A Wasteland Utopia
Bruce Von Stiers
Two young men set out on a journey into the eastern wastelands of America . They are from the village of Scarskin , which for generations had sent youth out into the wastelands as an example of maturity and adulthood. Very few survive the journey and make it back. But these two young men are determined to complete the journey and return home as heroes.
This is the beginning premise for the first novel in a fantastic new sci-fi / fantasy series. The title of the novel is The Devil's Utopia. The series is being called the Darken Realm Series. The author of this great new novel is J. Schimschal. According to his bio, Schimschal is a former writer of technical and training material for a pharmaceutical company.
This story is about two youths, Jared and Tani. But it is also about a man named Banion O'Neil who is on his own kind of journey. In fact, the reader gets to meet Banion first in the story. He had retired as a gunfighter and settled down a bit. Banion found love in beautiful Lily, who became his wife. All was going well until an attack on their village by a squad of humanoid like machines that wiped out everything. Banion, who had just begun to know peace, was once again a man filled with rage and injustice.
Jared and Tani set out on their voyage into the wastelands, only to run into Banion. The three make an uneasy alliance. But in the meantime, the reader is introduced to Globulus, a mutant hippo who is the warmaster for the kingdom of Rasheed . We meet Globulus as he leads a team against the deadly Reaper Kai warriors and trying to rescue someone from a prison. This person is Mineera, a priestess for the dreaded Reaper Kai. She has found that the ways of the Reaper Kai are not her ways and so she would help others rid the world of them.
There are basically three story lines that end up intersecting and melding together. Tani and Jared must fight their way across the wastelands. They come across deadly and unusual circumstances. Banion is seeking revenge on the Reaper Kai for killing his wife and destroying his world. And Mineera is a troubled woman who keeps dreaming of Banion, even though they hadn't met yet.
The world in which Tani, Jared, Banion and Mineera live is a desolate place. You get the impression from the text that this world is what is left of the United States after a nuclear holocaust. There are evil spirits and demons who are led by a being that could described as the right hand of Satan. These forces are in charge of the Reaper Kai, which in turn have troops that are humans taken over by machines.
So we have two youths on an epic journey, a rite of passage; a man bent on revenge for his wife's death and a woman who is betraying her people for the greater good. Throw in demons and mecha fighting forces and you have a heck of an interesting story.
The writing is crisp and easy to follow. The story was presented well and, being that this was the first volume in a series, was left opened ended.
J. Schimschal, with this novel, has begun a journey of his own. I hope that he takes the Darken Realm series through several volumes.
To find out more about this novel, visit www.darkenrealm.com .
© 2007 Bruce E Von Stiers