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Gamma World
Sooner Dead
Humanoid buffalo and armadillo bikers in post-apocalyptic Oklahoma!
A bio-engineered super-soldier named Hella and her mutant buffalo sidekick Stampede clash with armadillo bikers and inter-dimensional mutants across the ragged landscape of Gamma-Oklahoma.
This is a fast-paced story of adventure, mixed with liberal doses of humor, in a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy world unlike any other.
From the Paperback edition.
A bio-engineered super-soldier named Hella and her mutant buffalo sidekick Stampede clash with armadillo bikers and inter-dimensional mutants across the ragged landscape of Gamma-Oklahoma.
This is a fast-paced story of adventure, mixed with liberal doses of humor, in a post-apocalyptic science-fantasy world unlike any other.
From the Paperback edition.
320 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2011
7 people are currently reading
103 people want to read
About the author
Mel Odom
281 books273 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
aka Jordan Gray
Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.
aka Jordan Gray
Mel Odom is a bestselling writer for hire for Wizards of the Coast's Forgotten Realms, Gold Eagle's Mack Bolan, and Pocket's Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel book lines. His debut SF novel Lethal Interface made the Locus recommended list . The Rover was an Alyx Award winner. He has also written a scientific adventure of the high seas set in the 19th century entitled Hunters of the Dark Sea. He lives in Oklahoma.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
June 9, 2014
In comparison to Paul Kidd's Red Sails in the Fallout, Odom here plays it straight, or at least as straight as one can when one protagonist is a bisonoid with earthquake powers and the other transforms her hands into machine pistols. The winking gonzo writing of Red Sails is gone, and has been replaced with something that is not quite grit, but is straightforward about the situation, accepting the silliness of the entire enterprise without succumbing to it--yes, that is a tree-climbing web-spinning spiderwolf thing, and those are the 'Chine, the Borg's inbred, moronic cousins...what of it?--while also not allowing the violence and post-apocalypse to delve into gory nihilism.
The publisher, or whoever was driving this series, should probably have ensured that the authors were on the same page.
The publisher, or whoever was driving this series, should probably have ensured that the authors were on the same page.
March 13, 2011
A nice, light, post-apocalyptic adventure based on the new edition of the roleplaying game. Solid characters for the genre, a coherent plot that shows us something of the world, and overall a pretty good book even if it's not dazzling.
My only complaints would be that in the first quarter there seemed to be some editing slips, and the pacing in the second half is somewhat off compared to the slow march of the first half.
My only complaints would be that in the first quarter there seemed to be some editing slips, and the pacing in the second half is somewhat off compared to the slow march of the first half.
October 5, 2011
This book is a bit more serious that "Red Sails in the Fallout", as well as being more "real" (with regular animals such as deer and rabbits everywhere, very little mention of alpha mutations, more current age weapons and equipment, etc.). I didn't like it as much as Red Sails, but it was still a very fun read and I hope we get more Gamma World novels in the near future; if they can keep them coming like this Gamma World will soon be my favorite Wizards/TSR novel setting.
May 29, 2012
Took me a bit to get into but once I did I enjoyed it well enough. Being an old school Gamma World fan, I'm not sure what I think of the world they created for this edition but it is fun to read a Gamma World story for a change. Worth reading if you like sci-fantasy.
February 26, 2015
It was a fun little action-adventure yarn, heavier on the action than the adventure compared the other Gamma World novel. Decent characters, ok plot, things wrapped up a little quickly but on the whole I enjoyed it.
August 29, 2011
Fairly decent story set in my favorite role-playing universe. Mutated buffalo men, what else do you need?
