What do you think?
Rate this book
As I Walk These Broken Roads
Out of the irradiated wastes comes a soldier. On the far edge of the trade routes, in a small farming community, there lives a mechanic. Two men from a previous era, surviving through steel and cunning in a world of degenerated philosophy; a world where the old tech is treated with savage, animistic worship.
A storm is coming. When civilization is scattered and broken, what is a man supposed to do?
How is a man supposed to live?
A storm is coming. When civilization is scattered and broken, what is a man supposed to do?
How is a man supposed to live?
324 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 16, 2012
2 people are currently reading
48 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 31, 2019
I WALK THIS LONELY ROAD!!!!!!!!!! THE ONLY ONE THAT I HAVE EVER KNOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 2, 2012
The great Neanderthal novel has been written.
Lay down your pens, fiction authors. It’s finished.
I’m extremely picky when it comes to first person psychology in fiction. Finally I’ve read a book that does it right: Davis Aurini’s “As I Walk These Broken Roads.”
This is the first book I’ve read where you can see the different races in action: Melons, Thals, half Thals, and Cro Mags. He did this intuitively, before exposure to my face reading theories.
The best part of the book is the alienation. It’s not the gay-ass, watered down, gamma-blathering estrogenic lugubrious navel-gazing alienation of Jim Butcher. Or the filthy manipulative version of the same that Orson Scott Card writes. It’s pure, hardcore, straight up, honest, masculine, abstracted, dissociated, Thal alienation.
The book has two Thals, both alienated, yet quite different. The author managed to avoid the trap of writing himself in every character; even the two main ones are well differentiated. Yet they manage to sync instinctively, as Thals do; united by common alienation.
The author has both deep sockets and some of the hugest eyes I’ve seen, which I think accounts for much of his psychological insight. The back of his head is half melon, half Thal, an unusual configuration I’ve only seen once before.
The result is a book that has enough drive to keep me interested, but enough conceptual elaboration to keep me ruminating long afterwards.
The true test of a book is the aftertaste. Aurini’s book is deceptively simple. On the surface it’s a simple apocalyptic tale with bursts of sharp action punctuated by long lulls full of psychology, philosophy and relationships. The deep conceptual waters are only hinted at, left for the reader to plumb.
For example, the final confrontation – Aurini never explains why it occurs. As much as I enjoyed the action sequence, afterwards it niggled at me. Was it a clumsily forced plot device to bring the book to a close?
A few moments of thought, and I realized how wrong I was to doubt. Wentworth made a serious error. First of all, he was in a major civilizational hub. Secondly, he foolishly and unnecessarily escalated a bar confrontation with a drunk, revealing himself. Thirdly, he was using his real name.
It made sense that his old organization would pick up the scent and hunt him down for an ambush when he wisely left town.
The whole book is like that. Sound a skeptical point, and you’ll discover hidden layers. That’s what a Thal wants when he reads – something he can chew on afterwards, and gain sustenance from.
Every tribe or society in the book makes sense. The Mennite / Sodomite dichotomy is fascinating and strangely plausible in a post apocalyptic society, when you account for excommunication. The insular towns are well drawn. The Indian colony is a cogent commentary on immigration. The mixed up strategic blundering of the Regiment shows that the author understands that software, not hardware, runs the world, ala the War Nerd.
You don’t see the true genius of the book in the beginning. It starts slowly and the dialogue is clumsy in places. Be patient. This is a book that you read quickly and think about afterwards.
But what makes this book the great Neanderthal novel? It’s not just the author’s skill and insight, but the luck of choosing the right setting. The post-apocalyptic landscape and the selection of drifters as protagonists is a metaphor for the Thal life experience. We are in a post-apocalyptic environment – post Thal genocide. It’s a biological apocalypse that will eventually go nuclear. The two drifters pass through a series of insular communities to which they can never belong. Wentworth says that his whole life feels like a series of clean breaks. That line sticks for any Neanderthal.
