AudioBookReviewer

From the very start I was captivated, unable to stop listening unless my life or federal regulations relied upon it (I was on an airplane). Being a fan of the zombie genre I have to say that I have never come across such an original take on the genre. It never even crossed my mind that once someone was a zombie that there was any possibility of them turning back into a human, or maybe I should say human like. If all you like about zombie stories is the action, blood and guts, the horde coming down and trying to destroy everything living, you will be sorely disappointed with The Reanimation of Edward Schuett. As this is more of a story about how a society and individual learn about on another and discover that neither one is what they thought they were.

Absolutely nothing stood out to me about David Letwin's narration, neither great nor horrible and spoke clearly, I would say just right for The Reanimation of Edward Schuett. Letwin's telling of the story simply let the audiobook speak for its self and I think that no other way would have been better.

For some reason when I first saw this audiobook I thought it was something much different that what the publishers summary actually says it is, sometimes I just need to slow down and really read stuff, think about it, and read it again. If you didn’t know that is one of the main reasons that I love audiobooks, because I don’t have to read them ;) . I do not normally listen to horror books but I do have a few that are in my queue to listen to in the near future. Some would wonder why not so much horror, aren’t zombie books horror and the answer is that few really fit into the horror genre at all. The main reason that I don’t listen to much horror is, they creep me out, honestly.

While Alex was a bit on the slow side, an unexpected twist and another turn and dramatic conclusion made this a very satisfying listen that I would instantly recommend to fans of this genre. For the first hour or two I thought I wouldn’t be able to finish listening to Alex. Reason being is that Ian lost is kid Alex to a one of the worst kind of monsters there are, child abductors, while the man was caught Alex did not make it and Ian blamed himself for it all and the audiobook just seemed to go on and on forever. Soon Ian starts to see Alex everywhere and replaying scenes out of his life, this slowly but surely start to break down Ian’s psyche and everyone around him is starting to notice. Nicolai is a great writer, I say this because he was able to make me truly believe that Ian was going completely nuts and having me at the edge of my seat waiting for the poop to hit the fan. Nicolai created in me and maintained a huge amount of anxiety and uncertainty throughout the audiobook, I was unsure whether Ian was haunted by his son or slowly going crazy until the last hour or so. I do not for one second want to know why I picked this audiobook because it is choices like this that make me keep coming back for more.

This was my first experience with Marc Vietor and I was not disappointed at all. At first I though to myself “How can a guy with a voice like this get an audiobook narrating gig”, but soon realized why. It takes more than a polished voice to make audiobook narration successful. One needs to be able to become more than a narrator and become everyone and everything within the story and Vietor was able to accomplish this by making Ian such a great character.

Now I had no idea that this was book three of a series, for some reason the first is not an audiobook, happily though there is no need to listen to the first two audiobooks as Dead Earth: Sanctuary stood alone just fine. To me that is the way all book in a squeal should be, great stories independent of all others in the series. Dead Earth: Sanctuary is about the aftermath of the Earth being attacked by aliens that could control the dead, and one group of survivors trying to make it to a town called Sanctuary, a place safe from the walking dead. In this action packed gruesome zombie tale you will find interesting characters with a solid plot and that there is always something worst around the corner.

Take a helping of Walking Dead, stir in a dollop of Falling Skies, season well with a few ground up bits of The Wizard of Oz, even a shake or two of Reign of Fire, and you have the broad-strokes start-up for Dead Earth: Sanctuary. – HellBound Times

Jay Snyder is quickly becoming one of my favorite narrators. You wouldn’t think that with such a deep and polished normal voice that he would have the range to evoke the voices of the characters in this or any book. Snyder commands each and every aspect of the story and mesmerizes my imagination with crisp clear enunciation that seems second nature to him.