March 15, 2011
Sooner Dead by Mel Odom
Sooner Dead is the first book in the newly released Gamma World line of novels. Sooner Dead is also a stand-alone novel, meaning you shouldn't need any prior knowledge of Gamma World to understand it. Gamma World is a setting of Dungeons and Dragons, set in a post-apocalyptic version of the world we currently live in. Mel Odom has written a vast number of novels. He wrote three books in the Time Police series with Warran C. Norwood (Trapped!, Stranded!, and Refugee), a Young Hercules novel titled Young Hercules, the Rover series (The Rover, The Destruction of the Books, Lord of the Libraries, and The Quest for the Trilogy), a Might and Magic novel titled The Sea of Mists, the Left Behind: Apocalypse series (Apocalypse Dawn, Crucible, Apocalypse Burning, and Apocalypse Unleashed), the Hunter's League series (Hunter's League, The Mystery Unravels, The Secret Explodes, and His Legacy Avenged co-written with Dave Seeley), three NCIS novels (Paid in Blood, Blood Evidence, and Blood Lines), the Quest for the Trilogy trilogy (Boneslicer, Seaspray, and Deathwhisper), the Lost Souls series co-written by Jordon Weisman (Burning Sky and Dead Lands), Lethal Interface, Omega Blue, Stalker Analog, Omega Score, F.R.E.E.Lancers, F.R.E.E.Fall, movie novelizations and tie-ins (Blade, Snow Day, 102 Dalmatians, La Femme Nikita, Vertical Limit, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and XXX), a few Sabrina the Teenage Witch novels (Know It All, Harvest Moon, I'll Zap Manhattan co-written with Nell Scovella, Mummy Dearest, Pirate Pandemonium, Dream Boat, Tiger Tale, Off to See the Wizard, and Sabrina Goes to Rome), Roswell novel titled Shades, Hunters of the Dark Sea, The Colossus of Mahrass: A Jaelik Tarlsson Voyage, a Secret World of Alex Mack novel titled In Hot Pursuit!, three Shadowrun novels (Preying for Keeps, Headhunters, and Run Hard, Die Fast), a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels (Unnatural Selection, Crossings, and Revenant), three Angel novels (Redemption, Bruja, and Image), a Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel novel titled Cursed, a Journey of Allen Strange novel titled Legacy, two Battletech: MechWarrior novels co-written with Blaine Lee Pardoe (Roar of Honor and By Blood Betrayed), three Net Force Explorers novels co-written with Tom Clancy (Shadow of Honor, Gameprey, and High Wire), a Diablo novel titled The Black Road, and a Without a Trace novel titled Personal Foul. He also has extensive work within the Forgotten Realms novel line with writing a book in the Lost Empires series titled The Lost Library of Cormanthyr, the Threat From the Sea trilogy (Rising Tide, Under the Fallen Stars, and Sea Devil's Eye), a novel in The Cities series titled The Jewel of Turmish, and a novel in The Wilds series titled Wrath of the Blue Lady. He has also written a vast amount of novels under the pen names of Don Pendleton and James Axler, as well as writing a number of short stories to various anthologies. Sooner Dead was released in February 2011 and was published by Wizards of the Coast LLC.
In the wilds of Oklahoma, a group of scientists are traveling through the stretch of land called the Redblight. The group hired two guides, the human woman Hella and a bisonoid, humanoid bison, named Stampede, to help in their travels. The guides have no idea what the scientists are after and the scientists, along with their security team, have no idea what they are in for.
Criticisms:
1) Cliffhanging Chapters. The biggest problem with Sooner Dead is the cliffhanging chapter endings. This is a huge pet peeve I have when reading anything. I do not see the point of having every chapter end with “And this happened”, only to be told exactly what happened a page later. It quickly loses the intended impact that ending on a cliffhanger is supposed to have. It wouldn't have been an issue if the cliffhanger had the reader wondering what is going to happen for a few pages. But one page? One page is almost worthless. There isn't any sense of suspense or wonder that can be developed within a quick page turn. It doesn't help that we only follow the story through Hella's perspective so the reader knows that what ever happens, she'll most likely be okay. This issue really took away some of the impact that these scenes were supposed to have.
