Out of the ashes of the conflagration that savaged mankind two centuries ago, Deathlands was born - a tortured testament to a world long gone. Yet, in this kill-or-be-killed world where justice is the way of the past and blood is law, hope is the last refuge of the doomed. For Ryan Cawdor, driven by a warrior's instinct to survive it's a world that exacts a devil's bargain: the struggle for daily existence in return for a chance to forge a better life.
VANGUARD
Emerging from a gateway into a redoubt filled with preDark technology, Ryan and his band hope to unlock some of the secrets of postnuclear America. But the fortified redoubt is under the control of a half-mad former sec man hell-bent on vengeance, who orders Ryan and the others to jump-start his private war against two local barons. Under the harsh and pitiless glare of the rad-blasted desert sun, the companions fight to see another day, whatever it brings...
In the Deathlands, the condemned shall inherit the earth...
By far, the worst Deathlands title I have yet read. Imagine a 352 page novelization of an uninteresting 30-page comic book. Everything a character thinks: they say. Every thing the characters do outside of the toilet is described in mind-numbing detail. Each environmental detail is noted, every facial expression, thought, sound, and piece of dialogue is conveyed to the reader, no matter how banal. It's like the author was told he would be paid $1 per word, and then it went directly to press without being seen by an editor.
It was a feat of endurance to finish it, and I have to say, it wasn't worth it. Read the first 15-20%, and you know what's going to happen.
Book highlight: Doc Tanner conveys the results of a reconnaissance to his team. I think it's got to win some sort of award for his most bombastic, rambling speech. I actually laughed out loud.
Without a doubt the worst Deathlands out of the 60 or so that I've read. Most of us don't look to Deathlands for great literature, just some fun post-apocalyptic escapism but this one is totally phoned in. Save yourself some time and just read the synopsis. You'll get the whole story in that one paragraph and not really miss a blessed thing.