Swan Song

By: Robert R. McCammon

Narrated by: Tom Stechschulte

Length: 34 hrs and 19 mins

Publisher's summary

"We're about to cross the point of no return. God help us; we're flying in the dark, and we don't know where the hell we're going."

Facing down an unprecedented malevolent enemy, the government responds with a nuclear attack. America as it was is gone forever, and now every citizen - from the president of the United States to the homeless on the streets of New York City - will fight for survival.

Swan Song is Robert McCammon's prescient and shocking vision of a post-apocalyptic nation, a grand epic of terror and, ultimately, renewal.

In a wasteland born of rage and fear, populated by monstrous creatures and marauding armies, earth's last survivors have been drawn into the final battle between good and evil, that will decide the fate of humanity. They include Sister, who discovers a strange and transformative glass artifact in the destroyed Manhattan streets... Joshua Hutchins, the pro wrestler who takes refuge from the nuclear fallout at a Nebraska gas station... and Swan, a young girl possessing special powers, who travels alongside Josh to a Missouri town where healing and recovery can begin with Swan's gifts. But the ancient force behind earth's devastation is scouring the walking wounded for recruits for its relentless army, beginning with Swan herself.

Please note: Two chapters were originally missing from Part 2 of this book. We were alerted to the problem on 11/21/11 and have corrected it. We're very sorry for any inconvenience. If you had already downloaded the book, don’t worry - your library has automatically updated with the corrected version. Simply re-download from your library, at no additional cost, to get the complete book.

©2009 Robert McCammon (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Swan Song is scarier than ***** .

If you could sum up Swan Song in three words, what would they be?

Scary possibilitiesl.

What did you like best about this story?

An excellent writer, wonderful reader.

Have you listened to any of Tom Stechschulte’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

Any additional comments?

I love this story. I read it years ago when it was new, and was excited to find it on Audible! Thank you.

A slow first 1/4, then I couldn't stop!

Where does Swan Song rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Top 20 percent.

Who was your favorite character and why?

That is hard. Each character is well thought out and described. I guess Sister would be high on the list. There are so many levels to this character.

If you could take any character from Swan Song out to dinner, who would it be and why?

All of them. It took a long time for any of them to get a decent meal!

Any additional comments?

The first 1/4 of this book was slow and failed to capture me. The book is from the late 80s, so there is a gap in current cultural fears. I wouldn't currently consider this a "horror" book, although there were gory scenes, but in the 80s, this would have been truly scary. I walked away from this book and went to another Audible..but when I came back, the story picked up and I couldn't stop listening. The ending was completely satisfying at the end of a long listen.

An epic, post-apocalyptic tale of good vs. evil

I like the story a lot: I own the book and have read it repeatedly. It's been a while, though, and I had forgotten how dark the story is. It made me uncomfortable in places.

I don't love the narrator. He gave each man a distinctive voice, but made the women sound nearly identical and continually morose. Two of the main characters are women, strong women, and very different than one another. His poor representation of them sometimes left me confused about who was speaking and repeatedly distracted me from the story. It ticked me off.

There are quality issues with the recording. There are at least two dozen places in the first two parts where sections of text that had been missed by the narrator were dubbed in, with terrible sound quality. There's also a spot where he read two paragraphs in the wrong order.

Heck🖤

Powerful writing, dark, dismal, brutal, bleak with a hint of hope.
Listening I experienced a range of emotion, some quite uncomfortable and I couldn't quit listening.
Extraordinary narration!!!

The best book in the world

I've never loved a book like this before. The best book in the world 💗🌍

tragedy, blood and courage..loved it

at first it was a little slow but after the 4th chapter it picked up. soon I couldn't put it down. cried at the end so I know it's good.

Loved it so much!!!

Not my usual reading genre, but I really loved the characters and the story of hope and triumph over impossible odds. If post-apocalyptic is not your thing, take a chance on this one. Totally amazing.

Amazles!

I listen to it at least once a year. Read 3x before that! Love all the characters!

An amazing epic story brought to life

First, let me say I have read this book multiple times, so I was very familiar with the story. It's one of my all-time favorite books by any author and definitely my favorite from McCammon. It's an epic story that really doesn't slow or bog down, and the character development and progression is very natural. There's a reason this was the first audiobook I purchased from Audible.

That said, I thought Stechschulte did a good job of narrating the story, especially with the prose, but his dialogue seemed uneven and off-putting a bit. They didn't really seem to nail the characters, especially Sister, and the way he handled yelling didn't feel natural. But overall, it was a very good performance.

Great epic story

Truly dark disturbing and powerful. The story doesn't need the narrator weakly trying to sound like the characters. Terrible attempts at accents are distracting.