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Downfall  By  cover art

Downfall

By: Angela D. Shelton
Narrated by: Samantha Norbury
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Publisher's summary

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

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A Birdseye View of the Impact of a Pandemic

Through the eyes of an ambitious teen we see the entire world collapse into chaos and disorder and we watch her drown and then rise, appreciating the value of seeing her circumstances with a "glass half full" approach with a brand new value in friendship and loyalty.

A worthy introduction the the world of the Collapse Series with a simple readable style by Angela F Shelton paired with worthy narration by Samantha Norbury.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Great Coming-Of-Age Dystopic Story

This was my first experience with Angela D. Shelton's work, and I enjoyed it. Once the audiobook started, I became so engrossed that I had to listen to the end, in one sitting. The story featured a 13-year-old girl whose life revolved around becoming the class president, when a pandemic rocked her world. I liked that the author created a character who seemed genuine. I'm looking forward to the next book in the series. Samantha Norbury's narration was fine and kept my attention. I was given a free copy of the audiobook, and I have voluntarily posted this review.

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Enjoyable listen

I enjoyed listening to this book. The story kept me riveted. I do no think that you will be disappointed listening to this book.

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Great Book

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

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Relatable and great narration

This was a great book about a girl, Lizzie, her family and how circumstances sometimes force us to completely rethink our past choices. Lizzie is a resilient young woman who adapts to her new situation by realizing she actually needs people, friends and, community. The narrator of this book did such a good job of playing all the characters seamlessly. I really couldn’t believe it was the same person. Her “dad voice” was truly exceptional. I look forward to following her and listening to more.
Overall, I really enjoyed this story. The author wrote something that I think a lot of us can relate to.

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Likely a fun short read for the right audience

~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~

Lizzy is an ambitious and calculating thirteen year old. The bulk of the story is the time before things get too chaotic. A build up to when things start to fall apart.

I think the book is a bit too short for me to really vibe with the characters. The messaging felt a little too heavy handed about not using people and religion. As an atheist, the fact that those who were atheist acted badly was rather insulting.

Overall, an interesting world which is clearly looking at the covid pandemic for inspiration. If you are religious you likely will get more out of it than I did. I think I’ll pass on the sequels.

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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.

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