Arrival

War for Earth, Book 1

By: J. Thorn, Zach Bohannon

Narrated by: Chelsea Stephens

Length: 6 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

We never saw it coming. Brace for the arrival.

Paramedic Maya Talbot knows her unhinged, ex-husband is gunning for custody of their children. When she drops off Aiden and Laura at Grandma's for a weekend visit, Maya assumes they'll be safe. However, nothing could have prepared her for the chaos created when a strange obelisk rises from the ground and generates an impenetrable dome over the city.

Riots, looting, and violence run rampant. The situation in Nashville deteriorates, and then they arrive, thrusting Maya into a desperate race to escape the dome and save her children from the dangers on the ground and from above.

When darkness falls, the intergalactic visitors manifest our worst fears and threaten the future of humankind.

Arrival is the new post-apocalyptic thriller from best-selling authors, J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon, the first audiobook in the War for Earth trilogy.

©2017 J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon (P)2018 J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon

Hard to take seriously

This sometimes felt a little campy to me. I did enjoy the story but it’s hard to take it seriously at times. The narrator was ok. Not my favorite but she did an ok job.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review.

Arrival

A good book.It reminded me a bit of 'Under the Dome',but,it was still good.A paramedic gets stuck on the other side of the dome from her children.Chelsea Stephens was a very good narrator.I am looking forward to book 2.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

Not bad...

This one's not bad... Easy to listen to and good narration. There are way too many storylines though for such a short book, and none of the characters is ever truly developed. The book doesn't really stick to any one genre, and seems to borrow entirely too much from other well-known movies and authors. It's a bit of a mash-up of every good sci-fi/horror drama you can binge on Netflix over the weekend. Personally, I think the authors have more talent than what is presented here, because all in all the various storylines aren't bad and could each be developed in to a very good book. Not a bad effort though, and an easy enough listen on a long road trip. ***This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.***

Odd and not that good.

The main charachter in this book is about the most frustrating charachter I've ever read. Her personality is like a tangle of a half a dozen different annoying charachter tropes all mixed together. In one scene she can go from overly tough to a complete coward and there isn't a lot of explanation as to why. There is no consistency to any of the charachters and there seems to be a disaster looking in the most mundane of scenes. Side charachters get completely forgotten and the ending isn't satisfying at all.

The story premise manages to be original and overdone at the same time.


Spoiler: in one awful scene the main character and her partner, who are both armed (one with a gun the other a large knife) are running from a group of three unarmed "homless" people in a tunnel. I another scene the same main character takes on three 7 foot invulnerable beasts alone in unarmed combat (and guess who wins?). It hurt to get through this one.

I received this book for free in exchange for a fair review.

I am definitely itching for the second book!

Arrival, War on Earth, is the first book of Zach Bohannon’s and J. Thorn’s apocalyptic-thriller series…

And I am definitely itching for the second book!

Before I go any further, I want to make sure that I am perfectly clear and transparent on a few things. One, I am not an avid book reader or a connoisseur of audiobooks. I prefer movies and video games, with an occasional TV show thrown in now and then. With that said, when I do find a book to read, it has to grab me and not feel like a chore. The same can be said about audiobooks; however, thanks to a free Audible code from one of the authors (thanks!), this was my first audiobook, so, I wasn’t sure what to expect!

Since my knowledge of books is limited, I will refer to the basic school principles of a good story. Just like any good book, this story has a beginning, middle, and an end. But this story’s progression starts off good, then is great, and then it is fantastic! However, what is most interesting to me, is that this book is part of the beginning of something bigger - and that is what has me excited for more!

Overall, the story follows a day-in-the-life of Maya: a mom with two kids, a divorcee to a crazy ex-husband who will do ANYTHING to keep his kids, an EMT along with her younger partner, Reno, and a loving daughter to a mother who loves her grandkids.

Initial, the story started out slow for me, but, as it progressed, I was finding more and more things to relate to. What stuck out to me the most was Maya’s two kids, Laura (young teen) and Aiden (pre-teen); they reminded me of my daughter and son in some ways. Listening to how she spent her day as an EMT was also interesting and made me think of some of my friends who are nurses. And hearing her relationship struggles was eye-opening for someone who is married and can’t imagine life without his wife (this guy). ;)

Throw in a couple other intriguing moments, such as Reno’s attraction and affection for Maya, (we can see it Maya, why can’t you?!), and her crazy ex (who I do NOT want to talk about), and you got yourself some drama! And we haven’t even reached the main “problem” the characters have to deal with yet - the apocalypse! And that is where I will leave that!

Although I stated earlier that this story started out slow, the pace was nice. What it even better for me is that I wasn’t reading the character build up to the story; I was listening to Chelsea Stephens, the narrator. WOW! She did an excellent job narrating in her natural tone, as well as, changing up her tone, and sometimes accent, to fit the character she was reading for. If I am going to listen to audiobooks, I hope she is narrating! Of course, I am sure I will find others I like, but, she made my audiobook enjoyable.

