The Salvation State

By: Marcus Damanda

Narrated by: Jessica McEvoy

Length: 10 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

"This is what the truth is. Second Salvations murdered my parents, and I'm running away."

A single post over unregulated Internet channels. A sleeping society awakens to a chase, broadcast live on television screens all across the New United States of America....

Rebecca and Daniel have never met. A 15-year-old preacher's kid and a 16-year-old atheist outcast, they appear to have little in common. And yet they both have attracted the attention of a recruiter for Angel Island, where bad kids go to be remade-or destroyed.

Agents of the all-powerful New America Unity Church will stop at nothing to get them. They're building an army, a modern children's crusade, in which Rebecca and Daniel may be just the kind of future leaders they need.

If not, they might be just the kind of sacrifice necessary to keep the rest of the faithless in line.

©2016 Marcus Damanda (P)2018 Marcus Damanda

Salvation State Review

Would you listen to The Salvation State again? Why?

I will listen again

What did you like best about this story?

That it was fiction and not something that will happen in real life

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

This is my first time listening to her work

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found myself disgusted by Ruth, DC and even Rebecca's father.

Any additional comments?

The Salvation State was an enjoyable listen. I have never read anything by this author or heard anything by the narrator before. I fell in love with both of their work and will definitely look for some of their other endeavors. If you are looking for a good storey line with great character development you will want to listen to this book.

Next please!

Fantastic. Didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. I was hoping it would be good and it didn't disappoint! Had me hooked! Great narration, interesting plot and characters. Definitely recommend.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Wow !!!

This book is written very well and so off my genre that I can't not be surprised why I couldn't put it down.
Performance is perfectly done.
I believe that the reason that I liked the book so much is because it's so believable, like it could happened or even might be happening right now under our nose.
Really amazing writing, can't wait for book 2 to come out.
Fully recommend !!!

Amazing dystopian read! Grabs you & doesn't let go

One heck of a roller coaster ride through a very feasible dystopian future of "New America" told through the eyes of a teenage girl struggling to come into her own. It has everything one loves in a dystopian novel, but so much more. The heroine Rebecca is very well rounded and extremely relatable. Salvation State is really well written and captivating. It's a slow burn but you'll quickly fall in love with the characters and be sucked into the battle right alongside them. As soon as the book ended I bought the Kindle version of the next in the series because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. Marcus Damanda crafts a beautifully bleak yet tangible world that is easy to get lost in and Jessica McEvoy’s haunting narration grabs at your heart strings and doesn't let go!

Religion rules the country. One girl fights back.

What would life be like in a country where religion is a dictatorship? Where individual freedom is replaced with a strict set of rules that are enforced by infallible authoritarian leaders? Where your lifestyle is defined and directed by the local church which, by the way, you are required to attend? Where defiance of any kind lands you in re-education camps, gulag-type prisons, or a six-foot deep hole?

The Salvation State is a shocking reminder of the fragility of personal freedom. Author Marcus Demanda tells the story of a teenage girl who bucks a rigid system, loses her freedom, and then wages a fierce war against her state-sanctioned captors. Thought-provoking and emotion-stirring, Demanda's story made me shudder to think how easily our country can be turned on its head and life as we know it erased.

Demanda offers readers an opportunity to explore sensitive, complex topics within the safety of this accessible, well written story. Narrated by Jessica McEvoy, who reads with enthusiasm and professional ease. If you enjoy stories with dystopian societies (The Handmaid's Tale, Hunger Games), then The Salvation State should definitely be on your reading list.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge. This review is unbiased and the opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

Marcus Damanda made me hate a nonexistant woman

What did you love best about The Salvation State?

I know few things in life. One, that Marcus Damanda has a ring with a human eye inside that gives him visions of all those who speak his name. Second, that Marcus Damanda, like most people, would look really cool if he shaved his head, grew a goatee, and got a sword-cane with a silver dragon handle. Thirdly, that one of the greatest marks of achievement you can attain as a writer is to make your reader hate someone who doesn't actually exist.

Oh sure, we all like to recreationally hate certain people at a distance, mostly celebrities and such, whose humanity is blurry enough that it won't burden our ire. Most of the time you don't get the luxury of purely hating someone up close. Every now and again, though, you get to meet a REAL monster and a bit of you almost jumps up and down in glee that THIS time you finally get to REALLY let loose all that bile inside of you. I met that person in "Salvation State." Her name was Mrs. Black.

