Breakers

Book 1

By: Edward W. Robertson

Narrated by: Ray Chase

Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

In New York, Walt Lawson is about to lose his girlfriend Vanessa. In Los Angeles, Raymond and Mia James are about to lose their house. Within days, none of it will matter. When Vanessa dies of the flu, Walt is devastated. But she isn't the last. The virus quickly kills billions, reducing New York to an open grave and LA to a chaotic wilderness of violence and fires. As Raymond and Mia hole up in an abandoned mansion, where they learn to function without electricity, running water, or neighbors, Walt begins an existential walk to LA, where Vanessa had planned to move when she left him. He expects to die along the way. Months later, a massive vessel appears above Santa Monica Bay. Walt is attacked by a crablike monstrosity in a mountain stream. The virus that ended humanity wasn't created by humans. It was inflicted from outside. The colonists who sent it are ready to finish the job - and Earth's survivors may be too few and too weak to resist.

©2012 Edward W. Robertson (P)2013 Podium Publishing

This Book was Made for Ray Chase

Where does Breakers rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I say Breakers ranks in the top 84-92% with a lean towards the higher %.

What other book might you compare Breakers to and why?

This book does not need comparison. Breakers stands alone as a solid work of fiction. When everything is said and done, who cares what I might compare Breakers to? Come on Audible.....what kind of question is this?

Which scene was your favorite?

When Raymond and Mia are discussing whether they should hit the road to less traveled, higher climes and Raymond brings up the fact that they would be leaving their garden. Mia throws out a perfectly timed sarcastic remark that made me laugh and rewind 3-4 times to hear it again.

Raymond was a very lucky guy to have Mia in his life. She is the kind of woman I'd like to have in my life, with or without the Squids trying to throw mankind in the garbage heap.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Walter wants revenge. Get ready for a heaping helping of dismembered Squid Alien bastards!

Any additional comments?

Ray Chase narrated this book perfectly. I think the word I am looking for to describe his narration is sardonic. When Ray Chase is matched with the right book like Breakers, he is absolutely a joy to listen to. I laughed, I almost felt like crying a time or two. I hope he continues with this series. Also, I hope there is a surprise awaiting one of the main characters, the story line would be the richer and I could continue my audio crush.

Far Better Than I Expected

What did you love best about Breakers?

I bought this book because it was cheap so I wasn't expecting much. It's kind of a cross between Independence Day and the Stand without the mysticism of the latter. Once you get past the kind of graphic descriptions of the plague victims there are no huge situational suspensions of disbelief...at least no more than one of the Die Hard films. But anyway don't spend a credit on it, just buy it. It's a good day read and a bargain for the money.

A new favorite in Post-Apocalyptic reading

A new favorite series in my catalog of Post-Apocalyptic reads. Breakers is the story of two couples on different sides of the country who were both struggling prior to an outbreak that killed most of the planet. One couple has a guy fearing his girlfriend is cheating on him, and lies to re-earn her affection. The other couple has a guy who... well I don't remember what he did, but after the outbreak he and his partner find a way to farm and take care of themselves. I really enjoyed both storylines. The twists throughout did a great job of sustaining suspense. Robertson's writing is very strong and I loved that he focused so much on the relationships, while also adding in enough description and tone to give us a visceral sense of the world in its post-apocalyptic existence. Without spoiling anything, I'll just say he kept me eagerly consuming the story straight to the end and beyond. That you can get the first three books for $.99 is a steal. The audiobook narration is superb. Ray Chase is one of my new favorites. If there are drawbacks, the finale wasn't a knock it out of the park shot, and certain events left me caring less than I had hoped to be in the end. That said, I'm very curious to see where he takes it in book two, let alone the remaining seven books in this series.

Any Steven king fan will enjoy it.

Really enjoyed the book. Reads a lot like a king novel. This isn’t a new pen name is it?

Solid story but a bit wordy

Great story with the exception of being a bit word. intensive . Well worth the time

Overall - not bad

Was looking for a TEOTWAWKI story to fill the gaps between credits… overall not bad - plague wipes out most of humanity, survivors emerge and start surviving, decent storyline with a decent amount of action. Then it gets a bit Sci-fi which usually doesn’t interest me but I kept going. Overall not bad.

