Lit

The Alt Apocalypse, Book 2

By: Tom Abrahams

Narrated by: Kevin Pierce

Length: 6 hrs and 44 mins

Publisher's summary

A nuclear attack. A collapsing society. A world covered in ash.

The Alt Apocalypse is the newest groundbreaking series from Tom Abrahams.

It explores survival under the most extreme circumstances, but with a twist (and no cliff-hangers).This series, which can be listened to in any order, features the same core characters in each complete story. But every book dunks them into a new alternate apocalypse: a nuclear holocaust, an earthquake, a flood, a wildfire, a hurricane, a plague, and even zombies.

Different heroes will emerge in each novel. Different characters will survive and perish. Your favorite character dies in one book? He or she will be back in the next. In the end you'll unwind the loose thread that connects every character and every stand-alone story.

In Lit, Abrahams tells the story of a couple on a camping trip to the Angeles National Forest, a Los Angeles firefighter, a lonely fry cook, and a group of college students who struggle to escape and survive in Southern California after an unprecedented outbreak of wild and urban fires.

Can they escape the flames? Will they become heroes or run from danger? What will it take to end a fiery hell on earth?

©2018 Piton Press LLC (P)2018 Piton Press LLC

Same characters, new story

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

This is the second in Abrahams Alt Apocalypse series and it was a pretty wild ride. Even if you haven't read the first one, you can enjoy this one since each book in the series is a stand-alone, just with recurring characters. But what I found interesting and a fun Easter egg, is that some of the characters remember the alternate stories they've gone through. That actually helps tie the stories together even more.

Once again, we're not given a lot of background for each character but for some reason, that seems to work. We're introduced to a few new characters, making you wonder if they'll show up in later stories or not. Abrahams does a good job of making the reader feel the tension in the scenes. The terror of literally out running a forest fire, being brave enough to rescue someone even if you're not sure it's possible, keeping friends and family safe. When one character dies by smoke inhalation, I could almost feel my lungs and throat seize up with them. Abrahams does a good job of painting what it would be like dealing with the fires, being in the middle of them and how brave the EMTs and firefighters are in trying to stop them.

Of course, no story is perfect and there were a few times that the story stuttered and stumbled a bit but they were few and far between. This was like riding a roller coaster, you're never quite sure where the next turn or loop is going to be and when you've made it through the ride, you are both relieved and excited. I'm excited about the next book in the series, to see what Abrahams does with the characters and to see if the ones I like make it through this time or not.

Once again, Mr. Pierce does a good job on keeping the tension tight when it needs to be but helping the reader relax during the parts in between. Each character has enough personality to make them interesting and to keep me listening and a distinct enough voice that, while I had some trouble figuring out who was who sometiems, I could tell if someone else was talking if there were multiple characters talking at the same time.

Overall, this was a great second book and I cared about the characters. I both want to see what Abrahams does to everyone in the next one while dreading what he's going to put them through.

Ear Piercing performance

Tom Abraham’s writes a decent book, but wish he would go into a little more detail.........although not Tom Clancy detail. As for Kevin Pierce the narrator, the whistling “S’s” kill my ears. Need another narrator please

great addition

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

I love the concept of this series, alternate apocalypses with consistent characters. This book was just as good as the first and I love seeing what the characters do in each situation.

Ubiquitous yet exceptional narrator, unique story

Audiobook was graciously provided for an honest review....
Enjoyed this unique apocalyptic story. It was succinctly performed and would recommend it to any type of listener. I hope to get the rest.
I would like,however, to see some of these in a book-track type format. I know some do not like that but many do. I appreciate and am moved by the added production value and draws me in even more.
Tom and Kevin- have you considered something like the ‘We’re Alive’ format? There is a gap needing to be filled since KC Wayland and crew have been MIA for years despite saying there would be a new series. Anyway, good book!!!

what a great second book!!!