This book targets a younger audience so I'll say that I $^#! #@!#* #@!!$#@!!#@@%^%& hate Mrs. Black. If she were a real person, in the real world, well... I've made people vomit describing scenes of torture and gore. I was holding back in those descriptions. I would not hold back if left alone in a room with Mrs. Black and a pair of pliers and blow torch.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Salvation State?

Imagine the worst things that could happen at church camp. Those are the most memorable moments of "The Salvation State."

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

Jessica McEvoy reads with an amount of emotion I have never felt in my entire life. Even at my happiest or saddest moments, I have not felt the depth of feeling Jessica McEvoy experiences and conveys when reading a fictional story. Listening to her read a story is almost like being an actual person with real feelings. Also, I never ever want her to accuse me of committing a crime because she is so authentic when she reads that even *I* would believe I was guilty of whatever it was she was describing.

Who was the most memorable character of The Salvation State and why?

Mrs. Black is the most heinous person who has never actually existed.

Any additional comments?

I will definitely be picking up the sequel and praying for Karma. This is fantastic book about the dangerous of zealousness, about the monsters we become when we break the mirror inside our heads that make us look at ourselves, and how important it is to hold onto the things that make you vulnerable even as the rest of the world tries to use them to hurt you.

Great Narration of a Great Story

Top notch first book in what promises to be a worthwhile series. A distressing look at what would happen if religious zealots had their way in a dystopian America, complete with reformation camps and futuristic technology.

Adding her skillz to the mix is narrator Jessica McEvoy, who kills it doing voice work for many excellent podcasts (like NoSleep, The Wicked Library and countless others).

Keep up the fine work folks.

more thriller than horror

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

I thought this was an interesting and well narrated, if miss-categorized audio book. I don't think this book fits in the horror genre. I felt it was more of an alternative history or thriller type book. Yes, it was suspenseful at times, but it could have used more character development and background on how the country came under this New America Unity Church's rule. That aside, it kept my interest throughout, so it's not a bad book.

Cultist America!!!!

What made the experience of listening to The Salvation State the most enjoyable?

The author showed me a story. I was never taken out of it with awkward sentences and the narrator was consistent in her voices. Highly enjoyed the story and the performance. The emotions that were protrayed made me feel for these characters and am now vested in them.

What other book might you compare The Salvation State to and why?

This is my first read in a book about some religion taking over politics. The author brought out the horror of when a state or country takes away rights and make you have to conform to a set if rules base in a faith.

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

She brings out the emotion of the teenage girls and the insane Ruth. She made me feel emotion for them and gave them life. She is a great narrator and I hope she stays on the project for the rest of this series.

If you could rename The Salvation State, what would you call it?

The Perversion of Christ in New United States.

Any additional comments?

I received this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review. I highly recommend this book. It is a fun read.

A gripping, dreadful tale of religion gone wrong.

What other book might you compare The Salvation State to and why?

From the feel of it, this book brings to mind other dystopian futures were the plot focuses on the young. The Hunger Games is one, but personally I find myself thinking of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising Sequence" often while listening to this book. This is high praise, as I have always believed the world created in Cooper's series to be both beautiful and terrible, and deserving of the term 'art'. This book, for me, does much the same.

What about Jessica McEvoy’s performance did you like?

As a fan of a podcast that she often narrates for, I have been exposed to Jessica McEvoy for some time now. She is a wonderful voice actor, able to hit both highs and lows in emotion and pitch. I have always loved how she can simulate 'lifting' her voice without causing me to turn down my volume. In this, she delivers one of her finest performances.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Almost everything after the last half of the book began, my stomach was constantly turning itself into tighter and tighter knots. I felt physically cold at times (and I listen while on the treadmill!) and when listening at home I would often have to stop, focusing all my attention on my ears, and what was being force fed into them. This book reaches for a visceral reaction, and it pulls it from you, disregarding fully your own desires on the subject. But then again...isn't that why we're all here?

Any additional comments?

Get yourself ready for this book. The beginning takes a while to get started, slowly building layer upon layer so that you get to know the world and it's inhabitants intimately. Damanda wants you to understand these people and places. He wants them injected directly into your blood, and he's not afraid to have you spend time with them to do so. When it picks up speed, it does so suddenly, and you feel yourself free falling into its conclusion. If I had any major complaint about this book it would be that there is not more of it!