Baptism of Rage [Mass Market Paperback]

A review of James Axler's Death lands; Baptism of Rage

By John Gallagher

The story is, as usual, a good read. The action is plentiful and exciting and the whole thing would make an engrossing TV serial episode.
In a post nuclear apocalyptical future a ragged, but well armed, group of survivors try to do just that. Led by one eyed Ryan Cawdor and with, amongst others, feral albino Jak Lauren in tow, they teleport via `mat-trans' from place to place across what remains of the United States of America. The fact that the characters have already been well established in previous novels allows Axler to swing straight in the current story (after a queasy nightmarish prologue involving one of the characters' vivid teleporter induced hallucinations.) Coming to the aid of a settlement besieged by ravening mutant wolves, they encounter a group of travellers on a pilgrimage to a ville (settlement) called `Baby' which supposedly contains a veritable fountain of youth. Indeed two of this party claim to have already been rejuvenated by the life giving properties of the spa. The leader of these pilgrims, having been impressed by Cawdor's group's combat expertise, approaches them with the proposition that if they will agree to protect and escort them back to `Babyville' they in return be given access to this remarkable fountain of youth.
Cawdor's team are initially dubious and suspicious of this (admittedly farfetched) sounding story but their credulity is aided by how well Axler conveys the bone wearying bleakness of their current existence. In the dull hopelessness of which the idea of any sort of renewal shine all the more brightly. It seems that Axler is playing here with the familiar theme that the more miserable and depressing folks day to day lives are the quicker they fall for fantastical promises. Whether this be `get rich quick' schemes, self improvement programmes or exploitative religions. And indeed there is more than enough evidence in the real world around us to support this theory. I was reminded tellingly here of John Diamond's book `Snake Oil and other Preoccupations' and indeed there are cancer sufferers amongst the motorised wagon train making this pilgrimage.
One of the group, Doctor Tanner, proves to be especially susceptible to this inducement. Not surprising really, as not only was he ripped, without consent, from his own nineteenth century but artificially aged in the process. A detail he understandably still has recurring nightmares about.
At his insistence they agree to act as `sec men' (security) to the pilgrims until the completion of their journey. Ryan goes along with all this primarily because he recognises that his team are slowly losing hope and that this is in turn eroding their survival instincts. So he hopes that this `Babyville', whatever it eventually turned out to be, will help to revitalise their moral.
Light spoilers;
Axler ensures that the road journey to Babyville is eventful, All the vehicles in this ragged convoy are on their last legs so progress is fraught with hold ups and break downs as the band encounter roving bands of cannibal scalies `mutants' (Axler's description of skin conditions resembling deep fried batter quite put me off my fish `n chip supper.) and a chortling inbreed couple with a barn full of giant mutant pigs which they like to feed strangers to (I don't think we get enough hideous omnivorous blood crazed hogs in fiction these days.)
Finally when they arriving at their destination of Babyville... Surprise! Surprise! Things are not what they seem. Suffice it to say that everyone, especially Doc Tanner, ends up a sadder and a wiser man.

This is good fun, you'll guess the ending before if comes, but who cares, it's all about the journey! Great characters, great plot - well told. One of the better Deathlands books.

Doc Tanner is having dreams of mortality and feeling his age. When rumours reach the ville Harmony in future nuclear-devastated Nebraska of another ville in mutant-infested Tennessee where the legendary fountain of youth has been discovered, Doc and Krysty Wroth (another mutant but a benign and beautiful one), Dix the armourer, Jak a fiercely loyal albino child of the Deathland wastes and the rest of the crew set off on a perilous journey to find it. Along the way they find youthful people claiming to be elderly but restored to the bloom of health and Doc experiences visions of his lost lover also restored.

Along the way they encounter some neat twists on the perils of the heavily irradiated and mutated Deathlands - intelligent pigs using humans as their lure in a twisted symbiosis, savage deceptions and more everpresent 'scalies', the most common mutation among humans in this terrifying world. Eventually they reach the ville of Baby where pilgrims like themselves are converging to taste the nectar of eternal life. But there is most definitely a nasty serpent slithering around in this maybe Eden...

New to the DEATHLANDS series, recommended to me by a friend, I've been enjoying James Axler's take on the post-apocalyptic. This time the survivors interestingly have to confront not merely the futuristic threats of the nuclear holocaust aftermath but an even more fearsome one - relentless mortality. The promise of prolonged or even eternal youth works on all of us. It's especially powerful in this savage new world where the least weakness or lapse in concentration can be fatal.

Personally I was sorry the mystery was wrapped up in a single novel. I felt the mystery of ville Baby had more mileage in it for future stories, and the elaborate deceptions built up around it were so convincing that having them so quickly and completely punctured disappointed me.

James Axler is both inventive and keeps the tension high during the novel, though. I like the way he skilfully balances the incidents along the way with the overall brooding theme of age and its inevitable vulnerability. Here's to life in the Deathlands!

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