I don't like the fact that this ending just didn't give us a finish it doesn't let us find out what happened to the astronauts really I mean I want to know more about the astronauts and what happened up there in space at the end of this book. but you got to remember the next book is a total different scenario so we never get to find out what happenedoh my gosh that was a totally different book at the end I'm sorry that was a preview to the space man chronicle thing oops lol

Alt Apocalypse Redux

The author has an interesting idea. Same Characters, Same City, Different Apocalypse, Different outcome. Unfortunately I was stuck in the old Apocalypse during much of this story and it didn't quite work for me as well as I'd expect. This would have held up well if I hadn't listened to the first in the series, and could have stood up on its own. With memories of an earlier well crafted work stuck in my head I was left confused throughout the story, as my mind shifted between two different Alternate Universes, often wondering where I was. But... It's probably just me.

Not the character development used to by author

I wanted to like this book. I didn’t.
This series looks to be good so don’t base it on this book.
Let’s start in the positive. Great idea having a set of characters in different situations over several books. This one is very realistic- Forest and city fires in S California. Many could argue that this could happen much easier than an EMP, super virus or CME.
The imagery of the fire and the firemen and women was great. 5 stars. You feel like you are in the middle of that inferno. The fire was the main character of this book for me.
I liked several of the characters in the first book Ash but they didn’t hit home in this book. There was a lot of characters for a 5 hour book. Too many I think.
I willl get the Next book in the series which I think is about a flood.

Not really an apocalyptic story

The story and narration were good but the story wasn't really about surviving or dealing with an apocalyptic situation. It seemed more like a story of surviving a localized natural disaster; forest fire gone wild. The situation wasn't global, so it didn't seem apocalyptic. Otherwise, the story was good. I am familiar with Kevin Pierce's narrations and he did well. I will eventually check out the first book in the series.

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

Very interesting premise

I loved seeing how the same characters from Ash dealt with this different apocalyptic scenario. I’m used to reading series, so it’s a different mindset for me to have this story be a stand alone (within this setting anyway), but I’m enjoying it and look forward to seeing how this premise develops. If you think about it, it makes sense that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and therefore, would have a better skill set for certain disasters over others. Tom Abraham’s does a great job expanding on the characters’ personalities; I saw some of them in a new light and have a better grasp of who they are now. With Lit centering around various fires creating numerous emergency situations, there is plenty of action and moving pieces that kept me listening straight through. Kevin Pierce does a fantastic job portraying the emotions of the book throughout his performance. He creates a tone of suspense, fear and shock, when appropriate, adding to the way the story resonates with you.

Another good one

The second book in an interesting series, the first book started with a bang with nuclear war and this book follows it up with a CA wild fire of massive proportion. Again, Abrahams does a great job with the characters. You learn a few new tidbits about the reoccurring characters that are in this series. My only problem is that I kind of forget who is a main character and who's a supporting character. Especially since some of the main characters died early in book one I wasn't sure who they were by name yet.

The story is fine however the scope is really hard to gauge. Since I'm not from CA maybe that is why as I don't know the landmarks or scope. I will say there are a couple points where the story kind of anticipated some of my critiques of the story. With nuclear war, that's on a global scale. However, with a wildfire, it's really only LA that's affected. A character actually makes that point too which adds to that person's character detail. Another items is that I get the wild fire happens in the forest but then some salon explodes and LA is in flames. I couldn't really get a sense of timing here and there isn't an explanation of how any of it happen or if it was related. There's a character who has an internal thought that kind of states this as well. I do have to say it's a little bit not satisfying to get a hint of it. Like, am I suppose to assume the wild fire had spread and taken out the building or are they two separate events that may have had terroristic intentions?

Again, the story starts with the event but it didn't feel as if characters were really making choices a lot. It seemed like they were reacting to other characters or just following along. Even still; enjoyed the book, enjoying the series, and can't wait for the next one. Final Grade - B+