Outriders [Paperback]

This is a novel of post-apocalyptic science fiction. Specifically, it's Christian Science Fiction, but it has the feel of fantasy; it should please both camps of devotees--fantasy lovers and sci-fi lovers.

Set in a future world and after a series of catastrophic wars, OUTRIDERS shows the earth partially uninhabitable (with many toxic areas). Humanity is affected in some gruesome new ways. Tyranny, enslavement, rape, endless bloodshed--in other words the just as gruesome old ways persist.

Because the main characters are believers in the One True God who loves and seeks out men and women to save, the God who offers his Holy Spirit to believers, and the God who preserves a remnant through all catastrophes in all ages, they have moral dilemmas in this novel. That's part of the fun of reading it. It's also instructive on a theological level, without doing it like a sermon. It arises naturally from characters put into plot-consistent situations.

Buy this book. It's wonderful. Here's the lowdown:

It's the future. Earth is damaged from catastrophic warfare. Christians were led by God to build an UNDERGROUND ARK where they were kept safe. After a time, OUTRIDERS--young, healthy, "called" believers--are sent out of the Ark with a mission. It's a hard life, a sort of future "frontier" existence, where danger takes many forms, human and inhuman.

You follow two main characters through various adventures in this post-apocalyptic Earth setting: Niki, a relentless, powerful, warrior-woman. The kind you want to help you get through the wilderness, even if she's got a bit of an impatience-with-fools issue. And Brady, a smart, savvy leader with a godly man's heart and a warrior's way with a sword, who is dealing with some strong-willed folks in the OUTRIDER ranks, not to mention daily survival issues.

They are members of one of various enclaves of Outriders that are strewn across the continent, whose task is to gather specimens of natural creation (as opposed to "transmogrified" or mutated creation) to send back to the Ark for study and preservation.

Niki and Brady were two of the original 4 OUTRIDERS sent up to the surface. They're sent out of the Ark young (like 16). (And in a thrilling fashion you'll enjoy reading about. Scary, too.) They rely a great deal on Providence and their physical endurance and their wits.

In this book, God is a very real presence and miracles are part of the daily life.

So is constant danger from evil folks, notably Baron Alrod and his "sorcerer", Ghedo. They're always up to some brutal business, such as altering humans and animals into mutations that they can use in battle and to keep control over their territory. The villains are pretty unredeemable bad, which is not my fave kind of villain, as I do like to have motivation and more sides than just mean-mean-nasty-mean.

Fortunately for the OUTRIDERS, they are endowed with God-provided tools (very, very cool ones) and special gifts (gifts of the Spirits transposed to a sci-fi world) that help them do their work on the surface and do good to non-Birthrighters who dwell topside.

So, our gal Niki is, for the first time in her years as a first-ever Outrider (the toughest of the tough, she is), sent to retrieve a threesome of rookie outriders who are joining the Horesh outrider community. Things get complicated as the four trek to Horesh--going out of their way and far into trouble.

Brady, who's back at the homefront (Horesh) while Niki is in the frozen lands with the rooks, repeated battles the evil Baron Alrod and his mogs (transmogrified critters and humans). Disobedience within Horesh brings conflicts deadlier than any Brady's faced before.

Eventually, there comes a spiritual showdown.

That's right: Holy spirit beings--God, angels--are real in this story, and so are evil spirit beings. And the people are not perfect--which is a good thing, or we'd be bored out of our skulls.

The spiritual aspect, in fact, is handled beautifully in the novel. The Outriders are genuinely good-hearted folk, even with their sins and flaws. They care about outcasts and the downtrodden. They seek to liberate those in bondage. And we are shown how good motivation and sincerity are not always enough. Wisdom and obedience play a part. Humility and sacrifice, too.

Mackel clearly cares about social issues. This book resonates with current events--euthanasia, stem cell and other genetic research, crass consumerism, out-of-control vanity, ecological issues.

I found this book spiritually uplifting, and it was also vibrant and a ripping good read with a good heart!

