Several years ago, I got to go to a signing event for this book and meet the author Robert Evans. Evan's worldview, reporting, and various podcasts have done a huge part in shaping who I am politically. At this event, it was mostly about the book, which I had yet to read, and now that I have read it, I'd love to hear Evans' thoughts on it again.

Onto the book itself, it's really good, but a couple of things hold it back from being great. What I liked first, though. All three main characters have interesting stories and perspectives to share on the divided ruins of the United States. Manny is just trying to get the hell out of this place before the main antagonists, the theocratic Heavenly Kingdom, invade. Roland is an ex-soldier and all kinds of fucked up with cyborg modifications out the ass, his main goal is to be wasted as all hell. Sasha is a young woman suckered in to joining the Heavenly Kingdom only to discover its a fucking nightmare.

This somewhat dovetails into my first and biggest issue with this book, I think it needed a more stringent editor. The story takes far too long to really get going in favor of descriptions of various weapons, body modifications, and drugs. Being told about these things isn't bad, but when one of our characters is going through a meticulously listed drug cocktail for the third or fourth time, one begins to wonder what the end goal is.

I also feel like a more focused end goal or mission could have been stated. Yes, we know, as the reader, that a conflict with the Heavenly Kingdom will likely be the climax. The characters just kind of bounce around a lot, from destroying a weapons depot, to escaping an oncoming army, to rescuing hostages, and then eventually facing the Kingdom. These things all do follow a thread, but there's just something missing that makes it feel truly tight and coherent.

Evan's excels at using a very easy to read tone that's almost conversational in its nature. It can make it pretty easy to get lost in the world within the pages. I also love his implementation of real-world conflict journalism into this post Revolution America. There's a raw grittyness to everything that really sells the realism, in spite of the incredibly horny cyborg hedonists.

I look forward to the sequel and would love to see a map made by Evans showing what this new North America looks like. Will Sasha get filled with enough cyborg parts to rip cristofacists apart with her bare hands? Will Roland get the help he so obviously needs? Will Manny keep being a pretty chill dude? We'll found out eventually.