Eden Rising

By: Andrew Cunningham

Narrated by: Greg Hernandez

"The Earth died in less than a minute. Maybe that's an exaggeration. It's not like the planet ceased to exist altogether. It just seemed like it. Cities were reduced to rubble. Millions of people died that day. I've since been told that 95 percent of the Earth's human population was wiped out. I don't know if that's true - I mean, who can know that for sure? It's not like we still have any of the technology that we once used to determine such things. But I do know that it was almost empty of people - live ones, that is..."

Thus begins the journey of Ben and Lila, two ordinary teenagers forced to rise to extraordinary heights when faced with a world that has suddenly and inexplicably died. Dealing with the sorrow of all they have lost, but the love they have found in each other, they set off on an odyssey that will bring them to the limits of human endurance and face to face with the frailty of their very existence. From the extreme violence of many of the surviving humans toward one another, to a world physically falling apart at the seams, Ben and Lila are determined to make it through the devastation in their quest for a place to quietly share their life together. In the process, they have to become as violent as the world around them in order to survive, while struggling to hold onto the humanity that will keep them sane.

Eden Rising is a survival tale and a love story, but it is also a book that delves deeply into the human psyche to discover just how far we would go to survive, and how much inner strength can be found when things are at their absolute worst.

©2013 Andrew Cunningham (P)2020 Andrew Cunningham

Life lessons!

Loved this story! The true meaning of love. To go through a world that has fallen apart to the true meaning of life! Narrator was great!

Horrible narration.

The reader is awful. He’s very dull and lackluster with no expression or inflection. He sounds as if he’s lecturing to a group of 12 year old boys.

Great storyline, but ...

Could have been more strongly written. Narration sounded like a robot. Just the type of story I like, though.

Intense Dystopian YA Sci-Fi Read!

The Review

This audiobook was not only well-read but incredibly well-written. The action picks up immediately, as the two protagonists find themselves going from awkward teen romance hanging in the air to waking up and finding the people of the world dead.

The author does an amazing job of leaning hard into the dystopian YA sci-fi genre, while also bringing a maturity to the narrative by examining the psychological effect an apocalyptic event like this would have on any survivors, let alone two young teens forced to grow up very quickly. The pain of the loss brings to them a bond that highlights a growing romance, while the horrors they endure in the narrative and the lines they must contend with crossing showcase complex and deep character developments, a key to this novel’s pacing and delivery overall.

The Verdict

A must-read, heart-pounding audiobook and novel, author Andrew Cunningham’s “Eden Rising”, the first in the Eden Rising series, is an edge of your seat dystopian YA novel that is not to be missed. Memorable characters, romance, and deep psychological character studies all define this amazing novel, and readers will not be able to get enough of this wonderful work. Be sure to grab your copy today!

Terrible narration

This book could have used a good editor. The writing is to stiff. The narrator was awful.