Soon after the action of Lena Gibson’s Switching Tracks (Train Hoppers Book 1), Elsa and her partner Walker take time for her to recuperate after a near-fatal fight. Unfortunately, she’s a wanted woman: GreenCorps wants her and her key to the ancient seed-vaults that survived the collapse of civilization. And so does Grady, the rebel leader who fights GreenCorps and hopes the seed-vaults will help build a more just, equitable society. The result is a rough-and-tumble sci-fi Western, in which a band of outlaws with thick skin and hearts of gold take on the powers that be for the good of the common people.
Beginning with a rare moment of quiet, THE LONG HAUL trusts the reader and pulls them straight into the story without belaboring the events of the last novel. There’s just enough time to introduce the key players (with choice nuggets of description like “the way he stood reminded Elsa of Caitlyn’s cat before she pounced”) and the central conceit (GreenCorps is an agricultural megacorporation that has converted its terminator seeds—which will grow into crops but won’t reproduce, forcing farmers to purchase more—into an oppressive political authority). Then the text launches into a sure-footed gallop that rarely lets up.
Author Lena Gibson has good instincts for storytelling. The text traverses a well-imagined post-apocalyptic world, but little time is spent on retelling the collapse of society, or even on plotting the rise of the current status quo. The story keeps its focus on the central conflict: people deserve food and water, large corporations want to turn a profit, and heroes will fight to defend the former against the latter. This reality is hardly limited to the post-apocalyptic future, so THE LONG HAUL describes it primarily through simple but effective descriptions of food and the natural world. The reader learns everything they need from how characters keep track of sunlight and shade in a valley versus open plains, or how they treasure fresh food and begrudge preserved or processed goods. This indirect but consistent storytelling is highly effective.
THE LONG HAUL does have a few issues. Though the prose is generally clean and confident, punctuation is misplaced in a few jarring instances, leading to comma splices (“Her instincts indicated that he was okay, still, she fretted.” and “The news wasn’t unexpected, nevertheless; it left her shaken”). At other times, clauses are linked poorly (“Walker appreciated her slim build, sharp tongue, and loved her how she was”). These errors rarely overwhelm the intended meaning of the text, but they do clash with the overall sense of care.
The larger narrative structure is energetic and strong, but it can also falter in some key moments. Much of the plot is a chase, and that tension pervades the text, but the action grinds to a halt near the climax. Moments such as a crucial legal hearing or the sharing of trust with a powerful new ally should enjoy similar emotional intensity—but instead the entire concluding episode feels rushed. THE LONG HAUL is excellent with action, but it doesn’t handle its drama quite as well. Nevertheless, the overall impression remains one of clear vision, strong prose, and relentless page-turning momentum.
Lena Gibson’s THE LONG HAUL has a self-assured prose style, sympathetic characters, and a plot with as much powerful momentum as the trains that tie its agro-capitalist dystopia together.
~Dan Accardi for IndieReader