Red Holocaust (Deathlands) [Abridged] [Audio Cassette]

James Axler (Author)

Book Description

Series: Deathlands | Publication Date: April 1998

When all is lost, there's always the future. But the future in a world shrouded in the radioactive red dust clouds of a generation-old global nuclear war depends on finding hidden caches of food, weapons and technology--the legacy of a preholocaust society--stashed in lonely outposts known as redoubts. When Ryan Cawdor discovers a redoubt in the bitter freakish wasteland that now passes for Alaska, he also uncovers a new threat to a slowly reemerging America.

Editorial Reviews

From AudioFile

What if the world reverted to a primitive state, with just enough leftover high-tech hardware to make the shoot-em-ups sizzle? That's the premise in the Deathlands series, in which Ryan Cawdor and his band of misfits "jump" in a sort of Star Trek-transporter way from spot to irradiated spot in a U.S. decimated by the Third World War--which was lost by every country on earth 100 years earlier. Having read at least a dozen books in this series, I wasn't sure I could get into an abridgment but was pleasantly surprised. McCallister reads with authority, and the pace feels just right--I actually picked up details I'd missed in my own first reading. For anyone who likes the after-the-end-of-the-world-then-what? genre, this series is a must. M.C. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Dh Audio; Abridged edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 155204369X
• ISBN-13: 978-1552043691
• Product Dimensions: 6.9 x 4.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,885,835 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Old enemies reunite, April 3, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: Red Holocaust (Deathlands) (Mass Market Paperback)

Red Holocaust is the second book in the Deathlands Saga. TheRed threat is brought back to North America. Not since skydark haveRussians come to America in search of conquest. This book brings another new and interesting aspect of the Deathlands. It might be hard to find, but if you do it will be worth it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Blood and Ice Do Mix, September 23, 2010

By 

Lionel S. Taylor "history buff" (Covington, GA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Red Holocaust (Deathlands) (Mass Market Paperback)

Red Holocaust begins where Pilgrimage to Hell leaves off. The team finds themselves transported to the barren wastes of Alaska or what used to be Alaska. While it is still a cold, barren wasteland, in the post apocalyptic world of Deathlands it is populated by murderous mutant dwarves and dangerous mutant polar bears. If this does not sound bad enough there is a homicidal group of Russian expats called the Nardoniki hoping to exploit new opportunities in North America!
The group starts this adventure in a redoubt that is not only inhabited but is fully stocked with food, equipment and even transportation. They meet some seemingly friendly but slightly eccentric people who have been there for a VERY long time. This allows the group to relax and refresh and allows a little more character development especially the mysterious and quite insane Doc. But this not last long as the Deathlands series seems to put character development second to murderous mayhem.
As with the previous book in this series this book is long on action and short on story that seems to be the pattern with the Gold Eagle books but this is not necessarily a bad thing. It also helps to read the books in order since characters are killed off and new ones introduced as the books progress. One thing that I find interesting is that while Ryan Cawdor and his band are defiantly not as bad as the people that they encounter, they cannot really be called good either. The main characters are just as ready to torture, maim and kill as anyone else and will just as quickly kill a man as blink. This is a good thing in this series however because it leaves the reader wondering what they would do in a similar situation although it make Cawdor's actions in the final confrontation in this book seem a little strange. All in all a good installment in the series and I look forward to reading the next story.

4.0 out of 5 stars Deathlands: In Alaska!, January 3, 2012

By 

Ana Mardoll (United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Red Holocaust (Deathlands) (Mass Market Paperback)

Deathlands 2: Red Holocaust / 0373625022

Someday, scientists will locate the part of the brain that enjoys Deathlands. I hope so, because I'm curious to know why I like these books. They're full of every trigger warning imaginable -- death, murder, guns rape, torture, bestiality, mutant animals chewing your face off, and painful grotesque radioactive deformities. Fun for the whole family!

However, they're also delightfully campy in a B-movie kind of way. The heroes are fun to laugh at, as well as the writing, as both strive to be Serious and Edgy and instead land smack dab in Silly and Stupidly Bullheaded territory. And the novels are such a quick read -- they're like literary popcorn, liberally doused in Movie Theater Butter.

"Red Holocaust" is the second book in the Deathlands series and the first decent one to read. It's written by a different author from "Pilgrimage to Hell", as we now have Laurence James writing as James Axler instead of Jack Adrian writing as James Axler. There is more rape and torture in this book, but significantly less bestiality, which I'm going to tentatively count as a plus. It's a far shorter book than its predecessor, the writing is punchier, and while there are Russian Bad Guys, there's a lot less of a Cold War fantasy feel to the whole thing. Good news all around.

If you're reading through the series and decide to give this one a miss but want a plot synopsis, here are some spoilers (otherwise skip to the end of the review): Ryan and company teleport into an Alaskan military facility to restock and gain a new member to the team, the blond teenager Lori. This part is particularly amusing because Ryan et. al. basically announce that they are going to take as many supplies as they want and then get touchy when the local population of three point out that there is something objectionable about this behavior. Our heroes, ladies and gentlemen! They explore the area for awhile, find some Russians to shoot up, make an oblique reference to the planet Hoth sequence in the Star Wars movie, and then smash up a local cult for good measure before teleporting out again. For science!

If you're still trying to decide whether to read the Deathlands books or not, "Red Holocaust" is really a great microcosm of the series -- if you like this book, you'll like the rest, at least for various meanings of the word "like".

~ Ana Mardoll