Survivors

The Morningstar Strain, Book 3

By: Z. A. Recht, Thom Brannan

Narrated by: Oliver Wyman

Length: 12 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's summary

Survivors is the all-new soul-shattering climax to the postapocalyptic trilogy, featuring a deadly virus, military action, global devastation - and zombies.

A lot can change in three months: Wars can be decided, nations can be forged...or entire species can be brought to the brink of annihilation. The Morningstar Virus, an incredibly virulent disease, has swept the face of the planet, infecting billions. The infected hosts rampage, attacking anything that remains uninfected. Even death can’t stop the virus - its victims become frightening and deadly cannibals. Scattered across the world, embattled groups have persevered. For some, surviving is the pinnacle of achievement. Others hoard goods and weapons. And still others leverage power over the remnants of humanity in the form of a mysterious cure for Morningstar. For the survivors, the peril remains, and the search for a cure goes on....

©2012 Z.A. Recht (P)2012 Audible, Inc.

Ok but NOT as good as 1 & 2 - shame really.

Well, I was SO excited to see the final book available despite Z.A. Recht's untimely death. I thought for sure the family or publisher (or whomever decided) would surely have chosen an author to do the series justice. Boy was I wrong. The first part of book 3 is great and obviously leading up to something. Then Mr. "Brannan" takes over. I'm sure he's a good author but Recht had great insight into the military workings and lingo. It seems the "new" author had to do some research and clearly fell short. It just seemed as if the last part of the book tried to be a quick "resolve" but there was NO resolution, only a continuation of the story which led me wanting more. I don't want to spoil anything but it was full of nonsensical actions that the other two books would have never included. For instance the guy going out to wander around after he should have been monitored for quite some time just to make certain he was "safe". Then there's the group of survivors who have made such an epic heroic journey in the first two books - now they talk too loudly or make huge fires that result in their death. They would have never made those mistakes by Z.A.'s "pen". Another example is the sheriff who was full of common sense toughness is now suddenly super GI Joe (though never being in the military) instead of a down home hero who gets the bad guys with his experience, common sense & wit. Mason, the hero in the past is nothing more than a means to an end in this book. I felt like the story was left hanging and he could have done so much more. I'm really disappointed and had the first two books not been so good I would have given it a 2 star instead of a 3. The narrator was great as usual though some of this spanish american accents could use a little work. It's a Shame really. RIP Z.A Recht your stories will be missed!!!

R.I.P Z.A. Recht a good end to an amazing series

This is one of my favorite series i have listened to and Im very sad to see it end but this book was NOT a dissapointment. its true that it wasnt the same as the last two but as some of these reviewers may not be aware of the author died at a very young age before completing it and I beleive Thom Brannan did a fine job of caring on in the origanal authors name while the writing style if different and i did want to see more from this story line he did a fine job and Z.A. Recht will be missed

A fitting tribute to a great author.

If you could sum up Survivors in three words, what would they be?

First, I would like to thank Thom for taking on the daunting task of completing the final novel of another author. I do not believe anyone could have done a better job. Although not the same as the first two books, Survivors is a fine story and a fitting tribute to the late Z.A. Recht. I therefore highly recommend Survivors to all Z.A. fans but understand that this novel was ghost written by another author.

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

Oliver is a narrating genius. He is capable of so many different and unique voices which really brings the story to life.

The Zombie Apocalypse ends with a whimper

This ho-hum third and final book in the Morningstar Strain series spent too much time retelling things that had happened in the previous two books and lost its focus. To stretch the saga out, the author manufactured a ridiculous conflict (cure vs. vaccine – talk about splitting hairs!) and then used that conflict as an excuse to stage several military-style battles that scream “someone in Hollywood please option this book” without making a lot of sense in terms of the plot. Even the narrator Oliver Wyman seemed to lose track of the accents that he created to such great effect in the first book in this series.

Addendum: Apparently, the original author of the trilogy passed away and this book was finished by a ghost writer, in which case I can understand why this book didn’t have the same feel as the others, particularly the first one, which I really liked.

Good read but disappointing too

Great listen until the very end. I was disappointed. I was looking for a happier ending or at least a quick overview into the future.

Clueless characters somehow survive

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Well, if you read the first two, then you need to read this one.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

It was a decent ending.

Which scene was your favorite?

Any additional comments?

The characters in this book seemed particularly stupid. Time and time again they were doing something ridiculously dumb.....

Great Zombie Story

What made the experience of listening to Survivors the most enjoyable?

I love this book. It was a fast pase ride. You start to get to know the characters and I cheered them on the whole time. Love it.

Best of the books

I was so happy to see that ZA's story could be finished so well I did not like book one but I guess I did enough to get book 2 it was better and 3 was better still. I liked the mix of type of zombies it made for a best of both worlds. I know I'm liking a book when i care about the people in the story. and after 3 books I cared for them.Not a great book but good.

A good finale with a few holes

So this was the final book of the series and i have to say it was a pretty good ending overall. I enjoyed the story and felt the characters, although woefully underdeveloped carried the story. however, toward the end of the story two of the characters turned and the cause of this was not very clear. both characters dies after being shot but came back as Zombies. I found this somewhat disjointed. Additionally, had the author spent more time expanding some of the alluded elements of his story's world this could have been a much richer story.

Someone lived!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I'd be happy to recommend this book to others, I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series.

What other book might you compare Survivors to and why?

I think the closest thing right now is the walking dead series by AMC. Both are zombie series wherein a small group of survivors is fighting against the infection and sometimes other people to survive.

Which character – as performed by Oliver Wyman – was your favorite?

First off, Oliver Wyman is my favorite narrator of any book, period. His range of voices borders on freakish. He's amazing. I love all the voices he does but my favorite is Mobutu Nagassi, the African air traffic controller.

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

A group of survivors thrown together and headed to hell - Omaha, Nebraska.

Any additional comments?

Some people DO survive all the way to the end, for a while I wasn't sure. the end feels a little wierd and I found out after reading that Z. A. Recht died and it was completed by someone else. It is still good, loved it.