Dan and Fenrik's whacky hijinks continue as the search for a frozen scientist takes them into dangerous waters. But wait! Frank, Merith, and Killer from the previous book want their own subplot, and by God they're gonna get it! But wait! Erzulyn and a suit of sentient armor get to go on their own cosmic adventure! But wait! We also follow the exploits of villainous characters like Xulgog and the Nekroking! But wait! There's a talking sword too? Shit, I need a wiki to keep up with all these characters...
Whereas the previous adventure was heavily focused on Dan and Fenrik's journey, the second book in the 'Barbarians of the Storm' series, Atomic Beasts and Where to Kill Them, turns into the equivalent of what happens when your D&D players want to split the party and you end up with a slew of different adventure threads. Sometimes this kind of balancing act of wildly disparate plot threads can turn into a cumbersome slog, but author and noted Floridaman Rob Rimes is especially efficient in keeping the pace swift and all of the varying conflicts interesting.
And I mean, really, who the fuck doesn't want to read a sequence where a foul-mouthed koala bear goes on a Rambo-style murder spree against a bunch of slimy goblins?
However, I was somewhat surprised to find myself most drawn towards Erzulyn's plot thread and the journey through space and time she undergoes. While the author doesn't go overboard with it like a yawn-inducing doorstopper fantasy novel from the traditional publishing space, there is a significant amount of world-building added to Atomic Beasts... that was perhaps not as prevalent in the initial entry in the series. What I appreciate is that all of the additions to the setting, be they land, sea, or indeed otherworldly terrain, all feel like a natural extension of what was previously established in book one.
My review of Dan the Destructor mentioned the author's present tense writing style briefly, but I want to give you a snippet of the evocative prose you're getting when you crack open these books:
Frank, torn leather jacket flapping in the wind, cautiously walks towards the cavern, sword on his back, survival knife on his leg, sidearm on his hip, and sawed-off shotgun in his hand. The ground starts to elevate but the drake's tracks are still visible, as they lead up into the shallow cavern's mouth.
I don't often encounter this style of prose in the pulps I read, but damn, once you settle in to this series you couldn't imagine it being written any other way. Atomic Beasts... often comes across like a movie script to the most badass 1980's sci-fi/fantasy cinematic endeavor that never was. I'm sure if it was an actual film series, it would be cheaply made by Italian producers, filmed in the Spanish desert, have a cast of questionably dubbed Yugoslavian actors alongside a couple of random Americans in exile like Reb Brown and Cameron Mitchell.... and it would be fucking awesome.
I think my biggest gripe from the previous book in the series still exists here to a slightly larger extent. Atomic Beasts... feels incredibly episodic, which, yes, this goofy reviewer realizes this is part of an ongoing series and would be the author's intention. But it does mean that this individual entry has less opportunity to stand on its own with its own unique contribution to the series. The conclusion comes across like the ending to a weekly television serial with a number of characters in perilous situations. All I was really missing was the "SAME BAT TIME, SAME BAT CHANNEL!" narration. Again, this is not a major knock on the book or anything, just a caveat. While the 'Barbarians of the Storm' series definitely has pulp roots, this isn't like a Conan or... I dunno... a Mack Bolan - where one can drop in and out or read books out of order with little consequence. You buy book one, you're in this for the long haul, boyo.
Recommended.
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