Road Wars

Nice little adventure that had three different storylines going as we build up to Ryan and Co. meeting up with Trader. As Ryan and J.B. are attacked and lend a hand here and there as they travel overland, Krysty and the group face death from wandering travelers. And we get more of Abe and Trader, who is almost turning villain. All of this meshed very well, which leads up to what will happen when Ryan finally finds the long, lost Trader.

Road Wars is about a journey Ryan and JB take together from Jak's home in New Mexico to a meeting with Trader in Seattle. There are three main perspectives, that of Ryan and JB, the rest of the group remaining at Jak's place, and also with the Trader himself along with Abe. At Jak's, the group has to deal with some religious crazies attacking them, and one of the things I liked about this part of the book was the further escipades of Doc Tanner and Judas the mule. The scenes with Abe and Trader showed more of their savage life, and also how Trader seemed to be getting more senile. The meat of the novel was Ryan and JB's travels in their war wag on a long journey with little gas and a struggle to make ends meet. This part of the story was more like a series of vignettes. They encountered a variety of villes, people both good and bad and found themselves in all kinds of situations. This is the first book I can remember where no redoubts or mat-trans gateways were involved. I liked this adventure, although it didn't have much of a plot, I thought it was an entertaining book, and the ending leaves you wanting to read on to the next book to continue the story, which really is a two book dualogy with Trader Redux.