When I finally got to the end, I realized there would be more, but, I was not disappointed in how it ended. I felt I got enough closure to comfortably wait for the next book. It’s not like some TV shows where you feel like the network and producers just want to be jerks and make you suffer while you wait several months for the next season to start; it felt comfortable where the authors left this book off. Of course, I want more, but, I’m happy where they left it and look forward to the next installment - NOW GET TO WRITING Zach and Jay! ;)

OK

This book reminded me of the series the Doom with war of the worlds mixed in. I wouldn't have minded it so much since I love both the series and the movie but I found the main character really annoying and I could not connect with her. The other secondary characters I felt were OK. They did things I did not like but they felt real unlike Maya. I felt she was to good to be true. The other thing is that I found it had a lot of slow moments and this dragged the book.

It is OK but it is not the best that I have read/listened too.

Surprise Visit

The authors actually took the time to introduce some characters and give them a story before the invasion was brought into the plot The audio didn’t even seem to be science fiction for the first couple hours. Good story, good characters, and an interesting invasion.
And the narrator is an excellent choice for the main character.

Familiar story told in a unique way

J. Thorn and Zach Bohannon did not hold back in their new contemporary science fiction thriller, “Arrival” which is the first book in the “War for Earth” trilogy. The audiobook edition is well narrated by Chelsea Stephens, who at times elevates a weaker storyline keeping the book feeling alive and interesting. The publisher’s summary states the book is a post-apocalyptic thriller, and I could not agree more. There are overtones of horror along with elements of science fiction making up this somewhat fractured story involving survival, the unknown, and wanting to be reunited with one’s children. If you are a fan of aliens who are intent on talking over our planet for their own use, enjoy stories with decent character backgrounds and some good descriptive writing, I think you will like what this book provides you in return. Are there points where the story is weaker than I would have liked? Yes, but I found the solid narration helps bring the story upwards and between the two components, the book is worth a coveted Audible credit; that is if you are one who does not mind spending a total of three credits to complete the trilogy.

The book opens on a rather emotional note along with providing the reader with some good background about the various main characters. This extra information helps to ground the reader, so one can better understand the events faced in their new situations. I enjoyed knowing about the characters and the reasons they acted the way they did throughout the story. I will say that I felt this family was overly dysfunctional, but that may be based more on my own upbringing. We are also presented with a few of the standard character tropes one finds in a story like this one. We have the scientist, the know-it-all, and the crazy (but often correct) conspiracy theorist, etc. Even though they are regulars in a story like this, a few twists made them feel unique and slightly different.

What happens when a strange obelisk emerges from the ground and a protective domed shield separates those who are inside from those outside. What drives the story forward is that one of the main characters is separated from her children. She is determination to get them back which find her on an emotional roller coaster wanting to be reunited with them. This passion and desire fuels her every move along the way. If I were to boil the book down to a single word, it would be struggle. From its start to the finish, you could feel the pain, struggle, and drive to find a way of getting through this impenetrable force and once again be in the arms of her children. Often it reminded me of the events that took place in New Orleans after a hurricane stranded many. We quickly observed just how fast humankind devolves when in survival mode, and it is no different in this story. One often has to throw out all they have learned and instead turn to various make-shift weapons and means to stay alive. Even more heart breaking being that the main character determined she was unable to save everyone, only some people would make it out of this mess alive and she was already doing all she could. The story takes us from space, to inside the dome, outside the done, and even under the city looking for a means of escape.

I listen and review many book, and I was quite surprised when I found that Chelsea Stephens is a rather new comer to the Audible narration scene. At the time of this review, she only has a total of two books to her name. Why the surprise? Well the audio was of professional quality, the narration of the characters was better than many other books I have listened too, etc. The use of inflection and accents for the different characters helped make them feel alive. I do not recall any audio artifacts while listening (no swallows, no page turns, no volume inconsistencies), simply clean and clear narration. I look forward to new books by this narrator in the future.

For Parents and younger readers, this book does contain some light romance and topics covering sexual matters. The book also has a light use of profanity based on what one would expect from the genre, however it does get heavier later in the story. As one would have expected, there are quite a few scenes containing rather graphic violence that may not be appropriate for younger audiences.

In summary, this is an action-packed and suspenseful survival story involving aliens. If you are one who likes books such as “War of the Worlds”, I recommend you pick it up and give it a listen. Just remember this is a trilogy, so you will need to purchase all three books to find out what happens. As expected, this book does leave many cliff-hangers for those wanting to jump right into the second book.

Disclaimer: I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge by the author, publisher and/or narrator.

Very interesting and surprising book!

This book was a joy to listen to. The heroine was full of life and tenacity. The authors did a great job of bringing her to life. The aliens in this book were a little weird, but it was definitely a refreshing way to visualize them instead of the normal long skinny limbs and big black eyes.

The obelisk was a little weird and I would have liked to have heard a little more explanation about that. Maybe it'll be in a follow up book. I would definitely be interested in following this series as it develops.

The narration was really good. Chelsea did a wonderful job.

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Good Sci-Fi Adventure.

Would you listen to Arrival again? Why?

Yes............... it was an entertaining experience with a good narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a combination of different types of genres, you do not even realize its Sci-Fi untill the
story is more advanced.

What about Chelsea Stephens’s performance did you like?

She made the story better then reading the book.

If you could rename Arrival, what would you call it?

A new Era.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.