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The Odds
The apocalypse happened, but no one knows how.
After the mysterious cataclysm of deadblast, all that's left is a barren world ruled by a high-powered caste of bookies, THE ODDS.
Scurrying around underneath is our hero, Eldridge – a big-hearted, bumbling drifter with an estranged family he loves dearly. He’s deep in debt and deathly sick, so he places a bet predicting the day he’ll die.
If he wins, he can go to his grave knowing that his family will be safe, but when he returns to his hometown – the subterranean city of Dedrick – to collect, he gets some bad news: He’s going to live.
So it’s on to plan B – a high-stakes battle-tournament that pits real-life chess avatars against each other in random-chance brawls-to-the-death.
But Eldridge doesn’t know that someone’s gamed the tournament to pit him against an old friend who’s now a bitter enemy. As Eldridge fights his way through the tournament, he's forced to face up to his past in order to secure a future for himself and his family.
After the mysterious cataclysm of deadblast, all that's left is a barren world ruled by a high-powered caste of bookies, THE ODDS.
Scurrying around underneath is our hero, Eldridge – a big-hearted, bumbling drifter with an estranged family he loves dearly. He’s deep in debt and deathly sick, so he places a bet predicting the day he’ll die.
If he wins, he can go to his grave knowing that his family will be safe, but when he returns to his hometown – the subterranean city of Dedrick – to collect, he gets some bad news: He’s going to live.
So it’s on to plan B – a high-stakes battle-tournament that pits real-life chess avatars against each other in random-chance brawls-to-the-death.
But Eldridge doesn’t know that someone’s gamed the tournament to pit him against an old friend who’s now a bitter enemy. As Eldridge fights his way through the tournament, he's forced to face up to his past in order to secure a future for himself and his family.
292 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 30, 2013
3 people are currently reading
627 people want to read
About the author
Robert J. Peterson
7 books46 followersRobert J. Peterson is writer and programmer living in Nevada City, Calif. His works include The Odds, The Remnants, and Strong Bones.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 18, 2019
This was an absolute joy to read. If Borderlands turned into a battle chess match, this is what it would be. In a destroyed world, the Odds run the world - making and taking bets. Eldridge is the center of the story - a man with a past and no hope for a future, he bet on his own death day but things don't go to plan. Plan B...enter the chess match and stay alive to win money to pull him out of debt. The action is fast paced and takes you from the desert to underground and back again - with twists and turns a wild cast of characters, this book is original and fun.
July 26, 2018
If you like dystopian fiction, you're gonna love this telling of the apocalypse in the dusty future. It's like Mad Max meets Dune meets its own damn good story. The Odds's story centers around a chess game on steroids and the imagination behind the universe leaves no detail behind. The Odds is the kind of fun reading you can easily picture as a film. Looking forward to reading the rest from the series.
January 30, 2020
Peterson, Robert J. The Odds. Rare Birds, 2015.
We are in a mining town in the post-apocalyptic American desert. Nobody quite knows how civilization was destroyed, but gambling seems to be the basis of the new economy. Powerful bookies, called Odds, rule the roost. A redheaded stranger rides a motorcycle into town and places a bet on his death day. When that doesn’t work out because he lives too long, he agrees to play a game of battle chess in which the more powerful pieces carry more powerful weapons. Naturally, it isn’t long until the blood starts to flow. I think the novel wants to be a videogame or a movie starring a younger Willie Nelson. Plot and characterization have a lot of holes, but it is an entertaining read as long as you don’t think too much about it.
We are in a mining town in the post-apocalyptic American desert. Nobody quite knows how civilization was destroyed, but gambling seems to be the basis of the new economy. Powerful bookies, called Odds, rule the roost. A redheaded stranger rides a motorcycle into town and places a bet on his death day. When that doesn’t work out because he lives too long, he agrees to play a game of battle chess in which the more powerful pieces carry more powerful weapons. Naturally, it isn’t long until the blood starts to flow. I think the novel wants to be a videogame or a movie starring a younger Willie Nelson. Plot and characterization have a lot of holes, but it is an entertaining read as long as you don’t think too much about it.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews