• Anywhere but Here

  • The Starborn Ascension
  • By: Jason D. Morrow
  • Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
  • Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (60 ratings)

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Anywhere but Here  By  cover art

Anywhere but Here

By: Jason D. Morrow
Narrated by: Sophie Amoss
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Publisher's summary

What if you could see the future with a single touch? What if that touch revealed someone's death, and that person was someone you loved? Would you do everything you could to change it?

In a post-apocalyptic world, where danger roams in many forms, 17-year-old Waverly seeks protection in the town of Crestwood after her boyfriend is ruthlessly killed by lawless raiders. But what she finds is a place wrought with mystery, shady dealings, and more instability than she anticipates.

The Starborn Ascension takes place 57 years before The Starborn Uprising, and can be heard independently.

©2014 Jason D. Morrow (P)2015 Jason D. Morrow

What listeners say about Anywhere but Here

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

strong characters that you either loved or hated

The apocalypse has come; leaving behind the “gray-flesh” (the walking dead) and survivors seeking safety.  Waverly and Reilly, both young women have unique gifts as a result of the apocalypse.  Both seek out Crestwood, a sanctuary safe from the gray-flesh but little else.  Both have lost their loved ones and are left behind.  Their unique gifts may prove deadly if they can’t keep them secret or learn how to use them safely.  They have one thing in common; but will it be enough?

A great listen in which we hear the story from both girl’s perspectives.  The story flows well, although why they are called the starborn is not clear.  I enjoyed hearing the two perspectives and how they are different from one another although they seek the same things.

Jason Morrow created strong characters that you either loved or loved to hate.  The characters were well-developed and fit into the plot well.  I think with an apocalypse it always boils down to the human vs human.  The dead or diseased rarely play into the plot except to bring the nature of humans out to the forefront.  The gray-flesh or walking dead take back seat to the other pieces of this novel – that being human nature.  The plot was well done and left in a good spot for a sequel.

The narrator, Sophie Amoss gave the two female characters more depth.  She wore those roles well and helped us with their character development by tone.  She spoke clearly and with emotion appropriate to the scene.  I enjoyed her voice and her ability to be the different characters.

This is a good book although it is enough to give one nightmares if easily influenced.  Two young girls out in the world of outlaws and flesh-eating gray-flesh?  Yeah, nightmare worthy!

There were no issues with the production quality of the audiobook.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

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

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Entertaining read.

Flesh eating Greyskins walk the earth and all Waverly and Remi want is safety. But before they get there, they have to not only deal with Greyskins, but also humans, which is worse though??

At first, I struggled to get into this, because the story felt disjointed. It wasn't till I was a ways in that I realised it was being told from 2 different peoples POV! Then it fell into place. The audio never specified who was talking and both characters were similar which is why I had a hard time realising who was talking! That's why it's a 4 star instead of a 5 star review, because other than this, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The plot was relatively fast paced and entertaining. It held my attention throughout and I loved that the author added in an extra something to the Zombie apocalypse. I loved the powers the people had!!

In all, this was a great read that could have been brilliant if the characters were expanded more. Despite that niggle, this is a unique and captivating read and I'm really looking forward to the next one.

Sophie Amoss did a good job with this, though the main problem I had with her was that she didn't give Waverly and Remi distinct enough voices to not be confused. If they were more distinct, then I think I would of enjoyed it more.

*I received a copy of this for review. This in no way affected my thoughts.*

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Awesome post apocalyptic book!

This is a series so it does end on a cliffhanger unfortunately. Great book though! The story was very well written but I was a bit confused about certain people having special abilities. I'm hoping that will be explained further into the series!

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Good read if you don't mind tried and tested!

A review copy of this book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

This was not a bad book. In fact, I enjoyed it far more than I was expecting given the genre. My Kindle clocked it at about 454 pages, but the story moved quickly and didn’t dawdle about much. Even the back stories that we’re given for context are presented during points where the story is moving rather than giving readers a wall of exposition. It’s concise, to the point, and moves on with the story. The plot is familiar. Zombie stories often explore things such as morality because people and their machinations are scarier than mindless zombies. It’s typically bleak with the constant threat of raiders and starvation. There are some amenities still around such as fuel used for vehicles, electricity, and weapons, but everything is measured and used with care as you’d expect in the situation. There’s a little bit of romantic fluff in the book, but nothing that’s overwhelming. I did feel like maybe one character too easily started crushing on another character, but love in the time of zombies may warrant being hastier in these things.

