Customer Reviews

Shadow World (Deathlands)

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

 

 

I've been reading this series since 1986, when 'Pilgrimage To Hell' came out under Jack Adrian instead of Axler. Out of all the titles that have come out since then, I find 'Shadow World' to be one of the most entertaining. The story starts off with Ryan Cawdow and crew escorting a family through cannibal infested area. After getting involved with a confrontation with one of the 'cannies' (cannibals), Ryan looses his beloved Steyr rifle to one of the lunatics. Ryan and Co then embark on a vendetta for the loss of the family's father and for the retrieval of his rifle. At the same time these events are happening, a gateway opens in the town of Moonboy. The gateway unbenounced to the inhabitants of the town leads to an alternate earth where the nuclear exchange never happend. Instead a population time-bomb went off on that cold January day. Now, in the future this alternate earth has a staggering 100 billion inhabitance. Through the gateway appear amored soliders who decimate the towns inhabitants for the exception of one prospector who flees. The prospector runs to the next town, where entertains the inhabitants with the tales of the soliders that appeared from this mysterious gateway. The cannies overhear this story and make a deal with the prospector to attack the soliders and divy up the spoils (armor, laser rifles etc.) As Ryan and friends track the cannies to Moonboy, Ryan inadvertanly gets captured by the soliders and taken away to a dredfully overpopluated earth. What does Ryan learn about this strange new world? Does he ever return back to his own reality? What happens to the cannies? Read this entertaining book and find out

I used to read Deathlands when I was a teenager, but when I "matured" I graduated to science-fiction. Deathlands seemed stuck in a rut. I was very glad to find out that Deathlands is finally growing up too and SHADOW WORLD is an impressive entry into science-fiction. Even though it deals with a parallel world situation, it was so unexpected to find in a Deathlands novel I was surprised...and entertained. The writing was excellent too. If the series can keep up this kind of quality I'll start reading it regularly again!

This was the first Deathlands I've read in a long time and the only reason I picked this book up was because it was being compared to the Outlanders series which I prefer. I liked it much better than the last Deathlands novel I read, but except for the more sci-fi plot it wasn't very similar to Outlanders. It was interesting, well-written and held my interest most of the way through. My main criticism is that it was very light in the area of characterization, at least compared to Outlanders. But overall it was a nice change of pace from the usual Deathlands formula.

Having just finished Shadow World yesterday I decided to writethe review for it. And without caps mind you. *grins*

Thisparticular novel was in my opinion one of the very best. My personal favorite was Dark Emblem and this comes a close second behind it.

Why? Because the story was well written and it was defenitly a change of pace from the typical Deathlands. It had a lot of action, to be sure but wasn't saturated with it like the Barony Trilogy was.

The Author actually took the time to explain the technology involved and the situations instead of just dropping the reader into them and letting them figure it out on their own.

I was truly impressed with how the author described the alternate universe, where human life was so cheap that millions could die and not a single person blink an eyelash at. He did a exceptional job when it came to the description of how desperate things were, how everything was falling apart and how close humanity tittered on the brink of extinction.

However, I was not in the slightest bit impressed with the EMP pulse that Krysty released to take out the lazer mines that had been left behind as a trap by the invaders into the Deathlands. That single situation caused me to drop my review from a full five out of five to a four out of five.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable novel and I strongly recommend it to all the readers out there, especially if you enjoyed Outlanders Lost Earth Trilogy.

I have been reading Deathlands since the very beggining, and although some in the series have taxed my patience and have almost bored me to tears, something always makes me get the next book in the series.. I found Shadow World to be entertaining and highly imaginative of the author..A book worth reading

IN THIS NEW SAGA, IT IS A VERY BLEAK AND CONFINING SHADOW WORLD THAT RYAN CAWDOR FINDS HIMSELF KIDNAPPED INTO. THE REAL STRENGTH OF THIS BOOK IN MY OPINION IS THE VERY FIRST HALF OF THE BOOK. IT IS VERY WELL WRITTEN AND VERY DIFFERENT THAN THE OTHER DEATHLANDS NOVELS - AND THATS GOOD IN ITS OWN WAY, AND BAD IN OTHERS. I FOUND MYSELF AFTER AWHILE WANTING MORE IN TERMS OF MOVEMENT. RYAN'S STORYLINE WAS MOVEMENT ENOUGH BUT THE REST OF THE GROUP I FELT STAGNATED IN ONE SPOT TOO LONG. THIS GHOST WRITER IS GOOD IN HIS WORLD-SETTING THOUGH, BECAUSE IN THE SHADOW WORLD I FELT VERY CONFINED AND DIRTY BY JUST READING ABOUT THOSE CONDITIONS- AND THATS A GOOD SIGN OF A WRITER! BUT PERSONALLY THERE JUST WASN'T ENOUGH ACTION FOR ME AND THE LAST PART OF THE BOOK JUST FELT RUSHED TO ME. I DIDN'T FEEL FULL AFTER THIS MEAL BUT SOMEWHAT SATISFIED. BUT I KNOW THIS WRITER HAS WRITTEN IN THIS SERIES IN THE PAST AND IS A VERY TALENTED WRITER, AND I WILL EAGERLY AWAIT THEIR NEXT VENTURE.

While some of the recent books have tried to put their own unique spin on the Deathlands universe I think it's safe to say that many of them failed to varying degrees. This entry in the series is guaranteed to be unlike any other Deathlands novel you've ever read, that is unless you also happen to read Outlanders. In this case that could be why it is so good, in fact you'd almost swear at times that you were reading Deathlands much superior spin-off. It's definitely a Ryan story through-and-through with many of the major characters merely putting in a appearance, also as mentioned by previous reviewers Krysty's new psi-power was definitely a major misstep. However the flair and the pace of the story overrode these concerns for me and hooked me through to the (all too abrupt) end, which happens to leave the door open for certain characters to re-appear in future novels, which I sincerely hope they do. All-in-all it's Deathlands more science fiction than it has ever been, and in this reviewers humble opinion it's all the better for it.