pretty good 2nd book

Any additional comments?

this shattered land picks up 2 years after the end of the 1st book. eric and gabe have been holed up at eric's grandmother's cabin in the mountains. they both begin to realize that they want more than just surviving. they decide to head to colorado springs, where what's left of the u.s. gov't has established a safe zone.

while hunting in one of the valleys around their cabin, eric and gabe discover a small family: tom, sara, and their 12 year old son, brian. the first half of the story deals with eric and gabe meeting and getting to know this family and getting prepared to leave their safe place for the wild journey to colorado. but before they can leave, they decide to venture into one of the nearby towns for supplies and items that might have a trade value. there are a few zombie battles in the first half of the story, but the survivors quickly learn their trickiest and deadliest enemy may be other survivors. those who have managed to survive have learned how to use zombies as weapons.

the second half of the story revolves around the journey to colorado. on their way there, they meet another survivor who deepens the mystery behind the red phage that turns humans into zombies. the group also learns the hard way that there are other groups vying for power with what's left of the u.s. gov't, in particular, the legion.

an old friend comes to the rescue during a deadly battle and leads the remaining wounded survivors to a safe zone. however, the safe zone has its own problems, and eric and gabe have some big decisions to make.

in this story, there is a transition between what's dangerous. initially, the zombies are the threat, but as the story progresses, other groups of survivors become the primary threat. i imagine this is believable b/c i believe this would be the natural progression in a zombie apocylapse, especially b/c there are no "special" zombies a la day by day armageddon.

it seems as if the story is also transitioning from a zombie survival story to more of a survival and re-building society story, which is kind of different than most of the z-stories i've listened to lately.

overall, i liked it. if you listened to the first book and liked it, you'll probably like this continuation. NOTE: i'm a zombie enthusiast and listen to a lot of z-books and really like series. so if you're like me and exhausted a bunch of other z-books, try this. it's pretty good. there are some problems/weaknesses, but i can easily say i was entertained. to me, it was worth a credit, but i go through credits easy. LOL

i guess my biggest complaint is still the narrator. while his male voices are ok, his female voices are just awful. it did detract a little from the story.

8 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

The Thing About Zombies and Physics

Would you consider the audio edition of This Shattered Land to be better than the print version?

Yes, the narrator does a splendid job. The story flows well enough that the listener stays engaged.

What does Guy Williams bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Absolutly

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

Yes

Any additional comments?

There is a general problem with most zombie, walking dead, infected or whatever, stories. The laws of physics are such that the energy expended by the creatures has to come from somewhere. If it is from what they can catch and eat, then when their hunting stops showing results, they will weaken and be unable to hunt. They will run out of energy unless they can consume whatever mass their bodies retain to provide energy for movement. Even so, they are on the wrong side of the energy curve. Factor in the ravages from maggots/flies, they will run out of juice and cease to be able to move. There is no way that zombies are not on their own doomsday clock. This rarely comes up in this genre and does not in this series. Other than that, this is a great series.

5 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

The Narrator redeemed himself

Any additional comments?

The only complaint I had about the first book was the narrator. He redeemed himself, no more surfer dudes and valley girl voices.

As some others pointed out there was a survival guide feel to it, lots of info on weapons proper preps, and human dynamics.

Although it is not non-stop gore, it is still a zombie story. More information comes to light regarding the outbreak, and you get to hear the story from both Gabe and Erics points of view.

3 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Incomplete book

I got into the first in the series and liked it. The two main characters, Eric and Gabe are designed as almost super heroes. They know how to do everything, make obvious suggestions that no one else managed to think of, with near unlimited resources, and manage to instantly attract any single female they come into contact with. They are completely unrealistic, and it kind of ruins the suspension of disbelief. It is clear that Cook wrote these two guys how he fantasized about himself. However, still a decent story.

The second story is much the same as the first, super heroes, take out massive hordes of zombies, marauders, etc. However, this book kind of ends abruptly, as in I was listening to it, heard the "Audible hopes you enjoyed this program." and said "WTF" out loud to myself. There was no real climax, no real goal accomplished, nothing. The author was building into it and I thought we were getting to the turning point of the story, and then it stopped. Clearly this author has a lot to learn about the fundamentals of writing non-fiction. Like each story should have a point.

The gist of this book is that the characters left their mountain retreat/fortress, met some people along the way, landed in a town, and NEXT book they will do something worthwhile...

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great Book!!!

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed the characters or Eric and Gabriel and their struggles. I hope there are more to come.

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Great follow up to "No Easy Hope"

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed this follow up to "No Easy Hope." I got more about the character Gabe, which I had wanted. So far this series has a good and gritty realism with a good understanding of human nature, both the highs and the lows. Really enjoyable!

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Cooks the bomb

I just found this guys work. It is a really fun and gripping saga. Love finding new talented authors!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Not Just Another Zombie Tale

What made the experience of listening to This Shattered Land the most enjoyable?

The narrator really brings this story to life. I really love stories about end-of-the-world survival. The story not only follows our survivors but provides instructions on how to survive by obtaining the best weapons, types of food to gather and store, finding/building shelter and how to keep physically and mentally fit.

What was one of the most memorable moments of This Shattered Land?

The "Bear" chapter, I was torn between the survival of the bear and the survival of my characters.

What about Guy Williams’s performance did you like?

The best I've listen to in a long, long time. What makes Mr. Williams special is he does not over do the female voices and he has a natural conversational/story telling voice.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Not really, after all it is a blood and guts book.

Any additional comments?

Guy Williams should narrate a lot more books!!!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Had to get Woke

Tire of the economic ignorance of writers concerning the use of fossil fuels. it's just been in the last 50 years that humanity has developed the technology to move away from fossil fuels. And guess what paved the way for such technology advancement, fossil fuels!

great series

This is a great series, and the third time I have listened through them all.