End of Days: Books 1-7 Box Set

De: Sam J. Fires

Narrado por: Seth Podowitz, Gerald Hill, Jorjeana Marie, Stephanie Willing, Stacy Gonzalez, P. J. Ochlan

During the coldest winter on record, an EMP attack wipes out the nation's power and cripples the country. As the city spirals into lawless chaos, an investigative journalist, twenty-six-year-old Cassandra Drews, is forced onto the dangerous streets of Portland to begin the long walk to her parents' home in Oregon. But hypothermia and starvation aren't the only dangers Cass and her rescue dog, Daisy, face on their perilous trek.

Danger is stalking them, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Help comes in the form of troubled ex-marine Isaac Winters, who slips back into soldier mode with the city's collapse. Now the trio must work together in a fight for survival as they race to escape the city before violence or the bitter wintry storm can claim them. Do they have what it takes to make it out alive? Or will they be crushed by the brutality of the unforgiving cold?

From Sam J Fires comes the riveting End of Days series, a post-apocalyptic EMP survival thriller featuring flawed, complex characters and adrenaline-fueled action adventure. Collecting all seven books in the series, this box-set edition is perfect for fans of Ryan Schow, Grace Hamilton, Kyla Stone, and Jack Hunt.

©2023 Sam J. Fires (P)2023 Dreamscape Lore

Slow mover

I was disappointed in the slow moving plot. The narration also seemed to overplay emotions or attitudes at times.

Very hard read for tying together

Could of used chapters unsteady of different books to follow characters. very very hard to follow.

Perseverance and a determination to survive the situation

Kept my attention, and entertaining through to the end. Well done author! Look forward to the next series.

Disappointing at every turn.

I don't usually write long reviews, but in the case of this book I feel it is necessary.

You never quite get what you want with these novels. It always seems that in the final moment, the answer you're looking for is never given. Vast character development is put to waste by not developing the interpersonal relationships.

The first three books could have easily been combined into one with lessening some of the circumstances. Critical details are overlooked and replaced with useless character development and describing things that end up being fruitless.

Grammatically these novels are an easy read. For the record, the word "glower" should never be used this often... in any book... ever. It was nearly laughable.The amount of times it was used reminiscent of something that an AI writing engine would produce.

Every single antagonist in this entire book series has a magic ability to simply walk away or disappear into the night. With the actual confrontation of only two main antagonists in the entire seven book series.
As a fan of post apocalyptic novels, I was exceedingly disappointed.

The narration was so so also. With the person who narrates Howard being one of the best. The person, who is narrating Cassandra in Isaac, did a poor job of exemplifying male characters throughout the series.

And finally the elephant in this novel... throughout the entire seven books series, the main issue with society is that " the power cut out". Meanwhile, every single piece of electronics equipment has failed also... cell phones, vehicles, radios... yet intelligent experienced characters never once think it's more than just a power outage from a storm. I think the idea of it being an EMP was only mentioned a handful of times and never expounded upon.

starts off quick with action

I really enjoyed the story, but found it had spots that lagged or just felt like something was missing.
still over all a great listen

Ugh

I made it halfway through the book and I have to admit that the last quarter of what I made it through I forced myself to listen to. I can't really tell you whether the storyline is good or not because the narration sucks. everybody has the same snide or downtrodden or angry voice, no depth.

Solid storyline

Good character development. Badass chick's (girl power). Solid storyline. A bit predictable, but entertaining. Excellent narration.

Believable

Became part of the story as it was read. Could visualize what was happening. Good book will do that for you.

Could Have Been Much Better

I try to give constructive critiques because just saying it "wasn't good" or dealing in generics doesn't really help, and I see a lot of potential with this author, I really do!🤔🤪

The narration was mostly good, but the last soliloquy by the cult leader villain was clearly tainted by the opinion of the reader. He was tired of the guy's thought process and it was abundantly clear that he was🤣.

Let me say first that there are some good preparedness tips included in the story. The ingredients were all there for a fantastic story, as were the characters, but it feels like they were all wasted in a peon against preppers.

