Downfall

A Collapse Series Prequel

De: Angela D. Shelton

Narrado por: Samantha Norbury

The only thing anyone wants to talk about lately is the stupid virus that’s making people sick around the globe. But 13-year-old Lizzy Tilbrook has bigger things on her mind, like winning her class presidency.

It’s the first stepping stone in her plan to get into Yale. Then she’ll capture the title of Atlanta’s top lawyer.

Lizzy doesn’t need friends to do that—she needs voters. She’ll do anything to win them over and take down her rival. The new pandemic is just a speed bump along the way.

Or so she thinks.

When the virus reactivates in individuals who’ve already had it, it snuffs out millions of lives within days.

Insanity and chaos follow. Supply chains collapse, along with Lizzy’s plans.

Soon there aren’t enough essential resources to go around. Violence erupts.

With no place safe, priorities shift, and relationships become vital. Suddenly, being a lone wolf isn’t a sign of strength. It’s her greatest weakness.

Lizzy must find allies or face the apocalypse alone.

Downfall, prequel to the Collapse Series, an apocalyptic young adult novel. Experience the beginning of the Collapse by Angela D. Shelton.

©2022 Angela D. Shelton (P)2022 Angela D. Shelton

very good

Loved it !! this story. the narrator is so fantastic it's like your really there!! good overall

For any Age, Post Apocalypse w/ Covid Like Virus

Parents- PG- really kept very clean
Language- none
Violence- some violence around civilization collapse but nothing very descriptive
Sexual Content- none

For those not wanting to relive Covid in any way you'll want to avoid this one, but if you're looking for a post apocalyptic read for your elementary and middle school aged kids then this series will fit the bill. It's from a 7th grade girls perspective, with all the teenage drama, friend dilemmas, disagreements about parent rules on clothing, and masking. There's great messages about living with choices and their consequences, importance of friends, family and God. There is a Christian element, that I love, because it's not done in a pushy or preachy way. I would definitely let my kids read it.

Narrator- does a great job with the voice differentiation, I preferred listening at 1.35x speed.

—I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

A good prequel to a series.

As I was able to get this prequel when I got the first of the series, I decided to start with this one. I have no idea what might have been different if I had started with book one but this was a good standalone story to start with. First off, it is no doubt a teen novel. It all takes place in a high school setting with clicks and politics as usual. A good story overall. Ready for book one. I received this free review copy and I am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

An engaging post-apocalyptic story!

Angela D. Shelton writes an engaging post-apocalyptic story. The story follows Lizzy, a 7th grader who must find allies in order to survive the collapse of a disease ridden post-apocalyptic world. The MC and supporting characters are well written, the world is well developed, and the plot moves at a good pace. I look forward to the first book in the series! Audio Version: Samantha Norbury does a great job with the narration and each character's voice.

A captivating listen!

Lizzy is currently running for Class President. Though she's only in the seventh grade, Lizzy has plans to get into Yale for college, and her becoming the Seventh-Grade Class President is step number one of that plan. Her mom has been mentoring her on how to run her campaign, and things seem to be going well.

What Lizzy is NOT focused on is the pandemic that is pandemic currently affecting the world - not even when her cousin Mary arrives from Honduras to live with them until things settle down again. But everything changes when a new variant begins wreaking havoc. Suddenly, people who had already had the virus and recovered are getting suck again. Seemingly overnight, millions of people around the world have died.

Now, being class president is that last thing on Lizzy's mind as she and her family struggle to find food, fuel, and safe shelter.

This newly published book serves as a prequel to Shelton's Collapse series and reveals the early days of the collapse through the eyes of Lizzy. At the beginning of the book, I did not like Lizzy at all. She was incredibly self-centered, viewing people as tools or resources to be used instead of people with whom to cultivate relationships. This viewpoint was only encouraged by her mother, who's used the same view to rise up the corporate ladder at her job while also looking down on Lizzy's dad, who has never had the same drive and is happy with where he is.

Even when Lizzy's cousin Mary comes to live with them because the international borders are closing, Lizzy is more concerned with making sure Mary has the "right" clothing to wear so she doesn't embarrass Lizzy at school than how Mary might be feeling living with them while her own mother is still in Honduras.

Even allowing for the self-centeredness of tweens and teenagers, I wanted to knock some sense into Lizzy to try and get her to really look at the consequences of her own behavior. Thankfully, as the world around her begins to crumble, Lizzy begins to grow; by the end of the book, she was much more likeable, and it was much easier to connect with and hope for her.

My struggle with liking Lizzy as a character actually helped soften the blow of the pandemic they were experiencing. With the background of the last few years, the scenario in this book is all too real, and even with life back to a relative normal, it wouldn't take much for our own world to move in this direction.

The other part that helped soften the blow was the relationship Lizzy has with her father and the strength she draws from him. He serves as a pillar of strength for both Lizzy and Mary, and that was nice to see.

As a general... warning isn't really the right word, so I'm going to go with informing... In the spirit of informing for clarity and transparency, his strength comes from his Christian faith, and there are several references to faith in God, and the characters pray before eating their meals. For those readers who aren't Christian, at no point does it feel like proselytizing. Instead, it is an organic shift to prayer as a source of strength in the midst of everything falling apart around them.

Finally, I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, which was narrated by Samantha Norbury. She did a fantastic job, and I feel like listening to her narration elevated the book for me, bringing it to life in a way that reading it myself would not have. There were several places I found myself tearing up, and by the end, I was sitting on the edge of my proverbial seat as I hoped Lizzy and her family would be okay.

If you have the opportunity to listen to the audiobook, I highly recommend you take it. If not, you should definitely read the book. It is a wonderful story about the strength of the human spirit.

Great Book

This book was nice. I hope to see more from this author. Thank you!

Excellent Young Adult Fiction

I listen to books on my lawnmower, which doubles my enjoyment because I love both activities so much. My first mow of the season was just a few days ago. I was compelled to read/listen to this book for personal reasons...that being that the author is known to me. I know what you're thinking. This will be a biased review. But I assure you every word will be honest. The characters were well written. Even as an adult with young teen grandchildren, it was compelling enough to completely hold my attention to the very end. The author did not exceed the reading level or attention span of the target audience. She did introduce them to the dreadful potential realities that are closer than most realize in a way that's appropriate for the maturity level of the reader segment. The subject was very relevant to our times. A time that the target audience is still reeling from, but may not have full awareness of how quickly it could have been darkly different. This book has lessons, suspense, excellent characters, and thrill. It is long enough to engage the young reader but not so long that the impatient minds give up. I will recommend this to my grandkids for sure. But, if you are an adult who peruses the young adult section either for yourself or to review for your family, you will not be disappointed.

Downfall Indeed

This new series has teeth. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved this prequel to the collapse series. Downfall was a teaser with a hint of mean girl. I cannot wait to see what the rest of the collapse series has to offer.
1. Collapse
2. Collapse: The Death of Honor
3. Collapse: Death of Independence:

mean girls meet the pandemic

as I listened I had to keep reminding myself this was 8th grader. lots of high school similarities. middle American family with go getter mom and solid blue collar dad. story opens with ongoing plot for school election as in the background pandemic goes on with new variant overseas. missionary family members endangered.
a little slow to start and the story pushes to the societal collapse in a hurry... first book in series. will listen to second

Excellent

Loved the entire series. Found myself eager to hear more from each time period and different character perspective. I rarely like anything with cannibals but gave this a shot and LOVED it. I want more from this author and even more from this post apocalyptic world.