Arisen Omnibus Edition: Books 1-3

By: Michael Stephen Fuchs, Glynn James

Narrated by: R.C. Bray

Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins

Publisher's summary

Book One - Fortress Britain: When the Zombie Apocalypse came, one country had shut down its borders in response to a major terrorist attack. Now Fortress Britain is the last bastion of the living - with 50 million beleaguered survivors facing down a world of seven billion animated corpses. And one international team of elite special operators - supremely trained and armed, always the most skilled, resolved, and unstoppable amongst us - are humanity's last best hope for survival....

Book Two - Mogadishu of the Dead: Alpha team is tasked with one last desperate operation: They must cross the Atlantic aboard the world's only remaining supercarrier and insert by air into the very middle of a dead continent, all in search of a rumored vaccine that might bring humanity back from the brink. But their op goes dangerously wrong from the start, with the team scattered to hell and back, and their target site a dry hole. Now they must fight their way on foot through a city of three million ravening dead guys, in search of an underground bunker that might hold the Last Man on Earth. But these undead will not be like any Zulus they have ever fought before - and they surround the new target in a writhing ring of death 30 feet high on all sides....

Book Three - Three Parts Dead: Alpha team, the world's best and last surviving Tier-1 operators, are adrift on Lake Michigan - and fast drifting into what looks like a damned hostile shoreline. Deep in the National Forest nearby, a former police officer and survivalist battles to keep her family alive - and tries to decide whether the commandos of Alpha are more dangerous to her alive or dead. Meanwhile, the John F. Kennedy, the world's last floating supercarrier, is run aground off the coast of Virginia - and facing a veritable hurricane of the dead, blowing in fast. Finally, back in Fortress Britain, the terrible outbreak from the Channel Tunnel turns out not to have been so contained after all.

©2014 Michael Stephen Fuchs, Glynn James (P)2015 Podium Publishing

ZA book minus women's rapes

First thing to note is that this is an omnibus edition, which means that there are 3 "books" in here which were originally published (and presumably sold) separately. If you were to get book 1 only, you'd be very annoyed at where it stopped and where book 2 started as it just ends in the middle of the story (i.e. the transition to book 2 in this omnibus is invisible - if you weren't told it was a new book, you'd never know from the story itself). The transition from book 2 to book 3 is a little more noticeable (the tone of the story changes a bit too) so I could see how book 3 is legitimately separate from 1+2.

Now, to the story... it's actually an above average pseudo-military post-apocalyptic zombie novel. It's not an action novel - there are too many characters for that - but it's a decently fleshed-out zombie apocalypse with just enough shooting, zombie gore, and people being killed to keep you reading. No, there is no big twist here, no unexpected source of or behaviour by the zombies, but for a standardly plotted zombie novel, it's at least a 4 star... mainly due to the characters behaving normally and the scenarios being realistic. I've given it 5 stars because women are present and real, and they aren't only there to be raped and rescued (and vice versa).

I will be reading more by this author since it's nice to have a decent quality zombie novel minus the gun porn and women as mere rape objects. I might wait until they are packaged in another omnibus however, as I don't know that the stories are "separate" enough to justify being sold independently.

The narration is very good. There is a lot of swearing, some non-graphic but fairly gore-y zombie details and no sex. #Zombies #NoGunPorn #WomenNotVictims #Tagsgiving #Sweepstakes

Great series, the Best ZA series out there

This is a great series. As one of the characters says, it's not so much about the Zombies but how the humans who remain cope with the end of the world.

But, I have issues with the whole concept. I can imagine a virus that turns humans into raving lunatics who only want to bite the living (Rabies style) but:

(1) Defying the laws of physics - how can corpses who are literally rotted away still manage to move and kill the living. I can suspend disbelief with most Sci Fi because a lot of it is based on existing science or conceivable advances or a magic black box that promises some future scientific advance. But corpses that can still function when the body is rotted away seems a bridge too far.

(2) Zombies are drawn to sound and smell (apparently) so why doesn't the military set up a killing zone in an empty stadium or depression, lure the hordes with a sound machine (a la the thumpers in DUNE) and when you have a few thousand trapped in the killing zone drop some napalm on them?

(3) Thinking back on WW1 and the massive killing of tens of thousands of living, dodging and shooting soldiers while attacking fortified German positions; why doesn't the military set up to sweep hordes with massive machine gun fire at head height with secondary troops lined up to pick off the ones who squirt through the fire?

Just some thoughts. Still a great well written series if you can suspend disbelief of the above caveats.

R. C. Bray is the man!

Standard story of, dropped in the meat grinder and over coming the odds. But the narration makes it way more enjoyable to hear.

BETTER THAN ANY MOVIE

These books (honestly the whole series) are absolutely phenomenal. The pacing, the storyline, the narration, everything matched what I craved for in a zombie thriller. The story plays out like a beautiful canvas and each character plays a significant role, no matter how small. R.C. Bray reads each character to perfection and makes them feel like people I know personally. I felt the pain, the loss, the intensity, the terror, the raw emotion... I couldn’t get enough of this series and spent many hours on the road listening. It made me wish my hour long commute was longer. Traffic? I WANTED it because of this series. Often I’d find myself holding my breath, gripping the steering wheel too tight, and my pulse racing due to the intensity. Anyone who claims to be a zombie nut must listen to this to achieve full nerd! HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!!

Interesting take on the Zombie Apocalypse.

The story was good and entertaining. The knowledge and details of weapons and tactics are much appreciated. And, as usual, the narration by R.C. Bray was spot on. It is well worth your time to listen.

Excellent take on the zombie genre!

The writing is superb and Brey brings it to life nicely! A more true to life zombie experience.

Can't wait for the next book!

This is a really great book! I was hesitant because it is described as GI Joe meets zombie apocalypse..... GI Joe is definitely not my genre. However, I was able to really get into this book. Any zombie book lovers would enjoy this book. It doesn't just have the predictable zombies that I have come to expect in apocalypse stories. I highly recommend if you enjoy this genre.

Awesome

I liked how the story goes, it's well connected. in addition to that it thrills the reader about the events.

A great start to a zombie-military series

Josh here

This series came recommended to me because I am a huge fan of post-apocalyptic stories, to include zompoc books, and also a Brayniac (R.C. Bray fan). I have had it in my library for some time but my squirrel brain kept shifting around (as always happens with any book I listen to) my listening order.

I loved the detail about the different zombies and I really enjoyed the military aspect and details incorporated throughout. Overall, this omnibus did not disappoint although the first book had a few sections that left me feeling as though some of the detail could have been cut out. What I mean by that is there were points where a large amount of back story was provided that I felt didn't really contribute to my enjoyment of the story. All of that said, once the main character base was built I felt the story picked up quite a bit.

R.C. Bray, as usual, did a wonderful job and I will definitely be moving on to the remainder of the series as I can't wait to see what happens.

a drinking game not to play

every time the author says "in seconds," "immediately," or goes into repetitive detail about how operators put the mission first or never give up...
other then that excellent story and characters! definitely recommend! juice is definitely my favorite character.