Battle for the Wastelands by Matthew W. QuinnMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This is a 3-star review which is a good estimate of my experience.
In a post-apocalyptic world, two opposing forces fight for dominance. One is an outright dictatorship that uses a variety of factions including one made up of cannibals and one that breeds genetic monsters.
The other is made up of people who seem to just want to be left alone. They are led by the remnants of a family, the Merrills. This side seems to be still a sort of monarchy rather than any sort of reconstituted democracy.
The common folks have to kneel to someone. Or so it seems.
The story is presented in a workmanlike fashion. Good spelling and grammar. Decent if somewhat pedestrian characters and plotting.
Several unexplained elements. It is inferred that the genetic monsters are related to some sort of nuclear radioactive location. There also seem to be several species of dinosaurs in the story - again, no explanation. And the cannibals are following some sort of "religion" for which there are no details.
I was reminded of the TV character Radar from MASH. In one episode, Radar begins correspondence courses to learn to write like Hemmingway and some other, allegedly, notable authors. In this case, it was Ethel Hemmingway.
The prose in this book similarly runs into the purple range.
Also, the guts of many characters clench on a regular basis. They must all have 6-pack abs.
Not a bad story, but I won't be continuing anything new in this series.
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