After The Fall

De: Edward Ashton

Narrado por: John Pirhalla

“John Pirhalla narrates with deft understanding of each character and of how to balance the story's humor and tension.” — Booklist

Part alien invasion story, part buddy comedy, and part workplace satire, After The Fall by Edward Ashton, author of Mickey7 (inspiration for the film Mickey 17), asks an important question: would humans really make great pets?

Humans must be silent. Humans must be obedient. Humans must be good.

All his life, John has tried to live by those rules. Most days, it’s not too difficult. A hundred and twenty years after The Fall, and a hundred years after the grays swept in to pick the last dregs of humanity out of the wreckage of a ruined world, John has found himself bonded to Martok Barden nee Black Hand, one of the "good" grays. Sure, Martok is broke, homeless, and borderline manic, but he’s always treated John like an actual person, and sometimes like a friend. It’s a better deal than most humans get.

But when Martok puts John’s bond up as collateral against an abandoned house in the woods that he hopes to turn into a wilderness retreat for wealthy grays, John learns that there are limits to Martok’s friendship. Soon he finds himself caught between an underworld boss who thinks Martok is something that he very much is not, a girl who was raised by feral humans and has nothing but contempt for pets like John, and Martok himself, whose delusions of grandeur seem to be finally catching up with him.

Also, not for nothing, something in the woods has been killing people.

John has sixty days before Martok’s loan comes due to unravel the mystery of how humans wound up holding the wrong end of the domestication stick and find a way to turn Martok’s half-baked plans into profit enough to buy back his life, all while avoiding getting butchered by feral humans or having his head crushed by an angry gray. Easy peasy, right?

A Macmillan Audio production from St. Martin’s Press

very weird and very fun

it's a weird premise but when the penny drops it really drops. well narrated and fun characters. I really enjoyed it.

Always Great

Edward Ashton's writing is always great. He blends comedy so well within the story you actually feel like these are real interactions between these characters. I recommend anything he writes to anyone.

Totally bingeworthy

Loved the storyline, characters. Reminds me of Asimov, in a way, another of my favorite authors. It's probably my favorite Edward Ashton book to date.

The ending changes everything ...

I first read "After the Fall" by Edward Ashton in late April. It was the first book selected for my then-brand-new book club podcast with my friends Craig and Howie. But for reasons, it was not the book we discussed in our first episode … or our second. But as our third episode approached, along with an interview with author Edward Ashton, I thought I had better read it again so it was fresh in my mind.

On the first read, I recall that it took me a while to get into. In fact, I was probably 2/3 to 3/4 done and not sure whether I even liked the book.

So in "After the Fall," aliens, referred to simply as "grays," are now the controlling species on planet Earth. The story says that approximately 120 years prior to when the book takes place, humans had destroyed the planet and the grays got here just in time to save us. They also killed almost all adult humans that remained and turned the kids into … well, pets, basically.

The story in "After the Fall" follows John, a human -- kind of -- and his master/owner/employer Martok, a gray. They are headed to Laketown to start a bed and breakfast, basically. And on the way, they stop at a creche (a place where juvenile humans are raised) to pick up another human -- kind of -- named six. I say "kind of" because the humans have been genetically engineered to be smaller and subservient.

They get to Laketown … and shenanigans.

Here were my issues: John is allegedly a 29-year-old male. But comes across almost like a man-child at best. Think Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars movie. Six is SUPER smarmy. To the point of annoyance. And Martok is just kind of … dumb. So the likeability factor for the three main characters was pretty darn low. And I have a hard time liking a book when I don't like the characters in it.

Then toward the very end of the book, there are a couple of reveals/plot twists. And suddenly, at least one of the characters is a lot more likeable.

After the first read, I gave it four stars. Ashton really pulled through at the end. And the narration by John Pirhalla had been solid throughout.

But on the second read, I noticed things I hadn't truly paid attention to before. And I enjoyed the book considerably more. Although I didn't get the payoff of the end reveals/plot twists, I still preferred the second read because I was able to see it in a new light.

I'm going to stick with my original four-star assessment. But if I had gotten as much enjoyment from the first read as I did from the second, it would be 4 1/2. Or maybe 5.

Would humana make good pets?

This story and the performance pulled me into a strange world to live the adventures an disadventures of the little man