I love the way the book ends. There’s no too-neat “let’s wrap everything up and give a moral” to ruin the book’s realism. But there is nevertheless a powerful moment, and a closing of the circle. It’s not the world or even the protagonists’ problems that get resolved, but instead a psychological trauma that is healed – the deepest one that a Thal has: alienation from tribe, and absence of brotherhood.
This book will teach you what it means to be a Neanderthal, and a man. Read it now.
Lay down your pens, fiction authors. It’s finished.
I’m extremely picky when it comes to first person psychology in fiction. Finally I’ve read a book that does it right: Davis Aurini’s “As I Walk These Broken Roads.”
This is the first book I’ve read where you can see the different races in action: Melons, Thals, half Thals, and Cro Mags. He did this intuitively, before exposure to my face reading theories.
The best part of the book is the alienation. It’s not the gay-ass, watered down, gamma-blathering estrogenic lugubrious navel-gazing alienation of Jim Butcher. Or the filthy manipulative version of the same that Orson Scott Card writes. It’s pure, hardcore, straight up, honest, masculine, abstracted, dissociated, Thal alienation.
The book has two Thals, both alienated, yet quite different. The author managed to avoid the trap of writing himself in every character; even the two main ones are well differentiated. Yet they manage to sync instinctively, as Thals do; united by common alienation.
The author has both deep sockets and some of the hugest eyes I’ve seen, which I think accounts for much of his psychological insight. The back of his head is half melon, half Thal, an unusual configuration I’ve only seen once before.
The result is a book that has enough drive to keep me interested, but enough conceptual elaboration to keep me ruminating long afterwards.
The true test of a book is the aftertaste. Aurini’s book is deceptively simple. On the surface it’s a simple apocalyptic tale with bursts of sharp action punctuated by long lulls full of psychology, philosophy and relationships. The deep conceptual waters are only hinted at, left for the reader to plumb.
For example, the final confrontation – Aurini never explains why it occurs. As much as I enjoyed the action sequence, afterwards it niggled at me. Was it a clumsily forced plot device to bring the book to a close?
A few moments of thought, and I realized how wrong I was to doubt. Wentworth made a serious error. First of all, he was in a major civilizational hub. Secondly, he foolishly and unnecessarily escalated a bar confrontation with a drunk, revealing himself. Thirdly, he was using his real name.
It made sense that his old organization would pick up the scent and hunt him down for an ambush when he wisely left town.
The whole book is like that. Sound a skeptical point, and you’ll discover hidden layers. That’s what a Thal wants when he reads – something he can chew on afterwards, and gain sustenance from.
Every tribe or society in the book makes sense. The Mennite / Sodomite dichotomy is fascinating and strangely plausible in a post apocalyptic society, when you account for excommunication. The insular towns are well drawn. The Indian colony is a cogent commentary on immigration. The mixed up strategic blundering of the Regiment shows that the author understands that software, not hardware, runs the world, ala the War Nerd.
You don’t see the true genius of the book in the beginning. It starts slowly and the dialogue is clumsy in places. Be patient. This is a book that you read quickly and think about afterwards.
But what makes this book the great Neanderthal novel? It’s not just the author’s skill and insight, but the luck of choosing the right setting. The post-apocalyptic landscape and the selection of drifters as protagonists is a metaphor for the Thal life experience. We are in a post-apocalyptic environment – post Thal genocide. It’s a biological apocalypse that will eventually go nuclear. The two drifters pass through a series of insular communities to which they can never belong. Wentworth says that his whole life feels like a series of clean breaks. That line sticks for any Neanderthal.
I love the way the book ends. There’s no too-neat “let’s wrap everything up and give a moral” to ruin the book’s realism. But there is nevertheless a powerful moment, and a closing of the circle. It’s not the world or even the protagonists’ problems that get resolved, but instead a psychological trauma that is healed – the deepest one that a Thal has: alienation from tribe, and absence of brotherhood.
This book will teach you what it means to be a Neanderthal, and a man. Read it now.
September 20, 2013
I follow Aurini's youtube channel and I really appreciate his cultural commentary. However, this book was really bad.
