Ashen Lands by Tess Manchester

A punchy post-apocalyptic horror with action-packed Western vibes

Civil war has ravaged Randall Colt’s homeland. Whatever damage the country didn’t manage to inflict on itself was swiftly dealt by other predatory nations, seeking to pick over the scraps that were left. In the ensuing wasteland, small communities have popped up. Defended from scorchers and raiders by desperate residents, these isles of refuge offer scant protection from the horrors outside.

Randall Colt is on possibly the most important mission of his career. The delivery of a package that may finally unify his devastated land. When he stumbles across an attack on one of these communities, en route, a split-second decision may jeopardize everything he has been working toward. He saves two women from the scorchers. Now, he needs to keep them alive and still make the deadline for his delivery.

Ashen Lands is a post-apocalyptic novella set in a world where civilization has collapsed and the survivors are trying to claw back a semblance of normalcy. For some, this means creating an entirely new life with new rules. For others, it means trying to build the old one from residual scraps. With the constant dangers and urban wasteland setting, this would appeal to anyone who enjoys zombie apocalypse stories, but it also emits a nostalgic Old Western feel as well. 

For a quick escapist read, Ashen Lands is second to none. It’s fast and punchy with almost non-stop action. Despite the sparsity of prose, it sets up and executes an idea brilliantly. The characters are richly layered, hinting at far more substance than the novella allows. The setting is tensely atmospheric, traces of violence on every horizon. Every word in these pages works toward selling this hostile world and the dangerous people who inhabit it.

While vibrant, the world in Ashen Lands doesn’t quite add up sometimes. Scorchers go around burning everything and everyone who gets in their way. Scoundrels set themselves up in tunnels to attack, and presumably rob, anyone passing through. The motivations here are difficult to surmise. There are entire intact shopping malls stocked with food and clothing that lay empty and abandoned, so why would anyone rely on tunnels? What do the Scorchers get out of razing places rather than looting them or commandeering them? In such a gripping story, it’s an inconsistency that is difficult to overlook.

Ashen Lands is a terse, action-packed ride that will satisfy anyone looking for a quick single-day thriller. Fans of zombie movies or Book of Eli will enjoy this stark and inhospitable tale.