Plan B: Revised

Siege of New Hampshire, Book 1

By: Mic Roland

Narrated by: Mic Roland

Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

Do ordinary people have what it takes to survive in a grid-down world? Do you?

When the power mysteriously goes out across the country, society does not instantly break down. Transportation does. Most people simply wait for things to get better. Martin thinks trouble is coming. His plan B is to walk the 50 miles from Boston to his home in New Hampshire. His plan B must be revised, however. He did not plan on meeting Susan.

No one really knows why the power grid failed. To the man in the street, the cause really does not matter. Guided by how past disaster events played out and his own intuition that things could get worse, Martin decides it is better to walk home than stay in the city and wait. Society does not collapse into instant mayhem. Almost everyone assumes “normal" will return soon. Nevertheless, some people take inconvenience well. Tempers flair, and troubles develop. Opportunistic criminals take advantage of the outage to strike. The government tries to "manage" things in confusing and obstructive ways, helping almost no one.

Martin and Susan must be resourceful to navigate the many troubles that arise as they travel north.

Listeners have enjoyed how real the characters are. They are average, imperfect people doing the best they can: not gung-ho super preppers with all the right gadgets or military Rambo types. The realism of the setting and the characters make it easy for listeners to imagine themselves in the scenario.

©2016 Mic Roland (P)2022 Mic Roland

It's not bad

I've had the fortune of reading and listening to some great books, I would not place this book in that category, but it's not bad in any way. The performance is decent although I had a bit of a hard time distinguishing between the characters at times but there was real effort put into the audio book including sound effects for certain scenes, which I really liked. The story and characters are pretty realistic. However, the problem with realism is that sometimes it's not very interesting or eventful. I think the book leans too much in that direction.

I did enjoy my time with the title and did move onto the next book, which has been more interesting but I now find in book 2 the social dynamics are although realistic,I find somewhat annoying and childish.

Barely worth it.

Basic story interesting. However, 1) authors should never narrate their own books as rarely are they someone you can listen too. 2) Susan is one of the people who shouldn’t survive an apocalypse as she is a neurotic burden, 3) lastly the main character, Martin, would just barely survive an apocalypse. Bottom line, very tame, amateur writing. A put you to sleep listen.

Great characters and narration!

If you're looking for a wholesome story about likable people who pull together to overcome adversity, you'll enjoy this book! I first heard this story as episodes in a podcast, and really enjoyed it! The main character isn't James Bond or some macho hero type. He's creative and old fashioned and tries to do the right thing, but things go wrong... thus the title. (There is also no bad language, which is a rare treat these days.) The narration is well done- it's easy to distinguish the characters' voices. Other reviewers were frustrated with Susan, but don't judge too quickly... she might just surprise you!

Great book - what would YOU do?

A very enjoyable but unusual story on the many books I have of this same genre. This is NOT another SHTF book that involves a "Joe Tank, Seal commander, just out of his last tour, along with his 12 buddies" with all the preparations. It is about a guy who is stuck in a city trying to make his way home. No Delta Force experience, no bottomless get home bag, and no super powers. As satisfying a book as the storyline is intriguing. Martin, the main character starts off helping a work-related acquaintance, and things take off from there. It's strongest point in my opinion, is it's relatability. My "plan" is far from perfect, skills are so-so, and items designed to assist in my travel at a moment's notice may have suffered from a few unscheduled snack breaks. The similarities and points of reflection, given the author's perspective, make it a great book, especially compared to the out of touch/high predictability aspects of many other reads.

The author does his own narration. Wasn't sure how that was going to go, but he does a great job. I have hundreds of audiobooks and one of my most practical assessments of narration is the ability to get lost in the situation, the character, the story, instead of the narrator. In that I give a 9 out of 10, I was never hung up on the narration, and it turned out to be a strong point of the book.

I am very happy I stumbled across this book, and am really looking forward to continuing the series. To the author, great job, and stay the course!!

I Can't Wait For More - Fantastic Listen!

There's just something about a good dystopian book series where the main character/s have to get home after a SHTF event. So, first, we had Morgan Carter in the Going Home Survivalist Series, then Jim Powell in The Borrowed World Series, and now we have Martin in the Siege of New Hampshire Series.

The Siege of New Hampshire (Beginning with Book 1 - Plan B: Revised) is as good as Going Home or the Borrowed World (All different authors). In some ways, it's a better story because Martin doesn't have magical preps like night vision stored deep in a bugout bag to make his 50-mile trek from Boston to his homestead in New Hampshire easier.

Martin has to adapt and overcome with limited tools while keeping a naive lady safe along the way. I love that the story is about ordinary people cast into a disaster situation rather than an ultra-prepared survivalist finally getting to play with their toys.

I also loved to see that the author, Mic Roland, is also the audiobook narrator. There are some fantastic audiobook narrators, but no one knows the story like the author. Mic Roland does a great job as the narrator.

One last thing I feel I need to add to this review. Plan B: Revised is the first book in the series and if you are wondering if the overall series is worth starting, let me tell you, I've gone through the series in Kindle format, and the story just gets better along the way.

In case you can't tell, I loved and recommend the book. ;)

Unconventional

Mic did a fabulous job at this book! It’s the most realistic “get home” story I’ve ever heard. Thank you!

Nope

What started off as an interesting premise turned out to be only a walk through town.