Alt Vegas: Nuclear Dreams

De: Wren Cavanagh

Narrado por: Shawn Rigby

Newlyweds Kyle and Mandy arrive in the quiet town of Esperville, Oregon, ready to build and sell homes, imagining a bright future together. But Esperville hides a dark secret: the land itself seems to swallow its residents whole. Vanished without a trace. At first, Kyle dismisses the town's disturbing history as local superstition—until a close friend is savagely attacked by a nightmarish creature, and Mandy disappears that same night.

Desperate to find her, Kyle teams up with Sam Oswell, a grieving potter haunted by the mysterious disappearance of his own son. Together, they uncover a doorway to "the Alt"—an eerie, alternate dimension where a breaking time loop traps its inhabitants in a twisted version of 1950s Las Vegas, replete with creatures, monsters, and evolving lifeforms. This world teems with strange life forms, and reality itself is breaking down.

Worse, it is a two-way door, and Kyle soon realizes that the reality of the Alt has already bled into small and quaint Esperville with deadly results.

To rescue Mandy, Kyle must face mind-bending dangers in both dimensions, confronting a ruthless army officer intent on preserving the Alt's deadly cycle. Time is running out, and as the boundaries between worlds crumble, Kyle must risk everything—not only his life, but the fragile balance of reality itself.

©2024 Daniela Morescalchi (P)2024 Daniela Morescalchi

Almost

Great story and premise characters were distinct enough, and the narrator was amazing. My only critiques would be the exposition was a little too drawn out, and it felt like the ending was rushed otherwise a solid overall story, but not quite five stars.

Good story but woke detractions

The best part of this audiobook was the narrator and I will be looking for more by him. He was really good. A good Horror story spoiled to some extent by the stupid liberal woke inserts It's quite a shame that authors see fit to jam their political ideology into otherwise a good creation. Even though it was nowhere near as bad as some other authors I've read I won't be looking for anything else by this author for that reason.

Weird

This was a very strange book. I read lots of fantasy, horror, and alt reality books but this one was different. I spent several sections of the book in confusion. Overall, it was an interesting plot and I wanted to continue reading.

Weird

I couldn't really get into this story, even though I finished it. It was just a bit too weird and hard to follow.

Creativity and interesting premise.

Abrupt ending with many things unexplained. It set up another book, but it smells like the beginning of one of those eternal series - which I don’t necessarily mind if each book gives a healthy chunk of satisfaction. This episode, in my opinion, was just a little light. I’m not sure I want to continue the journey.

I was interested in the beginning

This started out well. I liked the characters except for the woman who needs to video every darn thing. I even started to like her.

The horror elements kept me engaged. The alternate universe was well done.

Then, I got to hear about the author's politics repeatedly. Two characters buy two AR-15s and act like they bought bazookas(Is it moral to use these terrible,death devices even to kill monsters?) The second character goes on to die for some truly stupid reason...the gun gave him overconfidence or something or other.

The characters never try fire or cold or Roundup on the monsters...they just shoot them.

The obligatory trying to get the mayor to close the town while MC is covered with blood and looking like a nut without his bringing tangible proof was my breaking point. I paid for this thing, so I listened to the rest at 2X speed.

Aside from mispronouncing words "John Sousa" among other things, the reader did a good job.

It’s kinda like Stranger Things meets Little Shop Of Horrors with a first pass reading.

The narrator was obviously only given one pass, inflection and pronunciation mistakes abound and there is no drama in the reading. The story is okay, but sounds like a failed tv show pilot most of the time. It’s probably one to skip unless you really need an alternate universe story.

The protagonists were so pathetic I was wishing the plant monsters would win and murder them

most characters had no or paper thin development. so much whining about pathetic unimportant things (The author is all about wearing Rona masks.... We get it.) It's obvious what fields the author is familiar with and how utterly lost they are outside them and can't be bothered to do even minimal research into them no matter how important to the story they are. it was a pretty painful listen.... Speaking of, the narrator should probably take 5 minutes to look up pronunciation ls they're unsure of. There is no famous John Phillip SOW-za famous for military marches for example. if not for buying it on Daily Deal I'd be more upset, but even at $2=3 I feel I overpaid.

Horror Story With Few Details

The story basically follows a horror story formula that fans of horror may like. It's fast-moving and has reasonably engaging characters. The author passes over the opportunity to develop many good plot development ideas, instead providing few details, like a summary of what would have been a great book had he taken the opportunity to develop the ideas he just mentions in passing. Overall not a terrible listen if you are looking for a quick horror novel. Skip it if you're looking for a believable or literary experience.

Plot points never explained

There was lots going on in this book but some of the more fantastical plot points were never fleshed out. I kept asking myself, “Wait—what just happened?” And then there’d be a radical scene change. Also not impressed with the narrator’s mispronunciation of common words and names. I would think that for a book subtitled “Nuclear Dreams” the narrator should be able to say “nuclear” instead of “nucular.” And John Phillip Sow-sa? C’mon!