Rating: 4 stars
The Go-Away War took the world apart piece by piece and left behind ravaged areas where new and unknown things come to life in what can only be described as Stuff. When the New emerge from the Stuff a whole new fight is on-hand for the survivors of the Go-Away War.
Until Jorgmund Corporation comes in with with their pipe full of Fox.
No one really knows what Fox is. All they know is that Fox fights back the Stuff. Jorgmund, with the help of Gonzo Lubitsch and other military survivors of the war, lay their pipe around the world. Civilizations begin to spring up around the pipe but Gonzo and the gang have moved on, forming their own trucking company and taking on whatever odd and dangerous jobs come their way.
Odd and dangerous like the fact that the Jorgmund Pipe is on fire. Gonzo's gang is called up to put out the volatile fire and that's where the real fun begins.
The unnamed narrator, and Gonzo's best friend, takes a giant swing back to where it all began in a sandbox.
From there the books rockets off on a random tangent that the reader knows will eventually make its way back to what is currently happening in the novel's world. Between points A and B though...
Polish beekeepers, the Voiceless Dragon, ninjas, cannibal dogs (and cannibal people), pirates, nubile student revolutionaries, soulless corporate machines, bifurcated people, and mimes. Let's not forget the mimes.
This book is so crammed with action that it's impossible to categorize it. It is on a truly awesome level of awesome. Everything seems to ricochet back and forth and side to side and you cannot predict what will happen next. My only sore spot is that the narration tends to ramble to the point that the reader can get lost and can't remember what the original point was. However, all it takes is a little backtracking to pick up the thread again.
And besides when you have mimes, ninjas, and cannibal dogs anything can be forgiven.
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Hardcover: 512 pages
Publisher: Knopf (September 2, 2008)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0307268861
ISBN-13: 978-0307268860