This was the most worthless piece of crap I ever read. The characters are super shallow; they feel like they've been taken out of a bad action movie.
This is Atlas Shrugged with a reactionary touch. Only worse.
This was the most worthless piece of crap I ever read. The characters are super shallow; they feel like they've been taken out of a bad action movie.
This is Atlas Shrugged with a reactionary touch. Only worse.
November 15, 2012
When I received the copy of the novel from the author and started to read it, I thought I might’ve stumbled upon a rare jewel of modern literature – the novel had a very interesting premise and the writing style promised a good read. However, as I plowed through the pages, several things became obvious, not all of them pleasant.
I’ll start with a short introduction: “As I Walk These Broken Roads” is a debut novel penned by Davis M.J. Aurini. Set in post-apocalyptic Earth scenario, it tells a story of two men who band together in order to survive in a degenerate world.
The first thing I liked about the setting is that, unlike most post-apocalyptic stories, the world is not a barren wasteland with couple of “civilized” settlements and a horde of crazy savages roaming around killing everyone in-between. In “As I Walk These Broken Roads”, the world as we know ended in a cataclysmic war, but people have organized themselves into various smaller settlements and formed something that vaguely resembles civilization, but on a much lower technological and social level. It’s basically a tribal culture, with trade and occasional skirmishes going on between settlements and lawlessness is rampant; it resembles the Wild West. Most of the pre-War technology has been lost, there’s nuclear fallout and radiation and other inconveniences, but mankind pretty much goes on living out its existence.
The little technology that’s left in terms of vehicles, electrical generators and such is slowly fading way, because there’s almost no one with the knowledge how to build it left. One of the people that know about tech is a mechanic named Raxx, one of the two protagonists. Long story short, one day he meets Wentworth, a man with a shady past and obviously highly-trained in martial skills, and the two of them embark on the journey, both of them running from something.
From the start it’s obvious that the novel with will rich in author’s philosophical observations about contemporary society, as well as such themes such as brotherhood, alienation, technological/social progress or degradation, violence, survival and so on. It’s very interesting, and it’s the very thing that drew me to the novel, since I know that Aurini is a free-thinking man.
The philosophical undertones are the major strength of the novel, and often contain nuggets of wisdom drawn from everyday observations such as:
“The old tech is everywhere, it’s in the roots – but nobody knows how to build it. Most guys, sure, they know what buttons to push, they know how to fix parts of it, but they don’t know the whole process. They don’t know why they push the buttons… “Everyone’s closed their eyes to the underlying truth. It’s . . . it’s ignorance on purpose, and it’s everywhere. It’s like knowledge scares people – you know what? I think it does. There aren’t many who want to hear me explain what I’m doing, or how to prevent the malfunction from happening again, no matter how much cheaper it’d be. They just want it fixed and working so that they can forget about it.”
Observations like this ring true on many levels when applied to contemporary society, not necessarily linked to technology alone, although Aurini doesn’t discover anything new in his ruminations. In 19th century Oscar Wilde said: “People today know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” The same principles apply in post-apocalyptic Canada as do they in Victorian England, because people are people, and they usually don’t care.
One of major themes also explored is alienation and tribal nature of mankind. Raxx lives in the small community of Blackstock, but he’s not a native; although people treat him cordially and he enjoys somewhat of a status due to his ability to repair tech, he can never become one of them. The same theme is present when the two foreign caravan guards arrive in town with the merchant and one of them tries to seduce a local girl, with nothing else that a night of fun on his mind. A fistfight breaks out, because the locals can’t have the foreign tribe member polluting their gene pool. But in Raxx’s case, the alienation runs deeper, because not only he’s a foreigner; he’s also very intelligent and technologically adept, and most of the other people see that as a dangerous thing.
There is some religion scathing thrown in mid-way through the novel, and although it’s handled well, with objective criticism about close-mindedness of religious zealots and so on, it doesn’t really take a new spin on it. There are some hints about people worshiping the old tech, but I’ve seen ideas like that done better even in more mainstream novels, such as Warhammer 40k.
