Lord of Order

December 14, 2020
Riley (Comanche) presents a convincingly bleak vision of the future in his latest. Set at a time when “even the word country sounded archaic” given the disarray the United States has fallen into, the story is framed by an unnamed man taking his two children to a cemetery to tell them the story of a generations-old struggle within the cult that has taken over the government. After fundamentalist Christian Jonas Strickland was elected president, he wiped out all of America’s electronic technology in an event called the Purge. Now Strickland’s successor, Matthew Rook, plans a second Purge, killing all those he considers opposed to his regime. But his plan to convert New Orleans into a prison runs into unexpected resistance from Gabriel Troy, that city’s Lord of Order, after Troy learns that the mass incarceration is a prelude to a scheme to annihilate the city. The ensuing violence will be too gory for some readers, but those who stick with it will find Riley has a facility for fast-paced action that keeps the pages turning. Though the worldbuilding is a bit murky, there’s plenty to keep readers’ attention and enough questions are left open to make a sequel welcome. Those who like their dystopias especially gritty will want to take a look.

March 15, 2021
Set in the distant future, generations after the rise of the Christian cult known as the Bright Crusade and the neutralization of electronic technology, this dystopian SF story grabs the reader from its first sentences. The book is a major change from Riley's first novel, 2020's lighthearted Comanche: darker, with bigger themes and a more ambitious story. And it is a complete success. The future world is precisely detailed and plausibly extrapolated from today's world, and the plot, involving the Crusade's plan to assassinate all of its enemies in one fell swoop and the efforts of a local Lord of Order (what we might call a sheriff) to protect his citizens, effectively blends futuristic and contemporary sensibilities. (The idea of a national government targeting its enemies isn't as far-fetched as it might once have seemed.) With the one-two punch of Comanche and Lord of Order, Riley has established himself as an ambitious and versatile writer, and it will be very interesting to see where he goes next. SF fans, especially those with a dystopian bent, will certainly love this one.

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