Roads Less Traveled: The Plan

By: C. Dulaney

Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

Ask yourself this: If the dead rise tomorrow, are you ready? Do you have a plan? The dead rose, and the living quickly realized that Hollywood-style tactics were the quickest way to find yourself one of the walking dead.

Kasey, a strong-willed loner from West Virginia, and Ben, a college student from Pennsylvania, have shared an unlikely friendship over the years. And their bond is stretched to its limits when society collapses under a tide of zombies. But Kasey has something she likes to call The Zombie Plan. While Ben sets out for West Virginia, taking with him a ragtag group of friends, Kasey prepares for their long-term stand against the deadheads at her home in the mountains.

But every plan has its weaknesses, and the youths are unaware that a freight train of tragedy is bearing down on them all. In the darkness that follows, Kasey's Plan slowly unravels: friends lost, family taken, their stronghold reduced to ashes.

©2011 C. Dulaney (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dulaney didn't reinvent the wheel, but goddamn if she didn't send it spinning down interesting paths. I'm invested now... what's going to happen next?" (Thom Brannan, author of Lords of Night, co-author of Survivors)

"If you're addicted to zombie literature, this one's for you. C. Dulaney's Roads Less Traveled: The Plan is crafted with such beautiful and terrifying scenes, you'll think you are one of Kasey's friends, running from the dead and preparing to live in a dark new world. Her prose crackles off the pages and into the mind's eye. By the time you've finished reading, you'll be clamoring for more from this exciting new author!" (Clyde Wolfe, author of Down Darkened Paths)

One Woman's Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse

Any additional comments?

This year I have been on a zombie fiction binge and have read just about everything out there in the genre. The good, the bad and the put it back in the grave smelly. Most of it is written from a male perspective with women playing a secondary or pseudo supporting role. By pseudo I mean that women's characters are not very realistic and either just written the same as men, as sexy screaming victims or over the top super-hero like in their abilities.

It has begun to annoy me that there is an absence of realistic women characters & writers in genre. I had recently even polled a group of my lady friends as to what they would do in the event of a zombie apocalypse. "The girl with all the gifts" goes a long way with depicting realistic women but in the end... written by a guy.

Enter C Dulaney. Finally, a lady takes a swinging axe at the walking dead! And slams it squarely in the brain. Dulaney does a great job with the characters - both men & women and backs them up with a great story.

The set up is your typical zombie beginnings and survival layout but well written enough and with solid enough characters to keep you fully engaged. There is enough mayhem and gore for the most ardent fan, but with a feminine spin (not softer just feminin-er). You'll find no glittering love bird zombies here.

My only plot complaint is that this particular group of survivors has a ready made zombie apocalypse plan that they put into action as soon as the brains hit the fan. May have been more believable if it had been a disaster survival plan that they quickly adopted. But, its part of the very beginning of the story so its easy to just suspend disbelief on that along with the whole zombie uprising thing in general.

This first edition is action packed, fun, engaging and scary. Well done C Dulaney! Readers - read this one.

Something's missing

This zombie tale is lacking. It feels pretty amateur. Some of the actions taken by the characters are obviously just for the sake of creating drama as they are not very plausible. The whole story feels rote. How to write zombie fiction 101. The relationships between the characters are not very deep. The main character is pretty one dimensional. This is a series so there is room for improvement. perhaps the ones that follow will be stronger. I would like to go on but won't spoil it for you that are interested in traveling this road.

decent zombie book

overall a good zombie book but not the best in the genre. I didn't like that the author made kera and Shannon expendable towards the end. like they didn't want us to be to sorry they got taken.

A Great Listen

Any additional comments?

I was worried when the story began with the main character having a "Zombie" Plan which she had been preparing for for years, which seemed ridiculous. Luckily it quickly redeemed itself by not focusing on that, and kicking off the nonstop action. This was the first book I had read that did not bother pondering the why or how of the infection, it just went head long into how the characters react and try to survive. It was a refreshing change and a really good listen.

