In a ruined world, past and future clash with terrifying force...
The sulfer-teeming Gulf of Mexico is the poisoned end of earth, but here, Ryan and the others glean rumors of whole cities deep in South America that have survived the blast intact. But as the companions contemplate a course of action, a new horror approaches on the horizon. The Lords of Death are Mexican pirates raiding stockpiles with a grim vengeance. When civilization hits rock bottom, a new stone age will emerge, with its own personal day of blood reckoning.
In the Deathlands, the future could always be worse. Now it is...
Plague Lords is a strong entry in the Deathlands canon that ends on a delicious cliffhanger, leaving me for the first time in years actually anticipating the next book in the series.
The primary plot involves the incursion of the titular Plague Lords from Mexico into the Deathlands, using a human viral vector as their agent to soften the opposition before attacking. The subtext to the primary plot is that the plague carrier is a 20th century hack author who used to write for a trashy pulp series of novels called Slaughter Realms, and there is more than just a hint of autobiographical backstory slipped in there. Personally, I was thoroughly amused by the meta humor worked into the story.
That being said, the book definitely does not lack for action. There is the high speed encounter with a pack of mating stickies. There are the explosive dealings with a trader from Ryan and J.B.'s past. And of course there is the pitched, running battle at the climax of the book that leads to the aforementioned cliffhanger.
Speaking of which, I don't recall any book in recent series history that actually ended on such a clear cliffhanger. There have been other duologies, but those stories tended to be self-contained episodes that were loosely related, whereas this reads as quite literally the first 350 pages of a 700 page story. After so many years of lowest common denominator storytelling, it is refreshing to see a bit of a renaissance in the series.
This is the first DL book I've actively sought out in quite some time. As you can tell by my Post count, it is low, as I only recently re-visited this site and found the review of the book.
Empire of Xibalba, Book I
We have a writer who gives the DL series a pretty good writing. The reason I decided to proceed with purchasing the book was the interesting reviews I found on Amazon.com, and the humourous plot of a 20th Century hack writer "reborn" in the Deathlands. Ron Miles, of course said it all in his review, so I cannot add too much to the prospective reader, other than take it in with a smile.
I did see an early error, that of Ryan carrying his SIG-Sauer P-226 with the safety off. From book one, Pilgrimage of Hell, Ryan's P-226 does not have a safety catch (they are all internal), J. B. had threaded the barrel for a suppressor, it does not have an integral one as mentioned in some past books, either. I think after this little "mini-series," which you can consider the multiple-book series within a series, the group, if they survive, should re-arm with some new (to them) weaponry and get a change of clothes. That gets into the oft-discussed and frustration-filled discussion of threads past and present so lets not dwell upon it now in this review.
I really enjoyed this book. Not only was it a solid, well written story it raised questions that all the characters would eventually have to face. It has great charactersization, humor and it even pokes fun at the genre we all know and love with good natured affection. Stickies, Pirates, Pulp Writers: what's not to love? The characters are left at the end of this novel between a rock and a hard place. One of the best DL cliffhangers ever!  I hope you all love this book as much as I did.
I found this book a return to basics.....not too long of a description of each character and a quick basic outline of what Deathlands is.
The story line is good and easy to follow with your typical twists and turns and brief backgrounds of characters from the past incl some new possibly joining characters for future stoylines....if they aren't killed off in a couple of books.
I like the way the authour use one character as a pre-holocaust authour but if you read between the lines he is talking about the Deathland series authours......I thought that was neat.
As this book goes into book II I am actually looking forward to reading it to continue the story...something I haven't done in awhile.
This book is a great stand alone book (with book II of course) and also a great continuation of the Deathland series.
Alan Philipson hits this one out of the ball park!
This twin book storyline is and was awesome. I love the danger aspects and fresh storyline. The companions get their asses handed to them, and get into deep trouble that is over the top fun and excitement to read.