Extracted

Extracted, Book 1

By: R. R. Haywood

Narrated by: Carl Prekopp

Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's Summary

In 2061 a young scientist invents a time machine to fix a tragedy in his past. But his good intentions turn catastrophic when an early test reveals something unexpected: the end of the world.

A desperate plan is formed: recruit three heroes, ordinary humans capable of extraordinary things, and change the future.

Safa Patel is an elite police officer, on duty when Downing Street comes under terrorist attack. As armed men storm through the breach, she dispatches them all.

'Mad' Harry Madden is a legend of the Second World War. Not only did he complete an impossible mission - to plant charges on a heavily defended submarine base - but he also escaped with his life.

Ben Ryder is just an insurance investigator. But as a young man, he witnessed a gang assaulting a woman and her child. He went to their rescue and killed all five.

Can these three heroes, extracted from their timelines at the point of death, save the world?

©2016 R. R. Haywood (P)2017 Audible, Ltd

Sick of partial books split for $$

its a good book, good story but obviously split in the middle of the actual book which is evident from the lack of a complete plot arc.

Partial story. Needs editing.

First off, I really enjoyed this “book.” The story telling and character development was uncharacteristicically good for a sci-farm.
The narration is excellent although the narrator should have prepped a bit more as he often mixed voices and accents across characters making it hard to discern who was saying what until the inevitable “<character name> said” phrase. That said, the narrator really carried this book.

However, this isn’t a full story. it’s an intro with the bare minimum of a story arch required to meet some publishers definition of a novel. it’s obvious that you need to keep reading to get any level of satisfaction in the story.

Also, the editing was pretty bad even for someone who knows nothing about editing. This book is super repetitive. It keeps repeating the “Ben Ryder” phrase. eg “He IS Ben Ryder!”, “BE Ben Ryder!”, “BE MY Ben Ryder!”, “YOU ARE Ben Ryder!”, “I am Ben Ryder!”, “Ben Ryder is a man of HONOR!” etc.

I pity the poor sods who will inevitably create a drinking game in which you have to drink ever time they say “Ben Ryder” or “Mad Harry Madden.” They will likely die of alcohol poisoning.

All that said, I just downloaded the 2nd book. :)

Fast-Food Science Fiction

Don’t be swayed (as I was) by the glowing reviews, because this is not a five-star book. At best, it is mildly entertaining and barely worth a credit. When compared to other time travel stories like “The First 15 Lives of Harry August “or “11-23-63: A Novel”, this book barely musters 3 stars. The author tries to spin the story around the paradox of time travel and the intrigue of special operators, but there are no new perspectives or cool techno-geek deep dives on these topics. Instead, you get overly detailed descriptions of fist fights, awkward sexual harassment, and the endless manic-depressive moaning of the main protagonist (BORING). I’ve come to realize that the Audible marketing machine is hyping formulaic “Fast-Food” books that hook you into buying the first of a series. In the end, you wind up paying 3 credits for essentially one book. Unfortunately, people are buying into this hype. While we are all hungry for entertainment, Audible Reviewers need to distinguish fast-food burgers from fillet mignon. If they both cost one credit, wouldn’t you rather have fillet mignon??? So, before you give something 5 stars, please make sure it is fine dining and NOT just a Happy Meal.

12 hour character introduction

This book had an interesting time travel premise. Unfortunately it ended up being basically a 12 hour introduction of the three main characters in the book. I think that this could have been accomplished in half the time. It is really just the set up for the next book. The book seemed to drag, then some interesting information would be presented, then it would drag on. It's always nice to learn about the background of each major character, but in my opinion this was overkill. Not sure whether I will try the next one.

Book ends before the story starts

Is there anything you would change about this book?

So the puppet master assembles this amazing crowd of top notch protagonists through difficult circumstances, the legion of protagonists are well developed characters and I found myself cheering for them, rooting them on when they were down from training and whatnot. They got all of their shit together and were ready for this fight to save humanity. I was like "Yea baby! These guys are coming for you!" then the book ends, apparently the story starts in book 2, book 1 is just the background info. I feel jilted.

Story good, main character Ouch

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Yes with nose clip though...very slow at times and over the top on feelings.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

ok rather interesting and most likely why I will try #2

What does Carl Prekopp bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Good smooth delivery

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

oh no... unless they eliminated most of the whinning characterization of Ben. That was tough to stomach...hopefully he's over it (not Ben the author)

Wished I was extracted!

The plot underlying this story has considerable potential. Unfortunately, the author's writing fell way short of delivering on this potential. There were many times that I almost quit this book. While some of the action was OK, the dialog was often tedious and, quite frankly, juvenile.

The narrator did a decent job with the material he had to work with. However, he lacked range in conveying the emotions of the characters. A little more prosody please.

I will not be purchasing Part 2 if this series.

Insulting

If your idea of entertainment is a post-pubescent nerd's wet dream, this is the book for you. Otherwise, the sexual assault, the misogyny, and the complete lack of story might not be your cup of tea.

Needs editing.

While the author presents a very interesting story line it appears that he was paid by the word not by the book. I think the story could effectively be told with half as many words. Just deleting all the F-words would cut the story in half. I don't think it will be
worth my time to read book 2.

I didn't absorb the fact that this is BOOK 1

I enjoyed the listen. I was a bit heart broken when I realized there will be no conclusion to any scenario. Haha. this is part 1. I WOULD purchase the other parts but.... well, I probably WILL. INTERESTING READ

Mostly filler.

A good premise that instantly hold your attention. But then it starts too really drag and drag and drag. I found it got boring and I just wanted it to end. it's like the author decided that he wanted this to be a trilogy so he added nothing of substance in this book to make people buy the 2 books to find out what !


it's a shame cos I really wanted to like this but but it's mostly filler.

Massively disappointing!

This booked started off with so much promise, it was brilliant and exciting and I became very excited at having finally found another amazing book, but, sadly it took a turn after the opening scenes and instead of being focused around a group of hero's destined to save the world, it became about Saffi's relationship with a very miserable Ben. I've stuck it out as long as I could, 3 hours to go and I just can't listen anymore. Narrator is very good though.

8 hours of Awesome in a 12 hour audiobook

So first the positives...
I loved the premise of this novel, Haywood isn't the first to use the idea historical extractions, hell, Bill and Ted did it to help pass a high school class, but Haywood adds enough of his own little touches to make it work. I like that he didn't use existing historical figures but created his own characters from different timelines and created them well. His characters may have been built on existing action hero tropes, but those tropes exist for a reason. Haywood's action scenes were crisp, well choreographed and highly visual. The scenes just popped in your head and kept your heart pounding. Yet, my favorite aspect of the book was the wry, subtle humor. Haywood didn't go for the easy joke, but used tricks of timing and dialogue. It lightened some of the dark moments of the book, and endeared the characters to the listener. 
The biggest positive of the audiobook for me was the brilliant performance of narrator Carl Prekopp. Where other narrators would have muddled the humor of the novel, Prekopp enhanced it. His comic timing and ability to seamlessly switch from dark moodiness, intense action and witty banter kept the listener engaged even when the story itself sagged. As an American I sometimes struggle with British narrators differentiating characters but with Prekopp his characters were so vivid that this was never an issue. His pacing was fast and furious when needed to be, guiding the listener through intense actions, keeping them invested to the final resolution. It was one of my favorite performances in a while and proof that the right narrator can transform a book from ok to kick ass. 
Now the negatives...
This 12 hour audiobook was 8 hours of awesome broken up by a 4 hour chunk of frustrating. I tend to love those montage scenes of units training together, bonding, becoming a cohesive group yet in Extracted the author made an interesting choice with one of the characters that while understandable and perhaps even, if executed properly, unique enough push the book beyond the typical sci-fi actioner, here it just didn't work. A large chunk of the book revolved around a character falling into a state of self doubt and depression. While the author did a good job explaining why this happened, it just seemed to get the story bogged down in the mire. I went from feeling emphathy for the character to wanting to punch him repeatedly in the face to get him to stop whining. It felt like the emotional rollercoaster that caregivers go through, symphathy followed by frustration followed by shame. This could have been effective if done differently but it seemed to just drag on, almost making me want to fling the audiobook away and spend the rest of the day listening to Korean pop music. 
My other negative, and part of this is my fault. I should have known this was the first book in a trilogy, but I didn't and as I got to about hour 10 and realized we were no where close to even thinking about the ultimate resolution of the tale my heart began to sink. There are two kinds of trilogies, a large book cut into three smaller books, and three interlocking tales that have internal plot resolutions but feed into an overarching mythology. Sadly, this was more of the first kind of tale. By the end of the book, there's no true resolution and you feel no closer to understanding or resolving the underlying issue of the novel. Sure, there were resolutions between the characters, and some anticlimactic reveals but the book was mostly a 12 hour introduction to the players. Despite my issues though, I'm invested enough in these players to be willing to continue the ride. 

