Crumbling World

Surviving the End, Book 1

By: Grace Hamilton

Narrated by: Chris Monteiro

Length: 7 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

Family comes first, and he’ll do whatever it takes to protect his from the looming storm.

Even before becoming a husband and father, safety had been Shane McDonald’s priority for most of his 45 years. As a nuclear engineer, it’s his responsibility to keep the Sequoyah Nuclear Plant functioning at optimum levels to avoid what protesters fear most: a meltdown.

But when a coronal mass ejection from the sun wipes out power across the globe, stopping a nuclear chain reaction is no longer his primary concern. Now, Shane must trek across hundreds of miles to ensure the safety of his loved ones in a world rapidly disintegrating into lawlessness. Yet, with few functioning automobiles and a blind teenage daughter to protect, it’ll require careful planning to reach his prepper mother-in-law’s and reunite with his family.

His wife has her hands full, as well. When her brother’s chemo drip suddenly stops working and her son gets stuck in the hospital elevator, all Jodi McDonald wants is the security of her husband’s steady presence. But with a weakened brother and inexperienced son to look after, Jodi must remain strong amid the chaos and help guide them to her mother’s.

However, even the best laid plans go awry as the miles stretch out between them. Supply thefts run rampant. Those who have necessities prey on those who don’t. Minds broken by hardship kill on sight. But the fatal mistake comes when thugs threaten the McDonald’s little girl.

Shane must find the strength to do the unthinkable...or watch his family suffer the consequences.

Warning: This novel contains violence, profanity, substance abuse, and scenes with referenced sexual violence.

©2019 Relay Publishing (P)2020 Relay Publishing

uuuugh

these types of books just remind me how many people are totally screwed if something like this goes down. Their utter "shock" at how hospitals, stores etc shutdown and how people turn on you in the blink of an eye, should NOT be that friggin shocking!! Come on people! if the world's going to shit, you best be prepared to fight for your life and the lives of those you love and NOT afraid to take the life of a scumb bag if needed and NOT feel bad about it! I just can't understand these people's stupid dilemmas when their families lives are hanging in the balance. "That's not right!" .... no it isn't "right", but when the world is ending, "right" doesn't factor in anymore. black and white turn to gray and you do what you've gotta do. Period.
Other than that nonsense, it was an ok book and I'm continuing the series regardless just to see if they smarten the Fu(k up.

Amazing!

I'm a huge post-apocalyptic fan, and Grace Hamilton always delivers with gripping plots and multi-faceted characters. She takes the readers/listeners on a harrowing and yet exciting journey. Crumbling World is a marvelous start to an exciting new series, Surviving the End. The narrative is descriptive with a premise that is wholly engaging and fascinating. The story is set in a grim world, festered with lawlessness, where survival is paramount. The diversity of the characters and different points of view allowed the readers/listeners to be further immersed in the story.

A stellar performance by Chris Monteiro. He portrayed the nuances of the characters flawlessly while capturing the emotions and intensities in the scenes. This was an utterly charming story with quality writing and narration, one I strongly recommend. I received a complimentary copy of this audiobook, and my unbiased review is voluntarily given.

That's one helluva CME!

An unremarkable tale of survival after a super CME extinguishes the lights on the continent. The account bounces between three groups of family members, separated by distance, struggling to reach the same rally point at Macon. We have husband/father Shane McDonald with his young blind daughter Violet and her guide dog Ruby. Then there’s wife/mother/sister Jodi McDonald with her brother Mike and son Owen. At the Macon rally point, Mom’s house is mother-in-law Beth with grand-daughter Calli. Each group must cope with the crisis under different circumstances while dealing with the cockroaches that come out when the lights go out. I’ve read so many survival tales that it takes something unique and exciting to warrant a high rating. Three.point.five for a good start to a new series.

Post-Apocalyptic Family Story

'Crumbling World' is the first book in Grace Hamilton's post-apocalyptic series, 'Surviving the End'. In this story, the McDonald family are living lives of the typical busy modern family. They are scattered throughout Georgia when a coronal mass ejection from the sun destroys power across the country. Nuclear engineer Shane and daughter, Violet, are at the epicenter of a possible nuclear disaster. Can the nuclear core be shut down before meltdown? Wife Jodi and son, Owen, have accompanied her brother, Mike, to his final chemo treatment in Augusta. Jodi's mother is in Macon babysitting youngest daughter, Caylee, when the CME strikes. The family must now travel hundreds of miles to reach Beth's house in Macon where she has a well-stocked prepper home. Will the family make it there before chaos reigns?

I am a huge post-apocalyptic story fan. This book is the first I've read that uses a CME as the cause of the power outage, which presents its own unique effects. The author has written a believable tale of how this family attempts to reunite after being spread out over hundreds of miles. On their journeys, they encounter the quick devolution of society and find themselves in harm's way. There is plenty of action and suspense to be enjoyed. It has emotional moments that show character development. There are also some plot twists that I didn't see coming. Ms. Hamilton is quickly becoming a must-read author for me.

