Ravaged

The Hunger, Book 3

By: Jason Brant

Narrated by: Wayne June

Length: 7 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's summary

Welcome to the mountains of Pennsylvania, one of the last vestiges of the human race.

Lance York, a self-described loser in another life, has rediscovered himself in the midst of the apocalypse. Along with a cadre of other survivors, including the hardened, sexy Cass, Lance has taken refuge in a compound, struggling to survive the onslaught of monstrosities descending upon them each night.

The horrors that have devoured mankind are changing, their minds rebooting like a computer. Intelligence, the lone advantage of the humans, is returning to the infected. They ravage the compound with calculated, precise strikes, chiseling away at the defenses Lance and his friends have erected.

With the help of new ally Major Frank Colt, the flickering flame of the old world must fight to stave off the extinguishing tidal wave of the new one.

©2014 Jason Brant (P)2014 Jason Brant

Cass & her axe continue to carve a path!

Book 3 picks up roughly 1 month after Book 2 ends. Our heroes are still at the compound they wrested away from the maniacal Ralph. Other survivors continue to join them and the camp’s resources are starting to strain. Add to that, the infected monsters seem to be getting smarter and are targeting the camp. Even with the arrival of a new ally, they might not survive.

Our main foursome continue to face the odds. Each one of them has a demon or three to face in this installment of The Hunger series. Lance York, the man who started the apocalypse in nothing but a hospital gown, has gone from being a sad couch potato to a man of action. He’s at that point where he can look at himself and see the changes – both physically and psychologically. The world has gone to crap and he has risen from it, becoming a man he can respect. I have really enjoyed his story arc because he is just such a normal guy. Perhaps we would all benefit from an apocalypse.

Cass continues to grow as a character too. She was use to fending for herself before the infected covered the Earth. However, her time spent with Lance has shown her the benefits to being a little soft around a few select humans. She’s still a bad ass with a war axe and has her own dress code, but now she has opened a bit to Lance and even Emmett and Meghan.

Speaking of Emmett and Meghan, they play more central roles in this book as well. The group as a whole face some difficult decisions, but both Meghan and Emmett, who have trained and served in their own ways to protect and preserve life, must face the decision to take life. They were fine sidekicks in Book 2; in this book, they are integral and I would miss them if they weren’t there.

The plot line keeps us moving along. There’s still plenty of action and savagery from the infected, but those are punctuated with moments of reflection or humor. One of the things I really like about this series is that the dangers change with each book. We have the human dangers – humans like to be jerks to each other and that probably won’t change. Also, the infected – those savage monsters – have started to show more than bestial reactions to stimuli. They are already incredibly deadly, but now imagine them able to reason and problem solve! It makes for a very exciting plot!

With new foes and dangers, I was concerned for more than one of our foursome throughout the book. The ending was very satisfying and I can only hope that the author continues on with these characters. I am not ready to let them go.

Narration: Wayne June once again was THE voice for Lance York. I like his average guy in a crappy situation voice. It really suits Lance’s humor. As usual, Wayne had a good array of male and female voices for all the other characters. He even pulled off a Pittsburgh-specific accent for one side character that I thought was very well done.

I ravaged this book!

I am really enjoying this series. It's fun with a lot of snarky characters. I read all three back to back. Very much worth my credits!

Not your ordinary apocalyptic zombie story!

Would you listen to Ravaged again? Why?

I usually don't listen to anything twice!

What did you like best about this story?

I liked how the main characters are very believable - they behave like real people would. There's lots of books like this out there, but this series stands out because the author really develops the characters you can almost anticipate what they'll do next since they have real personalities - unusual in this genre.

Have you listened to any of Wayne June’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Wayne June's delivery brings forth a certain air of believability and honesty to the character dialogue - I'd have a hard time listening to these stories with another narrator, since he really gets into the characters.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Don't be a dumbass!

Any additional comments?

This book ties up a lot of loose ends, it almost seems like it could be a series finale, but who knows? That said, I'd recommend the entire 3 book series to anyone interested in a great story, believable characters, and pure entertainment. Top notch!

Is this the end of the human race?

Is this the end of the human race? Ralph and most of his men were dead. It was several weeks later and Lance was still hurting from the knife wound in his shoulder. Now he had the added job of running the camp. Cass was second in command and Doc Emmett Brown took care of the camp’s sick and dying.
Night patrol guards armed with guns and powerful flashlights watched for the Vlads. But something was happening to the monsters and it was bad news for the humans. They were starting to evolve, to think and communicate.

I particularly enjoyed the banter between Cass and Lance. They loved each other but still had to squabble. It added some lightness to the darkness of the story. It seems that Lance just can’t catch a break. Everything is going so well but then the Vlads begin acting differently. Then a General shows up with a tank and soldiers. He acts like he wants to offer them protection but his real reason is quite different. He dislikes Lance but acts friendly enough yet Lance doesn’t trust him. Cass is also concerned about the soldiers and the tank. When the General comes back after a scouting run and tells them Lance was killed by the Vlads, Cass doesn’t believe him.

Tanks, choppers, and murder keep the story moving forward. Just when things look blackest the writer throws in a twist. Keeping the reader guessing as to what will happen next. I just loved this series and the ending leaves a hint for more books.

Wayne June did an excellent job of narration. His voices were good, he spoke clearly and concisely. He really got into the characters to inflect danger, fear and excitement in his telling. Wonderful job!

There were no production issues.

Audiobook provided for review by the narrator.

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

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A couple of issues

I've enjoyed this series, however, after three listens I have just a bit of an issue with the main character, Lance. I don't understand how he can still, three books in, be so stupid. He's a very like able character, but he's gotten no smarter as this saga continues and I really struggle with that. It's like the author has to keep him pretty dense in order to create drama. I also have to mention that I am so confused that Cass is always reflected on the cover for these books. She's not the main character and the story is not told from her perspective. Those are just my petty gripes. Overall, it's a good listen and the characters are enjoyable. A little over 6 hours each so they're pretty quick hits as well.

Quirky Characters

Any additional comments?

This is a fun series full of quirky characters, and I love quirky characters. Ravaged ups the stakes for the characters and has a lot more action than other installments in The Hunger. Ravaged also involves some interesting character development and fully introduces some newish and definitely awesome characters.

Awesose

Awesome series of books. I will be reading/listening to them again. Just awesome outstanding job

Great series!

I love this series so much. I love all the characters. I love the snark!! If you make me laugh in a zombie book, you have done your job. I’m sad the rest of the series is not in Audiobook yet, hopefully that will happen eventually.

If you haven't heard all 3 books---

Would you listen to Ravaged again? Why?

Yun's don't know what your missing.
Yes, definitely would listen to them again. highly entertaining, great characters and having spent some time working/living in western PA the references to lingual and geographical areas was a bonus.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did, took one night of work to start and finish

One of my top 5 favorite zombie series

If you could sum up Ravaged in three words, what would they be?

awesome, badass and fun

What did you like best about this story?

The characters, the twists to keep things fresh and the narrator

What about Wayne June’s performance did you like?

All of it, he makes the characters come alive in my imagination

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

not really