Three

Legends of the Duskwalker, Book 1

By: Jay Posey

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 13 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

The world has collapsed, and there are no heroes any more. His name is Three, a travelling gun for hire in a dying world. He has no allegiances, no family, no ties.

Against his better judgment, he accepts the mantle of protector to a sick woman on the run, and her young son. Together they set out across the plains in search of a mythic oasis, attempting to survive the forces that pursue them, and the creatures of the dark.

In these dark times, a hero may yet arise.

©2013 Jay Posey (P)2013 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

I was entranced from the beginning

This book was so great I'm hesitant to start the second in fear that it might not be as good. I can't help but remember the movie cyborg with Jean Claude van Damme from when I was young.

Three for the road

Would you consider the audio edition of Three to be better than the print version?

Can't say haven't read the book

Who was your favorite character and why?

Three - man of mystery, the loner hero

Which character – as performed by Luke Daniels – was your favorite?

Three

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

Too long for one sitting but it did make you want to hurry back

Any additional comments?

Pity Three dies but book 2 should be interesting

A bit underwelming.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Why add zombies? The electronic zombie creatures didn't really need to be there. A world with people who can hack each other's brains on a whim and save their consciousnesses onto a server seems like it would cause enough anarchy and chaos to produce a post-apocalypse world on it’s own without needing to toss in it’s own version of zombies. I liked a lot of the science fiction of the world but it felt as if the intriguingly new concepts went unexplored and had older post-apocalypse ideas thrown in there for tradition’s sake.

Would you recommend Three to your friends? Why or why not?

I’m not sure I would remember it long enough to recommend it to anyone. It just seems so…standard. A hardened post-apocalypse survivor remembers what it means to be human after deciding to help a woman and her young son. It’s been done before many times, so it would need a special twist or flare to make it memorable and that just wasn’t in this audiobook.

What do you think the narrator could have done better?

Luke Daniels does great work as a narrator. His voice work as made me laugh so much when paired with works by Scott Meyer and he did a great job with "Terms of Enlistment: Frontlines" by Marko Kloos.

But with this book, he just didn't seem to fit the slow pacing of the story well and it wasn't his best work.

Any additional comments?

I would skip this one or at least not purchase it for full price or a credit. It doesn't really offer much new to the whole post-apocalypse scene or stand out as an action packed survival story.

Overall entertaining. Slightly slow.

This narrator is one Im always on the fence about. Low energy but great at voices. I found the book entertaining overall, though slow at many points. The setting is a bit creepy, not in a scary way but more in a ' these people are seriously fudged in the head' way.

Very enjoyable

Started off slow but got better as the story progressed. I would recommend this series

Over all good... Not sure about a second

Took me a while to get used to the extra drama of the narrator, and some of the story didn't always make sense to me. I liked the unknown parts of it - and yet craved to know more about what happened and how and why. Overall a pleasant read. I don't know that I'll try the rest of the series however.

Pretty good

Great plot, good writing, bad narration. Luke Daniels isn't bad, for this book though he gives one of the worst child impressions I've heard so far. To the point where I dreaded scenes where a kid had any chance to say something. Great book and easy to finish just had some poop sprinkles.

Flee across a techo-apocalyptic landscape

A lone wolf bounty hunter roams a bleak post apocalyptic landscape where scraps of humanity barely hang on and survive. There isn't anything all too unique about that premise, but this book manages to quickly set the scene and grab your attention with it. Without ever revealing anything about why the world has gone to hell, Jay Posey thrusts you right into the story at the start which very much reminded me of the feeling that you get when you start a new video game.  There is little up front world building, things just are the way they are, and you better figure things out quickly if you want to survive. The book starts just that way when Three, a bounty hunter, finds himself inexplicably drawn to help a woman and her young son who are clearly in a bad way. The woman, Cass, is a drug addict who lacks the money for her next fix, and along with her son, finds herself on the run from some really bad people. Three's sixth sense warns him that helping these two will be the decision that leads to his death but he does it anyway, and thus starts a gritty and compelling journey across a futuristic wasteland.

The landscape of this ruined world is mostly abandoned buildings and dust with small pockets of humanity holed up behind walls wherever possible. Despite this destruction pieces of high tech still work and most humans contain embedded systems that allow them to electronically communicate with each other and access remote map/gps satellites. Unfortunately, travelling at night is unthinkable because that is when the Weir actively hunt and it is not safe to be exposed at night. The Weir are some kind of enhanced, super strong former humans with blue eyes that can track any kind of electronic activity and at night they are out hunting for prey. That means those embedded systems are a liability and their use is strictly off limits after dark. Those killed by the Weir are often captured and converted into Weir as well so the war of attrition is one that humanity is slowly losing.

The story follows Three, Cass, and Wren as they run across the wasteland from a group of bad ass people known as RushRuin. These killers are chasing Cass and Wren and the "why" behind it is doled out slowly as the book progresses. Three is adept at surviving out in the ruined world but keeping Cass and Wren alive as well is possibly more than he can manage. Toss in RushRuin on their heels and things only go from bad to worse as they flee for their lives. The story was entertaining, and the apocalyptic setting was interesting, but the lack of "world building" and explanation leaves one feeling a bit cheated when it is all said and done. No explanation is ever given for why the world is the way it is nor any insight into the Weir and why they exist. I still enjoyed it but you should only pick this one up if you are willing to go along for the ride for the sake of the characters and not the big picture.

Luke Daniels does a decent job of narration. I tend to associate Luke' narration style with military sci-fi but he handles these characters well and makes them all unique.

3 is the magic number

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

This story was full of action. Lots of twists an turns. Wasn't sure i would like it at first, but i gave it a shot. It turned out pretty cool.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Three of course. he always knows what to do.

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

L.D did a great job.

Any additional comments?

If you like Drizzt in a Post-Apocalyptic word. You will like this. Great Story. Check it out

Characters well crafted.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Three, of course. He evolved subtly over the book.

What about Luke Daniels’s performance did you like?

Masterful and distinctive voices. His evil characters tended to sound like meth-heads from KY, but I can deal with that.

Any additional comments?

I though I may have been tricked into a Zombie novel. The universe in question wasn't well explained, I suspect it will be in later books. There are zombie like things in there, but I bought the method they become zombies, and that wasn't really the focus.