The red-baked mountains of New Mexico offer a peaceful interlude for Ryan Cawdor, and a reunion with Jak Lauren. But in the violent post-holocaust world of Deathlands, survival is a blood-soaked game - and Ryan's idyll becomes a mission of revenge.
The quarry is the General and his band of paramilitary killers. Roving and plundering the Southwest, the General travels with an unsurpassed armory, his troops unchallenged, his agenda unstoppable.
Allied with local vengeance-hungry Indians, Ryan Cawdor and his warrior survivalists begin a cross-desert manhunt on horseback through the acrid canyon lands, when danger waits in the form of fifteen-foot rattlesnakes, acid-rain hurricanes - and a man who grimly prepares to destroy his pursuers.
Hope died in the Deathlands, but the will to live goes on.
This series has gotten great ratings yet I just can't seem to get into it. Much of it is marred by what ruins so many of Weber's books: exposition disguised as wince inducing dialog, and "humor" where a wag's witticisms consist of criticizing other characters' intellect, height, courage, etc. only for said wag to telegraph by the twinkle in his eye (or half twinkle, or hint of twinkle with a side of barely suppressed grin) to the unseen observer that HE or SHE is ONLY JOKING! One time was meh, given that Weber uses the same trick in so many books, but he repeats it over and over expecting a belly laugh each time.
And not much happens in nearly 16 hours until the very end.
Third time pays for all, as they say, so I'm going to give Weber
A revenge chase instead of a typical ville. Some main(ish) characters die and one returns. The ending doesn't go into another teleport, but will be a break in the group to find the Trader. Next one should be interesting.