A Review of As I Walk These Broken Roads

I finished fellow alt-right blogger Aurini’s new novel, As I Walk These Broken Roads, and have found myself thinking about it a lot. I really enjoyed it, and I think a lot of the enjoyment came from it being set in a post-apocalyptic world, where the greater social order has collapsed, and all that is left are small communities of people who know each other, and are un-trusting of outsiders.

At this point in real life history, it seems as if anything could happen. One seemingly likely outcome is a collapse of confidence in the currency, making the only effective commerce direct barter, gold, or some other agreed upon store of value. This would make value transactions over long distances difficult. If that happens, Aurini’s visions of traveling merchants engaging in face to face commerce, armed guards, and all sorts of dangerous characters intent on mayhem may get real in a way we can’t presently imagine.

We are “the apes that tell stories” for a reason. We have evolved to enjoy seeing a story painted in our mind by a good story teller, because those of us who perked up and listened to the stories, learned valuable information which gave us advantages later. As Aurini hooks us on his heroes, we become invested in their success. As we see the dangers they face, and the normal precautions they take when traveling out in a law-less badlands, we find our amygdalae triggered by the threats which present themselves, and then quieted by the security measures they take, and we file away the tricks and techniques they use. Someday, should we ever find ourselves in those situations, our amygdala will flag the dangers, and we will then be driven to use the same techniques, to steel ourselves against danger. To that end, As I Walk These Broken Roads is a deeply satisfying window into a world which may be all too real, very soon.

The book is more than an entertaining read, or a training manual to get us through the coming economic apocalypse though. Deep within the adventure story is a deeper philosophical exploration of how many humans live their lives, and yet fail to appreciate the totality of the world, and why. Many today don’t view life as an eternal quest for answers and understanding. They enjoy the machines, revel in the different personalities, partake of the fun, but never look for anything deeper, or strive to understand. Yet others, at the opposite end of the spectrum, spend too much time focusing on the technical aspects of life, rarely letting go and enjoying the moment. Once you notice it, you will see this in every aspect of life, from work, to family, to the study of martial arts, where only a balance of technical analysis of techniques, and flow in the moment can produce true skill in the art. Long after you put the book down, you will be looking at aspects of your own life through this prism, and trying to calibrate your own position on that spectrum of action and analysis.

Aurini gradually acclimatizes us to these concepts through the story of his two protagonists, and how they each fill in the other’s weaknesses, until the end when they each begin to see the world from the other’s perspectives. After the core concepts sneak up on you, the story drops the ideas it has been getting at all along, and you see it wasn’t just a fun ride.

I don’t want to give out spoilers, but I am looking forward to the sequel. If you are looking for a shoot em up adventure, a primer for surviving the coming Obamapocalypse, or just a deeper look at the human condition, then buy As I Walk These Broken Roads
– I strongly recommend it.