2) Story. The plot for Sooner Dead is very simple, straightforward, and mediocre. The basic premise of the novel is the journey the group takes through post-apocalyptic Oklahoma. That's the story in a nutshell. There were almost no real side-stories. The side-stories that are included never really seemed to amount to much. So we just have the main plot to keep our interest, but with such a simple plot, it's a hard thing to do. However, for such a simple story, there sure are a lot of plot twists. I didn't expect that. Unfortunately, the twists weren't very good and seemed like they were half-baked ideas that just never fully develop. It doesn't help that the plot twists are totally random. It seemed like when they happened, they just suddenly happened with almost no build-up to them happening. I do understand that this random aspect is what one of the basic premises behind Gamma World, but it doesn't make for an interesting plot. These things need some sort of build up to get the reader wondering that is going to happen. Instead Sooner Dead gives us things that happen out of thin air.
3) Ending. The ending for Sooner Dead came off as overly silly and sappy. This isn't a huge issue, but it didn't fit well with the gritty, serious tone of the story. I won't spoil it, but after reading a story that was mostly dark in tone, the ending was a shade too light. It's comparable to having rainbows and puppy dogs for the last moments of your terror driven night in a graveyard. The ending just didn't fit well with the tone that the rest of the story had and it was distracting.
Praises:
1) Pacing. Sooner Dead was a surprisingly fast paced read. The cliffhanging chapters did help in creating this frantic pace, but there were other factors as well. The story is mostly action-packed. There are countless gunfights, battles, explosions, and every kind of action there could be. Almost every page was filled to the brim with action. This did make a lot of scenes incredibly exciting, which made me tear through those parts fast. With so much action jammed into Sooner Dead, it would be shocking if you couldn't get through it quick.
2) Hella. I liked the idea of Hella, even though she needed more development. Hella is an experienced scout with a lot of qualities that most young ladies have. This made her slightly interesting right off the bat. How can a young woman live such a harsh and unforgiving life, but remain kind and still have a shred of innocence about her? There is also her mutation, which is really cool. Hella has the ability to transform her hands into guns, through the use of nanobots. That was really cool and made me start to show some interest in her character. Then throughout the novel, there are bits and pieces of her personality that show up that really add to her character as well. There isn't quite enough to really keep my interest, but it was stirring and made me want to know more about her.
Side Notes:
1) Title. Is the title a subtle reference to the Oklahoma Sooners or am I just seeing things that aren't there?
2) Gamma World. Gamma World seems like a very interesting and random place. I just thought that Sooner Dead would have had more humor like I heard that Gamma World is supposed to have.
3) Cover Art. There is one word that perfectly describes the artwork for Sooner Dead and that's action. There is so much going on that you can't help but become excited. You have Hella riding atop of Daisy, what she is riding, blasting away at a group of bikers while Stampede looks ready to smash them with a pole. It's an exciting cover with a lot of color. It really does its job in drawing in your eyes and piquing your interest.
Overall: 2/5
Final Thoughts:
I have to say that I am disappointed with Sooner Dead. I was really anticipating something more from this story as soon as I heard about it. What I got was a simple story with a lot of problems. One of my biggest pet peeves that an author can do is make every chapter end in a cliffhanger, only to pick the story right back up the very next page. It doesn't make you wonder what is going to happen when the answer is just a quick page turn away. There is no excitement to be gained from this. This could have been prevented if there was another perspective used instead of just Hella's. I could have overlooked that if it wasn't for the story being extremely simple. There is just one story to follow here, just one. There is no complexity, which Sooner Dead really seemed to need. The plot twists felt random and not fully developed or realized. It just made for a simple, single-minded story with a cheesy and sappy ending that went against the tone of everything up until that point. However, if you like action heavy novels, this is for you. The novel did read surprisingly fast, which can be expected from an action heavy book. Hella was a good idea that just needed more time to develop. But at least Hella had something going for her, which is more than can be said about any other character could claim. The rest of characters felt wooden, under-developed, and switched their motivations within a paragraph. Overall, I don't think I could recommend Sooner Dead to anyone who isn't a fan of brainless action.
