The Last Ship

A Novel

By: William Brinkley

Narrated by: Christopher Lane

Length: 29 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Hailed "an extraordinary novel of men at war" (Washington Post), The Last Ship is the book that inspired the TNT mini series starring Eric Dane, Rhona Mitra, and Adam Baldwin, with Michael Bay as executive producer.

The unimaginable has happened: The world has been plunged into all-out nuclear war. Sailing near the Arctic Circle, the USS Nathan James is relatively unscathed, but the future is grim and Captain Thomas is facing mutiny from the tattered remnants of his crew. With civilization in ruins, he urges those that remain - 152 men and 26 women - to pull together in search of land. Once they reach safety, however, the men and women on board realize that they are the earth's last remaining survivors - and they've all been exposed to radiation. When none of the women seems able to conceive, fear sets in. Will this be the end of humankind?

This thrilling tale of post apocalyptic suspense is perfect for readers of Going Home by A. American, Lights Out by DavidCrawford, The End and The Long Road by G. Michael Hopf, and One Second After by William Forstchen.

©1988 William Brinkley (P)2014 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

A different look at the aftermath of shtf

I love the change in literacy and wordsmith. This is a fresh look at the end of the world books and series that are flooding the book market.

Wow. Just--WOW!

I was, at first, annoyed by the Captain's insistence on being so wordy. He just went on and on before coming to the point. The first book (The Island) was frustrating because he spoke as if we knew what happened. No. I didn't. Book two (Our City) was where it got interesting. He used his wordiness to explain what the Nathan James was doing and why. It became and endearing trait, IMO, as the book progressed.

Although a work of fiction (obviously--we're still here!), it was unsettling and emotional to listen to the narrative of the destruction of all we know. The characters and their struggles to come to terms with the destruction were hard to listen to. It had me wondering what I would do or feel in that situation.

The narration by Christopher Lane was well done. After listening to his voice for nearly 30 hours, I'm going to miss him. His voice has become soothing.

I used my Map App frequently during the narration because I had no idea where the land masses or oceans and seas were. If nothing else, this book was educational. I won't win a geography bee, but I won't be dead last, either. Another thing, this book made me curious about Soviet-era nuclear submarines. I'll be reading about them to learn more about them. Ditto for US nuclear destroyers of the same period.

Well worth the initial frustration of the first book. I think the story would've been better if the first and second books were reversed or combined. It might not have been so frustrating. I felt as though I was reading the sequel to a book I had never read.

Astonishingly captivating plot; poor execution.

Lane's narration is what got me through this book captivating plot but poorly executed the setting jumps, without warning, seeming to the reader like an utterly frustrating Tarantino plot.
Let it not be said this is a poorly written piece by Brinkly (for that would be untrue) conversely the story was, at times, alarmingly suspense but the lack of direction vastly outweighed the tension of feelings. It seems as if right at the climax of tension once reaching the peak of the rising action the final climactic reward for the reader paled in comparison to the development of the story. Exceptional character development but ultimately this book is not one I would ever reread. The Last Ship is an affectionate readers "one night stand" good once but never would one willingly subjugate oneself to return to such murky waters.

Wordy

I really enjoyed this book, even with its lack of any kind of action and the excessive word usage. The writer tends to ramble quite a bit, and is very impressed with his own vocabulary. An intimate knowledge of the Navy is obvious, but also excessive. There’s no action in the book, but the story itself doesn’t feel lacking for that. Worth the slog to get to the end.

Slow start

Great book. Slow start…but hang in their for a good read / listen. I I

This is a tough listen, for more than one reason.

The subject is tough because though it is science-fiction, it is very plausible. There are a few things which don't make sense (Why they weren't concerned about contamination at the Suez canal for one?), but otherwise most of it is entirely plausible and that hits close to home. This is written from the point of view of the captain, who in my opinion is unnecessarily wordy which makes you yell at the narrator to get to the point and move on. At times this made me just want to say enough and stop listening, but I made it to the end. It gets interesting when it takes a sudden twist into an X rated sex book which was unexpected, but it is from the point of view of the Captain who is only human. Read this at you own risk and hopefully you are doing something else while listening as it is 30 hours of your life you'll never get back.

Outstanding novel, totally different than TV serie

I've watched all 3 seasons of the Last Ship on TNT channel. The only similarity is the ship's name and the captain's name. this book is post nuclear apocalypse. The tv series is a global viral pandemic. in this book the author uses such elegant prose, I was often having to pause playback and ask Google for word definitions. very high-brow vocabulary. this is excellently narrated by Christopher lane. he would be fantastic narrating any book. highly recommended!

Classic 'On the Beach' Story With Better Ending

First, this book has absolutely nothing to do with TNT's TV series "The Last Ship" apart from hijacking the title and name of the ship, Nathan James.

Moving past that, this is a classic sea story/apocalyptic story written in classical 20th Century literary style. You're going to have a chance to learn hundreds of new vocabulary words while enjoying the prose style of the author's pen.

The Last Ship is a captivating read benefiting greatly from Brinkley's own naval destroyer service.

The narrator is quite capable delivering a wonderful performance while capturing the voice I believe the author choose to write in.

If you liked On The Beach I think you'll enjoy this much, much more!

A bit long and drawn out, but a compelling story.

I'm not going to lie and tell you that this was an on the edge of your seat listen. It was however an intriguing look into a world of unknown and the way surviving humans coped with it. Once you get over the fact that the captain (narrator) speaks like he is reading straight from a thesaurus the story itself begins to shine through. If you are interested in post modern society disaster stories this one might be worth a look.

Loved it!!

I couldn't out it down. And the reader's voice is riveting. I'm immediately looking for a second book or at least something else read by Mr. Lane!