The Savage Horde

The Survivalist #6

by Jerry Ahern

Survival in a hostile boat-apocalyptic world

The sight of the sunken remains of San Francisco is a grisly reminder of the Night of the War: the horde of half dressed savages waiting on the shore, a deadly example of the madness of this brutal post holocaust world. Surrounded now by murderous madmen and threatened by a mysterious officer who has been travelling with him, Rourke must call on all his training to escape and continue the search for his family.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic, Fiction, Adventure, Action, Science Fiction, Dystopia

208 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Jerry Ahern (born Jerome Morrell Ahern) was a science fiction and action novel author best known for his post apocalyptic survivalist series The Survivalist. The books in this series are heavy with descriptions of the weapons the protagonists use to survive and prosecute a seemingly never-ending war amongst the remnants of the superpowers from pre-apocalypse times.

Ahern was also a firearms writer, who published numerous articles in magazines such as Guns & Ammo, Handguns and Gun World.

Jerry Ahern passed away on July 24, 2012 after a long struggle with cancer.

Ahern also released books under pseudonym Axel Kilgore.

Reviews

[Carl Timms · Rating 3 out of 5]

Glorious trash. This book has almost zero plot: Roueke gets on a submarine and then ends up fighting 'wildmen', like brigade but with more animals skins. That's the entire plot. Sure there's a few bits of set up for the grander sci-fi elements of this mental series, but that is it otherwise and it just ends, as if Ahern simply rab out of page to write on. Not even a cliffhanger.

one realisation though, there's a potential drinking game here that could get you mote drunk than you've ever been in your entire life if you were so inclined so here it is:

Drink every time you read the following:

- Brigand
- Detonic .45
- Sting IA
- CAR-15
- Mag-na-ported
- Ahlessi shoulder rig
- Pachmyr grip
- Rourke ejects the top round of a magazine for good gun safety
- Rourke thinks about how he's in love with two super hot women
- Sarah thinks about how manly her husband is
- Paul yelling 'counterfeit rebel yell'
- someone says 'Night of the War' with caps
- Varakov wiggles his toes
- Varakov looks at mastodon
- Varakov eyes up his pretty secretary

Guaranteed to get you blind drunk in 20 pages!

[Steve · Rating 2 out of 5]

Typos galore

The number of typos, from converting to digital format, is very distracting. This should be an easy fix on the publisher’s part. These books continue to be what they are, full of unnecessary weapon descriptions and bad dialogue. ‘Pumping’ a trigger is not how a firearm is fired.

[Jan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Old school pulp fiction at it's best. Bad dialog, over the top characters and plot holes you could drive a truck through. Very enjoyable!

[Mick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good series

I have enjoyed reading this series since it first came out. I did notice a lot of grammatical/spelling errors this time rereading.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Część szósta przyjemnego odzwierciedlenie kina akcji w klimatach postapo z czasów filmów na kasetach wideo.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Michael gets MVP of this series and he’s only 10.

[Joseph B · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Savage Hoard continues the Survivalist series; reuniting our trio and delivering a thrilling escape that includes nuclear submarines, savage zealots, and plenty of action. John, Paul, and Natalia are together once more and opted by U.S. 2 for a mission to retrieve nukes. During this mission, they encounter "Wild Men" in the area and have to deal with that threat. John's family also has a subplot; with Sarah thinking she has found temporary safety only for it to be shattered. Overall this entry does shift things forward and feels like we are building towards something.

Solid 3 out of 5 stars. 4 out of 5 stars for pulp fans.

Note: This review was edited in 2024 after a re-read with expanded perspective and a clearer critique.

[Nicholas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too much to say about this one. Rourke still looking for his family, stupid apocalypse getting in the way, his family is still boring as hell to read about, and he's still stuck with the Russian lady that he also loves but won't (rightly) do anything with. Engaging enough read, but not anything heavyweight for sure.

[Little Timmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my favorite adventure series. Dr John Thomas Rourke leads his family and friends through a post apocalyptic world fighting ever step if the way. Fantastic characters and plots. Very detailed weapon descriptions. Excellent series. My highest recommendation

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

See my review under "Total War," Survivalist Book 1.

[Ron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Post-apocalyptic pulp goodness.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 3 out of 5]

see book 1

[Dan Panke · Rating 3 out of 5]

And so, the series continues... This book seemed rather pointless as there's simply a lot of killing and not much happens.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was fun easy reading in my teens. Would actually like to pick one up again and see what I think now. :D

[jayne flatt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Briliant

Read nearly all the books I can find about six times and still enjoying reading the again . I can't get enough of them . Found new ones on kindle cannot wait to read them