While it didn't spoil my enjoyment of the book, it does end on a cliffhanger. This is a pet peeve of mine, so I mention it when I come across it.

I have not listened to a book by narrator Chris Monteiro before. His performance has nice emotional depth. I thought his interpretations were great, especially given such an age range among the characters.

This audiobook was provided at my request as a free review copy. This posting is my voluntary opinion.

Highly recommended.

Another cliffhanger

This is fairly typical dystopian fiction, including the cliffhanger ending. And readers of my reviews know by now that I find this practice especially distasteful and frustrating. Fortunately, the characters redeem this story somewhat and the challenges they face are not so extreme that they're not believable.

Chris Monteiro performs well, giving appropriate voices to the characters.

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

Not Bad

I wasn't sure what to expect since this it the first book I've listened to from this author. I am glad I gave it a chance. I enjoy apocalypse fiction and have listened to lots. There are some parts that seem "too perfect" or "too much bad luck" but when that happens I try to think of it as the tale of those who prepared or got lucky and survived. Listeners are omniscient in a sense knowing the bigger picture so it's easy to think "Why did they do that? That was a stupid choice." but I think it's realistic that most people will be likely to hesitate to believe that things are not as bad as they are. The characters are a good mix of realistic hesitation, adaptability, and common sense. The narrator was good. I laughed inwardly a few times at his southern and elderly voices but he was able to give characters distinguishable voices.

Nice change of pace

I found this to be a good change of pace from the typical post apocalypse story. In most other stories, the timeline for events usually takes a few days or weeks to start unfolding. In this story however, the majority of all electronics gets fried from a solar flare, leaving most people completely stranded. This causes an instantaneous collapse of society and ruthless power grabs by criminals overnight. Many people become literally stranded in the middle of the highway, miles from their loved ones and with no supplies. Their situation becomes extremely desperate, and things escalate quickly.

What I also like about this story is that the main characters are intelligent but average people. Unlike other stories where the main character is ex-military and one man armies, the characters in this story have many disadvantages. This is compensated by the fact that their adversaries on their journey are average low level criminals, but that being said, this makes their story more realistic and relatable. I would have given the story 5 stars but overall it wasnt really exciting. I definitely enjoyed it and would listen to it again but there weren't any points where I was on the edge of my seat in anticipation of what was going to happen next. I'm looking forward to the story continuing in the next book in this series.

The narration was very good, with a good range for each of the characters. There was no repetition with voices, and you could clearly tell who was talking in each scene.

At my request I received this book for free in exchange for writing an unbiased review.

Fast paced and entertaining EOTWAWKI

I enjoyed this post-apocalyptic thriller involving a family that is separated from one another when a CME hits. The story follows them as they struggle to get home. This book has everything you look for in the genre, from preppers and looters to heroes and villains. The story is set in Georgia, spanning from the north Georgia mountains to Albany, with Macon as their destination. The author’s description of the various locations is largely accurate, and the few minor errors would only be noticed by long-time residents or native Atlantans. I appreciate that the author did not turn the characters into caricatures and that the narrator did not use some absurd hillbilly accent.

Although there is an interesting mix of characters, including a blind girl and a man in chemotherapy, it is not a character-driven story. I only got a vague sense of the relationships and backgrounds of the characters. Instead, its focus is on the action. It’s the kind of book one can listen to while doing housework or running errands, as it doesn’t require focused concentration. If you’re looking for deep and thought-provoking literature, this is not the book for you. But if you want a fun, fast-moving, end-of-the-world adventure, you will enjoy Crumbling World.

Chris Monteiro did a fantastic job with the various character voices. Male narrators often struggle to voice female characters without sounding whiny or too masculine, but he was able to handle all of them in a way that made me forget I was listening to a narrator at all, much less a man.

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. I know some people are skeptical of such reviews, but I rely on reviews myself too much to be dishonest. I have over 1000 books in my library, so I take reviews seriously. I can also tell you that I liked the book enough to spend my own credit on Book 2 in the series. I look forward to finding out what happens next.

She’s done it again! 5+ star!

Grace Hamilton has done it again! I highly recommend this audiobook, as well as all of her other books and audiobooks! I haven’t read/listened to all of them yet, but I’ve loved the ones I have! She’s a master storyteller, and is definitely one you don’t want to miss! I cannot even begin to praise her enough! Every single one of her books has unique characteristics, unforgettable characters (that are easy to relate to), and different plot lines. Even though some of them have a similar topics (end of times/life after worldwide destruction), she has somehow found a way to show a high level of creativity while maintaining believable real-world scenarios in every single one! They stand out as some of the best books and audiobooks I’ve ever read/listened to! They are irresistible and impossible to put down. The suspense and thrill of “what’s going to happen next?” and “wow, I can’t believe that just happened!” will make you keep reading/listening much longer than you anticipated. 5+ star! Definitely worth the money/credit! Thank you to the author, publisher, and audiobook boom for allowing me to preview this for free. My review is voluntary and is my honest opinion.

Crumbling World

This was a very good book.We follow people trying to get to grannies house.It is too bad that bad men get there first.Chris Monteiro was a fine narrator.I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.