The author, Weber, clearly wrote this novel to sell his ideologies. Every character, and the plot itself, fulfills the exact stereotypes designed to evoke many of the fears, ideals, and expectations espoused by (American) Republicans. Since each character is so monochromatic, lacking any depth or complexity, one easily predicts their actions as each new situation unfolds. Like in any children’s story, all good guys are good, and all bad guys are bad.
Would you be surprised that the book starts off with a having a trespassing Mexican get shot dead? Or, if the villains are corrupt government officials and bureaucrats, who immediately start stealing peoples’ land after a deadly virus causes society to collapse? You may pick up on a theme when these corrupt officials hire Mexican goons to enforce this land grab. Later, they ally with a Mexican drug cartel in order to bring in extra fire power to get their way. As a bonus, we learn that apparently “Mexican” and “Spaniard” are equivalent terms.
Now it will be important to overlook the reality that the U.S. definitely stole land from Mexico, some of which eventually became the state of Arizona. Long before that Spanish conquistadors stole the land from Natives Americans. Forgetting these facts, you can then proceed freed from any questions about the logic or morality of the argument that because our protagonist’s family settled the land prior to Arizona receiving its statehood, the protagonist is therefore allowed to ignore new Arizona laws demanding that he share his water with the rest of the town. Instead he is justified in murdering trespassers and using as much violence as necessary to defend his land.
Now allow me to allay any fears that this might be one of “those” books that just have female characters that play some role in the plot without commenting on their looks. I mean how frustrating! How is one supposed to ascertain whether or not they’re supposed to care for these female characters? Luckily, this book doesn’t leave you wondering. Weber conveniently has all of the good gals also be beautiful and sexually available. Even the protagonist’s daughter is 21, single, gorgeous, and has already returned home where daddy can protect her; not that this is relevant in any way to the plot. Also, let me assure you that our patriarch protagonist holds the spotlight the entire time – women are only there to prove what a great guy he is.
After we are given poignant lessons on how anyone/everyone who is ever given things for free immediately becomes a freeloading moocher that then believes that they’re forevermore entitled to these handouts, it’s time to show that the protagonists can be charitable too. They encounter a desperate woman in need. But, how are we to know that it’s alright to give to her, and yet not have her turn into a welfare queen? Well, Weber has one character note that she’s actually quite attractive, but is hiding it, so as not to become a target in this dangerous world. This is a good start, but the clincher comes when we find out that she “speaks fully American” (not “English”). Probably, it would have been better if she spoke ‘merican. Nonetheless, with her credibility firmly established, we now know it’s safe to be charitable to her. Did you picture a white woman too?
Weber prudently realizes that he cannot just have his protagonist own solar panels, else one might mistakenly infer that he is pro-environmental (and nobody wants that). Thus, we’re told specifically that the protagonist just wanted to be independent, not wanting to rely on the public utilities. Again, this non-environmental reason for having solar panels is utterly irrelevant to the story, but we’re told anyway.
There are plenty more tropes, clichés, and stereotypes. Not to mention the many ways in which the main protagonist is way too perfectly prepared for a violent post-apocalyptic world (e.g., trained his dog for varying degrees of violence potentially given by silent hand signals, already has fuel preservatives at hand, owns the land with the best access to the underground aquifer, has family/friends who stored up unreasonable amounts of high power firearms and ammo). THIS BOOK IS NOT WORTH YOUR TIME.