Why does this book exist?

The Matrix is a trilogy. A the end of the first film, Neo beats the agents and finds himself. The battle is won, but there is more to do in order to win the war.

This book isn't like that at all. If the author had written the Matrix, Neo would have spent the entire film sulking in his bunk room wanting to be plugged back in, he definitely wouldn't have taken the red pill.

The first three chapters were good, after that I struggled to pay attention. The back story isn't so much told as thrown at you in chunks now and then. Nothing really happens, the actual story must be in the later books. All you get is the core team spending some time together.

Disappointed, feels like I bought the first third of a story, rather than the first chapter of a trilogy.

I won't buy the any more of this authors work on principle.

Gets Tedious

Good Idea and interesting but the he said, she said, he said, she said, she said, Ben said, he said, thing gets extremely annoying, you will understand!!

Rambling, repetitive & boring

Any additional comments?

This is one of a handful of audio books, for which utterly fail to understand the positive reviews and feel compelled to proffer an alternative viewpoint for some counterbalance.

The story begins by introducing the three main characters. Each of their stories move at a reasonable pace and help to raise a level of interest in their characters.

The story then seems to take an inordinate amount of time, detailing the spiralling depression of one of the protagonists. This continues through numerous chapters and is beyond tedious. The narrator almost sounds depressed reading it. The dialog between the characters is stilted and uninteresting and endlessly repetitive. The descriptions of their environment are littered with unnecessary & uninteresting detail that only serves to bring the narratives momentum to an almost complete halt.

I really tried to persevere to the end – but this is one of a small number of audiobooks that I had to just give up on – it was just draining.

I guess you could say this one wasn’t for me, but clearly many enjoyed it.

started well

good start but becomes bogged down with ben feeling has he tries to come to terms with his situation, this part took far to long in the story.

slow, obvious, gratuitous

The idea of this book is great, but it's slow to move forward and the gratuitois violence and obvious characterisation are shallow and quickly become tiresome.

Starts great loses it in the middle

This had a great beginning and so much promise, the middle with bens constant whining that take up far too many chapters and is basically the whole story for this first book means the book doesn't actually have a story.

The narrator is good but again on occasion the "he said, she said, he said, he said, she said" parts really do annoy and in parts is like listening to an inbetweeners episodes with the constant swearing.

If the second can live up to the first part of this it will be great.

"Get on with it!"

A great idea and a flawless narration let down by dragging out every episode interminably. I persevered to the end though. I constantly found myself almost shouting at the speakers "Get on with it! ". What a drag. 40 chapters that need to be condensed into 10. By the end of the book we had hardly progressed with the story at all! I certainly won't be listening to any more of this series.