DNF at 35%

Hitchhiking Through Fire tells the mostly uninspiring story of Huxley, a boy lost in the post-apocalyptic wasteland that was once the world. As post-apocalyptic stories go, this one is pretty cut-and-paste. The world has recently ended, so that the elder generation still remembers the time before. There’re infected, like zombies, or sub-humans, that got this way because of a virus—and that’s all anyone knows about it. I’m disappointed to say that I called the events up to my stopping point, and I didn’t even have to look at the synopsis.

Right off the bat Huxley’s dad is bitten by infected and dies. Some badass is nearby and takes the kid away, but refuses to keep him around because of his own shady and mysterious past. He drops Huxley at some orphanage, only for a mob to attack the place looking for whatever it is the guy left with Huxley, but the boy escapes, whereupon he braves the world until he can meet up with the badass again and—I stopped paying attention.

Maybe it would’ve been an okay story, but I found it way too cliché. Not new, or inventive. Not much detail, too many questions left unanswered. The dude ditches his wind-ship for Huxley’s dad’s pedal-bicycle for no explained reason. And we forget about it. The writing style lacks feeling, the writing lacks depth—it just… it didn’t work out.

Fast, loud, violent, and furious. The story moves at a breakneck pace rarely allowing a reader to relax. It works well as a page-turner, although I can't say I've developed any meaningful attachment to characters. A solid book.

Brent McKnight writes a rough dystopian world in Hitchhiking Through Fire. The book is atmospheric and intense. Also, entertaining!