Out of the Ashes

The first of thirty-six books (wow) in The Ashes series of novels by William Johnstone, the apocalyptic Out of the Ashes is reminiscent of Stephen King's The Stand (but not written nearly as well). It's occasionally far-fetched and there's a lot of repetitiveness early on as Johnstone sets a doomsday tone for first half of the book. Not usually a big fan of survivalist themes, I was surprised when I realized that it held my interest right up to the last page.

I wasn’t sure if I should title my review as “crass” or “cringe”. The book definitely is crass and I cringed more often than I would have liked. I’ve read Johnstone before, but this amazed me that an adult wrote this. It was difficult to get through: boring characters, an almost unlikeable main character, stupid stereotypes, long diatribes on race relations, etc. The main character has sex with just about every woman he meets. I thought as I read this that the world has been devastated, there is radiation, violence, cruelty, dead, blackened, bloated bodies all about and all he can think about is getting laid. Food seems to be abundant, and there is an endless supply of fuel and weapons. It seems almost everyone he meets has show more read (and studied) his books – completely unlikely. Also, every ‘redneck’ is a sodomite/pervert. Though there are less people, the US is still a big country and I’m amazed how everyone seems to know of someone else that the main characters know (his brother Carl; Jerre).

I still enjoy Johnstone’s writing, but will stay away from this series. show less

A classic post apocalypse America novel from a conservative POV. I enjoyed as a youth and reading it again 20 years later it was interesting. Still pretty much a modern pulp novel, but some of the early 80s fears seem strange. Maybe its just me, but I don't see a race war on the horizon.

Also looking at the Tri-states as presented here I realized just how non-liberatarian it was. Actually a little totalitarian in its own way.

So not as cool as it was an adolescent, but still an interesting book.

This is an apocalyptic novel set in the late 1980's. Instead of the Soviets fading away, the button is pushed & our hero roams post-apocalyptic America doing good. The only reason I give the book 2 stars is because I happen to believe most of the conservative philosophy behind the novel. Unfortunately, the plot & writing are atrocious. I got about halfway through (page 276 of the MMP edition) before I couldn't take it any more.

I hadn't realized this was a series when I started reading it or I would have looked at it closer. It reminds me of the Executioner or Axler's novels. If you like that sort of thing, this would probably be right up your alley. I had my fill over 30 years ago, though.

Worst book of the year- Why did I bother to finish it!! Poorly written, excessively illogical and excessively profane.
Picked it up in a Doctor's waiting room. Why a 400 + page book would be in a doctor's waiting room is yet another question.
Read the 3 or 4 chapters while waiting and decided to check this book out.
Next time, I'll stick to the 10 year old National Geographic.
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