Plague Lords is a strong entry in the Deathlands canon that ends on a delicious cliffhanger, leaving me for the first time in years actually anticipating the next book in the series.

The primary plot involves the incursion of the titular Plague Lords from Mexico into the Deathlands, using a human viral vector as their agent to soften the opposition before attacking. The subtext to the primary plot is that the plague carrier is a 20th century hack author who used to write for a trashy pulp series of novels called Slaughter Realms, and there is more than just a hint of autobiographical backstory slipped in there. Personally, I was thoroughly amused by the meta humor worked into the story.

That being said, the book definitely does not lack for action. There is the high speed encounter with a pack of mating stickies. There are the explosive dealings with a trader from Ryan and J.B.'s past. And of course there is the pitched, running battle at the climax of the book that leads to the aforementioned cliffhanger.

Speaking of which, I don't recall any book in recent series history that actually ended on such a clear cliffhanger. There have been other duologies, but those stories tended to be self-contained episodes that were loosely related, whereas this reads as quite literally the first 350 pages of a 700 page story. After so many years of lowest common denominator storytelling, it is refreshing to see a bit of a renaissance in the series.

This is the first DL book I've actively sought out in quite some time. As you can tell by my Post count, it is low, as I only recently re-visited this site and found the review of the book.

Empire of Xibalba, Book I

We have a writer who gives the DL series a pretty good writing. The reason I decided to proceed with purchasing the book was the interesting reviews I found on Amazon.com, and the humourous plot of a 20th Century hack writer "reborn" in the Deathlands. Ron Miles, of course said it all in his review, so I cannot add too much to the prospective reader, other than take it in with a smile.

I did see an early error, that of Ryan carrying his SIG-Sauer P-226 with the safety off. From book one, Pilgrimage of Hell, Ryan's P-226 does not have a safety catch (they are all internal), J. B. had threaded the barrel for a suppressor, it does not have an integral one as mentioned in some past books, either. I think after this little "mini-series," which you can consider the multiple-book series within a series, the group, if they survive, should re-arm with some new (to them) weaponry and get a change of clothes. That gets into the oft-discussed and frustration-filled discussion of threads past and present so lets not dwell upon it now in this review.

I really enjoyed this book. Not only was it a solid, well written story it raised questions that all the characters would eventually have to face. It has great charactersization, humor and it even pokes fun at the genre we all know and love with good natured affection. Stickies, Pirates, Pulp Writers: what's not to love? The characters are left at the end of this novel between a rock and a hard place. One of the best DL cliffhangers ever!  I hope you all love this book as much as I did.