Customer Reviews

Through Darkest America (Isaac Asimov Presents)

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Barrett's "Through Darkest America" and its sequel, "Dawn's Uncertain Light," taken together, are for one thing a morals tale for the 21st Century. And I shall mention both in my review because speaking for myself, once I had finished the first, a very easy read, I could hardly wait for the 2nd to arrive in the mail. The books are real page-turners, and remind me in their style most of Robert Heinlein at his best. Adventure novel, but with an agenda.

The book that Barrett's two novels most remind me of is in fact "Good News" by Edward Abbey. I think Barrett and Abbey would agree with each other on more political and philosophical ideas than they would with most anybody else.

And these modern ideas couched in a good old western novel format is something I've only seen in Abbey, and this style seems perfect for the delivery of such hard-hitting messages. And the message of the novels appears to be similar to that of some westerns too, but taken to a logical extreme: that even in world ridden with crime and sin, even to the extent that men are dining on other men's flesh, there is a place for humanity and heroism. This will be a good lesson for our grandchildren, perhaps.

Skeptics of the novels should consider the latest news stories: March, 2009, the government of the Peoples Republic of China has adopted the use of mobile "death vans" to execute capital offenders. Slightly reminiscent of the Nazis' use of vans for transporting Jews, which had the engine's exhaust routed into the passenger compartment so they would be killed en route to the burial place, except this: in China, the vans are preferred because they allow for a speedy removal and delivery of organs to waiting transplant patients.

As the world becomes overcrowded and our resources dwindle we may not witness outright cannibalism, but Barrett was merely using that as a metaphor for vice, greed and cruelty in our modern world. And of course about the dark machines of modern government and industry, in the hands of greed.

not necessarily a bad thing in this genre. The basic idea of the novel, a post-apocalyptic world in which debased humans are used a meat animals, is pretty well realized. Watching Howie gradually become aware of just what meat "animals" really are is the highlight of the book. My only criticism is that the author is somewhat inconsistent in his depiction of the technologic level at which his characters live. For example, in the early pages of the book, guns are described as being extremely rare and ammunition even more so. By the end of the story, and especially in the sequel, that clearly isn't the case at all.

Anyone who's read any book by Neil Barrett, Jr. knows that optimism is not the man's forte. He revels in darkness and cynicism. Perhaps it was a result of reading one too many syrupy tales of humanity's joyous rebirth from the ashes of apocalypse, but in "Throught Darkest America" he sets out to carefully eliminate all vestiges of hope. The resulting book is brutal, the back cover declaration "not for the squeamish" is an almost ridiculous understatement. But for those willing to tough it out, it's also memorable for its unique way of attacking the subject.

Howie, twelve year old at the start, lives in a frontier world centuries after "The War", where twentieth century technology has vanished. The whole country is now organized similar to a nineteenth century frontier town, with the government taking levies to support a war somewhere in the West. With all animals exterminated, food now comes from 'stock', human-like but apparently unthinking creatures raised on farms. Barrett reinforces this world building by writing the entire book in old fashioned American dialect reminiscient of Mark Twain.

Among its strengths is character development. Barrett expertly captures the awkward guilt of youthful sexual discovery in a conservative religious culture. Of course, Howie's peaceful existence eventually gets shattered, his family torn apart, and he sets off on a voyage towards the war zone, encountering life-changing treachery along the way. Much remains unexplained, with plot threads left dangling, but the point of the story, perhaps, is that in real life much is always left unexplained. In "Through Darkest America", it is the journey that matters, not the destination.

I can't believe this book is out of print. I can't believe this is not considered a classic. I don't say that lightly. Probably my my favorite subgenre of fiction is the post apocalyptic epic - the Stand, Mad Max, the Road and hell I even liked Book of Eli. This wasreleased the same year as the book I considered the greatest in the genre - Swans Song by Robert McCammon. I admit that I have no experience with author Neal Barrett before reading this book, but to say I was blown away is an understatement. This book slapped me around while I begged for more.

While this novel is certainly Post apocalyptic it feels like a western. It explores issues of violence and inhumanity, ecological devastation and in my mind does almost as good a job of exploring humanity's messed up relationship with animals they consider to be food as any animal rights book I have ever read. It is one of the single darkest and brutal novels in a subgenre speculative horror that is well known for being brutal. If I have already sold you do yourself a favor and buy a used copy on amazon(this book is not easy to find), because I have to give away some early plot points to talk about why this novel is so brilliant.