Not that impressive

Trying my best to get through this story - The narrator is very good, but she should not be doing mens voices, it reminds me of a 12 year old child voice. THis story so far is slow, not alot of zombie blood and gore that I love like in Apocolypse of the dead, and beyond barriers, dead city, tooth and nail, remains if the dead, domain of the dead ........ I wish Audible would get more real zombie gore stuff

Slow start but great story,

Very easy to put down initially, but more compelling with time. Will be looking for 2 nd book right away.

pretty good opening zombie apocylapse book

Any additional comments?

this is the 1st zombie story that i've read or listened to where the main characters have a "zombie plan" in place when the zombie apocylapse happens. so when the dead start eating the living, they already know what to do.

kc and ben have been friends for 6 years; however, they've actually never meet in person. they met on the internet and over time, hashed out a "zombie plan." as the story begins, ben is in college in western pennsylvania. from his dorm window, he witnesses zombies attacking and eating people in the parking lot. in west va, kc is at work and sees something strange- someone shuffling through the hall seemingly carrying someone on their back. upon closer inspection, she sees that one of them is biting and trying to eat the other. kc realizes this is what she and ben have been planning for- the walking dead.

ben reaches kc by phone, and she instructs him that he needs to get to her house asap. ben tells her, he's waiting for his friend, jake, to get to his dorm room before heading her way. jake is a long-time friend of ben's and as such shares ben's and kc's belief of having a "zombie plan." the problem is jake is stuck in the chem lab with a few other students.

the first part of the story revolves around ben's escape from the campus and his journey to kc's house. this part of the story is told from 2 sides- ben's side and kc's side. while ben, jake, and a few other students flee the campus and journey to west va, kc is alone, making preparations and scoping out what's going on in her area. ben and kc are the main characters, but there are other characters. ben's friend, jake, and the other college kids with them- zack, trisha, and michael. kc's best friend, mia, is stuck in her home, and she and kc have a heart-wrenching phone call. i liked the secondary characters, but i found jake annoying.

this brings me to narration. maybe that's why i felt so annoyed with jake's character. he does a lot of yelling, yelling at other people. sorry ladies! i don't really like female narrators b/c they can't do men's voices well. yes, i've listened to bad men narrators whose female characters sounded like they have adam's apples, but i prefer men doing women over women doing men. maybe b/c most of the audiobooks i've listened to have been read by men. see...i'm not sexist! lol anyway, the narrator does do women well.

the second part of the story revolves around the group eking out a living at kc's house. kc's a loner and isn't entirely comfortable around people. so having a bunch of college kids living under her roof is something she has to learn to deal with. the second half of the story is your typical zombie story- once you have a safe house, fortify it, the area around it, and venture into the closest city.

a nice wrench is thrown into this part of the story, and i was kind of shocked by one of the repercussions.

there is zombie action in both parts of the story. in the 2nd part of the story, the author effectively uses the power of a zombie hoard, which is an aspect of the genre i always look for.

overall, the road less traveled is an ok opening zombie story. but i must tell you that i have just finished the 2nd book in this series, and it was excellent. i'm submitting a review of that one too. if you're a fan of zombie series, i would tell you to listen to the 1st book so that you can really enjoy the 2nd book. the 3rd book comes out later this month - 6/25/13. i'm going to listen to it as soon as it comes out. so if you're hesitant to start a new series, please come back later this month for my review of the 3rd book. i'm really looking forward to it! yes, the 2nd book was that much better!

Good but not original

Where does Roads Less Traveled: The Plan rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's a good zombie book. Good story line. Nothing really different than many other zombie books I've listen to.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Roads Less Traveled: The Plan?

When Casey saves the day and singlehandedly rescues her friends from zombie annihilation.

Have you listened to any of Elisabeth Rodgers’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No, first time. I liked her voice with it's southern Virginia twang.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I didn't cry although there were a few sad moments. I laughed a few times.

very good

Very good zombie book.Lookinfg forward to the next one. Good zombie story for all ages.

Perfect! Highly Recommended!

This was a great listen! It's on my top zombie books list along with the likes of Day by Day.

The narration was just wonderful, one of the best I've heard. Real pleasure to listen to her read to me.

Sensible characters handling situations in a sensible way which I could relate to. But I can't figure out why Keri is such a b*tch.