Book Review: Empty Cities Of The Full Moon

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Empty Cities Of The Full Moon     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Howard V. Hendrix
Class/Genre:   Science Fiction   Medical
Ace, Aug 2001, $22.95, 448 pp.

In 2032, mankind learns the real meaning behind the saying "the road to hell is paved with good intentions." Medical researchers seeking a biological solution to mental illness engineered a special virus. However, instead of being a panacea, the virus destroys 99% plus of the earth’s population. Major cities like New York are annihilated as urban history is over. Most of those few who manage to survive the worst disaster in humanity’s existence are not the same. They have been changed into wer-people worshipping the full moon.

Thirty-three years later, a small group clinging to the technology of the past decides to learn what specifically caused the disaster three decades ago. They travel the eastern ghost towns of what was once BosWash and beyond. As they trek along America’s Atlantic Coast, no one knows exactly what they will find, only that the quest has begun.

EMPTY CITIES OF THE FULL MOON is a fantasy tale that employs scientific elements like a science fiction tale would use to trigger the catalyst that is the key to the tale. The story line predominately concentrates on two arcs (2032-2033 and 2065-2066), but also floats back to 1999 and 1966. The plot is not linear as the action shifts between decades, adding geometric degrees of complexity to an elaborate story. Though this is this reviewer’s first taste of a Howard V. Hendrix novel, it is not going to be the last as this book is reminiscent of the sterling Hiero’s Journey and The Unforsaken Hiero, but much more complicated.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner