Customer Reviews

Red Holocaust (Deathlands)

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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.

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.

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

I have many graphic audiobooks. This helps complete my collection. I purchased this used audiobook from Powell books. Excellent condition. Great price! I will purchase more from Powell in the future.

Graphic Audio has done it again. I really enjoy these. Sure they are goofy and the references really date how old the source material is, but I challenge you to find a more entertaining series to listen to in the car. Graphic Audio has other series that they sell, but I am hooked on this series. This one was even better than the first. I enjoyed the voice work of the cast as usual. The sound effects are a bit silly at times but that is part of its charm.

Again this series is not child friendly. There are sex scenes, and yes they have some audio moaning even though it is supposed to be 'quiet' so the others don't hear. Language is also an issue for children.

The Russians are trying to invade agian (guess who shows up in the nick of time.)

It was great for what it is but parts of it are just WAY TO GORY(even for Deathlands)

My wife and I have very different taste in books and we have read thousands of books of all kinds.

We agree however, that this is clearly the worst book either of us has ever read. We still make fun of it 5 years later!

Simply terrible.