If you like science fiction/science-fantasy, I totally recommend this. Have patience through the confusing opening scenes: You will get oriented. You will be rewarded for your patience.

Come on. Order it now! And then join me in waiting eagerly for book two of The Birthright Project.

Mir
of Mirathon blog
asst editor at Dragons, Knights & Angels
A Magazine of Christian Science Fiction & Fantasy

At first, submersing in Kathy Mackel's world is like being drenched with a pail of ice water. Normal men and women torn from their quiet villages and turned into hideous giants against their will; riders on giant hornets; bats and rodents the size of horses; all these monstrosities the products of so-called sorcerers unscrupulous enough to transmogrify innocent creatures to satisfy their stronghold lords' insatiable lust for power and influence.

Only a small group of people, the Outriders of Horesh, attempts to stand against these evil lords. The Outriders come from the Ark, a mysterious sanctuary buried somewhere deep under the ice. Led by visions and prophecies, the population of the Ark sends out volunteers who build camps, collect specimens, and attempt to reclaim a corrupt world by teaching the truth to a suppressed and intimidated populace while helping them in their need as they are able.

But even this brave group consists of mere human beings, each with their own troubles and weaknesses. Niki, for instance, has no idea why Brady sent her north to fetch a group of new rooks in transit from the Ark. She's a warrior, not a babysitter! She's always been prepared to do anything that was required of her, and has never let herself be stopped by anything, either. But Brady, the camp leader and the man she realizes she truly loves, says he's sending her on this mission so she can learn to listen. Listen to what? Things don't get easier when she comes to believe he only sent her away so he can be alone with his love, and that doesn't seem to be Niki!

Timothy is a wonderful singer, but he also believes Brady has become weak and should let him lead the camp. Then the camp's young teacher, Ajoba, decides she no longer has to obey Brady because she is now under the divine guidance of an angel. She leaves camp without permission to search for and help the transmogrified giants, taking an irreplaceable tool necessary to the camp's survival with her. Is she really on a holy mission, or has she been deceived by her own pride? How can Brady outwit the cruel and powerful Baron Alrod of Traxx -- who has made it his highest priority to find and kill him -- all the while trying to keep his people together while so many problems are seething beneath the surface?

Outriders is a beautifully and tensely written novel that asks us take a good look at ourselves in the light of truth. Being the first volume of the the Birthright Project series, it doesn't answer all the questions it raises but does it ever draw us in! I loved reading this book, and I can't wait for the second one. Come on, Kathy, hurry it up!

Outriders, by Kathryn Mackel, is one of those books that will grab your imagination and take it for a wild ride through a familiar, yet alien land. With full characters that make you care, and excitement that can get your pulse racing.

Generations after warfare and pollution poisoned the planet and destroyed civilization, one group of survivors remembers their heritage, their birthright. From their sanctuary, the Ark, sunk deep below the arctic ice they train their young to be outriders who do the impossible. To return to the surface world and save the original creation and spread the forgotten Truth. But these young people face more than a poisoned world.

So called sorcerers, wielding the last remnant of science that helped destroy mankind, create abominations by transmogrifying animals and humans to suit the whims of their warlord masters. Only by holding to the Truth that they know, can the outriders hope to overcome the mogs and the greater evil that festers in this poisoned world.

Kathryn Mackel has created a tale full of biblical symbolism and imagery, one of haunting beauty and terrible destruction. All of her characters come through as full people, who each struggle with their own human natures (or fully give in to them) while seeking to fulfill their mission. You come to care for each of the main Characters as soon as you meet them, even when it is clear they are being hard headed and foolish.

One thing I thought Kathryn did extremely well was the "jangle" of the rookie outriders. It came off as totally believable and fluid, but not impossible to understand. However, some of the action scenes felt a bit muddled, and the world-building didn't always hold up for me, but that was easily forgiven in the scope of the journey each character took.

Can't wait for the sequel.

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