Cannibal Moon

I'll say it right off the bat: Cannibal Moon is without a doubt the best Deathlands title I have read in years. In fact, it is in my opinion one of the best of the entire series. Right off the bat the book avoids the trap that so many past books in the series fall into. You know the tired old setup - the companions jump into a new redoubt, often with a jump nightmare sequence, explore the redoubt, maybe fight a few squatters or animal invaders, wander away from the redoubt to find the nearest ville, and then get trapped in the evil schemes of the local Baron. It usually takes a third of the book just to get to the main conflict of the story, and that conflict is usually xeroxed from a dozen previous books in the series. Not so with Cannibal Moon. The first smart thing the author does is starts right in the middle of the action, setting up Mildred to be captured by a group of Cannies while defending a small ville. Within the first few pages Mildred is infected by the virus that causes the oozies and turns the victim into a cannibal. Hot on the heels of that happening, the companions learn about the Cannibal Queen who threatens to overrun all of the Deathlands with her rapidly growing Cannie army. The companions are faced with traveling into the very heart of enemy territory against hopeless odds in order to save their friend and to put an end to the Cannie threat. All of that setup happens in the first few pages, and the story quite literally crackles with action from that point forward. The author fills in important back story along the way, but doesn't spoon-feed it to the reader. It would be easy to miss little details, like the fact that it takes the companions several jumps before they reach a redoubt close enough to their destination to set out on foot. None of those jumps are explicitly depicted, but instead are referred to quickly in passing. If it doesn't have a direct bearing on propelling the story forward, the book doesn't waste ink on it. The end result is a tight, gripping adventure with nary a moment to catch your breath along the way. After so many years of decline with only a few bright spots along the way, I really hope this book was a sign of things to come. There are several more books in the pipeline from this author, and I look forward to them all.

This is one of the best in the Deathlands series I've read.. I had a hard time putting the book down. Lots of action! Looking forward to the next book comming in June.

Cannibal Moon would be awesome as a Romero or Rodriquez horror flick. Check it out for yourself: there's a sample of the beginning of this book up on AP's website, [...]. It's a race against time into the jaws (literally) of death. Buckets of gore and even yuckier stuff. Lots of once-human monsters to fight. A worse fate than death if the heroes fail. And a trademark Al Philipson twisted ending. I usually wouldn't write a review because the book speaks for itself but the complaint in the first review herein misses the entire point of the Deathlands books. They aren't Hallmark greeting cards or Dr. Phil. They have never been about the companions wringing their hands or making goo-goo eyes at each other. They are about surviving at all costs against bad odds, making hard moral choices, and living with the consequences. That's why they call it "Deathlands" instead of "Lovelands". What Deathlands does at its best is offer up a ripping, can't put it down action read like Cannibal Moon. If anyone is reading this genre for "deep characterization," or if they're reading this genre and hate fight scenes, they need to get a life. Philipson is way too funny and talented to be ghost-writing on a house-owned series like this forever. I'm looking forward to when he comes out with something of his own and soon-it will be a knockout.

In the latest Deathlands novel, James Axler,(aka Alan Philipson in this particular volume), creates a whole new scenario never before seen in a Deathlands novel before. Along with what is probably the most accurate cover artist design yet by this new artist, (who still can't seem to see the picture perfect Ryan Cawdor design by the much missed Michael Herring), Alan Philipson throws the reader right into the exciting mix of action/adventure in the first chapter that Deathlands fans are known to expect. It is truly a great start. Philipson starts not with the companions awakening from a new jump, but instead starts with Ryan and the companions fighting off a large, heavily-armed cannibals who are overrunning a ramshackle ville, stealing children for future meals. Mildred starts out Chapter 1 as a lone pursuing rescuer of the captured children being carried away into the foothills of the dark mountain caves of the cannibals. Mildred battles a group of cannibals inside a den of sin, but only manages to get captured herself. When she awakens to find herself a captive of the cannies, she realizes that these cannies are capable of force her to eat their dead, thus infusing her with a verile virus plague that Mildred has learned can be spread by the eating of the infected flesh, or the drinking of blood. Having been force-fed human flesh by her cannie captors, Mildred finds herself horrifically infected to become a cannie, creating a deep craving for human flesh. Mildred is forced to make a secret pact with Ryan to chill her if this happens. Mildred and the companions then find out about a possible cure from a cannie prisoner, learning of a freezie woman who has become Queen of the Cannies back in Jak Lauren's homeland in the bajous of Louisiana. Alan Philipson does a splendid job here of creating one of the darkest chapters in the ever-growing Deathlands saga. And he does a pretty good job of keeping the main Deathlands character 'in character'. Especially that of Mildred and Doc Tanner. There are some very interesting tidbits of these two characters during some interesting discourse between them and Ryan. But also, therin lies the rub of the problem in this new Deathlands adventure. Philipson starts out solid enough, but fails to show the deep affection that J. B. Dix has for his woman, Mildred. Even though I'm an action/adventure junkie, I personally thought this novel would have shined more with a bit more drama and less action. The long-time readers and diehard fans like me would much more prefer a dramatic showing of the companions battling their inner fears of one of their own being possibly infected with something as verile as a cannie plague. The love and caring between J. B. and Mildred is not present here, and Jak becomes much too cold towards his friends here. That should have been reverse. The readers must be engrossed with the main characters' inner feelings and deep caring for one another. Just being 'tough' and/or a chilling mac