Revolutions Per Mile Books in Order

Revolutions Per Mile is one of EE Isherwood's most unusual post-apocalyptic setups, and one of his most openly fun. Instead of centering soldiers, scientists, or families trapped in suburbia, it throws the spotlight onto teenage road couriers in a rebuilt farming nation. The world ended a couple of years earlier in war, plague, famine, and general collapse. What survived in the middle of the country had to reorganize fast, and one piece of that new order is movement.

Someone still has to carry things.

That is where Perth Hopkins comes in. She escaped the earlier waves of destruction with her father's high-performance car and eventually found a place in the safer interior, the so-called pony pastures. There, young drivers run courier routes between farming towns in old muscle cars, keeping communication and supply lines alive. It is a great hook because it instantly tells you what kind of series this is. These books care about speed, territory, skill, and the social rules of a world rebuilt around the road.

Perth wants more than the safer routes. She is drawn to the interstate, where the stakes go up and the older, tougher drivers take the dangerous runs. That makes the series part survival fiction and part coming-of-age story. Perth is not only trying to stay alive. She is also trying to prove she belongs in a harsher tier of this new society, one built on nerve, timing, and the ability to make decisions at speed.

The setting does a lot of the heavy lifting. Kansas and the broader breadbasket region matter because open roads, distance, weather, patrols, and choke points shape every decision. The Kansas Highway Patrol is not just background color. It is part of the pressure system. In a world where cars are lifelines, the people who control movement have real power. That makes even short trips feel political, not just adventurous.

The tone is lighter on doom than some of Isherwood's other books. There is still danger, but the series has a pulpy, kinetic energy. Engines matter. Reputation matters. Getting promoted from the safer lanes to the risky ones matters. The books know that fast vehicles in a broken world are inherently cool, and they lean into that without losing the survival edge underneath.

So if you want Isherwood in full ruined-America mode, this is not quite that. It is narrower, faster, and more road-focused. Read Post Apocalyptic Ponies first, then move into Post Apocalyptic Mustangs for a bigger taste of the same world. If Mad Max style motion sounds good but you still want a distinctly Midwestern, character-first take on the idea, this page is a strong place to start.