The Undead Haze picks up approximately one year after the brutal end of The Undead Situation, the ending that I thought was a joke, because it made me want the next book so badly. At that time I don’t even know if there were plans for this sequel or not. This audiobook is all about Cyrus wanting to find Blaze who was surprisingly separated from him at the end of the first audiobook. I missed the original feeling that Cyrus gave me, because in this book he was preoccupied with his mission of finding Blaze and because of this much of his sciopahicness was gone. This audiobook started out with a bang of an encounter with a gang of cannibals and brought much of what I wanted, I only wish there were more. Now don’t get me wrong, Knapp despite changing Cyrus’ focus, still created a wonderfully original and creative continuation of a story that needed closure. I will be looking for the next audiobook in this series, in fact more from Knapp in general, and hopefully it will not be as long of a wait as this one was.

Kevin T. Collins is not your typical or maybe stereotypical is better, narrator. He does not have the overly deep and polished voice, he does not rely solely on the the written book to carry you mind through the torment. The Undead Situation was my first experience listening to Collins, he had me hooked, and I hate to say it but this is only my second time giving him a listen and almost regret it. Collins, in my opinion, did over half of the work making Cyrus successful, sure there was a great foundation to start with from Knapp but Collins pushed it over the edge. He has a way of jarring you with his ability, that make every instance within the audiobook knock the wind right out of you.

First impression is that what I had feared has happened, the journal style of the story was completely removed. The main character that has remained nameless through 2 books now has a name, Killjoy. The entire feeling of the series has changed and I am not sure if I like it or not. Yea okay I was totally disappointed with this book. However it was a solid story by itself, not compared to the rest of the story. If you are in need of a one off zombie story fix Shattered Hourglass: Day by Day Armageddon, Book 3 would be perfect for you. If you are looking to be engrossed in a somewhat vague journal entries of an unnamed military man trying to eek out his existence, I think you will be disappointed.

Listening to Jay Snyder is like being serenaded by an old friend that has a way will telling stories. It’s kind of funny because every time I listen to an Audible Frontiers book, Snyder often does the intro regardless of who the actual narrator is, I get giddy inside and think to myself “Did I misread who the narrator was?”, then the real narrator takes over and I breath a sigh of disappointment. Not today folks! Snyder has a a very dynamic range of voices, useful for whatever type of character might cross his lips, combined with his foresight to create tension and suspense by choosing great places for pauses, rhythm changes, and emotional outbursts. If you can’t I am a fan of Snyder’s work and will continue to look for his narrations.

The Harvest Cycle was an interesting and unique take on the post-apocalypse genre that I really enjoyed. For some reason, even thought the summary makes no mention of them, was expecting zombies in on form or another. The closest I got were cannibals, which are more frightening that I ever thought they would be in an audiobook, also making an appearance were androids, monsters, supernatural beings. The plot develops quickly and had me hooked right away, with the plethora of interesting and intense characters. One phrase or term that made me laugh out loud when I first heard it, and I will never forget, referring to a particular part of the brain as “dream meat”. Need I say more? Other than I will be seeking out other audiobooks by Dunwoody in the not so distant future.

I hated Al Dano’s narration a first, thinking that he wasn’t going to be able to captivate me nearly as much as others have. Not sure what I was thinking there. Dano performed perfectly, adding the appropriate amount of emotion or lack of emotion where needed. With so many different creature types and human demographics that were thrown at him, Dano proceeded without missing a beat.

Quarantined has been in my wish list for some time, there was always something else that seemed more appealing, until finally I took the plunge and picked this up. I know of Joe McKinney from the Dead World series, have yet to listen to it, therefore I am hopeful that zombies will have a roll with the plague that has ravaged the world. But judging from the reviews I have read having no mention of the undead I am doubtful.

I was right being doubtful of there being zombies, oh well, this was still an intriguing and thought provoking. Quarantined is a psychological exploration of what could happen to a community if and when a fatal virus breaks out and the government tries to contain the situation. Starts out a police drama looking for who dunnit, even though this would be the last thing on my mind if I was condemned to die behind a huge wall. McKinney’s real life experience as a homicide detective gives Quarantined real bite as he guided me through departmental politics and bureaucratic red tape. The during investigation the true situation, the anarchy and social unrest, becomes apparent. Most of what I enjoyed about Quarantined was just how real it all seemed, a totally plausible plague, reaction to the plague, the social breakdown into spurts of anarchy that is created by the plague, this all made me wonder what would really happen. I really had only one thought after finishing Quarantined, it could happen, and the frightens me.

