A B2Ops Book Review: Rohan Nation

Rohan Nation: Reinventing America after the 2020 Collapse. A Novel by Drew Miller; 583 pages. I read the book’s introduction and was immediately drawn to this story not unlike how Katniss drew me to The Hunger Games.

“ACE continued her slow, careful sweep of the valley with the night vision scope of her rifle. The first rays were oozing over Cuchara Pass, starting to reach the western, upper mountains of Forbes Park. Dark or light, anyone foolish enough to walk out in the open meadow valley would be easily spotted…………..She lifted the assault rifle up to her left ear and gazed through the scope at the dull green images. The low light scope was on maximum magnification. A soda straw view, but since ACE knew exactly where the threats would be, a narrow field of vision worked….”

The story opens with Ace, the seventeen-year old heroine  is standing sentry duty next to her horse, Prismatic. And it is their story, woven through the disaster of a post-apocalyptic world in which the horse is fundamental to the survival of the community. Your heart cannot help but be affected; this story of a community determined to survive will endear those wonderful creatures to you even more.. If I found any drawbacks, it was too much of the author’s input couched as “lessons” over meals and campfires about political / historical and governmental useless and tedious policies and regulations. Happily, much like some of the overly long monologues in Atlas Shrugged, these “lessons” can be skimmed at the reader’s discretion in order to get back to the story line, a story strong enough for me to overlook much of this.

The story’s battle to remain and stay free reinforces our instinctive knowledge that freedom will never, ever be free and that the price is substantial. All members of Rohan Nation’s community have a reborn daily purpose to produce, protect and live active lives. If marauders, murderers and thieves were not enough to constantly worry about, a tyrannical, post-apocalyptic government rears its ugly head and eventually, Rohan Nation must confront it. As the story draws down, life goes on, living in a new rebuilding world. Hero’s continue to teach for survival, a life worth living and planning against continued distant threats.

I would recommend this book. The author, Drew Miller, is a good story teller. If you are interested in learning of how life might realistically unfold in varying communities after a collapse, you will find this a believable story and gain insights into life now versus then.