Sooner Dead is the first book in the newly released Gamma World line of novels. Sooner Dead is also a stand-alone novel, meaning you shouldn't need any prior knowledge of Gamma World to understand it. Gamma World is a setting of Dungeons and Dragons, set in a post-apocalyptic version of the world we currently live in. Mel Odom has written a vast number of novels. He wrote three books in the Time Police series with Warran C. Norwood (Trapped!, Stranded!, and Refugee), a Young Hercules novel titled Young Hercules, the Rover series (The Rover, The Destruction of the Books, Lord of the Libraries, and The Quest for the Trilogy), a Might and Magic novel titled The Sea of Mists, the Left Behind: Apocalypse series (Apocalypse Dawn, Crucible, Apocalypse Burning, and Apocalypse Unleashed), the Hunter's League series (Hunter's League, The Mystery Unravels, The Secret Explodes, and His Legacy Avenged co-written with Dave Seeley), three NCIS novels (Paid in Blood, Blood Evidence, and Blood Lines), the Quest for the Trilogy trilogy (Boneslicer, Seaspray, and Deathwhisper), the Lost Souls series co-written by Jordon Weisman (Burning Sky and Dead Lands), Lethal Interface, Omega Blue, Stalker Analog, Omega Score, F.R.E.E.Lancers, F.R.E.E.Fall, movie novelizations and tie-ins (Blade, Snow Day, 102 Dalmatians, La Femme Nikita, Vertical Limit, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, and XXX), a few Sabrina the Teenage Witch novels (Know It All, Harvest Moon, I'll Zap Manhattan co-written with Nell Scovella, Mummy Dearest, Pirate Pandemonium, Dream Boat, Tiger Tale, Off to See the Wizard, and Sabrina Goes to Rome), Roswell novel titled Shades, Hunters of the Dark Sea, The Colossus of Mahrass: A Jaelik Tarlsson Voyage, a Secret World of Alex Mack novel titled In Hot Pursuit!, three Shadowrun novels (Preying for Keeps, Headhunters, and Run Hard, Die Fast), a few Buffy the Vampire Slayer novels (Unnatural Selection, Crossings, and Revenant), three Angel novels (Redemption, Bruja, and Image), a Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel novel titled Cursed, a Journey of Allen Strange novel titled Legacy, two Battletech: MechWarrior novels co-written with Blaine Lee Pardoe (Roar of Honor and By Blood Betrayed), three Net Force Explorers novels co-written with Tom Clancy (Shadow of Honor, Gameprey, and High Wire), a Diablo novel titled The Black Road, and a Without a Trace novel titled Personal Foul. He also has extensive work within the Forgotten Realms novel line with writing a book in the Lost Empires series titled The Lost Library of Cormanthyr, the Threat From the Sea trilogy (Rising Tide, Under the Fallen Stars, and Sea Devil's Eye), a novel in The Cities series titled The Jewel of Turmish, and a novel in The Wilds series titled Wrath of the Blue Lady. He has also written a vast amount of novels under the pen names of Don Pendleton and James Axler, as well as writing a number of short stories to various anthologies. Sooner Dead was released in February 2011 and was published by Wizards of the Coast LLC.
In the wilds of Oklahoma, a group of scientists are traveling through the stretch of land called the Redblight. The group hired two guides, the human woman Hella and a bisonoid, humanoid bison, named Stampede, to help in their travels. The guides have no idea what the scientists are after and the scientists, along with their security team, have no idea what they are in for.
Criticisms:
1) Cliffhanging Chapters. The biggest problem with Sooner Dead is the cliffhanging chapter endings. This is a huge pet peeve I have when reading anything. I do not see the point of having every chapter end with “And this happened”, only to be told exactly what happened a page later. It quickly loses the intended impact that ending on a cliffhanger is supposed to have. It wouldn't have been an issue if the cliffhanger had the reader wondering what is going to happen for a few pages. But one page? One page is almost worthless. There isn't any sense of suspense or wonder that can be developed within a quick page turn. It doesn't help that we only follow the story through Hella's perspective so the reader knows that what ever happens, she'll most likely be okay. This issue really took away some of the impact that these scenes were supposed to have.