With all that being said, I’ll now turn to the actual structure of the novel, and the things I found lacking.
The writing style is great; it’s descriptive enough to engross the reader but also succinct enough as not to wander into purplish prose. One of the things that repel me from a lot of modern novels is the lack of proper writing skills; but Aurini, despite self-publishing the novel, delivers on this end (although I’ve noticed some smaller grammatical errors and missing words now and then, as well as occasional awkward POV switches).
Now we come to the main problem – lack of tension and conflict. Any good novel must balance several things: story progress, character development, world building etc, but the most important thing a novel, a work of fiction, must have is change.
Change is the driving force behind a story, and without it, a piece of fiction doesn’t exist. As Dwight Swain writes:
Story equals change . . .
A story records change. It sets forth the details of how your focal character moves from one state of affairs and state of mind to another.
This lack of change, lack of tension and conflict became apparent to me after reading through 50 pages where, aside from the mentioned philosophical ruminations, nothing really happened. The thing is, most of the novel is a reflection of author’s personal world-view and broodings about society and life, and although I’ve greatly enjoyed them, a novel can’t be good when there is no driving force behind character’s actions. For the most time, a formula which goes something like this is applied:
Wentworth and Raxx arrive at a location where they can converse, like a bar. They start talking about various subjects, debating diverse issues. They go somewhere else to take some action just to move plot forward. Then they arrive at a new location to converse about new topics. Rinse and repeat.
Honestly, it gets boring after a while, because it reads more like non-fiction thinly veiled as fiction, which, truth to be told, is what this novel is. It’s like the author didn’t really know where to take the story; I presume his main motivating factor was to put his personal ideology on paper and present it to the readers, but he decided to make it come to life in a sci-fi setting.
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is mentioned by Wentworth in one scene, and it’s obviously a big influence in creating this novel, which would confirm my theory. I haven’t read it, but what I can see from Wikipedia, it’s a philosophical novel; and that’s what “As I Walk These Broken Roads” is trying to be – but it’s also trying to be a sci-fi novel, and like I’ve said, the balance wasn’t struck in my eyes.
Since it’s classified as sci-fi, I’ve looked at it through the general fiction lens. If the action parts were omitted and the novel was written strictly as a philosophical piece it would probably be better (although I’m not a big fan of philosophy). As it stands now, a sci-fi novel with philosophical undertones, it’s slightly above average. However, I presume that targeted audience will most likely find it better than I did, since they will only concentrated on the message, and not the execution.
To summarize: the ideas and the philosophy behind the novel are good, but the execution is flawed. It’s definitely a decent read, especially for readers who are interested in the philosophy behind it (that’s the thing that enticed me to read it), but I can’t overlook some blatant flaws in the structure: linear story arc, characters who don’t grow or change through the novel, slow pace, lack of tension and a general lack of direction.
Judging by the ending, this will be the first book in a series, and I’m definitely interested in the sequel, but I hope that it will address some things to make it a much better read. Philosophical ideas can be implemented in a story in such a way that they don’t hinder the story’s progress -instead they can greatly enhance a novel’s worth if pulled off correctly. Maybe, instead of isolated instances of philosophical debate, with action sequences thrown between them just to spur the story onward, the ideas could have been expressed through characters’ actions and occasional, well-placed remark, and not shoved down your throat every time the duo has a spare minute or two to deconstruct reality.
I definitely recommend the novel to anyone interested, but don’t expect to have your mind blown by awesomeness. I hope to see this series go on, but I also hope the writing will pick up the pace to match the ideas expressed, so we can have those interesting ideas packed in a well-written form of an excellent sci-fi novel.
I’ll start with a short introduction: “As I Walk These Broken Roads” is a debut novel penned by Davis M.J. Aurini. Set in post-apocalyptic Earth scenario, it tells a story of two men who band together in order to survive in a degenerate world.
