What do you think?
Rate this book
Deathlands #10
Northstar Rising
Northstar Rising by James Axler released on Oct 24, 1997 is available now for purchase.
352 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published November 1, 1989
7 people are currently reading
163 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
October 3, 2025
Condition: Poor. The covers of the Deathlands books have a tendency to, for whatever reason, become brittle over time and prone to breakage. I’ve lost the front top and bottom right corners from this one from what I would call innocuous bumps. The text is readable but I plan to acquire a replacement for this one when possible.
The final Deathlands book of the 1980s is an unfortunately hacky entry that seems to function merely as an entry point for a new permanent party member but accomplishes little else. Transported to Minnesota, the team acquires unfrozen caveman doctor Mildred before winding up in a ville themed after… Vikings? The usual stuff happens: team is captured, gets in some fights and then in a shaky truce with the locals, pulls off a daring escape just in time. The repetitive structure is not the problem- this is a pulp series after all- but rather that there’s very little relation between its various parts (like Crater Lake) all over again. Mildred’s setup is interesting, her cryo facility being a smaller part of a larger botanical research facility that has collapsed after the nuclear attacks, radically chemically altering the local flora and fauna, resulting in a tense escape from massive, flesh-eating ants in a clear nod to Them! This is all fun, but afterward, we pivot to the Viking themed village where things largely fall apart. Outside of the sports reference and the offhanded Scandinavian heritage of the Great Lakes region, there’s no reason provided for the ville to have adopted Viking identities, and the actual results of that are no more interesting: tests of strength and courage, pagan sacrifices, the usual haughty sexism- in short, nothing we haven’t seen before.
Beyond the shortcomings of the plot, though, the writing here feels unusually sloppy. Mildred’s induction to the group results in petty squabbles between her and Doc Tanner, radically out of character for the latter, and Mildred is given surprisingly little to do in her introductory book. While she seems like a fun character, and provides an important additional female cast member after the death of Lori (RIP best girl,) she’s given very little time to shine. Hopefully this gets resolved later. The material in the Viking village is all stock Viking tropes and stereotypes without any depth to give it some extra bite. In short, it’s Deathlands going through the motions; not terrible, but certainly in a substantially lower tier of quality for the series.
https://hideousrecollection.substack.com
The final Deathlands book of the 1980s is an unfortunately hacky entry that seems to function merely as an entry point for a new permanent party member but accomplishes little else. Transported to Minnesota, the team acquires unfrozen caveman doctor Mildred before winding up in a ville themed after… Vikings? The usual stuff happens: team is captured, gets in some fights and then in a shaky truce with the locals, pulls off a daring escape just in time. The repetitive structure is not the problem- this is a pulp series after all- but rather that there’s very little relation between its various parts (like Crater Lake) all over again. Mildred’s setup is interesting, her cryo facility being a smaller part of a larger botanical research facility that has collapsed after the nuclear attacks, radically chemically altering the local flora and fauna, resulting in a tense escape from massive, flesh-eating ants in a clear nod to Them! This is all fun, but afterward, we pivot to the Viking themed village where things largely fall apart. Outside of the sports reference and the offhanded Scandinavian heritage of the Great Lakes region, there’s no reason provided for the ville to have adopted Viking identities, and the actual results of that are no more interesting: tests of strength and courage, pagan sacrifices, the usual haughty sexism- in short, nothing we haven’t seen before.
Beyond the shortcomings of the plot, though, the writing here feels unusually sloppy. Mildred’s induction to the group results in petty squabbles between her and Doc Tanner, radically out of character for the latter, and Mildred is given surprisingly little to do in her introductory book. While she seems like a fun character, and provides an important additional female cast member after the death of Lori (RIP best girl,) she’s given very little time to shine. Hopefully this gets resolved later. The material in the Viking village is all stock Viking tropes and stereotypes without any depth to give it some extra bite. In short, it’s Deathlands going through the motions; not terrible, but certainly in a substantially lower tier of quality for the series.
https://hideousrecollection.substack.com
September 20, 2024
Deathlands #10 Northstar Rising is a pivotal entry in the overall Deathlands saga. It introduces the character of Dr. Mildred Wyeth, a character longtime readers recognize as a permanent addition to the companions (not a spoiler to followers of the series, minor spoiler to new readers).
Interesting setting of a Norse themed "ville". Full of characters with Norse-themed names like Erik Stonebiter, Sigurd Harefoot and the like. The ville lives according to old Viking values and mores. The inhabitants view albino Jak as a god incarnate and Mildred (who is black) as an evil witch. The story lies in how to extricate the whole group out of the ville intact.
This book sets the core of the companions for the rest of the series run. And a good run it was; 125 books. As always, Deathlands are not literary giants full of redeeming social value or social commentary. They are over the top graphic depictions of a post- apocalyptic wasteland (one of my favorite genres).
Graphic? Yes! Still good escapism. Enjoy!
Interesting setting of a Norse themed "ville". Full of characters with Norse-themed names like Erik Stonebiter, Sigurd Harefoot and the like. The ville lives according to old Viking values and mores. The inhabitants view albino Jak as a god incarnate and Mildred (who is black) as an evil witch. The story lies in how to extricate the whole group out of the ville intact.
This book sets the core of the companions for the rest of the series run. And a good run it was; 125 books. As always, Deathlands are not literary giants full of redeeming social value or social commentary. They are over the top graphic depictions of a post- apocalyptic wasteland (one of my favorite genres).
Graphic? Yes! Still good escapism. Enjoy!
July 3, 2019
Minnesota Vikings, heh. This one did have a special interest for me because I live in northern MN. Probably not my favorite in the series, but it has it's charms. They unthawed a new character that might be really annoying or pretty good, time will tell. I think she'll be around for a while though.
Still a great light book to go between the heavier books I read or listen to.
Still a great light book to go between the heavier books I read or listen to.
September 17, 2017
Nice introduction of a very interesting character.
December 10, 2019
Decent read. Lots of action. =)
August 26, 2024
Another great read in the Deathlands series, this time with Vikings.
January 31, 2011
Audio Book Tape. I enjoyed listening to the story. After losing one of their team on the previous novel, they pick up a new member. They face another Baron and his faithful followers, muties and mutants.
February 28, 2011
GOOD SERIES
Read
June 8, 2011would not recommend
September 2, 2014
A little to full of flashbacks. Doc being off his rocker and stupid in the 1900's agaist a high strung African American was funny for a second, then annoying. As hell. She needs to die.
January 26, 2016
An average apocalyptic adventure story. This one takes a century after the last war and now there are mutants running around the earth. Recommended
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews