Lost Valley

By: Walt Browning

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 7 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

War has a way of following some people....

John Eric Carver and Shrek are a retired Navy SEAL war dog team, now living in the mountains outside of San Diego. Both man and dog thought their life was now settled, finding peace on the 40-acre ranch they had moved to. But life, and a mutated virus, changed all that. 

Now, they have to survive a worldwide pandemic. Taking refuge in a nearby Boy Scout camp, he leads a group of teens and their parents as they are forced to deal with infected creatures that are rapidly consuming the world. Will John and Shrek survive another war, or will this be the end of the line for the SEAL team?

©2019 Walt Browning (P)2019 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

took a chance

Dang this was good.
took a chance on the book because of Bronson Pinchot who did a fantastic job. being unfamiliar with the author I was surprised, it was some good writing. the story was sound and engaging. if you are looking for a new apocalypse series to start I recommend it. looking forward to the next book

Couldn’t do it

Just can’t get into this book. First you have a long introduction concerning the greatness of this author and series then it segues into the dog’s view of his own greatness in a German accent and I was done!!

Like a fine Texas Chili

Walt Browning is living proof that you don't have to be ex-military to write a good military novel. When I read a book where the author sites something silly such as Mercs with no military background being more effective than tier1 operators (The Tide by Malchiori… I just returned that book before I got this one) I'll always refer them back to Walt Browning to illustrate how they could do better. Brown isn't Clancy technical, and doesn't spend too much time on theory, but he went as far as to reference the OODA Loop, and obviously put effort into bringing honor to the SEALs he's writing about. On the other hand he doesn't make every soldier and sailor an unstoppable hero. He balances it nicely, like just the right amount of heat in a Texas Chili. He also shows a real prowess for writing from an animal's perspective. I haven't seen the like since The Watchers by Dean Koontz. If I had to site other authors his writing reminds me of I'd say; DJ Molles and Louis Lamour. As a disabled vet I listen to a lot of audio books in a lot of genres. I can say that this humbly but very well written series is near the top of my favorites. I hope Walt Browning writes many more novels. He just made it onto my short "best authors" watch list.

more extinction

this was a worthy addition to the extinction cycle saga. loved every minute of the animal points of view.

Loved it!

You had me at Navy SEAL war dog team. The fact this is set in one of my favorite universes was icing on the cake. Great story, superb narration, and a thrilling plot. I can't wait for Satan's Gate!

Narration ruined it

Story is decent but the narration was painful to listen to. The random unnecessary yelling. All characters have multiple voices but same voices for most characters. The overly dramatic yelling almost caused me to give up on the book very quickly

Whoa

Great book and it will keep you on the edge. These creatures are fast and evil. Great story from beginning to end.

good listen

loved the way you got the dogs perspective as well as the human ones. really a cool concept

Great story!

I thoroughly enjoyed the twists and changes from a typical zombie tale. I cannot wait to dive into the next book. Also great read by Pincho.

Writing is fine, narration is trash

The quality of writing is fine. It has a reasonable storyline and the pace is good. My issue is with the awful narration. The bad accents, the silly attempts at sounding gruff or angry, and the missed character changes (female lines being read in male voices)... It adds up to a book that is difficult to listen to.

Below average

Its quite well written . But the Zombies are very implausible. And the main character is a very formulaic ex special forces soldier with a highly trained dog.
The reader is OK, but not the best.
We couldn't be bothered to finish the first part.

Good story

This is a good story badly let down by very poor narration. The narration style is slow and monotone with inflection on words that are just out of place in regards to the story

a brilliant yarn

a fantastic listen or read, escapism in the present crisis , just glad the virus in the book is fictional , well I hope it is.

Spin off

Excellent spin off. Love the view point of the animals in this story. Will be getting the next in the series.

Good story

enjoyed listening to this, loved the German accent of the dog, so funny. Worth a listen

Interesting in parts.

I liked the dog - he was by far the best character! However, as someone else has commented-‘Shrek’ does not mean ghost in either German or Dutch! A silly mistake!

The focus on men/boys being the ‘heroes’ is tedious, whilst most of the women just need saving, (which is disappointing).

The group fail to take basic precautions- such as establishing a perimeter and guarding this. Don’t even get me started on the idea of staying in the tents during the zombie apocalypse!!! The idea that the main protagonist would have gone to collect Hope unarmed is also ridiculous, especially as he is ex-military.

I am unconvinced that the group would risk so many lives to get insulin - a finite and unrenewable resource - in reality, the boy in question would just have been left to die, sooner rather than later. I have yet to find a za or other post-apocalyptic novel that is willing to face this horrific truth about the inevitable lack of treatment for chronic medical conditions.

Apart from the narration of the dog, I found the narrator’s voice whiny and irritating, with a bizarre upwards intonation which made it difficult to hear when a sentence was finished.

Not bad for a free download but I don’t think I would pay a full credit for the rest of the series.

Absolutely Amazing

What a great narrator! Absolute thrilled and very happy I had stumbled upon this book. Keep up the great work.

Really Good

loved it surprisingly good, made something unbelievable believable, simple storylines. I love the specific characteristics and lines of the animals. "I am Shrek, I always win".

Good but

Good listen but I just didn’t connect with it. I’ve listened to a lot of apocalyptic story’s lately so many I need to have a change.

Bad voice acting or poor direction…

The story is pacy and well conceived (if you can get over the over-night mutations) however either the direction or the voice acting is off. Too often sentences don’t end. They end!!! And people just don’t speak that way in the real world.