I started my writing career reviewing Christian books, and my pay was that I got to keep the books. It was fair enough, as I was a young Christian and it helped build my Christian library. I specialized in Youth ministry books at that time. So, I’ve done a fair amount of book reviews in my life.
The new book Liberators by SurvivalBlog’s own Jim Rawles recently crossed my desk. Jim was kind enough to send me an advance copy of this, his latest book, which will be out October 21st. Like the other books in this series– Patriots, Survivors, Founders, and Expatriates, I couldn’t put down Liberators. It only took me two days to read through it. Jim didn’t ask me to review the book for SurvivalBlog, either.
{Warning: This review includes storyline spoilers.) One thing the reader of any of these books will quickly realize is that Jim lays out who all the main characters are in his novels right at the start of the book. I sincerely appreciate this, because it helps me keep all of the players in the game straight in my mind. Another thing that Rawles does, that I at first didn’t fully appreciate, is he goes into great detail on much of the gear that all of the characters use. At first, I will admit that I found this a bit frustrating, because I’ve been a prepper all my life; I know about this stuff and even wrote about it for two years, when I was the Field Gear Editor for SurvivalBlog. However, it dawned on me that those folks who are new to prepping couldn’t fully appreciate some of the gear mentioned in all the novels if Rawles hadn’t spelled out what it was and what it was used for. Great job, Jim!
Like the other books in this series, Liberators deals with the coming global financial collapse, and for now, all of these books are novels. Rawles has gone to great pains to lay out where everything takes places in his books– right down to naming roads, people, places, and things. Nothing is left to doubt about where everything is happening.
Another thing I like is that Rawles goes to great pains to list the strengths, as well as the weaknesses, of the characters in his books, and he also includes their backgrounds. Once again, the reader isn’t left wondering about things…no surprises!
For the most part, Liberators takes place in two areas, with the main one being in Canada, and the secondary one with a small group of survivors making their way across the USA to Idaho after the collapse. Many obstacles have to be overcome, especially for the small group in the USA, in order to reach their planned destination in Idaho. Nothing comes easy for them. The group in Canada are tasked with first fighting the French and then a much more difficult fight against the Chinese who invade Canada under the guise of being UN troops sent to help.
I have found, after reading all of Rawles’ novel, that I live the lives of all the characters in the book, when reading the books. I see what they see and do what they are doing. It is surreal to the reader. You are there, in the book. Once again, outstanding job, Jim. You brought all the main characters to life for the readers.
I won’t give away any of the details in Liberators. It’s too good of a read to not find out what happens for yourselves, but I will say that not everyone who is a main character lives in the end.
One thing I learned after reading all of these books is the fact that you aren’t just reading a novel. No! Instead, these are books designed to help you prepare for what is coming down the pike. They are actually survival manuals, cleverly disguised as novels. Jim shows you the gear needed, as well as the training needed, and planning, in order to survive what is coming our way.
For now and only for now, these are novels, but much of what is laid out in this series of books will more than likely come to pass, and in all likelihood things will get much worse than what is encountered by the characters in the books. One thing for sure is that if you live in or around any big cities, after reading this book and all of them in the series, you’ll want to seriously start thinking about getting away from any big city.
For now, this series of books are novels, for now…