I had a good time with The Zona, recommended by Richard. Gritty, neo-western post-apocalyptic tale laced with religious zealotry. It features ‘'Preachers'’, young men who the church sends out into the ravaged southwest U.S. to kill people perceived as threats. Our main character "Lead", is a twenty-six year old Preacher who goes from dire circumstances to worse. He starts doubting the church and his role, and wonders whether the tales of a better place, called "New Pueblo" are true. His travels through the Zona introduce us to various bands of thieves, hallucinogen worshippers, victims of radiation, terrorized survivors, and so on, as well as to horrifying church practices and emissaries. One of the worst of the latter is heartless crusader Eliphaz, who has made it his mission to take down Lead. Capably written and cinematic, with an ending that felt just right. ( )

Book Info: Genre: Post-apocalyptic
Reading Level: Adult
Recommended for: fans of dark post-apocalyptic fantasy
Trigger Warnings: religious persecution (by which I mean the persecution of people by religious dogmatics), torture, murder, killing, violence

My Thoughts: I decided to go ahead and read this book after reading Automatic Woman and liking the writing style. This is a very dark book, but a most engaging one. I was impressed by the author's ability with description; each scene was sharp and distinct in my inner eye. This would make an amazing movie.

A lot of this book is basically about man's inhumanity to man, about what happens when power-hungry dogmatics take control and continue to live by the old memories. The destruction of the peaceful people by religious nuts who remember how things used to be and use those old memories rather than learning if things have changed made me furious.

There's some interesting ideas put forward in this book. Like this one:
“Church and God ain't the same thing. From what I know, God's perfect. The Church makes mistakes... God's about order, Church is about power, as best as I can figure, to be against one is not to be against the other.”

Then also: “Good people will outlast the rule of the Church. No rule of law lasts for long, and there is nothing that can wholly destroy the good and evil that lives in man. It's ours to own for the duration of time and whatever exists beyond.”

A common problem with all Curiosity Quills publications is a problem with editing. I have yet to read a CQ book that is well edited, which is a shame because they put out some really excellent books and stories that some people will refuse to read due to the haphazard editing. In this book there was a lot of problem with homonyms, such as “shown” for “shone”, and missing and extra words. I would recommend CQ find some good freelance editors to supplement their editorial staff, which should improve their overall reputation. If you aren't bothered by editing errors, if you're willing to look beyond that and enjoy a really good story, you really can't go wrong with a CQ book, however. This one I would recommend to anyone interested in post-apocalyptic dark fantasy, especially as relating to how religious zealots can make things that much worse. I really enjoyed the book, but it was a downer. I need to find something light and cheerful to perk myself back up.

Disclosure: I picked this book up for free on Amazon. All opinions are my own.

Synopsis: The Storms came, and with them disease and blight like mankind had never experienced. Most died, and those who didn't were quick to scramble for weapons, wealth, and control. Petty lords gave way to new societies, and from the ashes of old came the Reformed Arizona Theocracy, or simply put, the Zona. The laws are simple, all sins are punished swiftly and violently. The enforcers, otherwise known as Preachers, roam the lands hunting disgraced men and women. But what happens when Preachers stop killing? What happens when men of honor take a stand against their rulers? ( )

2.5/5

Ambientazione post-apocalittica, Arizona. Del vecchio mondo non resta più nulla se non cadaveri di auto e sacchetti di plastica (ma proprio una marea di sacchetti, sono ovunque), il nuovo mondo è governato dalla follia religiosa in cui i predicatori convertono sostanzialmente uccidendo il peccatore ma sono a loro volta giudicati dal corpo dei Crociati, ancora più cattivo e spietato.
Il romanzo segue il predicatore Lead e il suo incontro con Terence che gli farà mettere in dubbio tutti i valori in cui credeva.

Ora passiamo a cosa non funziona in questo romanzo.
Innanzitutto l'ambientazione post-apocalittica sa di già visto, è un misto tra il famosissimo [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] e altri romanzi post-apocalittici come [b:The Old Man and the Wasteland|11168429|The Old Man and the Wasteland|Nick Cole|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303332641s/11168429.jpg|16005697]; la componente religiosa ricorda invece [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975].
La storia non è particolarmente coinvolgente, anche perchè Lead è un protagonista dalle poche decisioni.
Purtroppo quando si scrive in un genere così specifico come quello di sf post apocalittico bisogna tenere conto degli altri romanzi del genere per creare qualcosa di nuovo.

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2.5/5
Post-apocalyptic setting, Arizona. The world is changed and nothing remains of the past excepts car shells and plastic bags (a lot of plastic bags actually, they are everywhere). The new world is ruled by the religious madness and the preachers convert (more or less by killing) sinners; however they are judged by the Crusaders, a merciless force.
The novel follows the preacher Lead in his encounter with Terence that will bring doubts and lack of faith.

Now I have to explain what does not work (in my opinion).
Overall this post-apocalyptic setting is similar to the one presented in other novels like the uber-famous [b:The Road|6288|The Road|Cormac McCarthy|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1320606344s/6288.jpg|3355573] or like [b:The Old Man and the Wasteland|11168429|The Old Man and the Wasteland|Nick Cole|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1303332641s/11168429.jpg|16005697], while the religious component made me think about [b:A Canticle for Leibowitz|164154|A Canticle for Leibowitz|Walter M. Miller Jr.|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1329408540s/164154.jpg|250975].
The plot is not entirely involving, especially because Lead is not quite a leader himself but he kind of follows more strong ideas/people.
Unfortunately a so specific science fiction genre like this one requires to take into consideration what was written before in order to build up something original, in this specific case this was not fulfilled.
( )

Post-apocalyps religious thriller with some stark horror elements .. bit too much into the gore and detail for my taste, but cleverly written ( )

The Zona is the story of Lead, a Preacher in what was once Arizona - before the storms that changed the world forever. Floods, tornadoes and plagues have resulted in the US being torn apart and remade by warring factions, and in Arizona the ruling class are the Preachers.

This is an intense post-apocalyptic book with vivid imagery and rough, tough characters - which aren't exactly likeable but either had me sympathising with their battles or appalled by their lack of humanity.

It did take me a while to work out exactly what was happening, and why, but once I had that down, I literally tore through this book - the story is controversial and grotesque, the world-building is amazing and the writing is captivating. As the histories of the main characters are gradually revealed, their actions and feelings are, in a way, justified and understandable - in particular I came to appreciate the suffering and conflicts of Lead as the story progressed.

The Zona is the type of book that is easily, if somewhat uncomfortably, consumed in one sitting. If you are looking for an intense read, with a unique story and some shocking revelations about how humans adapt, try The Zona - it's now one of my favourite post-apocalyptic reads of 2012! ( )