totally engaging

I thoroughly enjoyed the pace, the characters and became invested in their stories very quickly. This is a new new genre for me and I look forward to revisiting the disruption world in the future.

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I'd like to like this better...but a honest review

I'd really like to like this better, and perhaps for it's genre it's better than most recent attempts, but it's no Alas Babylon or Lucifer's Hammer or The Stand.

The End of the World as We know it books need to have more than a few chapters on the before/during event part. I want to know truly what a CME really does, or what a large asteroid strike really will do to the world, as WELL as the "after" part.
You can give people character so they aren't so plain Jane and stereotyped, my biggest problem was following who was who, where they were going, and why were they doing whatever they were doing, back and forth-- and it truly was confusing.

I also started and quit this book several times. Got bogged down at around hour 4 twice.
Kevin Pierce's voice is great, but sometimes with a lot of characters it can get monotonous. I've listened to other books he's narrated and enjoyed him a great deal as a narrator. But for whatever reason I kept starting and losing the story, and was about 18 hours in--when the Cajun Navy showed up, and they were great for that part of story. I've never been in the South but I live where Acadiens still live. (They were expelled from Nova Scotia...)

The skinhead convicts and gangbangers I could do without. Such stereotypical bad guys with weird names like Spike and Slash and Hand and I'm just making up names now... Once the A/C and refrigeration dies, a lot of those folks would die, too. 3 days without water, you are dead or close. Getting out of Super Max should still be reasonably hard. You need survival skills beyond turning on the tap or going to the corner store. Most city folk would simply be screwed in hot weather. (We're country people with a well)

The FEMA thing...well as a non conspiracy theorist, not my thing but there has to be a bad guy or 10. I'm not done the entire series yet, this review will likely change. Kinda lost who was doing what, with the exception of the Coasties who used rank to clue me in on who was speaking.
Honestly in 30 days would the entire world fall to wrack and ruin? Also, where the heck did the congressman go? I'm at hour 21 and last he was hiding in the valley with his injured son in book 1.(He show's back up in the 25th hour, and becomes quite important, so yay.)

Here's the problem with these books and not just this genre but also in Science Fiction--the writing is repetitive and formulaic, the battles are similar, everyone survives on MREs. No one really survives, they just collect stuff from all over. People, grow FOOD! That's how you survive an apocalypse where we're busted back 150 years, do what people did back then.p without any real ending, it's almost like the writers are paid by the word. A couple times I thought--there, end it there. But there usually isn't any great conclusion, just an ending. (I got the Omnibus so have all three back to back, half through 2) This is a problem, I guess to suck more money out of buyers, because a lot of these books should have been half the size and only a single book, not 3 credits.

Ok, finished the book and while it was a tough slog, I did enjoy it in the long run. At least they kind of addressed the growing food issue at the very last hour. I really appreciate the afterward by the writer, enough that I bumped up the story to 5. Wish it was a forward instead.

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1 person found this helpful

Narrator is EXCEPTIONAL!

The story is engaging… more on that later…

There is a lot of dialogue, with various characters, (some who only have a one time appearance) which can make it tough to follow who is speaking until it’s inserted somewhere… I imagine that looking at a page, and seeing the quotation marks and next line sentences spaced out accordingly, it would be easy to know ‘he or she said’ is about to be revealed, but while listening, you might assume it’s a different character until it’s stated (so the story might seem to jump for a second until you know who said what)… Of course there’s a good effort on the narrator’s part to distinguish one person from another, but with so many characters and conversations, I’d imagine it’s hard to assign unique tones to each character without starting to sound like a radio play.

I have about 20 or 30 audible books narrated by Kevin Pierce because he’s such an exceptional communicator; however, those books are stories about how crimes were solved, and don’t typically have loads of dialogue, so it is a little different project. I can’t imagine any other narrator doing a better job at presenting this fictional style of story and dialogue… if there are reviews that comment on the performance not being great- I would completely disagree, since the narrator did the best with how the story was written

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2 people found this helpful

Realistic and Authentic

One of the best stories I've read in decades, without contrived gimmicks, and silly unbelievable ideas. This was my first books by McDermott and I'm already downloading his others. If you're hesitating... don't.

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Glad I got it.

Not much for reviews as they can be way out of line with each different listener. Really enjoyed the book from beginning to end.
Kept me up some nights as I couldn't wait to hear what happened next. Well worth the credit.

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absolutely fantastic

a must listen if you are able to keep all the characters and storylines in order.

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Absolute incredible story.

Absolutely one of the best stories I’ve ever heard. No imagination needed as R.E. McDermott will have you in the story side by side with the characters, adrenaline pumping just as hard. The story is plausible and realistic and impossible to stop. This is a must have collection for any post apocalyptic fans as well as those who never gave the subject a thought. Very well written and complimented with a fantastic reader who truly does the books justice. 10 out of 5 all over in every way. My best recommendation ever. Made those miles fly by. Thanks Bob.

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A Disney Version of an Apocalypse Story

This series was a struggle to finish. The narrator falls flat; there is little distinction between the character voices unless they are different races, and he sounds just almost nervous or very slightly out of breath for much of the series.

There are some interesting moments in the plot, but for the most part this is such a good news story--where the protagonists succeed time and time again-- that I had a difficult time engaging emotionally with the characters. As far as the theme of apocalyptic fiction goes, this may suit a young person or perhaps someone who is accustomed to gentler themes. A good analogy is perhaps the comparison between Christian rock music and real heavy metal.

Bottom line, if you are already into this genre, give it a pass. Unless perhaps, if you have a hard on for boats. This series is overflowing with naval jargon and references.

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