The Shepherd: Society Lost, Volume 1

By: Steven Bird

Narrated by: Roger Bull

Length: 7 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

The Shepherd: A Society Lost is an action-packed post-apocalyptic thrill ride detailing the struggles of former sheriff Jessie Townsend as he and his family seek shelter from a crumbling world with a self-sufficient life on a homestead deep in the Rocky Mountains. Sanctuary soon becomes what he meant to escape, peaceful bliss slipping into desperation and despair in the aftermath of events that shook the foundations that shaped our world to the core. An unholy alliance of conspirators had sought the collapse of our civilization in order to rebuild and reclaim it as their own. Never truly intending to coexist, the unlikely allies found their courses diverging, leading to a struggle that dealt the final death blows to our society. In the absence of the order and structure of our modern civilization, evil, suffering, and chaos were unleashed throughout the world. As the post-collapse struggles of the outside world begin to threaten Jessie's mountain hideaway, a return to the world he left behind becomes a chance for redemption and survival in a society lost.

©2015 Steven Bird (P)2016 Steven Bird

Fizzles fast

The story sounded like it would be great. It started out interesting but fizzled quickly. The narrator kinda sounded like a used car salesmen and then morphed into a used car salesman with split personalities. It was very distracting.

Characters voiced much to happy for a SHTF book

The story was ok. The narration of the characters was WAY TO HAPPY. The performance was not what I expected for a post apocalyptic story. There was no sorrow, angry, or panic. This was more of a “bedtime” reading than a performance.

Apocalyptic Audio Success!

Finally an apocalyptic audio book! One of the best stories I have heard that I did not have to physically read. Thank You. Looking forward to more Steven Bird stories.

Post-Apocalypse Pandemic & Society has Fallen

The book opens well and gives bits & pieces about how the world found itself in a bad situation with the wrong kind of people in charge. And that’s about all you hear for a backstory. The main character, Jesse, goes through many woes but is surprisingly still alive at the end of the book.

The idea of the story is good; the story itself was just okay. Nothing really jumped out at me to form a connection with Jesse. By the end, I really didn’t care if he made it or if someone else did; and someone had to continue because this is first in a series. That sounds rather harsh, but I never became fully invested in this book.

The narrator did a fine job, but several words in the story didn’t translate well from reading to narration; particularly conversational words that should be contracted when reading aloud. I noticed this more during the last 1/3 of the audiobook which made the dialogue seem odd. A good example is “I do not think that room is safe.” Real people talking, especially in a heightened & stressful situation, would say “don’t”. But that’s not the fault of the narrator and there are many examples similar to that.

Overall, this book was at most decent; but I won’t listen to any more in the series. I was given a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for my unbiased review.

good story, But Mr BUll was not for me

I like the story. it took a bit to get into. The narration kills this for me. The narration was painful to listen to.... I found it so difficult to get through this book and the narration did not help.
It was NOT so bad on the preview, but man in the book he was bad. the Main voice wasn't bad.. but the others where painful to listen to.
This book has a bit of bible talk in it, just to be warned. bt it was not over whelming.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Unique, action-packed and unpredictable

I went into this series not knowing anything about it except that it was written by an author who wrote another series I liked. This book is unique, and whenever I expected it to go one way, it went off in a completely different direction. As someone who has read/ listened to many, many post-apocalyptic books it was a breath of fresh air. I like the main character and enjoyed the storyline and it’s action-packed scenes. If you’re looking for a post-apocalyptic book that isn’t predictable, look no further.

Narrator

I love this book but not the narrator. I'm sorry but I have to be honest.

Great Book

The story is engaging and the characters become real as the story unfolds. I couldn't wait to see what would happen next. I will definitely be reading the rest of the series.

Life is good until lawlessness catches up

Our hero and former sheriff Jessie Townsend with wife and children escape the chaos of our collapsing country and retreat to a cabin in the Rocky Mountains. Life is good until the expanding lawlessness catches up with them. Jessie is dealt a disastrous blow which leaves his life and mental state in ruin. A surviving father and daughter happen upon Jessie's homestead and their companionship brings Jessie out of his despair. Jessie decides there is nothing holding him at his present location and heads out to find a sister he hasn't seen in years. So we find ourselves following Jessie as he travels cross country facing danger from all corners both animal and human. Better than three; three.point.five

Great book!

Loved this book! Great story, and great action. Can't wait to start book 2 in this series.