The Beginning of the End

Apocalypse Z, Book 1

By: Manel Loureiro, Pamela Carmell - translator

Narrated by: Nick Podehl

Length: 11 hrs and 30 mins

Publisher's summary

The dead rise…

A mysterious incident in Russia, a blip buried in the news - it’s the only warning humanity receives that civilization will soon be destroyed by a single, voracious virus that creates monsters of men.

Humanity falls…

A lawyer, still grieving over the death of his young wife, begins to write as a form of therapy. But he never expected that his anonymous blog and journal would ultimately record humanity’s last days.

The end of the world has begun…

Governments scramble to stop the zombie virus, people panic, so-called Safe Havens are established, the world erupts into chaos; soon it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves. Armed only with makeshift weapons and the will to live, this survivor will give mankind one last chance against…Apocalypse Z.

©2012 Manel Loureiro (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Decent apocalypse story enhanced by narrator

What made the experience of listening to The Beginning of the End the most enjoyable?

I recently picked up the audiobook, and in a second pass through, I picked up on some character sympathy that I may have missed, such as how the main character had to leave the boxes of clothes from his recently deceased wife. I had originally given up around the 60% mark when the main character simply didn’t have enough character conflict to keep me engaged. It was pretty much him and some bad guys for a long enough stretch that I stopped caring. Listening for the second time through, I found that within a few journal entries from where I had given up, there is a secondary character development worth reading about. The characters never get real deep, but there is finally some interaction. By the end, this small gang could be a good supporting cast for future books.

The narrator does an excellent job bringing out the tension, and his voices made the read more realistic. It isn’t easy to include the occasional Ukrainian dialect, but he switched over very easily and effectively.

What other book might you compare The Beginning of the End to and why?

At first, I really gobbled this one up. I’m a sucker for the onset of zombie apocalypses and how a small group or close narrator perspective will survive. This reminds me of one of my favorite zombie books, Day by Day Armageddon, in its journalistic format, prepping to bunker against the oncoming horde. In Apocalypse Z: The Beginning of the End, by Manel Loureiro, we have a guy gradually building up supplies at his home while he hears and sees the world falling apart around him and the dead find his doorstep.

Which character – as performed by Nick Podehl – was your favorite?

While I thought he did a great job on the Ukrainian dialect, his narration of the main POV character was excellent.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

For most of it. Around the 60% mark it got tired, but then picked up through the end so that I wanted to pick up the second book right away.

Any additional comments?

I recommend the audiobook of this title because of how the narration adds to the experience, helping me care more about the characters.

Very captivating

Very captivating story line, the narrator was very good. I look forward to the next book and to finishing the rest of the series.

pretty good book, an interesting take .

story was okay, could have been a little bit better. Narrator, as always is great! Although he might not have been the one to read this. a more clipped and brusque voice may have been needed.

Couldn't stop listening.

Very exciting. Good story about average, unprepared, people surviving the apocalypse. Can't wait to listen to book 2 .

One of the best Zombie stories!!!!

I absolutely love this book. The story and the narrative keep you gripped in its clutches till the very end.

Journaled view of the decline of society

Through his journal, we see the stages of the society's destruction and the humans' adaptions to the new world they must now learn to survive in, die in, or join as one of the undead.

Different

I have a thing for these end of the world zombie apocalypse stories. The way this is written as a journal was interesting. I found it odd with so many entries in a few hours but I got used to it. Going to go start the 2nd one and see if it keeps me wondering what happens next with the few survivors and Lucullus.

Second best Zombie book after WWZ that I've found

Bought this series on the "let us get you started with a series" sale, and to my surprise enjoyed it. Agree with another reviewer that it is the second best Zombie book after WWZ. Just a perfect listen while walking the beach on vacation.The sale worked, I will buy the next two books in the series.

That Darn Cat!

I enjoy books in the Zombie genre and thought I would give this one a try. First off, I have to say that I really don't enjoy books that are written in the guise of a Journal by the main character. And, that is exactly what this entire book is.....the MC's Journal. Said MC is a nameless lawyer, living in Galicia, Spain with his cat, Locullus. He starts hearing things from the media and the Internet about a mysterious illness that began in Russia.

Our protagonist soon finds out that something is going on that is much worse than he has been led to believe. When things really get bad, he decides to take his cat and make the trek to the port to get out of town. Without going too much into the story, I will say that there was a lot of the book that really, really had me shaking my head. I love animals and would never do anything to hurt one, but this book carries the MC's obsession with taking Locullus with him everywhere to the point of unbelievability. Anybody who has spent any time around cats will never believe some of the things that happen.

Then, the author takes a strange turn about halfway through the book and the book becomes a spy-thriller. MC encounters a ship full of Russians, Ukrainians and Pakistanis and is forced to track down a mysterious package in order to rescue that darn cat! Plenty of gore and zombie encounters, but we never do find out what is so important in that package.

If you are a diehard Zombie fan, you will probably enjoy parts of this book, but some of the technical stuff will definitely be a turnoff for them. Too much artistic license with guns, boats, helicopters, cars, etc. Then, you have the ubiquitous possible love interest with a very inappropriate age gap. UGH!

The narrator does a great job and I will admit that I had to listen to the whole thing in order to see what happened. But, I don't care enough to read the rest of the series, so I guess I'll never find out what was in that package or what the h**l the MC's name is! And, the word Zombie is never used once throughout this entire saga.

A lawyer, a Ukrainian, and a cat walk into a bar.

No seriously while yes this is yet another one out of many zombie novels that came out in recent years it's solid gold. At first you might question it but give a shot to wash over you. Loureiro tells an interesting tale of a lonely lawyer and his journey to survive the coming apocalypse! What trials and tribulations await our heroic lawyer does he escape his home in Galicia? Does he turn into a zombie? Find true love? As with any good tv show stay tuned for next week and like that tv show this book will very much draw you in wanting to find out what happens next to our lovable idiotic impossibly lucky lawyer. After finishing this book I instantly bought book two to find out the outcome of his journey.