The first thing I liked about the setting is that, unlike most post-apocalyptic stories, the world is not a barren wasteland with couple of “civilized” settlements and a horde of crazy savages roaming around killing everyone in-between. In “As I Walk These Broken Roads”, the world as we know ended in a cataclysmic war, but people have organized themselves into various smaller settlements and formed something that vaguely resembles civilization, but on a much lower technological and social level. It’s basically a tribal culture, with trade and occasional skirmishes going on between settlements and lawlessness is rampant; it resembles the Wild West. Most of the pre-War technology has been lost, there’s nuclear fallout and radiation and other inconveniences, but mankind pretty much goes on living out its existence.
The little technology that’s left in terms of vehicles, electrical generators and such is slowly fading way, because there’s almost no one with the knowledge how to build it left. One of the people that know about tech is a mechanic named Raxx, one of the two protagonists. Long story short, one day he meets Wentworth, a man with a shady past and obviously highly-trained in martial skills, and the two of them embark on the journey, both of them running from something.
From the start it’s obvious that the novel with will rich in author’s philosophical observations about contemporary society, as well as such themes such as brotherhood, alienation, technological/social progress or degradation, violence, survival and so on. It’s very interesting, and it’s the very thing that drew me to the novel, since I know that Aurini is a free-thinking man.
The philosophical undertones are the major strength of the novel, and often contain nuggets of wisdom drawn from everyday observations such as:
“The old tech is everywhere, it’s in the roots – but nobody knows how to build it. Most guys, sure, they know what buttons to push, they know how to fix parts of it, but they don’t know the whole process. They don’t know why they push the buttons… “Everyone’s closed their eyes to the underlying truth. It’s . . . it’s ignorance on purpose, and it’s everywhere. It’s like knowledge scares people – you know what? I think it does. There aren’t many who want to hear me explain what I’m doing, or how to prevent the malfunction from happening again, no matter how much cheaper it’d be. They just want it fixed and working so that they can forget about it.”
Observations like this ring true on many levels when applied to contemporary society, not necessarily linked to technology alone, although Aurini doesn’t discover anything new in his ruminations. In 19th century Oscar Wilde said: “People today know the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” The same principles apply in post-apocalyptic Canada as do they in Victorian England, because people are people, and they usually don’t care.
One of major themes also explored is alienation and tribal nature of mankind. Raxx lives in the small community of Blackstock, but he’s not a native; although people treat him cordially and he enjoys somewhat of a status due to his ability to repair tech, he can never become one of them. The same theme is present when the two foreign caravan guards arrive in town with the merchant and one of them tries to seduce a local girl, with nothing else that a night of fun on his mind. A fistfight breaks out, because the locals can’t have the foreign tribe member polluting their gene pool. But in Raxx’s case, the alienation runs deeper, because not only he’s a foreigner; he’s also very intelligent and technologically adept, and most of the other people see that as a dangerous thing.
There is some religion scathing thrown in mid-way through the novel, and although it’s handled well, with objective criticism about close-mindedness of religious zealots and so on, it doesn’t really take a new spin on it. There are some hints about people worshiping the old tech, but I’ve seen ideas like that done better even in more mainstream novels, such as Warhammer 40k.
With all that being said, I’ll now turn to the actual structure of the novel, and the things I found lacking.
The writing style is great; it’s descriptive enough to engross the reader but also succinct enough as not to wander into purplish prose. One of the things that repel me from a lot of modern novels is the lack of proper writing skills; but Aurini, despite self-publishing the novel, delivers on this end (although I’ve noticed some smaller grammatical errors and missing words now and then, as well as occasional awkward POV switches).
Now we come to the main problem – lack of tension and conflict. Any good novel must balance several things: story progress, character development, world building etc, but the most important thing a novel, a work of fiction, must have is change.
Change is the driving force behind a story, and without it, a piece of fiction doesn’t exist. As Dwight Swain writes:
Story equals change . . .
A story records change. It sets forth the details of how your focal character moves from one state of affairs and state of mind to another.