It took me almost half of the audiobook to get in to the narration by Therese Plummer. To me she sound like a very unenthusiastic reader who didn’t really believe or enjoy the story to start with. As the story progressed so did her narration, the more she got invested in the story the better her performance.

Well, I can hope all I want and not get what I want. Flu: Flu Series, Book 1 is definitely of the psychological zombie thriller variety. While this may not be what I was expecting I was able, after about 3 1/2 hours to get into the storyline. I have found that most zombie stories are the same virus infection, wide spread panic, complete anarchy, survivors trying to survive, the military up to something. But what is different between then all are the details of how the author tries to make their story different enough to stand on its own. The one major difference I found with this audiobook was that one doesn’t have to be bitten by a zombie or die, bit one can just become a zombie spontaneously. Sure not a lot happened in Flu: Flu Series, Book 1, as stated by other reviews, but it seems to me that Simmons is setting up for an even better second book and/or series and I will definitely be on board and not be bored.

Michael Kramer I found is one of the deep voiced, super polished voice-over narrators that I wrote about in my previous review of Timothy. One thing that bothered about Kramer’s narration was that the story takes place in Ireland and usually, in my experience of listening to many audiobooks, the narrator will narrate with at least an accent, good or bad, of the people that live in the area. Kramer chose not to do this and the only time he used an accent was with the dialog of the characters that ended up mostly sounding the same. Kramer all read almost entirely at one speed no matter what was happening within the story and this, to me, can detract from the overall encapsulation of the audiobook experience.

Because I have listened to a handful of the Zombie Fallout series I obviously had expectations for Timothy. Boy was I wrong! Comparing Timothy to Zombie Fallout would be the equivalent of comparing apple to oranges, or my favorite comparison I could think of The Walking Dead TV show to the Brady Bunch. You think that’s a pretty extreme differentiation, yes I pulled out the thesaurus, well I don’t. I would consider the Zombie Fallout series about as family friendly as zombie books could be. Then there is Timothy taking two things we are already afraid of, clowns and zombies, add in a completely perversely deranged womanizing giant man as Timothy and you are left with an audiobook that is not for the faint of heart. My jaw dropped, I laughed out loud, I cringed, I wanted more and then it was over. I am now more scared of becoming a zombie than I ever was because just maybe I will know what is happening when I am devouring my father.

I find it funny how at ease Sean Runnette’s voice made me when I started this audiobook. It was like seeing an old friend after years of being separated. I think what I like most about Runnette is the fact that he doesn’t have the stereotypical super deep, super polished voice over guy voice. To me his voice make me think of the everyman, imperfect, and so perfect for a narration of another Tufo audiobook. I was surprise by how with ease Runnette seemed to be with this very violent, perverted and somewhat disturbing story. I am starting to see why Runnette has narrated most if not all of Tufo’s audiobook, the two are like peanut butter and jelly, perfect for each other.

For You the Living, the first story and by far my favorite, really surprised me by the uniqueness and originality of a reinventing of the zombie genre. The zombies were not just undead mindless waking corpses, they somewhat autonomous with sexual pleasure the thing they were after. For You the Living was brutal, gory, and very graphic and a must listen to fans of zombie audiobooks. Orifices, Because was just a straight up and twisted serial killer horror. This is one of those stories that make you wonder about the sanity of the author and how in the hell did he come up with this. In the Shank of the Night completely bizarre twisted and graphic detective drama that I will not even try to describe any more, you need to experience to understand my shortness of words with this one. My only complaints are that

Nils Ilgresson expresses the exact voice and mannerisms that I expected for all three protagonists that have had the experiences depicted in this compilation. While the stories were great the narration made the entire audiobook experience even that much better. Ilgresson added little subtleties to the tone of his voice, breathing pattern that fit the characters perfectly.