2) Story. The plot for Sooner Dead is very simple, straightforward, and mediocre. The basic premise of the novel is the journey the group takes through post-apocalyptic Oklahoma. That's the story in a nutshell. There were almost no real side-stories. The side-stories that are included never really seemed to amount to much. So we just have the main plot to keep our interest, but with such a simple plot, it's a hard thing to do. However, for such a simple story, there sure are a lot of plot twists. I didn't expect that. Unfortunately, the twists weren't very good and seemed like they were half-baked ideas that just never fully develop. It doesn't help that the plot twists are totally random. It seemed like when they happened, they just suddenly happened with almost no build-up to them happening. I do understand that this random aspect is what one of the basic premises behind Gamma World, but it doesn't make for an interesting plot. These things need some sort of build up to get the reader wondering that is going to happen. Instead Sooner Dead gives us things that happen out of thin air.
3) Ending. The ending for Sooner Dead came off as overly silly and sappy. This isn't a huge issue, but it didn't fit well with the gritty, serious tone of the story. I won't spoil it, but after reading a story that was mostly dark in tone, the ending was a shade too light. It's comparable to having rainbows and puppy dogs for the last moments of your terror driven night in a graveyard. The ending just didn't fit well with the tone that the rest of the story had and it was distracting.
Praises:
1) Pacing. Sooner Dead was a surprisingly fast paced read. The cliffhanging chapters did help in creating this frantic pace, but there were other factors as well. The story is mostly action-packed. There are countless gunfights, battles, explosions, and every kind of action there could be. Almost every page was filled to the brim with action. This did make a lot of scenes incredibly exciting, which made me tear through those parts fast. With so much action jammed into Sooner Dead, it would be shocking if you couldn't get through it quick.
2) Hella. I liked the idea of Hella, even though she needed more development. Hella is an experienced scout with a lot of qualities that most young ladies have. This made her slightly interesting right off the bat. How can a young woman live such a harsh and unforgiving life, but remain kind and still have a shred of innocence about her? There is also her mutation, which is really cool. Hella has the ability to transform her hands into guns, through the use of nanobots. That was really cool and made me start to show some interest in her character. Then throughout the novel, there are bits and pieces of her personality that show up that really add to her character as well. There isn't quite enough to really keep my interest, but it was stirring and made me want to know more about her.
Side Notes:
1) Title. Is the title a subtle reference to the Oklahoma Sooners or am I just seeing things that aren't there?
2) Gamma World. Gamma World seems like a very interesting and random place. I just thought that Sooner Dead would have had more humor like I heard that Gamma World is supposed to have.
3) Cover Art. There is one word that perfectly describes the artwork for Sooner Dead and that's action. There is so much going on that you can't help but become excited. You have Hella riding atop of Daisy, what she is riding, blasting away at a group of bikers while Stampede looks ready to smash them with a pole. It's an exciting cover with a lot of color. It really does its job in drawing in your eyes and piquing your interest.
Overall: 2/5
Final Thoughts:
I have to say that I am disappointed with Sooner Dead. I was really anticipating something more from this story as soon as I heard about it. What I got was a simple story with a lot of problems. One of my biggest pet peeves that an author can do is make every chapter end in a cliffhanger, only to pick the story right back up the very next page. It doesn't make you wonder what is going to happen when the answer is just a quick page turn away. There is no excitement to be gained from this. This could have been prevented if there was another perspective used instead of just Hella's. I could have overlooked that if it wasn't for the story being extremely simple. There is just one story to follow here, just one. There is no complexity, which Sooner Dead really seemed to need. The plot twists felt random and not fully developed or realized. It just made for a simple, single-minded story with a cheesy and sappy ending that went against the tone of everything up until that point. However, if you like action heavy novels, this is for you. The novel did read surprisingly fast, which can be expected from an action heavy book. Hella was a good idea that just needed more time to develop. But at least Hella had something going for her, which is more than can be said about any other character could claim. The rest of characters felt wooden, under-developed, and switched their motivations within a paragraph. Overall, I don't think I could recommend Sooner Dead to anyone who isn't a fan of brainless action.
