Fail State

An Audible Original: End of Days, Book 2

By: John Birmingham

Narrated by: Rupert Degas

Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's Summary

On Zero Day of the first and last cyberwar in human history the internet went dark, transport and power grids collapsed and cities began to starve. Ten days later millions have died from thirst and starvation, from violence and from the simple failure of the world’s machines to keep them alive.   

This second installment of John Birmingham’s End of Days trilogy finds James O’Donnell and his friends Rick, Michelle and Melissa hunkered down in the wilderness, where they know a horde of starving, desperate exiles from the graveyard of the US East Coast is heading their way.  

On the far side of the continent, in the Pacific Northwest, Jonas Murdoch helps lead the good folk of Silverton in defending themselves from waves of starving and desperate refugees pouring out of Seattle.   

And slowly, cautiously navigating the inland waterways of California, Jodi Sarjanan and Ellie Jabbarah negotiate an apocalyptic landscape of burning skyscrapers and marauding gangs.   

All of them are seeking sanctuary. A safe place where the madness hasn’t penetrated. But does such a place exist?  

And what if they need to sacrifice their very humanity in the struggle to reach it?

©2019 John Birmingham (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.

Two Down and I Can't Wait for Number Three

John Birmingham does it again, taking us believably to a time and place we hope never comes. From the disturbing insights into the mind of a sociopath to the anguish of parents made helpless by events, Birmingham sends us on an emotional rollercoaster that few will want to stop. Some of his past work has been nearly prophetic; let's hope he's just writing fiction this time. A must read.

Hope it picks up

I have read most of JB's works of fiction. I am probably not his demographic but his writing is highly entertaining, and I think he generally works hard for his fan base. I enjoy most of the characters, even the antiheroes, and the premises are often clever and intriguing. The current series started out great, but the second installment feels formulaic and full of filler. There, I've said it. I began fast forwarding through chapters because it became all too apparent what the reveal was going to be and I didn't need to listen to 15 minutes of minutiae to get there.

Have listened to both titles in the series now and the story line is only scant weeks out from the index event. I'm in no hurry, plus there is a ton of potential material here, and would thoroughly enjoy the exploration. But not if I have to slog through 4 minutes of descriptive prose dedicated to the state of someone's bladder, or be reminded repeatedly of some character's quirks, or have to hear for the umpteenth time about this or that. One of the author's gifts is that you really do experience the setting, what it feels like to be in the characters' shoes, etc. But it feels like this is being done at the expense of moving the plot line along. I am not as keen to listen to book 3.

Rupert Degas is a gifted narrator but the production could have used a decent edit. It is set in the US, so giving non-standard pronunciation of certain words, and even some place names, was jarring. And if one is going to attempt regional accents they should be accurate/appropriate to the setting and refrain from caricature. But in fairness, the sheer number of characters, especially in certain settings like Silverton, must have been immensely challenging. Mr. Degas' overall delivery is deft and a great example of the fine art of audio narration.

Only One Thing Wrong

Honestly, the only thing wrong with Fail State is that we will need to wait another 6 months for the conclusion to this gripping series. This is by far Birmo's best series since Axis of Time.

Jonas has an erection

Stopped listening with 2 hours 31 minutes to go. Author substitutes lots of sex descriptions for plot. Lesbian love. Lots of casual heterosexual sex, a lot featuring anti-hero Jonas. References to men's scrotums retracting in different situations. What is this? Junior High boys locker room? Some cursing. Lots of gun play and killing. Many characters thinking it is ok to steal if you need these items. This book 2 may appeal to males under age 25. I was impressed this came out in December 2019 because of the plague plot and real life 2020 pandemic - how timely. The designer plague targeting a specific group very interesting, but not enough time devoted to that. Narrator excellent.

I was disappointed and repulsed by the development of this story.

Great reader

Someone who does proper accents and actually pronounce the english language properly. Really a pleasure to listen too.

China's miscalculation!

This second volume of the series is not nearly as exciting as the opening volume. The story now focuses on the several groups of people dealing with the chaos thrust upon them. There are occasional bouts of violence and firefights sprinkled throughout, mainly by evacuees from the cities encountering roadblocks or marauders eager to take what was not theirs. More than any other location, the town of Silverton garnered the most attention. Societal breakdown happens within a matter of days once the enormity of the crisis is made known. Unfortunately, this reaction is not merely an author’s imagination, this madness will take place. Will each of us be prepared for such a situation? Back to the story. China does not come away unscathed in this engagement. Retribution was delivered to their doorstep to divert their attention. It was intimated that Russia also would suffer some payback. Speaking of Russia, since their cyber-attack on our banking system, they seem to be concentrating their efforts in Europe. All-in-all, this volume chronicled a lot about the people caught up in the apocalypse but little of the attackers. Leave that to the next volume I guess.

