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the unnamed protagonist reminiscences back to the day he first met Gonzo, and his path through high school, college, and then joining the military. The book recounts his relationship with
Elizabeth Soames, whom he meets as a youth studying martial arts under the tutelage of Master Wu. Wu's school, the Voiceless Dragon, is the mortal enemy of a band of ninjas called the Society of the Clockwork Hand. In the end, the story comes back to the opening passage and the effort to extinguish the burning pipeline, which turns out to be maliciously connected to enemies that Gonzo and the protagonist have been dealing with for many years, and to evil plans by Jorgmund itself. Gonzo and others close to the protagonist are kidnapped, leading to a final confrontation, the revelation of the horrors being the manufacture of FOX, and the final resolution of the long battle between the ninjas and the Voiceless Dragon.
189:. It tells the story of the unnamed main character and his best friend, Gonzo Lubitsch, and their experiences during and after "The Go-Away War", a conflict that reduces the world population to 2 billion. The "go-away bombs" and similar weapons used by the belligerents were designed to make anything subjected to them cease to exist, leaving no carnage or wreckage behind. The weapons, however, produced an unanticipated after effect. The matter that had "gone-away" was still there but merely stripped of the information which formerly differentiated and defined it. This "Stuff", as it is called, floats around the world in great storms and pools in various locations. When it comes into contact with people, a process referred to as "reification" occurs. The Stuff takes the form of whatever those present are
212:, praised the novel saying that it "leaves the reader gasping for both adjectives and description. It’s a powerful and accomplished first novel that weaves elements of romance, mystery, SF/F and -- yes -- thriller together in a way that leaves no doubt that the master storyteller gene really is something that can be passed along." She also said "Harkaway's style puts me a bit in mind of the very best of
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The story begins with the characters in the "Nameless Bar". The company they work for, the
Haulage & HazMat Emergency Civil Freebooting Company is hired by Jorgmund to extinguish a fire that has broken out on the Jorgmund pipe itself, endangering what remains of humanity. As the company sets off,
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about. The results are often horrific. Apparitions, as well as whole beings, appear out of nothing. Such people become known as "the new". To combat the Stuff, the war's survivors rely upon a substance called "FOX" which is produced by
Jorgmond, a corporation that, for all intents and purposes,
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is a bit like spending a week with a hyperactive puppy: there are delightful moments aplenty, but it's slightly wearing over the long run. Still, any author who has come up with the beautifully silly plan of melding a kung-fu epic with an Iraq-war satire and a Mad Max adventure has to be worth
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functions as the only governmental authority by virtue of the constant and universal need for their product. FOX is delivered through "the
Jorgmund pipe", which snakes around the globe and permits the population to live in a thin ribbon of habitable land banded on either side by wasteland.
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turned truckers that collectively make up the 'Haulage & HazMat
Emergency Civil Freebooting Company'. The story largely focuses on the lives of the narrator and that of his best friend, a member of the company.
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saying "but amid the chapter-long digressions and manic proliferation of characters, the narrative threatens to collapse under the weight of its own excess. Words clearly come easily to
Harkaway (his father is
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story set in a post-apocalyptic world crippled by the 'Go-Away War'. The book was first published in June
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is an impressive feat of imagination and a wildly exuberant ride."
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