I was looking forward to this book as I was a fan of Alan Phillipson from his early SOBs books written under the Jack Hild pseudonym, but there were so many weapons in accuracies, Doc's Lemat firing several .63 cal. shot rounds in several seconds with no reloading, and suddenly cannies are mutants, and the mutation is contagious. The whole explanation of the Mat Trans units was old news, something discussed back in book #1 I believe. They discussed it in this book as if they had no clue what they had been doing for the last 35 books. I find it hard to believe that Ryan would use a nuclear device, and even harder to believe that J.B., and Mildred could break into the safe that the nuclear devices were locked in. The story idea was interesting, but the follow through was a mess. I give it a 6.

Skydark had some problems, particularly in comparision to the fast and wild action and concepts of Stoneface and Bitter Fruit, but all in all, it was a satisfying read.

There were some continuity errors, referring to a "Mutie War" Ryan apparently took part in some years before, when he would have been a child. That's something that should have been caught in editing.

Lord Kaa, with his psychic control over all mutants made a pretty interesting adversary when he got all hot and bothered by Krysty. His campaign to destroy all humans didn't seem very well planned but he still came off as pretty believable.His ultimate fate was original and ironic.

A secondary villain, Baron Willie Elijah was a throwback to the sexually depraved baron which Laurence James favored. He was pretty forgettable except for his fondness for incest.

There were some scenes I found unnecessarily gross, just stuck in there for shock value, like JB using a rotting human corpse for a tool.

But, the quality of the writing was very good and Skydark kept me interested all the way through.

Another new author joins the DL writing cast, making it the fourth writer in the last four books. First off, I thought he did a good job with the characters, and the quality of the writing itself was a positive thing for the novel. However, I got the general feeling that this author's talents were wasted on this DL novel. I never could get into the story, which was mainly about hordes of stickies, killing stickies, blowing up stickies, and more hordes of stickies. I guess the thing is if you are in the right frame of mind, such as if you decided to read a book titled: The Great Stickie Massacre, you might like the book, but for me I was looking for a different storyline. And as Raboy mentioned in his review, there were parts that were just plain gross.

I did like the descriptions of the landscape, and the setup of Willie ville. I liked the concept of the way the Mat-trans chamber had the effect on Ryan's friends with the stickie presence in the gateway.
There were some errors here and there in the novel, such as Doc using his LeMat like it was an auto shotgun, and some minor plotholes, but there was enough action and some tense moments that the book was an ok read, even if my disinterest in the story caused it to be a drag in many places.

Kaa, the Moses of DeathLands with Freedom City USA become Babylon and Egypt all rolled into one. And where do our bold heroes look to stand but with the depraved Barony that otherwise would have been just another smoking ruin in their wake without the threat of Kaa. Not that it isn't destined for the same fate nonetheless.

There were quite a few creative notions added to the continuum in this book as well. A new vision of the Stickie mutants reminiscent of Richard Corben's Dramite horde in Muvovum. A new psychic side effect of the matter transfer process. And the notion that mutation can move up the intellectual ladder as well as down it (both with Kaa and the mutant cat that befriended Jak). Although these new threads may not have been picked back up, the author was definitely tryiing to expand the scope of DeathLands in exciting ways.

I rate it a nine, just because there are enough holes in my reading of the series to judge it on overall continuity issues. Otherwise, still a standout episode for me.

WOW!! Alan outdone himself in this Deathlands storyline.
Not only was it chock-full of explosive action adventure, but Ka was an awesome addition to the mutie freaks that made this novel one of the very best that I have ever read.
This novel read so well and exciting, that if made into a Hollywood action movie - it would be sure to make millions of dollars of revenue - even if the movie-goers are not Deathlands fans.
Just the look of the landscape and its colorful characters - both good and bad - would be an sure fire eyecatcher to any crowd.
I look very much forward to Alan's next DEATHLANDS novel.

Awesome, Awesome, Awesome!! Kaa Rules!!! I cant say enough good things about this book!! The sticky nation is united under one mutie and threatens the entire deathlands!!

I actually felt for Kaa, I liked him allot, I didn't like how they degraded him in the end with Krysty at the end of the book, but hes actually likable :) This story lets you see the "other" side of the story, the side of the muties, and they actually have a good cause (In there eyes) so you cant blame them, but the mutie nature is too chaotic,

This is a great book!