Ex-Purgatory

By: Peter Clines

Narrated by: Jay Snyder

Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The fourth novel in Peter Clines' best-selling Ex series.

When he’s awake, George Bailey is just an ordinary man. Five days a week he coaxes his old Hyundai to life, curses the Los Angeles traffic, and clocks in at his job as a handyman at the local college. But when he sleeps, George dreams of something more. George dreams of flying. He dreams of fighting monsters. He dreams of a man made of pure lightning, an armored robot, a giant in an army uniform, a beautiful woman who moves like a ninja.

Then one day as he’s walking from one fix-it job to the next, a pale girl in a wheelchair tells George of another world, one in which civilization fell to a plague that animates the dead…and in which George is no longer a glorified janitor, but one of humanity’s last heroes. Her tale sounds like madness, of course. But as George’s dreams and his waking life begin bleeding together, he starts to wonder - which is the real world, and which is just fantasy?

©2014 Peter Clines (P)2013 Audible Inc.

I was surprised to really enjoy this!

TV, Comic Books and other media that take their characters and start messing with their minds generally annoy me. Every scifi show (at least that I've watched or read) has at least one storyline where the main character you've come to know has their memory wiped by some mechanism. They then they go about acting in ways that is against what you know about their motivations and behavior. Or worse, the whole thing plays out in dream sequence where everything you have come to learn about the world is wiped away to be replaced with your hero in a mental institution for the duration of the story.

This is what I worried about when I read the description of the book. But I need not have worried. The characters while not remembering who they were don't act differently. They don't all of a sudden hate each other and start fighting until some bizarre event sets things right. The pacing is perfect. As the story progresses slowly and you get to spend time trying to puzzle out the problem. The characters have time to find out for themselves whats going on and have to work together as a team to solve the problem. The teamwork is what I think I loved about the book. By the end of the book I was left feeling very satisfied.

If you like the previous books you'll like this one as well.

Another Excellent Entry in the Ex-Heroes Series

What did you love best about Ex-Purgatory?

I loved how Peter Clines told this interesting tale of the Ex-Heroes. It showed there was plenty of life left in this series and I hope for many more entries.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Ex-Purgatory?

Unfortunately saying my most memorable moments would be spoilers.

Keeping it Fresh!

What made the experience of listening to Ex-Purgatory the most enjoyable?

I have to say, I'm a bit biased as superheroes and zombies are two of my favorite genres. What I have been enjoying the most about this series is that they all tie so nicely together, peripheral characters come to the front and front line characters aren't over used just for the sake of keeping their presence in the mythology. Each book adds to the other and each book also has it's own fresh new perspective. Compelling, likable heroes and villains. Great job.

What did you like best about this story?

What I enjoyed most about this chapter was utilizing Christian in the way the author did. We all know someone annoying in our lives, But we still can appreciate their place in our lives. Its odd to say considering this genre, but it is so relatable.

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

I have come to associate Jay Snyder with some of the voices in the series, I do agree with the other reviewers that bringing back the other voice talents makes the story fuller.

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

I enjoy the relationship between Saint George and Stealth a lot. Its really the tent pole of the whole series.

Any additional comments?

I recommend this series to anyone looking to be truly entertained.

Fewer Narrators

I was a bit disappointed to see that after an ever increasing number narrators throughout the series, that this book only had one narrator. The style of the writing in this book is also different than had been in the past.

In the beginning there was much debate about what was actually going on, and hypothesizing, after it picked up, we then debated about who was good, and who was bad, and how it was going to end. This is my favorite part because Clines always manages a great twist.

I didn't love the way this book was written, I was starting to get a little bored towards the middle of the book, but it eventually picked back up, which I was grateful for. If you can be patient in the beginning, the book is well worth the listen.

Another great entry in the Ex-Hero saga

Peter does a wonderful job keeping this thing going. The only thing I didn't like was changing the narration. Jay does a great job making the characters feel real, but I missed having Khristine Hvam, Mark Boyett, Elisabeth Rodgers.

Captain Freedom and stealth just aren't the same with Jay's voice. Overall I loved the story-keep them coming.

Nice twist that stops the formula getting stale

I've been using one of my credits on this series for the last few months and I've really enjoyed them all, they're far better written than the concept of superheroes versus zombies implies.

If you've liked the other books and built an attachment to the characters then this one shouldn't disappoint, though it does take things in a different direction. All together, It's more of a side story, I feel you could probably skip it and not have the overall narrative of the books very influenced.

In saying that, it's a solid story that is engaging and I think the mystery that it builds up is paid of in a satisfying way.

A very interesting twist on a great series!

I wasn't sure how I thought Ex Heroes would be. I think I originally thought it would be cheesy and stupid. But it wasn't... Its great! It took what we know about super heroes and super villains and plot twists and made it so u didn't know where it was gonna head but u were curious so u kept listening.

Totally out of left field

Having listened to this previous books in this series I was hesitant to pick this one up as the setting and tone were completely out of left field and amnesia/redux stories tend to make me think the author simply wants to reintroduce the same setting and character without having to go to the trouble of creating a new story. This book completely surprised me both with how interesting Clines made the reintroduction of characters and the fun to be had in a semi normal world with these characters.
It is not a perfect book, it breaks from the Superheros fighting zombies silliness that made me pick up the series but it is totally worth the credit if you are a fan of the series.

He's had better.

The overall story arc with the series is very well done. However this book dragged and dragged. There were points where I was screaming at the Author to get to the darn point. There easily could've been five chapters shaved off of this book concerning St. George's inner dialogue. The other characters situations needed to be expounded upon. There were touches of that here and there but I think a little more would've made the book a little bit more enticing. I understand they have to follow a certain format and then at the end are supposed to be a big reveal but this book was like trying to figure out a Rubiks cube. Once you had one color figured out you had to mess it up in order to get the other colors. It just felt like there was a lot of backtracking and reinforcement of facts we already knew. I will continue to read the series however. I enjoy the genre and the character development. Here's hoping the next book will outshine them all.

Picks up right from the last novel

Clines took a bit of a risk here by the diverging plot. Sometimes this can not go over well as Butcher found out with Ghost Story. Clines was able to pull it off with much more success as you got a glimpse of the characters in normal life, kinda like a prequel of sorts. True to my nature once I am into a series I never read anything about the plot before I read it so this was a pleasant surprise and in the end I found myself enjoying the story.