Unique Alien Apocalypse

When a mysterious plague hit the earth, spreading like wildfire through the populace, Walt Lawson is devastated by the loss of his girlfriend. Now, on the verge of suicide, Walt decides to walk from New York City to Los Angeles, the city his actress girlfriend Vanessa dreamed of moving to, fully expecting to die along the way. Meanwhile, in California, Raymond James and his wife Mia, find their financial struggles are over when the majority of the world dies. They set up a haven in an idyllic home on the coast, finding happiness in their simple life. Yet, when the alien mothership appears in the horizon, and the crab like occupants begin killing or rounding up humans, the survivors find a new purpose, fighting the menace that has devastated their planet. Edward W. Robertson’s Breakers is a mish mash of classic Post Apocalyptic tales, blending a world ending pandemic and an alien invasion together to make a novel that fans of the subgenre will delight in. Instead of avoiding seeming like a retread of novels like The Stand and Footfall, Robertson embraces this, as he very well should. The Stand is a great novel which has helped create a generation of Post Apocalyptic fans, and I am often flabbergasted how some authors go out of their way to avoid looking like a copycat of it. I found Robertson’s characterizations very interesting. I started off pretty much hating both Walt and Ray. To me, they seem like two sides of the same loser coin. In many ways they were like mirror images of the other, with Ray being kind but stupid loser and Walt being a manipulative and brash loser. Yet both characters, especially Walt, grew on me. Walt’s slide into self hate may have made him the perfect survivor for the times, and by the time the book hit the alien invasion part, he was responsible for some of the most laugh out loud funny moments, despite his dark personality. The plot and action was fun, bordering on cheesy. While the guerilla tactics to fight the aliens often lacked descriptive depth, the plot moved along quickly and never left you bored. My only major complaint was I would have liked to seen a bit more diversity in the character types and greater depth in the peripheral characters, and since this is the first in a series I expect my wish will come true. The novel built up to a finale that was equal parts “that’s the corniest thing ever” and “holy hell, this is awesome.” If you’re looking for some hoity toity new exploration that defies apocalyptic tropes to create a new approach to the genre, keep looking. But, if you love books that embrace their comparison to The Stand, and love watching humans with nothing left to lose kill alien invaders with laser guns, well, get yourself a copy of Breakers post haste.

In the early part of the novel, I struggled a bit differentiating Walt from Ray. While I liked Ray Chase’s voice, the voices between these two characters were very similar, and caused some early dissonance. Luckily, once things got rolling and the author began to flesh out these characters, and they began to transform into what they would become by the end of the book, this no longer became an issue. Once this issue was resolved I was more than happy to fall into the capable voice of Ray Chase. He has a deep voice, bordering on gruff, but softens it with a rhythmic style that is reminiscent of Scott Brick. His reading style added levels to the prose that I feel elevated it, giving Walt’s journey across a devastated America an almost stream of consciences feel, and Ray and Mia’s time in their dream home an overwhelming sense of contentment. This was my first time listening to Ray Chase, and I really liked him. I think some of the struggles he had with some of the characterizations came more from the fact that some of the characters were a bit cardboard, but he did what he could to bring them to life. When the author gave a character depth, you could feel it in the narrator’s performance. Based on this performance, Ray Chase is a narrator to be on the lookout for. Hopefully, we will see more audio versions of this series, with Chase acting as our guide in the fight against the alien crab things.

Survivors of Alien invasion - done well

The subject is a bit cliched, but this novel stands out from the crowd. the end of the world scenario is believable, the characters are drawn well "warts and all". Scenarios are varied and the good guys don't always survive. Will probably buy the follow up(s)

Main character is very whiney

Walt is exceptionally whiney and his internal dialogs about his ex drag on for far too many chapters. The story overall proceeds so slowly as a result of about 6-chapters of listening to Walt whine about his ex.

It feels like Ed Robertson is projecting his personal life/desire onto Walt’s character and it’s annoying…

Great sci-fi/shtf

would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys post apocalypse novels. the story is great and an awesome narrator as well