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Deathlands #20

Cold Asylum

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FUTURE SHOCK

Generations after global annihilation, Kansas is a mutated landscape of dense, deciduous forest. Gone are the amber waves of grain, another hideous result of nuclear devastation that changed the face of the Earth forever. Now it's survival of the freakish.

Following rumors that might lead them to the long-lost Trader, Ryan Cawdor and his band of warrior survivalists find themselves the unwilling houseguests of one of the wealthiest barons in all of Deathlands. At Baron Mandeville's opulent homestead, a glittering ornate fortress called Sun Crest, a secret and perverted game continues: gladiator contests among the guests. The winners get to play the ultimate life-and-death game - a hunt in which they are the quarry.

Hope died in the Deathlands, but the will to live goes on.

346 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 1, 1994

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About the author

James Axler

272 books175 followers

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5 stars
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108 (38%)
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83 (29%)
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
Profile Image for Lionel Taylor.
196 reviews2 followers
November 3, 2023
Cold Asylum is not an especially good installment of the Deathlands series. It contains the standard story setup: 1) A rough mat trans jump. 2.) A battle with a violent disgusting mutant horde that attacks them for no reason. 3.) A run-in with a cruel sadistic baron accompanied by his sexually deviant, sadistic daughter. 4.)and escape from the cruel sadistic baron and his untimely death. This is the 20th book in the series and half of them have this basic plot outline. That being said, I still really enjoyed this story. I don’t read this series for a high-minded plot and character development. Like all of the Golden Eagle publications, the name of the game is action and Cold Asylum does not disappoint. I would have liked a better explanation of how this particular Baron got so powerful or what happened to his wife. Still, ultimately these details would have no bearing on the story because it does not seem likely they will return to many of these locations anyway. But it is fascinating how a 300-page story can still feel like a short story after reading it. Fans of the series will find this story passable. If you are new to the series, you’ll probably want to start with a different story.
38 reviews1 follower
September 30, 2018
This was weak even by the Deathlands standards.

The book doesn't seem like a full story, rather the opening is is one story that takes about half the book, then there is the second story that follows the familiar "gang goes to a ville and has to fight their way out" story.

Neither were all that engaging.
Profile Image for Jason.
1,204 reviews20 followers
July 7, 2019
One of the better Deathlands books, although I wish they spent more time zombie-hunting :)
Profile Image for Shadoe Hare.
48 reviews
May 20, 2021
Not as good as some of the other Deathlands books. The plot was a bit predictable and not a lot of action compared to the other books in the series.
Profile Image for Chris.
1,087 reviews26 followers
October 2, 2022
Slightly off formula. I particularly liked the beginning when the group is split up. The ville was more or less the same as usual but enough changes to keep it interesting.
Profile Image for Little Timmy.
7,406 reviews60 followers
January 26, 2016
An average apocalyptic adventure story. This one takes a century after the last war and now there are mutants running around the earth. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews

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