August 6, 2018
When I was in college I was the kid who wanted to play Shadowrun and Gamma World while everybody else wanted to play D&D or Vampire: The Masquerade. So as a result, I read all of the role playing books I could without ever actually playing an adventure (and instead just going with the flow when it came to pencil & paper rpgs). Later on I would find that there would be an incredible wealth of Shadowrun books, most of which I have read. However, Gamma World novels were few and far between.
About six months ago, I found this book at a local Half Price Books and grabbed it. Later on, I would grab the other book in the series through also Half Price Books (but through their site). As I come to find out that's it. Two novels for such a rich world of adventure. I guess I better enjoy what I can so I started reading this one a little less than a month ago.
Sooner Dead is something of an introduction to Gamma World in its 7th edition (released in 2010). An edition that basically became an expansion to the AD&D father that had bore it back in 1978. I had picked it up when the 4th edition was running and gunning and that was the last time they really tried to make it its own child.
In this story, we have a human named Hella who can use nanobots to make her arms and hands into guns and then a bisonoid (a buffalo humanoid) named Stampede who serves as the muscle of the group. Daisy would be the dinosaur/lizard that Hella rides across and also helps out in fighting.
They are playing escorts as they trek with a group across the Oklahoma (gamma) landscape. The group is lead by a man named Pardot who has a mysterious daughter named Colleen who has a certain affinity to ripples. Ripples basically are rips in the space time continuum where often bad things escape from them.
The story goes from there. While it is an interesting story and well put together (but Mel Odom often does this in all of his stories), it suffers from a fate of being too safe. Too safe in that outside of the two main characters and a couple of side creatures that show up later in the novel that it doesn't really feel like its own child. One could make it a Shadowrun story fairly quickly or an even better reference, a Borderlands book (of which there are several) in the blink of an eye. And nobody would know the difference. It wouldn't be unique, it wouldn't be breaking any lines or distinguishing itself from other post-apocalyptic stories.
The other issue would be that one never feels that Hella and Stampede are really in any danger. Any danger is absorbed by others and meanwhile Hella and Stampede (along with Daisy) run through all opposition fairly easily. Hella grows a little I suppose in her character arc but it's very minor.
With that said, I do like the book, a lot because it is a world that is very familiar to me. It feels like home, and I would welcome a sequel but unfortunately that will never see the light of day. So, for fans of Gamma World, take a gander, spend a weekend (or two) reading this one and you'll probably enjoy it. Mildly recommended.
About six months ago, I found this book at a local Half Price Books and grabbed it. Later on, I would grab the other book in the series through also Half Price Books (but through their site). As I come to find out that's it. Two novels for such a rich world of adventure. I guess I better enjoy what I can so I started reading this one a little less than a month ago.
Sooner Dead is something of an introduction to Gamma World in its 7th edition (released in 2010). An edition that basically became an expansion to the AD&D father that had bore it back in 1978. I had picked it up when the 4th edition was running and gunning and that was the last time they really tried to make it its own child.
In this story, we have a human named Hella who can use nanobots to make her arms and hands into guns and then a bisonoid (a buffalo humanoid) named Stampede who serves as the muscle of the group. Daisy would be the dinosaur/lizard that Hella rides across and also helps out in fighting.
They are playing escorts as they trek with a group across the Oklahoma (gamma) landscape. The group is lead by a man named Pardot who has a mysterious daughter named Colleen who has a certain affinity to ripples. Ripples basically are rips in the space time continuum where often bad things escape from them.
