Onset

Dead, Volume 1

By: TW Brown

Narrated by: TW Brown

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Today is the day that Evan Berry's life will change forever. His days working construction are about to end; he is finally going to be a high school music teacher. Stephanie, his bride-to-be, even has a surprise planned for him when he gets home from work that first night. None of that matters. For several days, the news has been hinting at reports of a strange illness that appears to be global. Unfortunately, this is no regular sickness. The dead are returning to life and attacking the living. Evan is at his new job for less than 10 minutes when he gets a call from Stephanie. There is a man in their house and he is trying to attack her.

Set in the world of the Amazon best-selling series Dead, there is a new story to tell. See the world die through the eyes of one man in Dead: Onset.

©2016 TW Brown (P)2016 TW Brown

Welcomed slightly different take zombie apoc

Evan Berry loves music and is looking forward to his first day as a music teacher at the local school.  Too bad it is the day the world devolves into zombie chaos.  He is the ordinary man in an impossible situation, forced to accept the death/turning of his fiancé and loss of everything and everything he knows.  He has to rise to the situation or be eaten alive with everyone else.

Carl, the shop teacher is more than ready for the breakdown of civilization and helps Evan through his denial.  Together they protect an unlikely group, a cranky middle-aged teacher and two children against the hungry hordes of zombies and the evil living.

The slightly different take on the overcrowded zombie genre is welcome, though Even quickly evolves into the standard kill or be killed apocalypse hero.  Evan often thinks about and refers to the many zombie movies and how his zombie reality is so different.  The thing is, it isn’t that different, or at least not different enough to be noteworthy.  The story does keep a backdrop of humor and a doesn’t take-itself-too-seriously tone that is very welcome.  It softens the gruesome parts but also dulls the poignant scenes.  It may not ground breaking, but it is fun and entertaining.

The story is performed by the author.  His voice is pleasant enough, but is difficult at first to get into the story as he stumbles over phrases and doesn’t always differentiate the characters well.  His female and male characters sometimes morph into each other.  On the other hand, he lends a personal tone to the story.  No one knows a story better than the author and the listener gets just a little more depth from certain characters for it.  It is a personal taste and one can’t really say if his reading is a positive or negative, adding in some ways and detracting in others.

Onset Dead is a fun zombie story with enough humor and flawed humanity to give us just a little bit different take on the many zombie stories.  There is plenty of gruesome chomping and hapless, dirty survivors fighting for their lives.  If you are zombie lover, you will probably never get enough, so give this one a go.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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Find out how it begins

Onset Dead feels more like Fear the Walking Dead than The Walking Dead, only there's a quirky sense of humor in the main character. It's the beginning of the zombie apocalypse and people are running around trying to get help for their dying loved ones/or undying loved ones would probably be the better statement. I'm saddened by the loss of Evan's true love, which happens right at the beginning and teaches Evan a lot about the symptoms of tuning. The author does a good job with his narration, with a clear voice and good production quality. I love Chewie and hope to see more of him. There's a nice little group forming that doesn't always agree and tend to have a love/hate relationship. At least they try to watch each other's backs. If you listen to this book, you'd better plan to stay around for book 2!

TW Brown: Awesome Author and Narrator

Really great addition to the Dead Universe. If you like the other Dead books you will love this one! I love reading about the different experiences people have during the zombie apocalypse! While this book focuses on only 1 group, it’s still really good. When the real Zombie apocalypse happen, I’ll definitely refer TWB’s Dead books for survival 😊The cameos from some Steve and the Gang was awesome too! AWESOME NARRATION!!! TW Brown should narrate ALL of his books. The only downside is that this book is 2 years old and I fear there may not be any current ones.

potential is there

he is no billy but has plenty of room to grow.
look forward to the next book

Zombie Story at it's finest!

Following just one man on his journey and experiences of the zombie apocalypse, this is a spin off from the Dead series and i loved it as much as the original. TW Brown is a wonderful story teller. He gets truly in depth with his characters and those that Evan comes in contact with, making the reader believe in them...or hate them. Whichever the case may be.
Since TW Brown is also narrating his own book, I believe that he is able to put more emphasis to the story where other narrators might have missed the mark. I am a huge fan of TW Brown as both an author and narrator.

Enjoyable

Neither the best nor anywhere near the worst zombie novel I've listened to. Worth the credit.

entertaining

the original dead series had me emotionally involved with the geeks and Steve characters. i was gripped from the first book. the new dead is entertaining but i have yet to become quite as attached to its main character, but Chewies well being is very much a concern

Very excited about the new series!

What made the experience of listening to Onset the most enjoyable?

I listened to the entire previous set Dead books. I was sad when I had listened to the last ones - and then this showed up. I like how the narrator changed, just to give it a different feel. The geeks were my favorite, then Billy and Platypus creek, etc. It'll be interesting to see if paths cross, even slightly. Each Zombie novel author chooses different aspects to change in their world, I like the ones used here - I won't say anything as a spoiler!

What about TW Brown’s performance did you like?

New - I feel like his voice works well for Evan.

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

Fired up about the reboot - I already started the second book. Thanks for keeping it going!

A cheesy zombie book, but I like cheese!

I have read many zombie books and this was an easy read!it is not as gory as other zombie books, but more about relationships, trust, and surviving. I just downloaded the second book and I am excited to read it!

great series

I love these books I've listened to them all in less than 3 weeks. cried when Steve died and then you killed Chad too jeez no one is safe but it keeps it interesting. p.s. loved the wink to Steve tali and Teresa in the new series!