The Park Service

Book One of the Park Service Trilogy

By: Ryan Winfield

Narrated by: Michael Braun

Length: 11 hrs and 35 mins

Publisher's summary

If Eden doesn't kill you, the Park Service will.

In the post-apocalyptic future, a fifteen-year old boy stumbles on a paradise where the few remaining humans live on the run from deadly drones controlled by a mysterious Park Service. Now this boy must learn to survive in a world he never dreamed existed while searching for answers to why everything he was taught is a lie.

©2012, 2013 Ryan Winfield (P)2014 Ryan Winfield

!!!!

I was at first very apprehensive about this book. I honestly didn't know if I would enjoy it or not. Boy was I wrong. This is one of the best books I've read (or I guess listened to)! I am SO glad I decided to listen to it rather than read it. Braun's performance is phenomenal. One of the best I've heard. His voice and tone for the characters just feel right for them. Jimmy's voice is my absolute favorite. Its unique and consistent. Braun never seems like he's struggling or winging it when I reads Jimmy's dialogue. It just seems like he's channeling Jimmy. Its the same for all the characters.


Winfield's writing is so unique, too. His world building, his characters, his depth– it just so well-done!! The friendship/relationship (or more like they become brothers and I love it) between Audrey and Jimmy is one of the best written relationships I've ever read. The purity and intensity of it is something I wish more author's were brave enough to write. Most won't even approach the idea of two male characters ever becoming that platonically close and trustworthy of each other.

Anyway, I highly recommend this to all who are thinking about it. Listen and you won't regret it!

Great story but follow up books disapointing

Was The Park Service worth the listening time?

The ideas in the books are great but be warned that the 2 follow up books in the series are a big let down. I won't provide more details in fear of spoiling the story.

not the worst

What did you like best about The Park Service? What did you like least?

Very predictable, needed better extensive editing, rework some of the characters, needed rearrangement, which goes along with extensive reediting .

What could Ryan Winfield have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

Better editing

What three words best describe Michael Braun’s performance?

Very very average

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

NO WAY

Any additional comments?

Better editing

Good Book/ Sing-Songy Reader

Would you consider the audio edition of The Park Service to be better than the print version?

No. Print much better

Would you be willing to try another one of Michael Braun’s performances?

Not at all. He has a habit of talking in a syrupy sweet, sing-songy style which is in line with self-help books, not fiction. I am not a fan. I will be reading the rest of the series on my Kindle.

If I could have given this a Zero I would have!!!

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Any of the mindless "Global Warming" liberal robots!

Any additional comments?

This book has everything the liberal global warmers would want. A world destroyed by "Global Warming", the evil 1 percenters, greedy corporations, you name it. If it's a socialist, progressive liberal bullshit talking point, ......it's in here. This sounded deceivingly like a good story from the reviews I saw. But I couldn't take it any more before I was halfway through. I had to delete this tripe from my ipod. There are a million ways to come up with a dystopian future novel, why not try something that is at least based on some remote essence of science fact. GLOBAL WARMING IS NOT REAL YOU IDIOTS!!!
The expedition last year that sent a ship to the arctic to measure the shrinking polar ice,.........got stranded for a week in ice so vast and thick it took the effort of several other countries to get them out! The polar ice IS NOT MELTING, IT'S GROWING.
Wake up, you're being lied to..........don't be one of the "useful idiots"!

Could not finish

This book was unbelievable from the start. And then he gets to the surface and it was almost cartoonish in its description. I expected a unicorn to stroll by or a fairy to flit among the flowers. The main character knew what too many archaic items and terms were....I don't care how many books he had read. I could not recommend this book in good conscience. I wasted a credit on this.

Awful!

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

Would not recomend this book to anyone. The book may have been excellent but don't know for sure, Could not make it past second chapter. The narrator was so overly melodramatic I was unable to continue listening.

Would you be willing to try another book from Ryan Winfield? Why or why not?

Only if another narrator was used.

Any additional comments?

Do not waste your time and money.

For young adults maybe

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

Not to any of my adult friends. I found the characters somewhat cartoonish, the dialogue stilted and unreal, and the narration off-putting. The narrator adopted a breathless style of speaking that is appropriate maybe to introduce some happening. Going on for the whole book becomes a bit tiresome. The plot was maybe ok. The thread of the action was quite frankly unbelievable and irritatingly so. Maybe the problem was the lack of backstory. There was some explanation of what happened 900 years ago, but still quite difficult to put together the present-day status of earth. It was as if: ok, 900 years ago global warming and nuclear war made the earth inhabitable, so today we have people living in isolation underground, other people living above ground in a science lab, trying to kill of the remnants of humans who managed to survive above ground. Plus a leader and his family of three who live in a grand palace by a beautiful lake. Yep, just that nutty. I made it through the whole book, but doubt that I'll continue on with the series.

What didn’t you like about Michael Braun’s performance?

Too breathless; made me tired.

Did The Park Service inspire you to do anything?

Not really;

Any additional comments?

Make sure that books that are targeted toward a teen age audience are clearly identified as such.

Snore...

Have no idea how anyone made it through the end of this book much less the series. The narration is nauseating!