Customer Reviews

Thunder Road (Deathlands, Bk. 83)

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

 

 

Don't pay attention to the negative reviewer.

Just because it is different don't mean its bad.

I found this to be cool beans.

The characters were like the old books. Solid stuff.

Man, we read this book a month ago, and could not wait to review it.
Well, it seems with Gold Eagle's latest installments of Deathlands and Outlanders, there are two writers onboard, as well as a seemingly new 312 page limit, not the normal 347.

And Deathlands has another new cover artist - John Van Fleet. This one seems more in line of the classic Michael Herring's artwork. The next cover art for the next Deathlands is even better, James Axler, aka Alan Philipson's Plague Lords looks like a step in the right, older fashion cover art direction.

The times of this economy are showing everywhere.

But at least this newest and unknown writer of the Deathlands is not only much better than some of the past ones, as well as a solid wordsmith and good storyteller, but seemingly smarter than the latest writer of Outlanders. Not only are they doing a good job of keeping themselves in the shadows, but they are not ticking fans off.

Thunder Road is probably one of the more intelligently written books in the James Axler universe. This new writer has panache and definately knows the Deathlands companions of old. Very impressive.

As great as the last one was in sheer bloody mayhem and muties, Thunder Road takes another path entirely. One of broad characterizations, of both the companions and the new bad guy who calls himself - Thunder Rider.

Sure there are elements that have been used before. But they soon take twists and turns that are unexpected. And that was the fun of this one, albeit it felt it needed more action at times. But the writing was so good and different, and yet so familiar as to give the original writer, Laurence James, a solid pat on the back that he so deserves.

Hardcore fans of the series will like this aspect. But not having battles with muties, (of which there is none in this one at all!), nor with any sec men of any type, made me kinda miss something of that aspect. Those elements really make the world of Deathlands. But this new writer does such a good job, soooooo much better than the Andy Boots and the Nick Polattas and Van Belkoms out there, that it is somewhat easy to overlook this. We hope this new writer comes out with more. They have a grand future in the Axlerverse.

If this new, very talented writer will only utilize these aspects in their next endeavor, then they will have a 5-star sure winner. And those aspects are:
1: Krysty using her Gaia powers. She never uses them anymore.
2: Have muties in the storyline. Especially new breeds that fit within the framework.
3: Battle humans on some level.

Without these elements, Thunder Road felt very different indeed. But that is not a bad thing. Thunder Road is a fun and exciting tale. More character driven than normal. We love that.

If we didn't know better, our guess would be that this was the writer of those Jake Strait novels. It had that feel to it.

Deathlands: Thunder Road is probably one of the most intelligently written installments that we can remember. But still had enough savagery and lost high-tech gadgetry to make it feel post-holocaust.

And it has the return of the Tech Nomads!

So, this is what happens when Cawdor & gang encounter a delusional inbred schizophrenic with possible ADD who has some of the greatest post-Skydark weapons one could imagine (JB while hoping to get a look thinks contrary ala fin).

The story is doggedly slow. A member is captured, the heroes go on the hunt a few characters familiar to that captive arrive after beaconed (not familiar to the rest of the group; nor familiar to me... remember I've skipped about 60 books....) and assist in the onslaught.

The apex of the story is the variety of perspectives given. Only Mildred feels left out of the mix for the most part, but being a subsidiary and late entering character (if you've read from the beginning) it makes a lot of sense that one of the minors has to be dismissed (because of GE page requirements).

My faves JB Dix & Jak don't necessarily play pertinent roles but a lot of what occurs hinges on one of them - triple stupe. Fans of K. Wroth will surely enjoy this installment of the DL `saga'.

Written, at the very least, smartly - you'll find yourself looking up some words - while the story dogs a bit it's more than tolerable to what other reviews might suggest.

4 star story line; 5 star make you attempt to think ahead; 3 star pace = Avg. 4 stars.

not up to par James Axler is no longer writeing the series but its being done by agroup of writers

I've been reading the Deathlands series since it began, from all its ups and downs, good writers and bad. I keep promising myself that I'm going to stop reading the series - the past dozen books - with maybe one exception - are the worst in the series. This book is so poorly written, it's, well, unreadable! The first chapter reads like Jethro Bodine wrote it, then had an online spell checker and thesaurus automatically scan and correct the document. I actually thought it was a joke, and that the last line would reveal that one of the characters was reading an old comic book. No such luck.

The plot: Awful. Characters: Pitiful.

I read about 150 pages and threw it away. I've only done this one time before - and I've read over 5,000 books. I'm done with the series, this book sent it on the last train west. RIP.