This lack of change, lack of tension and conflict became apparent to me after reading through 50 pages where, aside from the mentioned philosophical ruminations, nothing really happened. The thing is, most of the novel is a reflection of author’s personal world-view and broodings about society and life, and although I’ve greatly enjoyed them, a novel can’t be good when there is no driving force behind character’s actions. For the most time, a formula which goes something like this is applied:
Wentworth and Raxx arrive at a location where they can converse, like a bar. They start talking about various subjects, debating diverse issues. They go somewhere else to take some action just to move plot forward. Then they arrive at a new location to converse about new topics. Rinse and repeat.
Honestly, it gets boring after a while, because it reads more like non-fiction thinly veiled as fiction, which, truth to be told, is what this novel is. It’s like the author didn’t really know where to take the story; I presume his main motivating factor was to put his personal ideology on paper and present it to the readers, but he decided to make it come to life in a sci-fi setting.
“Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” is mentioned by Wentworth in one scene, and it’s obviously a big influence in creating this novel, which would confirm my theory. I haven’t read it, but what I can see from Wikipedia, it’s a philosophical novel; and that’s what “As I Walk These Broken Roads” is trying to be – but it’s also trying to be a sci-fi novel, and like I’ve said, the balance wasn’t struck in my eyes.
Since it’s classified as sci-fi, I’ve looked at it through the general fiction lens. If the action parts were omitted and the novel was written strictly as a philosophical piece it would probably be better (although I’m not a big fan of philosophy). As it stands now, a sci-fi novel with philosophical undertones, it’s slightly above average. However, I presume that targeted audience will most likely find it better than I did, since they will only concentrated on the message, and not the execution.
To summarize: the ideas and the philosophy behind the novel are good, but the execution is flawed. It’s definitely a decent read, especially for readers who are interested in the philosophy behind it (that’s the thing that enticed me to read it), but I can’t overlook some blatant flaws in the structure: linear story arc, characters who don’t grow or change through the novel, slow pace, lack of tension and a general lack of direction.
Judging by the ending, this will be the first book in a series, and I’m definitely interested in the sequel, but I hope that it will address some things to make it a much better read. Philosophical ideas can be implemented in a story in such a way that they don’t hinder the story’s progress -instead they can greatly enhance a novel’s worth if pulled off correctly. Maybe, instead of isolated instances of philosophical debate, with action sequences thrown between them just to spur the story onward, the ideas could have been expressed through characters’ actions and occasional, well-placed remark, and not shoved down your throat every time the duo has a spare minute or two to deconstruct reality.
I definitely recommend the novel to anyone interested, but don’t expect to have your mind blown by awesomeness. I hope to see this series go on, but I also hope the writing will pick up the pace to match the ideas expressed, so we can have those interesting ideas packed in a well-written form of an excellent sci-fi novel.
November 19, 2012
I gave this book 5 stars because I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to finish.
I will be honest, I am somewhat biased, I only found the book because of Aurini's youtube commentary (which I enjoy immensely), so I didn't spend alot of time trying to find things that I didn't like about it. I'm going to quickly go over the few things that could have been done better for the sake of keeping my bias in check.
1. One of the major character's name is Raxx. There is an interesting aesthetic claim I have which counters this issue, but just from a fellow writers perspective, Raxx is a silly name. It got on my nerves more than once.
2. It's a slow start. If I wasnt interested initially in the writer just a quick glance at the first few chapters would have put me off. It gets much better have the first 10% of the book is finished.
3. Its short. I think I read somewhere that it is part of a continuing series, and if thats the case then all is forgiven, but the pacing is a little rough once the story picks up.
Thats really all the problems I had with it, and since they are very subjective I dont think they should hurt the public perception of how good the book is.
Before I go on and praise anything I dug about the book I want to discuss the aesthetic claim I made.
The book feels like a 1990's videogame. If the world ended in 1995 and ended up like the first fallout then thats what this book feels like.
I love that.
It is an honest, dirty, and actually fairly realistic portrayal of human nature in such a scenario, and the aesthetic overlay of ancient M rated 90's games makes the whole thing super badass.
