This Shattered Land

Surviving the Dead, Volume 2

By: James N. Cook

Narrated by: Guy Williams

Length: 10 hrs and 22 mins

Publisher's summary

Eric Riordan doesn't look for trouble, but trouble has a way of finding him. Two years have passed since the Outbreak, and after joining forces with his friend Gabriel, he has managed to stay alive by fleeing to the peaks of the Appalachian Mountains.

With supplies running low, and enemies gathering, the two survivors are forced to begin their journey west to Colorado. Along the way they will find unexpected allies, reunite with old friends, and make deadly new enemies. As difficult as life has been, the most dangerous times lie ahead. Nothing is ever easy at the end of the world.

©2012 James N Cook (P)2013 James N Cook

Dead, dead and more dead!

Any additional comments?

This book was just as good or even better than the first. I enjoyed where and how the story unfolded. A good zombie fix awaits:) I want the third book ASAP!

Good!

Great second book for the series. Like this series. I do like the characters and the plot and story is well written. The story is easy to believe (well as believable as a zombie series can be).

My favorite series is The Remaining by DJ Molles

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.

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!