sdlotu
9/30/2023
A nicely crafted story, a well-thought out and evoked world, with some jarring moments that cause the reader and story to stumble.
The ususal synopsis gives enough of the story to entice the reader. Too much detail, particularly of the lasst thrd of the book, would spoil it for the reader.
Suffice to say the main character and some of the supporting characters are finely drawn, and the story moves in a more or less regular way through several diffcult adventures to the final climax and denoument.
Unfortunately, the jarring aspects are difficult to overlook, and seen gratuituous since in almost every case, they are irrelevant and unnecessary. The one that struck me the most was when the protagonist was being towed along by a small boat, he discovers that the engine is internal combustion, and is presumably running on diesel or gasoline.
Understand that this is a post-apocolyptic world, LA specifically, where roads are mostly memories, houses built in the classic ramshackle fashion of post-apoc settlements. Yet at the same time, there is nearby a place that can pump, refine, store and dsitribute fuel for IC engines, and this is completely unknown to the rest of the world.
Perhaps there is a reason for this, but it is simply glossed over in passing and never has any reason or meaning to the story. And this is not the only still extant technology which is poorly explained or justified. These appear regularly throughout the work, though to what purpose is an enduring mystery.
The reader is advised not to think too much about the world the writer builds with these anachronisms and instead focus on the plot and characters. The story is quite rewarding with this suspension of disbelief.