this was a lot of fun to read, the characters were great and I really enjoyed the world and how strange it was.

This was a wild ride of a read! Motor racing and kaiju and lots of action! My only complaints are it was too short and not enough kaiju! Very enjoyable!

Wow. Teijouan only exists as a kaiju wasteland after the Rift that brings them opened. It is also the site of the Run, a race around the island.
Dutch is broken out of a Russian prison to drive the race again, but others would prefer her dead.
So Dutch mist stay alive, find her car for the Run, and find out what the real reason for her escape was.
A quick read.
A Rift, Kaiju, the Run, and assasins...
What's not to like?

Death Race is a classic theme in post-apocalyptic movies, but not as much in books. But Gibson aims to change that with this fast-moving and cinematic book. The heroine is sympathetic, the action is fast and fun. Read it, if you are tired of waiting for Furiosa.

This felt like a short book that wanted to be a long book. Or like a movie adaptation. It was fast-paced and exciting but I feel as if I barely got to enjoy anything before it was gone. It would be a heck of a movie, though.

[I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for an unbiased review.]

I received a free copy in exchange for an honest review from Netgalley.

So, this book was a trip. But honestly, I almost gave up in the beginning. This book presupposes that you’ve seen plenty of Japanese monster movies, and things like mad mad or death race. Really what this world is, which isn’t truly explained until a 80% point of the book, is a place where a time- space rift has opened allowing things to come through from else where- kaiju (think Godzilla and friends) from a science experiment gone horribly wrong.
You never find out why she was in prison, or what her full backstory is, and I’m not sure how I feel about that. What little I know of the main character makes her pretty badass, but this book could have easily been two or three times as long just by simply explaining things and filling in all those pesky gaps. But, in all, this was a fairly good read for what’s there. By the end you care enough about Dutch to want to see what happens next, but it’s a good ending even though we don’t.

Devil's Road feels like a throwback to the pulp fiction novels of the early to mid 1900's - the story moves along quickly and the characters act (almost) exactly as you'd expect them to. There isn't too much world-building, with Kaiju serving more as a background noise than the focus of the novel, and many of the characters that you would expect to be more impactful end up being one-offs, introduced and then discarded. Gibson does a nice job blending different types of stories; the blend of Kaiju and Death Race feels like a natural pairing, almost ready to be made into a nice summer action movie.

I’ve never read this author before, but I will in the future. Now, my thoughts on this novella are complicated and I’ll do my best to address them. First, this was very well-written, very descriptive, and the plot was interesting. Since this was a novella, I don’t feel we got to know the characters nearly as much as I would have liked. There was just so much potential there. But, alas, that’s hard to do in a shorter period of time. Now, the end. I’m not sure I liked the end. It’s a little…open-ended, and I would have liked to have known more. I can’t say much because of spoilers, but I can say it’s not a bad thing, just different. All in all, though, for a genre that isn’t in my top three, this was pretty good. Recommend.

Devil's Road by Gary Gibson, an engaging read for those fans who enjoy unexplained phenomena and dangerous car races.

What a wild ride! Devil's Road follows Dutch as she tries to win (or even just survive) a racing competition filled with monsters both literal and human. With sympathetic characters, a thrilling plot, and an engaging writing style, this book is perfect for fans of kaiju dramas, books about racing competitions, or even just someone looking for a great character-driven thrilling ride!

Thank you to Netgalley for providing an advanced copy in exchange for an honest opinion.

I liked this book more than I thought I would; it is exactly as described in the summary. The characters are okay, and the plot line was good. It is a short read, but I read it straight through. Strong female lead that seems different. The lore of the island makes you question every line and the character's pov. Great ending!

This was a very enjoyable book, lots of action set in a post apocalyptisch world where Dutch McGuire is broken out of prison to once again enter a dangerous race.
Not having much of a choice she agrees, but not all is as it seems. Since the book is only a 100 or so pages long you shouldn't expect a lot of character depth but if you like sci-fi and a strong female lead, you won't go wrong with this one. I would have happily read twice the amount of pages!

As a heroine placed rather on the villain side of the spectrum, Dutch participates in a death car race - addictive to those who have no feeling of belonging to this world - including destroyed cities, monsters and the therefore responible rift.

Fantastic book! Easy to read and full of adventure! I really liked this one because I could read it in the breaks at my university or even while I wasn't studying and wanted to take a break.

First, can we just pause to appreciate the awesome cover. I mean, how tragic would it be if a book with a cover like that turned out to be a dud. Well, rest assured, this definitely isn’t the case here. In fact, the book delivers all the high octane fun the cover promises. And as much as I don’t normally care for the descriptions that features this meets that or if this and that had a baby sort of thing, referencing other more famous works, here it actually works and accurately so. In fact, there are other titles they might have thrown in for good measure, but than it might have gotten clunky. And you want this thing streamlined, like a racing car. Although the kind of race this book features requires a very specific sort of vehicle. Not to mention a very specific sort of driver. Someone like Dutch, a tough street urchin who grew up into a daredevil speedracer and has now been freshly busted out of a Soviet prison to drive once again. Only this time it isn’t to win, it’s to find…something. A very special something on a very special island, populated by some pretty spectacular and very lethal monsters. Dutch’s fellow drivers are pretty lethal too. In fact, between the monsters and the assassins and all the mystery plots and subterfuge, it’s gonna be a nightmare of a ride. Well, a nightmare for Dutch, for the readers it’s actually a really fun ride. Far be it for me to advocate reading what is essentially an action driven monster mash flick, but this was actually surprisingly enjoyable. All the plot twists and secret agendas got to be too much at the end, but the actual narrative was great, very descriptive, fast paced and featuring some seriously imaginative monsters. In fact, for me it was less of an action movie, more of a creature feature. Although, of course, it is both. Plus it reads as quickly as Dutch drives, so it sped up in something like 125 minutes tops, one morning sitting and a pretty fun, fast and furious way to begin the day. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

3,5 stars

It was good, short read that I liked a little more than average. Though I wish It'd be alittle longer because in moments the action goes too fast when it could stop so we could learn a little more about characters. Still, the worlduilding is good, very imaginative and I really like a concept of fast cars and monsters. I had some issues, mostly personal, but I've read it in one go and I liked it.

Devil’s road is a crazy hybrid science fiction novel by author Gary Gibson.

Not too far in the future, a mysterious rift has opened in the middle of the asian island of Teijouan. Regularly, kaiju emerge of several types from the rift and roam the island, kept on it by a barricade of Japanese warships. The rift also emits a « derangement field », preventing electronics from working, and even having effect on the human brain after a too long exposure.

Corporations have taken the opportunity to organize a death race running all around the island, the Devil’s Run. Because money. To take home the big prize, competitors have to race classic mechanical cars, and avoid the rather hostile and somewhat deadly monsters, with a human navigator (using an actual paper map).

Dutch McGuire has never won the Devil’s Run, but not for lack of trying. She nonetheless managed to survive it more times than anyone else. Her racing days seem to be over, however, as she has been jailed by Russians for an heist turned sour. That is, until a billionaire offers her a way out. His terms : that she enters the race once more, not to win it, but to retrieve something on the island.

The description for the book states « Pacific Rim meets Fast & Furious ». That’s not exactly how I would put it. Readers as old as I am would probably get a better idea of the story if I was to write « Pacific Rim meets Wacky Races », with an hint of « Annihilation » in the mix. Indeed, the colorful racers, their pumped up cars, and their sneaky schemes reminded me more of the Hanna Barbera cartoon of old. With added assorted light and heavy weaponry. And then, there is the rift.

It’s hard to imagine what can be the result of such a mix and, actually, it’s hard for me to describe it differently without spoiling anything. Even more so, it’s easy to see how it could work as a B-movie or an animated one, but how it could be a recipe for literary disaster. Don’t let such thoughts deter you : It’s actually quite the opposite. I’ve been really surprised by this mesmerizing, pedal to the floor adventure. No time lost in lengthy exposition, explanation or philosophy. It’s a pedal to the metal read from cover to cover.

If you’re in for a quick, fun read, full of roaring cars and giant monsters (who wouldn’t be ?), I highly recommend this book.

Thanks to Brain in a Jar books and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for this unbiased review.