I also really dig the philosophy. Whenever people aren't dying or traveling, they're usually drinking, and they are usually discussing some philosophical quandary of the world they inhabit. It is obvious in their world that something is very wrong, it being a post-apocalypse, but the discussions could be like ones I could have in a bar today.
The action feels real. There is no diehard sillyness in here children, there is an accurate depiction of a real battle scene and quiet short small battles between groups of 3 people feel like grand battle fields. When it contrasts with the stark fear and lack of ambition the people in the townships exhibit the combat truly becomes a leading character in its own right.
The political and religious discussions are great because they dont get too abstract, in a world where clean water and food are hard to come by, all philosophy has to be applicable and any discussion of political ideology or religious extremism only works if there are working examples. This allows aurini to teach the concept with action.
The characters are a little flat, but I cant tell if thats the authors fault, or if its the reaction a human being has to the rigors of survival. When youre running that much adrenaline all the time it does probably change your brain a little.
I recommend anyone who enjoys a good thriller check this out, I'm looking forward to Aurini coming back to this world and giving us the look into a 90's dystopian city and the culture that inhabits it with his unique insight into macro policies.
I will be honest, I am somewhat biased, I only found the book because of Aurini's youtube commentary (which I enjoy immensely), so I didn't spend alot of time trying to find things that I didn't like about it. I'm going to quickly go over the few things that could have been done better for the sake of keeping my bias in check.
1. One of the major character's name is Raxx. There is an interesting aesthetic claim I have which counters this issue, but just from a fellow writers perspective, Raxx is a silly name. It got on my nerves more than once.
2. It's a slow start. If I wasnt interested initially in the writer just a quick glance at the first few chapters would have put me off. It gets much better have the first 10% of the book is finished.
3. Its short. I think I read somewhere that it is part of a continuing series, and if thats the case then all is forgiven, but the pacing is a little rough once the story picks up.
Thats really all the problems I had with it, and since they are very subjective I dont think they should hurt the public perception of how good the book is.
Before I go on and praise anything I dug about the book I want to discuss the aesthetic claim I made.
The book feels like a 1990's videogame. If the world ended in 1995 and ended up like the first fallout then thats what this book feels like.
I love that.
It is an honest, dirty, and actually fairly realistic portrayal of human nature in such a scenario, and the aesthetic overlay of ancient M rated 90's games makes the whole thing super badass.
I also really dig the philosophy. Whenever people aren't dying or traveling, they're usually drinking, and they are usually discussing some philosophical quandary of the world they inhabit. It is obvious in their world that something is very wrong, it being a post-apocalypse, but the discussions could be like ones I could have in a bar today.
The action feels real. There is no diehard sillyness in here children, there is an accurate depiction of a real battle scene and quiet short small battles between groups of 3 people feel like grand battle fields. When it contrasts with the stark fear and lack of ambition the people in the townships exhibit the combat truly becomes a leading character in its own right.
The political and religious discussions are great because they dont get too abstract, in a world where clean water and food are hard to come by, all philosophy has to be applicable and any discussion of political ideology or religious extremism only works if there are working examples. This allows aurini to teach the concept with action.
The characters are a little flat, but I cant tell if thats the authors fault, or if its the reaction a human being has to the rigors of survival. When youre running that much adrenaline all the time it does probably change your brain a little.
I recommend anyone who enjoys a good thriller check this out, I'm looking forward to Aurini coming back to this world and giving us the look into a 90's dystopian city and the culture that inhabits it with his unique insight into macro policies.
January 25, 2014
This is a beautiful testament to post-crash living. It takes place long after the "Collapse," but is more of an informative view of how a man can survive without many of the necessary skills needed to maintain oneself in such a milieu. Do not expect glowing mutants and the like. It's not really a fantasy. Neither, don't hope to enjoy gigantic battles against some Neo-American warlord.
I like this aspect. Our protagonist can fix a cycle to the best of his ability. He can negotiate and network sans Internet. A diplomatic character, but not a politician. Don't expect Clint Eastwood, but rather, expect yourself. Very real and, I'd predict, accurate. Aurini penned a terrific tale of the everyday work-a-man who becomes not an accidental hero, but a guy who gets by as we all do right now, even our culture of degeneracy.
