Time Castaways is the eighty-ninth book in the Deathlands series, set in what is left of The United States after a nucleur war. Ryan Cawdor and his buddies jump from their previous Matter-Transporter and end up straight in the frying pan when they find themselves on an Aircraft Carrier being hunted by an army of Killer Droids!

After narrowly making their escape, the group find themselves on a group of islands, allegedly shut off from the rest of the world. Their own little society has sprung up, torn between the attentions of two rival Barons, and, almost by default, Ryan and his friends find themselves thrust into the middle of it all.....especially when it becomes apparent that the secrets of the Gateways that they use to travel Deathlands, normally hidden deep inside Goverment Military installations, could well come out!

This is one of the more standard Deathlands novels, almost written, it seems at times, on auto-pilot with little here that is original or new. It comes to something that it is one of the few books with no author credit, even on the Fantastic Fiction website, suggesting that not even the author himself paticulary wants to accept responsibility. But lets get things straight: this isn't a bad book ....just very, very average compared to many of the others!

I have not given up on any Deathlands book yet, and I don't intend to start, but there were places here where I did get a little bored. It is a shame because generally this series has a lot more to offer. Unfortunately though by using a succession of several different writers, it is inevitable that the series is going to suffer! Why they can't just get two or three very decent writers and just stick with them I don't know!

Lets hope the series picks up again soon with the next book in the series, Prophecy, but I won't hold my breath.....