Brittle Riders Book 1, by Bill McCormick

Right of the bat, Bill tells his readers the origin story of the Brittle Riders, and I find that quite refreshing. Especially the part about the first iteration (that has never seen the light of day, and all of us might be better off due to this fact), and how much drugs played into this first creation. While that story is not the one we’re reading here, it does explain a lot. It also kind of sets the stage nicely for what to expect.

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What fascinates me, though, is the fact that this story doesn’t feel as old as it actually dates back. The underlying theme of humans playing God by manipulating genetic material and the results of said experiments coming back to bite humanity in the bottom isn’t totally new, to be honest (I’m getting some Jurassic Park vibes here), but the presentation is. If the Jurassic Park franchise and the Planet of the Apes franchise had a lovechild, it would probably look like this.

Jurassic Park also wasn’t mentioned casually. If you’ve been around the block long enough (as I have), you’ll remember that the scientist in the original Jurassic Park made an error – they only created dinos of one gender, to prevent them mating. But some species on this earth can change their gender – some reptiles do it, clownfishes do it, too. In the case of brittle riders, those genetic experiments should all have died after ten years, but they simply shrugged it off as a flu. So apparently, genetic scientists get their job wrong all the time!

The subtitle – Apocalypses are funny that way – already tells you this will be quite a humorous read. To give you an example, the alien race of the sominid is described this way:

… they came to Earth for one reason: to party. Like good house guests anywhere, they brought their own brandy. Unlike good house guests, they destroyed the moon and killed tens of thousands of people. However, the incident was alcohol-related and not purposeful.

The question of what genre this book belongs to is not so easily answered. There’s a dystopian edge to it, certainly, but that’s more of an added adjective to the genre, for which I will probably settle on Epic Fantasy with a touch of the Dark. Because, yeah, despite the genetic modifications, the world is more akin to an Epic Fantasy world, but everything is darker and grittier and dirtier, so it’s not High Fantasy.. Which would also be clear from the motley crew of, well, let’s call them heroes for lackment of a better term. Bandits would also fit the bill well. Come to think of it – Conan the Barbarian did occasionally battle some overlords without really being a good guy, so maybe Sword & Sorcery is the right genre, for certain definitions of sorcery.

But Epic Fantasy might really be the best description, because Bill made an error that all authors of Epic Fantasy are prone to repeat: he created a whole new vocabulary. It’s in the appendix, which – despite it’s name – comes before the story. And this really is a point of critique, because it’s force feeding the reader with the world building in a way that ensures the reader have forgotten the information faster than they can read it. Yes, that’s happening, and it shouldn’t be. That’s the one thing where the story shows its age, because back in the eighties, that kind of Fantasy was all the rage.

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All in all, I think this is kind of a funny read, but it cannot really hide that it started life as a drug fueled story back in the eighties. I would go with 4 stars, but really, all that new vocabulary makes it oftentimes confusing to read, so let’s go with 3.5 stars. If you aren’t afraid of that – and you like some dark humor – then this might just be what you’re looking for!

Disclaimer: I’ve received a free Advanced Reader’s Copy and am leaving this review voluntarily.