Morrow does try to give some explanation for what caused the outbreak instead of just dumping readers into the story where no one knows what happened which I appreciated. (Not that I necessarily have anything against stories using the “origins unknown” angle.) He did add a twist by adding characters who have developed “powers” during this outbreak. These people are called Starborn. Calling anything Starborn during a zombie apocalypse feels a bit frilly, but thankfully, that name isn’t overused in the story. How–or why–they developed these powers isn’t explored in this book, but since this is a series, I’m expecting we’ll get an explanation in later books.

Remi and Waverly were interesting as characters. There was a little more time invested in Waverly's story. For this reason, I connected with her more than I did Remi. This book was more focused on the “in the now,” so there isn’t a ton of character development. The action makes up for it, though. There’s always something going on in this book. One thing of note, I would’ve liked if Remi and Waverly’s stories converged a bit sooner than they did. It’s fairly easy to spot the significance the characters have to one another early in the story, but I felt like I was just listening to two separate stories about two people who happened to be inhabiting the same world for most of the book. I’m sure that was intentional, but it didn’t really work for me. It also made some of Remi’s parts feel like filler.

The narration by Sophie Amoss was top-notch. She voiced Waverly’s kindness and Remi’s tenacity well. Her characterization of other characters worked, too. You could hear the roughness in her voice with the raiders and more curmudgeonly characters. There were a couple of production quality issues in this, but nothing that was so glaring that I stopped listening.

If you regularly read zombie fiction, this may be a bit too formulaic for you, especially if you’re always looking for something innovative in the genre, but if you don’t mind tried and tested plot points coupled with fast action and a little bit of a twist, this book is worth checking out.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Back and Forth

At the beginning of this book I was excited to see this take on a zombie story. Who doesn't love a good zombie story. After starting the book I found myself having trouble following the POV and the jumps from seeing the future and reality. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on but after I did I found myself enjoying the read. The author does a good job of mixing things up, for starters the big wow factor happens in the first chapter. We find out about the ability of a character and a major sequence of events happens. This was interesting to me as I thought what else could possibly happenin this story now. To my surprise there was a lot to learn and quite a journey to get there. I will leave it there as to not spoil anything for anyone. One thing I liked was that this was not merely a flee and hide from zombies, although it did have some tell-a-tale signs of a zombie tale things were done a little different. The narration was done well as her pacing was good from scene to scene. At times I though she could have been a little more excited about things but that is personal preference. Overall this was a decent opening to a series and was enough to keep me interested throughout the story. I was gifted this audiobook by the publisher, author or narrator in exchange for an honest review via Audiobook Blast.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

enjoyable book

I thought this was a pretty good book. I enjoyed the storyline. There are two main characters that it bounces back and forth on. And unlike some other books, it is pretty easy to follow. I would reccomend this book and am excited on how it ended. I am ready to listen to book number 2 now. It took a bit to get used to the narrator, but after a while it was fine.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

I love this book.

this is one of the best books I read it a long time ago and listening to it is just as great as it was the first time.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

loved it

I loved it. this kept me hooked. not what I expected, better. I could visualize where and what was happening. looking forward to next book.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Definitely want to listen to more

This is the second book I’ve read/listened to by this author and the first of this series. The chapters flop back and forth between two characters. We follow them independently.
One is Waverley. Her village is struggling to survive and those that align themselves with Crestwood gain their protection. It comes at a high price however, and on her journey to ask for their help she learns that’s not the least of the problem.
The other is Remy. She is also a young woman with a special ability. She was at the epicentre during the outbreak. After a time on her own she came upon Crestwood, they took her in. Eventually she learns more about what goes on behind the scenes. After an incident, she’s asked to take on an almost impossible task.
Both story threads are engaging and come together (in a way) at the end of this book. This book has an obvious lead into the next.

This is the first book I’ve listened to by this narrator ( Sophia Amos ) and I would listen to another. She does great giving each character a distinct voice and personality. Her style drew me into the story and really helped me visualize the characters and events.

There are no explicit sex scenes, excessive violence. I don’t recall any swearing.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and voluntarily left this unbiased review.
Please feel free to comment on whether you found my review helpful.

Story 5/5
Narration 5/5

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Different

Now I am not a zombie fan but I loved this one. The pace of the book was quick which I loved. The back story was given to us when we needed it but it did not slow the book down. To top it all of the author put his own twist on the story which I thought it gave it something more compared to other books out there.
I really enjoyed this book more then I expected and I would highly recommend it.

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