The story goes from there. While it is an interesting story and well put together (but Mel Odom often does this in all of his stories), it suffers from a fate of being too safe. Too safe in that outside of the two main characters and a couple of side creatures that show up later in the novel that it doesn't really feel like its own child. One could make it a Shadowrun story fairly quickly or an even better reference, a Borderlands book (of which there are several) in the blink of an eye. And nobody would know the difference. It wouldn't be unique, it wouldn't be breaking any lines or distinguishing itself from other post-apocalyptic stories.
The other issue would be that one never feels that Hella and Stampede are really in any danger. Any danger is absorbed by others and meanwhile Hella and Stampede (along with Daisy) run through all opposition fairly easily. Hella grows a little I suppose in her character arc but it's very minor.
With that said, I do like the book, a lot because it is a world that is very familiar to me. It feels like home, and I would welcome a sequel but unfortunately that will never see the light of day. So, for fans of Gamma World, take a gander, spend a weekend (or two) reading this one and you'll probably enjoy it. Mildly recommended.
January 16, 2012
After slogging through Stephen King's 11/22/63 (starts strong, ends weak), I was in the mood for something a little lighter. I wanted crazy mutants, radiated landscapes, and lots of action. Not as guns and ammo as Deathlands, but more like Gamma World in a book, and after some looking around, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there are in fact a couple of Gamma World novels, both published just this year.
So I bought them both and just finished the first one, Sooner Dead by Mel Odom, and it turns out it was exactly what I was looking for.
Now it's been a long time since I cracked open a Gamma World rule book, so I forget what the mythology said about the cause of the apocalypse, but in these books it was a mishap with the Large Hadron Collider. It tore apart the world, and opened ripples, gateways to other worlds and dimensions, bringing all manner of strange creatures into ours.
Having the plot device of rampant inter-dimensional wormholes means that you can introduce basically anything you want into your story, and Mr Odom certainly took advantage of that. This book has human-animal hybrids, cyborgs, nanobot-enhanced humans, alien creatures, and more kinds of psionic abilities than I could count, all set in what 200 years before was known as Oklahoma.
The story follows Hella, a bio-engineered young woman with a mysterious past, and her bisonoid companion, Stampede, as they serve as guides for a group hunting for a lost object in the ruinous wastes of the American southwest. It's a fast-paced adventure chock full of gun fights, raiders, mutant creatures, mystery, loyalty, and betrayal.
I really enjoyed it, and if there's ever a sequel following the same characters, I'd be sure to pick it up.
Overall, I can definitely recommend it, at least if you're the right mood for it.
So I bought them both and just finished the first one, Sooner Dead by Mel Odom, and it turns out it was exactly what I was looking for.
Now it's been a long time since I cracked open a Gamma World rule book, so I forget what the mythology said about the cause of the apocalypse, but in these books it was a mishap with the Large Hadron Collider. It tore apart the world, and opened ripples, gateways to other worlds and dimensions, bringing all manner of strange creatures into ours.
Having the plot device of rampant inter-dimensional wormholes means that you can introduce basically anything you want into your story, and Mr Odom certainly took advantage of that. This book has human-animal hybrids, cyborgs, nanobot-enhanced humans, alien creatures, and more kinds of psionic abilities than I could count, all set in what 200 years before was known as Oklahoma.
The story follows Hella, a bio-engineered young woman with a mysterious past, and her bisonoid companion, Stampede, as they serve as guides for a group hunting for a lost object in the ruinous wastes of the American southwest. It's a fast-paced adventure chock full of gun fights, raiders, mutant creatures, mystery, loyalty, and betrayal.
I really enjoyed it, and if there's ever a sequel following the same characters, I'd be sure to pick it up.
Overall, I can definitely recommend it, at least if you're the right mood for it.
January 13, 2017
Adventure in the wild rollicking post-apocalyptic Gamma World. This is the old-school post-apocalypse, where radiation mutates everything into creatures with amazing powers, not the modern apocalypse where everything is grim and dark. Enter Hella and Stampede, here mutated Buffalo friend. They're guides and guards, and are hired to escort some scientists from a secluded city into the wilderness. There's a lot of tension between the pure blooded human scientists and their retinue, and their rough and tumble guides who actually know how to survive, but Hella's internal nanites which can transform her arms into any firearm, and Stampede's experience and sheet brute force prove them capable guides.
