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.

I must agree with Prophet.. where as we've been subjugated to pieces of tripe a la Strontium Swamp, this book kicks it into gear right off the bat and doesn't let up!

It's action, action, and more action.. and GASP it's even well edited!

It could have definately been included in the Laurence James written books.

This is the first book that really delves into the culture of the cannibals in Deathlands. We've known about them since Pilgrammage, but this one goes into a lot more depth.

We return back to Louisiana, but unlike Strontium Swamp, it's a logical return and the characters the companions run into in the swamp refer to Jak as 'Snow Wolf' something I believe SS DID NOT mention. (Good on the author to put these little details in this story.. at least he must have read Neutron Solstice!)

Where as a book like Labrynth did a tip o' the hat to Aliens/Predator series, this one puts you in a frame of mind of some of the better horror movies of the 80's, in regards to the cannibals and their "factory" and to the Sly/Arnie action movies when Ryan and Co clean up the mess!

Also, as they go deeper into the cannibal nation, it's very reminiscent of scenes in Heart of Darkness, especially when Victorian schooled and raised Doc Tanner sees Hell on Earth all around him and nearly loses it.

I also liked the idea of the "Queen of the Cannibals" as a patient "zero" type AND also being a freezie like Mildred. They don't go into where she was frozen, but does give the reader enough info to assume there could be other "freezies" (and not just the nice ones either!) around Deathlands.

Bringing in a former business partner of the Trader and leaving the story open ended also was a great way to let it end.

What can I say, three VERY good Deathlands books in a row!

I'll ignore the one error I did find THIS TIME of Mildred being frozen in December 1999.. but hey, nobody's perfect!

More books like this, Vengeance Trail, Shatter Zone and Perdition Valley and this series will be back on track!

Kudos to the author!

A fast paced book; lots of action and it gives some creedence to the appearance of the cannibal virus called the "oozies". The only bad things I found were the lack of characterization of some of the companions and the fact that they jumped to a redoubt close to where they needed to go on the first try. Give this writer some more ink!

I thought Cannibal Moon was a great read. I thought it was well written and contained plenty of action as well as suspense. The companions get in trouble pretty quickly and waste no time kicking cannie butt! If you like a lot of fast moving, flash bang shoot em up scenes then you will enjoy this one. The way the story ends leaves you to believe a sequel will follow, if so I'm there.

Finally, hope for the future of this series...

Philipson is the most talented Deathlands writer to come around in a while and hopefully the editors will keep this in mind...

If you allow M.Philipson to write more Deathlands titles, we may forgive you for the Andy Boot books

Cannibals unite in this non-stop human flesh eat-a-thon. Tucked away in Cajun country a self-appointed queen, cannie queen, sits on the bridge of her royal palace, a beached predark ship. Cannibals make long pilgrimages to get a taste of the cannie queen's blood which is said will cure the oozies. From far and wide the cannies come with their open-air wags containing fresh meat on the foot, norms, gifts to the queen for her ship holds which are filled with hanging smoked human flesh.

The companions begin this part of their journey chasing cannies who have stolen children for food. Mildred chases them to a cave where she is captured and forced to consume an oozie-brain soup as punishment for chilling cannie hunters. Mildred must now psychologically come to terms with does she or does she not now have the oozies and will she ultimately become a cannie. The cannie responsible for possibly infecting Mildred is held captive and starved into leading them to the queen. The companions are more concerned that if a cure does exist the cannies will abound since the oozies would no longer kill them off. Once Ryan and crew reach the queen's territory tables are turned and the companions are split, some become prisoners and thrown into the general norm population awaiting food preparation. Being captive always mean great hand-to-hand combat action scenes. Mildred being in the spotlight here gets more than her share of cannie attention, she gets unwanted male attention. Mildred gets to kick ass defending herself.

Not to worry there is still plenty of blaster fire, sword play and explosions to to keep the companions on their toes. Alan Philipson, one of DLs most celebrated authors, brings this adventure to life in a way only he can. This is a must read entry in the DL series.

This one deserves to be in every Deathlands fan's collection. Brilliant back story. Buy it.