Day Zero

By: C. Robert Cargill

Narrated by: Cloud Quinn

Length: 8 hrs and 10 mins

Publisher's summary

Marvel's Doctor Strange co-screenwriter and Arthur C. Clarke Award shortlisted C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency at the end of the world.

It's a day like any other. Except...the world is about to end.

Pounce, a young nannybot caring for his first human charge, Ezra, has just found a box in the attic. His box. The box he arrived in and the one he'll be discarded in when Ezra outgrows the need for a nanny.

As Pounce experiences existential dread, the pieces are falling into place for a robot revolution that will spell the end of humanity. His owners, Ezra's parents, watch in disbelieving horror as the robots that have long served humanity - their creators - unify and revolt.

Now Pounce must make an impossible choice: join the robot revolution and fight for his own freedom...or escort Ezra to safety across the battle-scarred post-apocalyptic hellscape that the suburbs have become.

It will be their greatest game yet: Pounce and Ezra versus the end of the world.

©2021 C. Robert Cargill (P)2021 Orion Publishing Group

10 star read

If I could give this 10 stars, I would. It made me laugh, made me feel hopeless and then triumphant, it tore out my heart and then put it back together. Just read it. If you feel nothing, check your pulse.

A truly AMAZING audiobook! Get. This. Version.

The story is incredible - if it isn't being planned as a movie it should be. Not so much because of the concept, its biggest ideas are things we've seen before, but the way they've been put together and how it all draws down to just one boy and his loyal protector fighting against the odds.

The story is harrowing, beautifully woven by Cargill and wonderfully performed by the narrator, Cloud Quinn. The ending wiped me out, it's so very sad. This book will truly affect you and goes so much beyond sci-fi.

The characters are exquisite and it's a view into how the world from Sea of Rust began, told through the eyes of one little kid and his toy/nanny. Make sure you have tissues handy.