The Anvil

By: Christopher Coates

Narrated by: Jeremy Francis

Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins

Publisher's summary

Deadly radiation from a passing comet is about to destroy life on Earth.

In desperation, the US government constructs a series of underground shelters to protect as many people as possible. They are expected to be underground for 20 years before returning back to the surface.

But can they survive their time within the confines of the underground shelter? And what will they find when they finally emerge?

A parallel story to The Ark, The Anvil is a riveting story of survival and courage in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi setting.

©2021 Christopher Coates (P)2021 Christopher Coates

More for younger people

The story started good but I didn’t not get into it too much, finished on 1.5 speed

Fun run through post-apocalypse US.

I’m a fan of this genre in books, movies, games, etc. The book evokes a lot of Fallout mental imagery, which I enjoy. The characters have some arc, but it doesn’t really lead though some big crescendo and resolution; it just tells the story of some people dealing with what happened and I can appreciate that. The writing could have maybe used slightly more polish, but I enjoyed it. Narration was very good at 1.2-1.5x.

Far better than The Arc

The two books by the same author really couldn’t be any different as far as enjoying the experience. The Arc was read by somebody who sounded smart but tries to do too much as far as voices of characters go. The Anvil on the other hand was read by a master of just letting the story be the star. Even though this book jumped around a little bit, I loved it.

A short story of valor and rebuilding

A take while slightly plain, and uneventful, yet still full of heart. Watch on 1.5 speed to get to the good stuff faster. The tv show for the Ark is by far better than the writing in the first half of this novel. A good story, but why do all the characters talk in “high society correctness’?

Decent book

Fast paced and kept me interested. Lacked a lot of detail in the hardships they faced.

Coulda been a contenda

Clever plot idea that never develops beyond its original presentation. There’s kind of a protagonist, but there is no antagonist at all, therefore there’s no conflict, no real drama and no apprehension. The narrator is not good. Some dialog is childish, far too detailed, and is elementary and obvious. I was hoping for much more.

An okay story

In preparation for a radioactive comet the United States builds underground shelters to help people ride out the radioactivity. The story follows Lucy and her family as they go to the shelter, the problems that they encounter there, and the efforts to rebuild civilization.
Overall the story was decent as was the audio narrator. The character felt flat though, and didn’t seem to change at all throughout the course of the story. Lucy’s 16 year old self felt the same as her 60 year old self at the end of the book. I like how the story kept pace and didn’t stay in one era too long, and we got snippets of what life was like throughout the rebuilding of society. On the other hand, things just felt like people came out of the shelter and picked right back up where they started before the comet and that was weird. I feel like a teen would enjoy this more as the book does stick to fairly standard tropes and could act as an introduction to disaster stories.