Through Darkest America takes place sometime after a great war, was it a nuclear war? Biological warfare? The author doesn't explain but we do know it was several generations in the past. Our main narrator is Howie Ryder son of a livestock farmer who provides meat for the government fighting rebels out in the western frontier.

You might think this sounds pretty normal but after the war, the majority of the mammals have died out sometime in the process of the war. A few prized horses are left to be used transportation, so what so the people eat? They eat stock. What are stock? Well as Howie's dad explains to him Stock look like humans, but they are not. You see Stock don't speak and they don't have souls.

Just as Howie is set to take over his father's herd, He witnesses a brutal crime. A group of soldiers sexually assault a female "Stock." Howie's father kills the rapist and gives Howie a speech about what separates people from stock. Howie is confused because the victim looked human, he even found her attractive. This incident sets off a chain of events that ends with the killing or kidnapping of his family. Howie barely escapes.

The rest of the novel we go with Howie on a coming of age journey that includes him joining an old fashion cattle drive, except the drive is made of stock. Along this journey Howie falls in love, and questions the leader of his gang. I refuse to give away the very end but it sets up a sequel I am dying to read.

Through Darkest America being out of print is a crime. This might be one of the most important works of speculative fiction I have ever read and it's only dumbluck that I read it. You see a couple months ago I picked an issue of Twilight Zone magazine publish in 1988 at a vintage store. In this issue Through Darkest America was reviewed on the same page as Robert McCammon's Swan Song( as I mentioned above). As soon as I read the review I knew I had to read this book. That wasn't easy since it's out of print, I looked at every used bookstore, library I could but I had to break down and order a used copy off amazon.



The story works as a coming-of-age story, it works as a post apocalyptic epic and most of all it is a gritty tale of the wild west. More than anything it is a slap in the face that explores many issues. He might not be vegan I would think Barrett is at least a vegetarian. As a Vegan myself the idea of "stock" in cannibal America is not much of stretch. Since this book was written before terms like "free-range," and "Humanely raised" are used and argued with in many of the same ways Howie's dad explains the ethical reasons behind raising Stock.

Just as meat-eaters try to explain away the emotions, and feelings of so called "Livestock animals" the characters of this dark future dismiss the lives of their food. They are just souless stock after all. As you might guess the ethical standards for what makes someone a person or stock gets blurred. In the end Howie discovers truth about stock. They can't talk because they are disfigured, they can't rebel because they have never been taught and their spirits have been broken. And just as we have that truth revealed the book ends setting up perfectly for the sequel.

As speculative fiction author who means to express himself on important political and social issues I have never been so jealous of a novel or an idea. A genius work speculative activism, this novel should be a goddamn classic. Read it. Think about it. Maybe if enough of us write about it, Barrett can get it back into print.

I don't generally read this kind of book, but something about this just caught my eye. I think it was the description of "stock" and the explanation of it. I'm very glad I read it. It's a "what if" point of view that I find very unique. I absolutely loved the ironic parts, especially towards the end. The end itself was terribly unsatisfactory, but that just means I have to find the sequal. I recommend this book to anyone that can handle a few disturbing concepts and somewhat graphic imagery.

It's really too bad that the kinds of people who read post-apocalypse novels tend to be sub-literate and do not understand prose writing. As a result we are left with people endlessly praising predictable, tone deaf hack work, such as the egregious products of Stephen King or Larry Niven, while ignoring real masterpieces in the genre, for example, this mini-classic from Neal Barrett, Jr.

This book has a sequel that is also well above the genre average, though not as good as the original. Don't hesitate to purchase them both if you're that rarest of birds, a fan of the genre who actually appreciates good writing and original ideas.

You know what the twist will be, but that doesn't diminish it much. Easy to read and a page-turner.

This novel began to flesh out a "real world" of a post-apocalyptic nature, but so much is left dangling that I have to wonder if a series of novels was intended. Even if one feels a little pity for the protaganist in the beginning, in the end there was no genuine justification for the reasons and the methods he used to get even with the murderers. The ending was more of a punchline to one long and horrific joke -if you read the first few chapters and the last few pages, thats all that is really necessary for understanding the world Barrett created.