I like this aspect. Our protagonist can fix a cycle to the best of his ability. He can negotiate and network sans Internet. A diplomatic character, but not a politician. Don't expect Clint Eastwood, but rather, expect yourself. Very real and, I'd predict, accurate. Aurini penned a terrific tale of the everyday work-a-man who becomes not an accidental hero, but a guy who gets by as we all do right now, even our culture of degeneracy.
May 13, 2019
Aurini's prose is not as bad as I thought it would be. But this book has no plot. We are introduced to the main character, not told where he comes from, who he is, what he wants, and then subjected to a bunch of conversations where every character is a mouthpiece for the author. No thanks!
December 22, 2014
Our main character is named Wentworth, and I knew I'd heard the name before, but couldn't remember from where. A quick web search reminded me - Frederick Wentworth appears in the Jane Austen novel, Persuasion. This is fitting, as Wentworth in Austen's novel was also a military man.
As I Walk These Broken Roads is a post-apocalyptic novel in which society doesn't seem interested in rebuilding or re-growth. Wentworth's motorcycle breaks down and he makes his way to the town of Blackstock, where he meets a man named Raxx, who is a mechanic, and the two become friends.
While I did notice some grammatical errors, they were not so noticeable as to detract from the storyline. The action picks up as a group of murdering thugs move in and stir up chaos, and Wentworth and Raxx are left to try and put the pieces of a broken world back together. This was an action-filled story that moves along quickly and shows that there is hope in even the darkest of times.
As I Walk These Broken Roads is a post-apocalyptic novel in which society doesn't seem interested in rebuilding or re-growth. Wentworth's motorcycle breaks down and he makes his way to the town of Blackstock, where he meets a man named Raxx, who is a mechanic, and the two become friends.
While I did notice some grammatical errors, they were not so noticeable as to detract from the storyline. The action picks up as a group of murdering thugs move in and stir up chaos, and Wentworth and Raxx are left to try and put the pieces of a broken world back together. This was an action-filled story that moves along quickly and shows that there is hope in even the darkest of times.
September 11, 2013
I like the views the author expresses on his website. I really wanted to like this book.
At the beginning I actually took notes to keep track of the characters. I later found out that this was completely unnecessary. And, unfortunately, I stopped reading it when I hit chapter 20. I just couldn't visualize what was going on. I don't know if this means I'm naive or just plain stupid.
Anyway, there are too many other books I want to read to waste time struggling with this one. Too bad.
At the beginning I actually took notes to keep track of the characters. I later found out that this was completely unnecessary. And, unfortunately, I stopped reading it when I hit chapter 20. I just couldn't visualize what was going on. I don't know if this means I'm naive or just plain stupid.
Anyway, there are too many other books I want to read to waste time struggling with this one. Too bad.
February 7, 2013
I enjoyed this book.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in a sober story about a former soldier trying to make a life for himself in a relatively realistic post-apocalyptic setting.
I certainly plan on buying the sequel when it comes out.
I would recommend this book to anybody who is interested in a sober story about a former soldier trying to make a life for himself in a relatively realistic post-apocalyptic setting.
I certainly plan on buying the sequel when it comes out.
May 6, 2013
A story set in a world inspired by the first Fallout games. You don't need to play them to enjoy this book. I liked the story and characters, but the concept that the book wants to talk about wasn't that interesting (or maybe I didn't get it properly).
It's recommended as light reading.
It's recommended as light reading.
October 23, 2012
A preview of the book can be found here: https://www.box.com/s/42h3rt2h3k1v8wx...
December 5, 2013
I wasn't expecting much but was blown away, reminded me of a old style western. Lot's of excitement.
September 23, 2020
Very good read! See what I did there?
Post apocalyptic story with murder mayhem and some philosophy and even a bit of romance... worth it...
Post apocalyptic story with murder mayhem and some philosophy and even a bit of romance... worth it...
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews