The Savage Boy, by Nick Cole

In book 2 of Nick Cole's American Wasteland trilogy, The Savage Boy, we meet the Savage Boy.  He has no idea where he came from or who his family was.  For as long as he can remember, he's been under the protection and tutelage of Sergeant Presley, who has taught him how to survive in the American Wasteland.  Sgt. Presley picked up the Boy during his decades-long quest to travel from California to Washington, D.C., to find out what, if anything is left of the American government.  Finding nothing but ruins, Sgt. Presley and the boy have headed back west, but before they can make the final stretch into California, Sgt. Presley dies.

The Boy, along with his faithful horse, has to find ways to survive in a hostile world filled with hostile people.  He proves himself by killing a bear, and later by killing a threatening warlord.  He gets caught up in the siege of a village but escapes to work his way west to the San Francisco bay area.  Finally arriving there, he finds that the Army base to which Sgt. Presley wanted to report was long gone, and that a Chinese colony dominated the region.

Cole's portrayal of this post-apocalyptic future is bleak and all too realistic.  I couldn't help but cheer for the Boy, a teenager whose body bears deformities resulting from the nuclear remains of the war, but whose determination to survive overcomes his weaknesses.  Sgt. Presley has trained him well, preparing him to face the forces that constantly threaten the Boy's survival.  The Boy lives in the constant hope of finding a corner of the world that is not fraught with danger and evil, but he's constantly disappointed.  Even when he finds a path to happiness, evil won't leave him alone.

Cole's writing is intense and engaging.  The story is dark, but the the Boy's hope and determination are inspiring.  No matter how bad things are, he retains a hope that somewhere, someday, things will be better.