After an apocalyptic war, one of the worst men does one of the best things for all the wrong reasons - mostly. Hell Tanner, the hero, is not a good man. He's strong, cunning & has just the right talents for the mission, but he's also a thief, murderer, rapist & convict. Only desperate circumstances force society give him a second chance & he leverages that for all its worth. Zelazny gives this anti-hero a heroic mission to perform. The book is action packed from start to finish, occasionally surprising, in a weird, ravaged version of our modern society. It's not my favorite work of his, but it is entertaining & much better than the movie based on the book. The movie starred Jan Michael Vincent & George Peppard back in the early 70's. It too was entertaining, but definitely grade B. ( )

Somewhat silly premise, full of action. Biker honcho must run vaccine from LA to NYC with boulders raining from the sky and mutant fauna.

Cast: Hell's Angels, Squares
Timeframe: ongoing catastrophe/recovery
Mary Sue: Biker wanna-bes ( )

I consider myself a Zelazny fan, but this strikes me as one of his weaker efforts. I suppose it may have been groundbreaking in its day, but this is a story which has been told much more effectively since. The protagonist is unconvincing; the post-apocalyptic world is neither plausible nor particularly scary; the plotting is trite (most especially the Cornelia storyline). This feels like a made-to-order cheesy b-movie concept--try something else by Zelazny instead. ( )

This is an action movie in literary form. A fast moving tank of a novel, this one really beats the hell out of the reader. Recommended for those who don't care much for the subtlties of pure survival. This one comes at you full throttle.

A post-apocalyptic action story. A criminal is given the standard two choices, really bad things now, or very very possible really bad things later, and, of course, takes the later.

The later in this case is a trip across the country to deliver vital medical supplies. He has a few more problems than the standard cracked by snow and ice cheapish US highways though. In this world, they don't call it Damnation Alley for nothing.

http://notfreesf.blogspot.com/2006/11... ( )