Too short

Excellent storytelling. I just wish this was released in 20hr blocks. It seems like not enough happens in the larger story since we get up close and personal with several groups, but in each one you feel like you’re there trying to survive.

Walking dead.

This was entertaining. But it’s basically the walking dead without the zombies. I’m sure there are much better books out there. But this is just another one. I was entertained.

Good Books

It’s a very good book and was generally enjoyed. I would recommend John Birmingham’s books and Rupert Degas was good and he did a good but every time he used that English accent it reminded me of that Geico lizard .. lol.

Outstanding

Great followup, picks up right where it left off. looking forwars to the next one.

Great read....highly recommended

Read the first two books in the series in succession and loved them both. This is an horrific and thought provoking story, because it's absolutely plausible and so well researched. Everything gels here.The writing is taut and doesn't meander too far way from the story arc. Event narrative is full but there's no padding. The characters are all credible. The story doesn't depend on coincidence or ridiculous implausibilities to move it along. Full credit to the narrator, who acts the parts rather than just reads the words. His sense of timing and interpretation are a marvel. He's also very good at accents (although a couple of the female characters are a bit exaggerated... they stand out because all the others accents are just so good). If you like this post apocalyptic genre you will love these books. PS ....this series should be required reading for any British government minister thinking of handing a contract for the provision of essential infrastructure to a certain foreign power because they put in a very attractively priced tender (they couldn't possibly have an ulterior motive could they).

Surprisingly good!

I wasn’t sure whether I’d had enough of apocalypse novels having ready many over the years, but this series is really good and just different enough to make you keep guessing; especially the very well though out way the Chinese did over the internet to cause chaos (the story starts by telling you this so it’s hardly a spoiler). Birmingham’s style is easy but sophisticated and his descriptions are vivid. The narrator was also excellent.

Nothing new, unimaginative...

... Zero Code Day was much better. This is just tired post-apocalypse American nonsense. Nothing original here but it was well read. I won't bother with book three.

Standard post-apocalypse

Average post-apocalypse, the plot is becoming predictable. No new ideas compared to the first book. Zooming out of the main story line with interludes is refreshing, but too rare.

Fabulous!

I am really loving this series. The second book was even better than the first which did a lot of scene setting. Great characters and lots of action with top notch narration from Rupert Degas. What sets this apocalyptic story apart from most is the fact that this is wholly believable, in fact it seemed scarily prophetic! The interlude chapters were great for giving the reader a real sense of the scale of what was happening around the globe. My only criticism is the jarring end to the first book & the jarring start to the second. There was no wrapping up or conclusion to the first book, it just ended very suddenly. Likewise with Fail State, there was no reminder of each character nor any sort of recap on the events at the end of book one. It did not in any way spoil my enjoyment of reading at all but spent the first few chapters thinking - who are they again? What just happened to them...? Overall though, great book & highly recommended.

Obsessed with this collection

Can’t stop listening to these, I love a good apocalyptic book and these are hitting the spot, about to press play on No3

Another great book. will definitely listen third.

Another great book in the series. I will definitely listen to the third book. The characters are very good.

End of the world

Good books so far people in it are great the narration of the book is good we'll written

Another genius narration by Rupert Degas

So far I'm loving this trilogy. I'd have happily paid for it but it was free with Audible membership.
The story is believable and gives an interesting and different perspective from any other apocalyptic novel I've read. It's frighteningly realistic, the characters are developing more as time goes on and the whole plot line makes you want to keep listening.
Above all, it's narrated by the incredibly skilled Rupert Degas, who brings people 'off the page' and thundering into real life. (I actually found the trilogy because I searched for books narrated by him.)
A marvellous find. Thanks, Audible!

Brilliant plot

This book is really good and love the writing style, feels authentic to the characters and I love the dry humour that some of them have. Jonas is a proper antagonist, the kind you just want to raise and shake your fist at. I love the plot between Mel and Rick, and no spoilers but the rest of their group too.

Glad I bumped in to this series and would reccomend, I did prefer the first book, but there is a lot of action in this one and the characters face their own challenges. Not too sure on some of the new ones which were added. Sometimes I do think there are too many people to follow, but the main group is easy enough