Along the way to their mysterious destination, there's danger from external threats of mutant animals, as well as dangerous mutant armadillo motorcycle gangs, but the biggest threat is from within and the secret motives the scientists have. As Hella and Stampede get drawn deeper into their mission, they need to decide how to make the right choices to save the world as they know it, their reputation as guides, and themselves.
Overall, while Odom does a decent job weaving an engaging story, the new version of Gamma World is not as exciting as the old school pen and paper RPG original version. I much preferred when it was a future version of Earth with sci-fi tech which nuked itself into a primitive world with crazy super-hero like mutant powers. Shifting the explanation to intradimensional beings causing most of the strangness doesn't seem as fun.
Along the way to their mysterious destination, there's danger from external threats of mutant animals, as well as dangerous mutant armadillo motorcycle gangs, but the biggest threat is from within and the secret motives the scientists have. As Hella and Stampede get drawn deeper into their mission, they need to decide how to make the right choices to save the world as they know it, their reputation as guides, and themselves.
Overall, while Odom does a decent job weaving an engaging story, the new version of Gamma World is not as exciting as the old school pen and paper RPG original version. I much preferred when it was a future version of Earth with sci-fi tech which nuked itself into a primitive world with crazy super-hero like mutant powers. Shifting the explanation to intradimensional beings causing most of the strangness doesn't seem as fun.
May 3, 2019
Mel always tells s good story, and I played GW a bit back in the day. This was a good story set in that world.
January 5, 2014
Great book. Wish the new version of Gamma World would have appealed to others. I really like what the author did with the book. Some really great ideas. Really liked the 2 main characters, and I really would have enjoyed reading more if it had continued.
February 28, 2011
A good start to what will hopefully be an ongoing series of Gamma World books. An enjoyable guilty pleasure of a read.
September 20, 2013
Only interesting in sections, the level of prose is fairly low and the story, disjointed and lacking continuity. The death of Pardot, pagan, violent and unnecessary. I cannot recommend this book.
July 2, 2019
Odom seems to have fans and detractors who feel strongly about his work. I knew nothing about him when I picked this up (not long after reading the first Gamma World novel, Red Sails in the Fallout) so his Left Behind sequels (!) didn't factor into my evaluation.
It's good as far as it goes--Odom isn't much for insight or elaborate descriptions, much less anything poetic. But it's a fun story with some interesting characters and action. The story meanders from set-piece to set-piece, and doesn't really explore the world as much as I'd hoped it would (lots of animals encountered are just animals, and because they're food.)
Still, there's a big bison-dude, a woman with nanobot guns for arms, a giant lizard to ride, biker gangs of armadillos, the Silver Surfer minus his surfboard, and bad dirigible pilots. So there's fun to be had.
My issues with it were discrepancies between the way Odom's Gamma World works and the world of Red Sails, but I guess, like the game, different game masters present different worlds. I'm also mildly annoyed by literal deus ex machinas, who are equipped to solve every problem because, well, because they are.
It's good as far as it goes--Odom isn't much for insight or elaborate descriptions, much less anything poetic. But it's a fun story with some interesting characters and action. The story meanders from set-piece to set-piece, and doesn't really explore the world as much as I'd hoped it would (lots of animals encountered are just animals, and because they're food.)
Still, there's a big bison-dude, a woman with nanobot guns for arms, a giant lizard to ride, biker gangs of armadillos, the Silver Surfer minus his surfboard, and bad dirigible pilots. So there's fun to be had.
My issues with it were discrepancies between the way Odom's Gamma World works and the world of Red Sails, but I guess, like the game, different game masters present different worlds. I'm also mildly annoyed by literal deus ex machinas, who are equipped to solve every problem because, well, because they are.
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