Cassie and Charlie were both kind of annoying. The author makes it crystal clear repeatedly that both had been "trained" ad nauseum by their over the top, selfish prepper parents, who wouldn't "share" with those who hadn't prepared. Both had Krav Maga training, yet both kept getting beaten up because they broke Krav's cardinal rule: you keep hitting using disabling moves, especially to legs, knees, feet, arms and throat until you can safely walk away. Leave them unable to chase you or preferring to find an easier target!! And you actually leave, not stand over them to see your handiwork giving them time to grab you again.🙄

Governments in Western countries have been talking about the inevitable time of an EMP or Coronal Mass Effect for many years now. The Bible speaks of preparing too for a time when the sun will not shine in Isa13:10, Amos8:9, Matt24:29 and Rev6:12. HE tells us to prepare in Prov22:3 and 27:12. People "choose" whether they will listen or not, prepare or not...they even do things to sabotage those that do choose to prepare, giving away supplies, causing unnecessary damage or making them targets by talking about the fact that there are some who choose to prepare and that if something does happen, they'll just take from "those people" SMH🙄. Some will start to prepare, then eat everything during a hard month without replacing their stock. Those that don't prepare even for regular times of winter outages are often Very Wasteful of whatever they are given, because it's not their preferred food type. They don't want seeds, or to help grow the food, just a handout! Preppers prepare for the number of people in their family plus a few others for a specific time frame. Food meant to feed 5 for a year becomes only enough for 2 for 3 months very, very quickly!! And it's not appreciated! 2Thess3 speaks of those who don't work not being allowed to eat!! Many times in this story, the townsfolk were completely unwilling to contribute anything but pure meanness. How many more would be willing to share if people showed some gratitude or willingness to help grow and harvest the food. Most preppers keep a bit extra just for those kinds of people.

In my opinion, the worst offenders are people who live in small towns, often on acreage, places that have harsh winters, where common sense should have residents stay prepared for power outages and road shutdowns for at least 2-3 weeks. Doesn't matter if the car runs when the road is too icy, slick, flooded, etc...to be manuevered on safely! This story is set in exactly that kind of town. Instead of utilizing their "training" to show people what to do, Cass and Charlie spend all their time cursing the parents that raised them, expecting hand-outs, which they don't get at least in part because of their ungrateful attitudes. Both "Steadfastly Refuse To See" what's right in front of them. So whenever their observational skill training should have made giving descriptions, counts of people, weapons or food and apparent strengths and weaknesses in a given situation, a benefit, instead they are emotional basket cases. It does no good being trained to shoot if every single time there's an encounter they turn weak-kneed. That makes absolutely no sense, because with repetition they should get better not worse. Charlie could have formed a small team to help chop firewood and check on the elders. Daniel, at least, would have helped her.

Harper was a flat out mess!! Never once did she organize going door2door for medical supplies or even flip through an herbal treatment book. In a mountainous region, Usnea/Old Man's Beard, an antibiotic, literally grows in the trees. Cattails can be eaten, used to purify water and stop bleeding in open wounds. Harper could have given a class during a town meeting on how to purify water using plastic bottles, sand/gravel, charcoal from the woodburning fires they all had to keep constantly going, coarse sand and using cloth as a filter, then boiling. If done in a liter soda bottle using part to be the filter and the other half to catch it, many would not have gotten so sick and died. Most older residents keep mint growing in their gardens/window planters, that would quell the nausea as would making tea out of blackberry/blueberry/raspberry leaves which are astringent and would help with swelling. Or making electrolyte water with salt, sugar, honey/syrup and a little kool-aid or fruit juice. So what did Harper's vaunted head knowledge do for anyone? Did she use honey to help close wounds (that's what was used before new skin liquid bandages were manufactured)...Nope! Did she make pine needle tea which is high in VitC for her patients...Nope! Did she scout out witch hazel or castor oil for hot packs or scavenge for hot water bottles...lots of seniors in that town...Nope! She kept crying over situations instead of using her brain to find workable solutions. She didn't even ask any retired nurses about reliable remedies. Instead, she ran out headlong into danger with guns she never used without a plan. I kept expecting a "friendly fire" incident.

I will read another book from this author, if it's newer, in the hopes that it will be better researched.

Well performed underwhelmingly written

first off kudos to the narrators for making the flow of this story tolerable, they took a poorly written story and made it a tolerable listen. too many oversights and what felt like a way to rushed timeline with poorly built characters. if this story would have had less things going on it would have given more time to build some depth around the basic storyline. not bad enough to request a audible refund but it will be not be one I listen to again