Book Review: Judge Dredd - The Savage Amusement by David Bishop
Hey, Dredd heads, it's time for a book review. If this is your first time here, here is a quick catch-up. I’m Peps; I love all things Sci-fi, be it toys, games, books or comics; it’s my escapism. If it sounds like a little bit of you, follow along and check out all my fun pages.
Today’s title is, of course, set in the world of Judge Dredd. Published by Virgin Books in the 1990s (wow, it seems so long ago), I have managed to horde a few of these into my collection, and I'm looking forward to reading them all. If you have no idea about Dredd (for shame), I recommend reading some of my other pages to get an idea.
Title: Judge Dredd - The Savage Amusement
Author: David Bishop
Synopsis:
"It's election day in Mega-City One, Judge Death is leading the polls. He's running for mayor on the 'All Life is a Crime' ticket. But if the Psi-Judges predictions are correct, the Big Meg may soon be a crime-free zone.
Out on the streets, the city's top lawman is doing his job. A robot-torturing maniac has taken over Weather Control - but Judge Dredd can handle it. Then he finds out that a satellite housing development is heading straight for the ground, and someone has let the supervillains out of Iso-block 666. Meanwhile, a clone-killing virus is spreading through the ranks of the judges...
Even for Mega-City One, it's shaping up to be a bad day."
Review
First, wow, that's a considerable amount of detail and action in just one storyline. As I started reading the book, we were introduced to a mind-numbing number of characters and a vast selection of locations. Each has a critical part to play in the main story and is filled with many details. This had two effects on me as a reader:
It left me a little overwhelmed, as you have to absorb a lot of info quickly to keep up with the story.
It provided a natural background into how chaotic and crowded the Mega-City of the future is, and I loved that part of it.
The story is set during the reign of Chief Judge McGruder (the era I first started reading in 2000 AD, i.e., the 90s). It follows from the fallout of the Apocalypse War, Necropolis and the Zombie War. A lot of the city is in ruins, vast amounts of the populace are dead, and the Judges Department is stretched to breaking point. This helps to set up just how much on a knife edge Mega-City 1 truly is; with just one more major disaster, the city's structure could collapse. And the rule of Law would be over.
The book itself reads like a comic, if that makes sense. I have to say this is a positive as it's quickly paced and held my attention, which is quite the feat. Author David Bishop has done a great job of capturing the weird and wacky world of Mega-City One and its varied citizens. This book has sparked my imagination, and I'm looking forward to developing ideas or scenarios for my games.
My only negative point was that maybe too many characters were used in this story. And too many of the main characters from the comic was used, it's nice to have them there, but aren't there any other Judges? It was just something that felt more like filler than plot-driven writing, which is a shame.
Highlights of the book include the Quote headers at the start of every chapter, which I will post later. I also enjoyed the whole mayoral election, with characters ranging from Tony Tubbs to Country and Western singers and even a goat! I highly recommend this book; if you can’t find a paper copy, there is a Kindle. But be careful if you are new to the Dredd-verse. I recommend hanging off reading this until you are more accustomed to the comics. Otherwise, you may become lost in the radiated wastelands of the future.
