Shadow Fortress

This was one of the best individual Deathlands novels that has some out in quite some time. It had great action and the last half of the book was so exciting I could barely put it down. One of the best and most touching parts was a tribute to Laurence James...very nicely done. I recommend this one highly! Thanks.

This 3rd and last of the SKYDARK CHRONICLES was a fun and exciting read in and of itself, but as a continuation to a storyline that was supposed to have a certain subplot, it was not there. Nick Polatta, this is probably your best well written novel yet in this series, the problem lies in this supposed trilogy that is supposed to take you somewhere pertaining to the trilogy name its named after - it takes you nowhere there! BUT, on the other hand, as a stand alone story, it was a great action/adventure story with some of the best action written sequences and situations. The thing I miss is how in the old Deathlands novels that arms and ammunition was very hard to find - where recently they abound seemingly everywhere and in abundance! That was what made Deathlands work - the hard struggle to survive the new dark ages and find that old pre-dark stuff. Also what happened to the sex in these new books? Ryan and Krysty dont seem as close as they were back in the days when the original author Laurence James wrote of the closeness of his characters. The ending in this trilogy seemed rushed in tying things together and the bad guys that were built-up in the first two seemed to be just brushed away and almost forgotton. But don't get me wrong, the novel just by itself without being a continuation, was a good reading chapter in this post-apopcalyptic saga series that is still some of the best - if not THE BEST - in action adventure/sci-fi today!