Susan V. (nrlymrtl) reviewed Cthulhu Armageddon: A Post Apocalypse Western on + 297 more book reviews
The Old ones rose more than 100 years ago and humanity dwindled and fractured in their struggle to survive. John Henry is a highly trained ranger for one of the last civilized' cities. However, he lost his friends and his sanity (temporarily) while battling a one-time friend who had gone over to worshiping the Old Ones. Now he seeks vengeance for his dead friends and his own lost future.
This was a wonderful mix of wild weird west, post-apocalyptic, and creature feature. John Booth is an intense man and it was great to live this story through his character. Also, just a side note, it's refreshing to have the main hero be non-Caucasian. Hooray for diversity in SFF! OK, so back to John. The story starts off with him and his small group of rangers heading out to find several children who had been kidnapped by Cthulhu-monster worshipers. Things go very, very wrong. John wakes up while being interrogated with his memory all fuzzy. Yeah, that sucks.
John goes on a quest of sorts to find out if all his ranger buddies are dead and to regain his lost memories. Specifically, he's hunting for Jessica who was the last ranger standing with him before everything went blank. He needs the help of a skilled torturer, Mercury, if he's going to be successful. John gets a few brief moments with his estranged wife Martha throughout the story. Then there is also an ex-lover of sorts that he and Mercury come upon later in the story. I really enjoyed the main female characters they were so diverse and written so well. However, nearly all the ladies in this story had some sort of sexual/romantic interest or tie to John. I felt that was a little silly, but it was a very minor part of the story so I won't let it detract from my enjoyment of the tale.
The Old Ones were gooey and deadly and scary and awe-inspiring. Phipps did a great job with these creatures from the beyond. There's your typical squidhead Cthulhu-looking monsters, horrible bat-winged flyers, and things that defy description but the characters have to describe anyway. I want to see these things but not feel their wrath, so it's a good thing I have John's story to enjoy.
There's plenty of action scenes but they are spaced out well with scenes that touch on dark humor or on deeper things. It's not just humans versus the Old Ones but also human versus human all too often. There's slavery and bigotry and government assigned marriages. Phipps has the start of a whole world to explore here. I especially liked Richard the ghoul. He brought in humor but also fed on corpses. No one's perfect.
The story kept me guessing right up to the end. I really didn't know if John would persevere. After all, the title does have the word armageddon' in it. I was definitely attached to John and several of the other characters so I really did care how things turned out. I was very satisfied with the ending and I am hoping Phipps gives us another story set in this world.
I received a free copy of this book.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer did a great job with this book, as I expected he would. He's got the right voice for the main character, John. I also like his female voices, especially for Mercury in this book. She doesn't have an ounce of tact and asks such personal questions so straightforwardly. He's great at imbuing the characters with emotion as well.
This was a wonderful mix of wild weird west, post-apocalyptic, and creature feature. John Booth is an intense man and it was great to live this story through his character. Also, just a side note, it's refreshing to have the main hero be non-Caucasian. Hooray for diversity in SFF! OK, so back to John. The story starts off with him and his small group of rangers heading out to find several children who had been kidnapped by Cthulhu-monster worshipers. Things go very, very wrong. John wakes up while being interrogated with his memory all fuzzy. Yeah, that sucks.
John goes on a quest of sorts to find out if all his ranger buddies are dead and to regain his lost memories. Specifically, he's hunting for Jessica who was the last ranger standing with him before everything went blank. He needs the help of a skilled torturer, Mercury, if he's going to be successful. John gets a few brief moments with his estranged wife Martha throughout the story. Then there is also an ex-lover of sorts that he and Mercury come upon later in the story. I really enjoyed the main female characters they were so diverse and written so well. However, nearly all the ladies in this story had some sort of sexual/romantic interest or tie to John. I felt that was a little silly, but it was a very minor part of the story so I won't let it detract from my enjoyment of the tale.
The Old Ones were gooey and deadly and scary and awe-inspiring. Phipps did a great job with these creatures from the beyond. There's your typical squidhead Cthulhu-looking monsters, horrible bat-winged flyers, and things that defy description but the characters have to describe anyway. I want to see these things but not feel their wrath, so it's a good thing I have John's story to enjoy.
There's plenty of action scenes but they are spaced out well with scenes that touch on dark humor or on deeper things. It's not just humans versus the Old Ones but also human versus human all too often. There's slavery and bigotry and government assigned marriages. Phipps has the start of a whole world to explore here. I especially liked Richard the ghoul. He brought in humor but also fed on corpses. No one's perfect.
The story kept me guessing right up to the end. I really didn't know if John would persevere. After all, the title does have the word armageddon' in it. I was definitely attached to John and several of the other characters so I really did care how things turned out. I was very satisfied with the ending and I am hoping Phipps gives us another story set in this world.
I received a free copy of this book.
The Narration: Jeffrey Kafer did a great job with this book, as I expected he would. He's got the right voice for the main character, John. I also like his female voices, especially for Mercury in this book. She doesn't have an ounce of tact and asks such personal questions so straightforwardly. He's great at imbuing the characters with emotion as well.
