus spreads worldwide, it is slowly but sure consuming everything it its path. Ryan and his fellow travelers thought they had closed the time portal to the other dimension successfully, sparing this planet further intrusion from the other world.

However, early in this novel, with the sighting of a star in the heavens that moves only as a satellite would and with all human satellites long since burned up in the atmosphere, they know they failed. Based on what happened before, they know that these offworlders use the by products of the nuclear exchange as fuel for their equipment. They journey back to Slake City (Salt Lake City, Utah) where they first met the explorers from the other Earth. Salt Lake City was destroyed in the nuclear exchange and the Great Salt Lake was turned into radioactive glass that coated the remnants in radioactive glass entombing the wreckage and a several mile wide crater. Soon, Ryan Crawdor and the others are captured and are put to work mining the nuclear glass with other slaves for what seems to be an invincible first wave of military occupation forces from the other Earth.

But while things do appear dark, the forces from the other Earth have their own internal problems and time is running out for all. And with a new book every few months, you know the good guys will win, even if temporarily, and the bad guys will be vanquished, even if temporarily. This series is one of those guilty pleasures kind of things. The good guys always win and live to face danger another day.

This series will never be confused with deep intellectual reading or working on themes at several levels. Don't look for it to make the bestseller lists. Instead, think of it as one of those straight to video things without all the frontal nudity. This is sheer escapist reading and does not pretend to be more than it is.

I thought this was the best one yet in the Deathlands series. I felt I was right with Ryan and the group as they got their butts out of one prediciment after another.

I loved the stealth technology and the landscapes arround Salt Lake. I hope Dredda gets patched up and comes back to get Ryan again. Mr. Axler was on roll with this one and I can't wait for the next.

Not only are they doing the Alternate Earth story again, they are using the same alternate earth. Also they throw the group up against something they cant defeat straight away, a nice change of pace I have to admit. A great book, definitely!

i thought the book was good but i like them all lol.i thought it took much too long to get into the story,when i started to enjoy it the story was over.and why after all this time and all deans been thru do they still treat him like a kid.i wonder if the next one will be a continuation.i din't like having to go back three or four books to remember different things.i also thought it left too many questions to be answerd.but i can't wait until the next one comes.happy reading