Wild Wastes

Its like a mix between the Daniel Black books and The Heartstone Saga. Likeable MC, good supporting characters, and interesting plot. There are currently some significant spelling errors and the like, but if you can get past them, its a solid read.

UPDATE: Finished reading it. What follows is still accurate, but the author does a good job wrapping things up properly by the end. My review stands at 4 stars.

I'm trying not to be too harsh on author Randi Darren here because some of my disappointment with the novel thus far is the result of my own misunderstanding of the book's description at the top of the product page. Realizing that this is an issue, I've given what I've read thus far 4 stars.

This book reads like some of the older "pulp" sci-fi/fantasy stories, where the author puts *some* work into world-building, but a lot is hand-waved away and at least some depends on the previously-held assumptions of the reader. For instance, while he gives descriptions of Orcs, they follow closely with other, standard depictions of Orcs. This particular depiction is close to The Elder Scrolls, having Orcs be a patriarchal, tribal society with a semi-gladiatorial mating strategy (other males besides the chief can have wives in this version).

Mr. Darren has firearms falling out of favor compared to more medieval weaponry due to a decline in ammunition production following the catastrophe - this is only believable if most of our chemists and chemistry equipment were also lost during the apocalypse (especially if you consider that black powder firearms have been around since at least the 13th century), but it lets him set the stage the way he wants it and it's semi-believable.

*The story is good thus far, and its worth a read if this is the sort of thing you're into*.

I suppose my only real point of contention thus far is the near-4th-wall-breaking moment right where I'm at where his protagonist Vince takes a standard 2nd Wave feminist position about the equality of the sexes. *This happens while Orc society is being explained to the reader*, and he specifically describes the Orcs has having a "Backwards society" on these grounds. And then it goes into 3rd Wave feminism with this line "Orc men want strong wives. Though not as strong as them" to explain why his she-Orc companion left her tribe.

It's blatant enough that it comes across as a sort of boilerplate that Mr. Darren added to fend off accusations of retrograde "toxic masculinity" for writing a story about a straight white English-speaking man who gathers a harem of female monsters for himself. I don't think I need to explain the crazy reaction that part of the story would get if Mr. Darren ever got any media attention for his work.

If it is just boilerplate, I can deal - people who think like that are, of course, insane, but they do exist.

Continuing with my critique: it's specifically stated that she in particular was stronger than the men in her tribe, but the whole description seems to imply that Orc women *in general* are approximately as strong as Orc men. Which makes no sense at all, given what we're told of Orc society. If they were approximately equal, then the Orcs would have a more egalitarian arrangement - and would be more likely to pair-bond rather than having harems. They also wouldn't have exclusively male leaders.

The harem arrangement only makes sense if the average male Orc is *significantly* stronger and more aggressive than his wives are.

EDIT: Let me make something clear: he can write his characters however he wants. And as this is a fantasy setting and Orcs don't really exist, it's entirely possible to have them be less dimorphic than humans are in this way. My point is that this scene and explanation doesn't mesh, and the intrusion of feminism feels horribly out of place.

The other point of annoyance that I have thus far is much more minor: while it's certainly possible that Vince's she-Orc companion would respond positively to affectionate treatment from him, it's not obvious *why*. Her culture, as explained to the reader, would tend to suggest that she wants her man to be *strong* more than kind or affectionate. Apparently she sees him as a strong *warrior*, but she is very much stronger than he is.

Still, it's a very minor point of contention - I probably wouldn't have noticed except for the previous issue.

*To the author: I had supposed that your description of "will not make choices that line up with society and cultural norms" implied a more non-PC story than you wrote. Hence my irritation.*

I found the writing style difficult to read - almost put it down. Story was an interesting romp through a fantasy - in more than one sense of the word. I don't regret reading it, but I'm not convinced it's worth the price.

Fun story. Starts put as normal drifter turned reluctant hero, then the story explodes into a new (and relatively honest) direction. Good character development. Looking forward to more books in this series.

I felt the begining was a little slow in development. I would also like to have more explanation of the MC abilities than just him using them and then using new ones as needed. The adult parts were descriptive enough without going overboard and distracting from the story.

In their review someone said that if you like the Daniel Black series you'll love this book.
Nah.
While it's true that both main characters get involved in a polyamorous relationship, the Daniel Black series reads like the sex is just one aspect of the story. If you took out the sex you'd still have an interesting plot, interesting fight scenes, and a magic system that you'll find yourself interested in reading about. If you removed the sex from this book, there would be no book. Which is too bad because the idea of a man having a dryad plant a seed inside him and him becoming her "tree" was really interesting. Also even though the women he got involved with were interesting in their variety, the sex was peculiarly vanilla. If you have a yen for cis het vanilla sex with a small dash of dominance with orcs, dryads, ant/centaur women, and elves, then this is the book for you. If you're looking for a story to tide you over until the next Daniel Black book comes out, this ain't it.

Life in the Wastes is hardly idyllic but when the world ends and war comes how ready would any of us be? For one such man facing the end of the world alone is hardly new, but no matter his intentions its hard to say no to a lady in need. Facing a cataclysm is so much better with a harem of lovely ladies and the might of an army. Word of warning there are naughty bits literally and figuratively, so enjoy!

Not normally much of a fan of post apocalyptic books, but this one was actually quite good.

I really liked the characters developed in the book, and (at least the companions) had well developed personalities and quirks. Good action scenes too.

Definitely can see the parallels to Fimbulwinter, although Vince is fighter, not a mage. If you like one, you will probably like the other.

My one criticismight be that that it seems like 99% of humanity appears to be evil or at least amoral. Vince has recruited one human by the end of the book. Only one? Really?

If you read the Daniel Black Series, and wanted a sword swinging warrior instead or a clever battle-mage, and thought- “this is too up-beat, with too many funny moments, too much magic, too much time spent on building, and not enough swordplay and showing women their place,” then this might be right up your alley.

The setting is sort of modern post-apoc wasteland, but it is really not explored much (there are big ruined cities over that way - but we don't go there because of the undead). I think it mostly exists to excuse the non-medieval way of speaking and some of the modern mind-set than anything else. The ‘Wastelanders’ look like stand-ins for the American Indians, the way that they were treated by the settlers back then, as not really considered ‘human’ by the settlers of the time. And, there are only two times when guns were even brought out, so it does not really feel like a western style book.

In the last quarter of the book lots of things are condensed, like the establishing of his city, and the big battle - but not the ‘claiming’ his wives properly. That gets a lot of attention and detail.

So, that’s my take on the book. If there is another book, I'll get it, but I am not going to worry about it if there isn’t.