Review: Atmospheric, intriguing story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 20, 2011
Glynn James has done it again!  The Last to Fall (The Travels of Joseph Dean) is a fascinating glimpse into another, fascinating world that is somehow linked to our own.  The world is devastated, desolate, and ruined, full of danger and malevolent creatures.  Joe Dean, the protagonist, is a stranger who has made this dusty and barren world his own.  The story unfolds via conversations with his son, as he reveals that he is from another world and flashes back to a mission he accepted from a stranger in lieu of hanging himself.  As Joe is telling his son the story, he shows him some important places he discovered, and involves his son in his mission.Like the author's previous stories, The Last to Fall is atmospheric.  I was reminded of a cross between Mad Max and the Golden Compass...with a little bit of Clive Barker thrown in for good measure!  The author has an incredible imagination and talent for detailed, vivid description, and it is easy to envision the setting.  If you have not read the other stories set in the same universe, I recommend that you do so, perhaps before this story.  Although not a series, all the stories are linked by common characters, and The Last to Fall solves a mystery encountered in Chasing Spirits.  Diary of the Displaced is the first novel set in these worlds, and is good to read to set the stage.  Plus, it is a wonderful, surreal, interesting story, too!It's good that the subtitle of this book is "The Travels of Joseph Dean #1", because that means that the story will continue.  I'm waiting - it's a world I would like to continue to explore.