I don't think it was *that* bad... it's certainly one of the better books I've read lately. The constant mention of past adventures was a little unnecessary, true, and seeing Donfil again was nice but a little odd. The fishheads didn't bother me - they were the product of experimentation, after all.
The good points:
It's nice to see someone who can actually
read a freaking map. Ft. McCoy does exist, as does Tomah, though Tomah is nowhere near Route 21 (the road is a few miles north and doesn't intersect I-90 at all). The rest of the map was right, though Chicago is only 200 miles south, not 400 (so I'm detail-oriented - sue me
).
My gripes:
JB had Ryan's flensing knife instead of his own Tekna (incidentally, that's the first mention I've seen of the flensing knife in a long, long time).
Ryan was too... out of character, I guess. The group has always operated democratically, though he takes the lead. In this book, he tries running roughshod over everyone instead of asking their opinions, and the others keep rebelling against him. He was also micromanaging - telling them things that they knew perfectly well to do - and they kept calling him on it. That was rather annoying, on both counts.
Krysty should've been exhausted after using her Gaia power, or at least worn out, but she kept going like nothing had happened.
25 rounds of .308 and 25 shotgun shells for a bridge toll is highway robbery. 5 of one or the other would've been appropriate, IMO.
As soon as Grandma Finnegan said "I just cleaned the place from the last visitors", I knew she was a cannie.
The whole plan to release radiation into the rest of the plant was goofy. If the outer door had to be closed to open the inner one, don't you think someone would've thought "Gee... I'll bet this outer door is shielded."? And... an escape hatch?? WTF?
JB used "Black dust" waay too much. In fact, he never used his normal exclamation ("Dark night!") at all. I can count on one hand the times he's ever said "Black dust!" (outside of a Pollotta book).
Despite its faults, though, it was an entertaining story. I'd give it a 7/10.