One Year After

By: William R. Forstchen

Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot

Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's Summary

The thrilling follow-up to the New York Times best-selling novel One Second After.

Months before publication, One Second After was cited on the floor of Congress as a book all Americans should have, a book discussed in the corridors of the Pentagon as a truly realistic look at the dangers of EMPs. An EMP is a weapon with the power to destroy the entire United States in a single act of terrorism in a single second; Indeed, it is a weapon that the Wall Street Journal warns could shatter America. One Second After was a dire warning of what might be our future... and our end.

One Year After returns to the small town of Black Mountain and the man who struggled to rebuild it in the wake of devastation: John Matherson. It is a thrilling follow-up and should delight fans in every way.

©2015 Blackstone Audio, Inc. (P)2015 Blackstone Audiobooks

Not what I expected

The book was well enough written. I was expecting it to be more like the first book, explaining how life was after the EMP. This one turned out to be more of a war or battle genre book. Not my cup of tea, but if you are a fan of that, I'm sure you will like it.

26 people found this helpful

Ruined by Narration

I don't know what happened and why they didn't use Joe Barrett, the narrator from One Second After--but this narration was terrible. I thought that Barrett did a great job with the first book. What a let down. I am giving up after just a few chapters of struggling with the voices. To me the southern accents were particularly intolerable. Impossible to check this before download by listening to the sample because the only thing you hear is the BBC voice which sounds good. It's all down hill after that. What a shame.

227 people found this helpful

Horrible Southern accent ...

Love the author, and the narrator (in other books) BUT the slack-jawed "hillbilly" accents of all the characters is way over the top...
Just had to walk away (sigh)

147 people found this helpful

Bad Hollywood treatment ... what a disappointment.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Not really time 'well-spent'. Predictable, and formulaic come to mind.
While the first book was well crafted, this one almost seems to have been written someone else - someone doing their own version of a follow up story. John is FAR less astute in this book than he was in One Second After. His initial trip to see the new administrator was so over the top, that it was hard to listen to - it just doesn't seem like the same old John. Yes, we get the occasional history reference, but he's like a bull in a china shop all the time. The conflict with the new administrator is so black and white, that it's uninteresting. The new guys are Evil, with a capital 'E' ... no subtlety, no shades of gray - boring.
I thought technology was discussed pretty well in One Second After, but things seem pretty superficial here. There's the manual drill for the dentist, the switchboard dug out of someone's basement, and they can make ether. It's a year after, they still have no electricity, and their approach is to read about Tesla and build a dam with hand-built generators. WTH, they've had running cars since day two, so they could've had power since day two. By now, you'd think they'd have dozens of windmills up and running, or some paddle wheels hooked up to alternators, and certainly some emergency power via one of the many running motors. People in the South know what a generator is ...
In general, this is an 'action-based' follow up, but lacks depth, and the discussion of logistics that played such an important role in One Second After. Reminds me of a bad Hollywood script.

Would you recommend One Year After to your friends? Why or why not?

Probably not, it's not a worthy successor to One Second After. One Second After had an intellectual component, this is all action - the John/Rambo show.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The accents were pretty over the top for many characters. And John would occasionally slip into a southern drawl, which was quite jarring - definitely a different from the last narrator.

Any additional comments?

After writing this review, I realized how much I was disappointed by this sequel. This is Hollywood B movie script fodder.

86 people found this helpful

when will they learn?! stick with the original nar

What would have made One Year After better?

The original narrator!

What didn’t you like about Bronson Pinchot’s performance?

Everything!

Any additional comments?

Plan on returning this, one second after was in my top 3 favorite books of all times! I will buy a hard copy of this and I'm sure it will be as good as the original! Terrible narrator

123 people found this helpful

Narration killed it

The storyline I thought was very good. I really enjoyed One Second and thought this follow up hit the mark... however...
I understand it can be hard to get used to a narrator change in the middle of a series. Joe Barrett did a great job on One Second, but Bronson Pinchot murdered this book for me. He used a terrible "old south" accent for every character. They had no personality at all. At one point a character reveals he is from New England and literally mid sentence the accent changed from southern gentleman to New England blue blood. Then 5 minutes later it was back to Gomer Pyle. I was disappointed enough to write my first review in 2 yrs! Oddly I have enjoyed Pinchots narration on other books but this one annoyed me every time I put on my headphones.

54 people found this helpful

Not EVERYONE Sounds Like Hilljacks, Bronson

Good story, as I've come to expect from Forstchen, but the performance was awful; cringe worthy almost all the time. He either doesn't ha e the range to do southerners, folks from NJ and Massachusetts, or he's convinced everyone south of the Mason-Dixon Line speaks like they're from Deliverance. Please don't overlook what's a really good story just because it sounds terrible.

92 people found this helpful

wow...just loved it

I was hesitant to get the first book after I read quite a few reviews. the first one was fantastic and the negative reviews were way off. I couldn't stop listening to it. I didn't even bother reading the reviews of this one, good call. The performance was tremendous. the story just kept getting better and better leading to the perfect ending. I burned up quite a few gallons of gas driving and listening, I couldn't stop. I haven't watched any TV. no loss there. I highly recommend this book. Much better than I expected what a great listen. you will find yourself thinking. I know I see the world differently than the beginning of the week. get it and enjoy the ride.

8 people found this helpful

Terrible Narrator

It was a great story. Hard to use to the narrator and made it hard to follow the plot. Very choppy.

71 people found this helpful

what happened to the other guy?

miss the narrator for "one second after" this is all I had to say, but apparently Amazon hates short reviews, and it has to be at lest twenty words.

66 people found this helpful

Humanity prevails

Great listen and gives us hope that in bad times the best of humanity will prevail.

Excellent story brilliantly read

Excellently read by Bronson Pinchot, this is an great following on of the first book. I sincerely recommend it.

Absolutely rubbish, don't waste your time.

Very disappointed, was looking forward to this as the first book was excellent...this is pants!

good second book

looking forward to seeing where this story is going and how it ends hopefully well..
in the third book

not bad but lacks action

this series is not one of my favourites as it is always based around one town amd the characters don't change much plus there is not much action. not my favourite but it is a good read. I'd like to say couldn't put it down but that would be a lie.

Good sequel

What did you like most about One Year After?

Took the story of one second after forward. But very annoyingly a different narrator... which detracts from the feeling of continuation.

What other book might you compare One Year After to, and why?

The postman... trying to rebuild civilisation

Which scene did you most enjoy?

Enjoy is perhaps the wrong word... but accepting the remains of the reavers into the community was very memorable.... but the ending felt too contrived... I was begining to think that the small band of college school kids had increased 10 fold .

Any additional comments?

The return of hopless career politicians after everything folk have suffered in the first book is so annoying... but actually so likely to be true!

stopped halfway.

just goes to show that the world falling apart is way more interesting than putting it back together. loved the first book but couldn't finish this one.

Fantastic Sequel

I loved One a Second After which precedes this book and enjoyed One Year After just as much. I would suggest though that it would not make too much sense without reading One Second After first which explains in detail about the disaster which has befallen the earth and background to all the characters. I have seen some reviewers complaints about the narrator's Southern accent, but I didn't have a problem with it. Maybe because I'm not American!
Couldn't wait to finish it but now I want more. Here's hoping that it will become the second of three, or maybe four?

1 person found this helpful

An excelent book

Sa good as the one second after.
Is all we fear in a SHTF scenario, to fight against our own guverment.