Sub-Human

Post-Human Series, Book 1

By: David Simpson

Narrated by: Ray Chase

Length: 7 hrs and 48 mins

Publisher's summary

Before he was Old-timer, he was Craig Emilson, a young doctor, sucked into military service at the outbreak of World War III. Enlisting to become a Special Forces suborbital paratrooper, Craig is selected to take part in the most important mission in American military history - a sortie into enemy territory to eliminate the world's first strong Artificial Intelligence. The mission is only the beginning of Craig's story, and for the story of humanity as well, as they accelerate towards a world that is post-human.

If you're already a fan of the smash-hit Post-Human Series, this prequel to Post-Human, Sub-Human, will answer the previously unanswered questions of how the post-human world came to be. And, if you're new to the series, Sub-Human will serve as an engrossing introduction to a possible future that has enraptured tens of thousands of listeners!

©2012 David Simpson (P)2013 Podium Publishing

Great performance, stupid protagonist

This one will be short, maybe. I like concepts that have some level of originality, either in form or perspective and Simpson has delivered there. The journey of a medical soldier with certain skills and, one would assume, temperament quickly goes into a dangerous situation and dies. OK fine. Ray Chase has a great voice and even though a deeper baritone that has known a relationship with whiskey is sometimes challenged to offer female voice to female characters, he does that well. The cadences vocal tones shift well and consistently. He's a solid and soothing vocal talent. But the Protagonist, Craig, is just too stupid with his responses to the events that happen to him to be believable with the man to whom we are introduced in Chapter 1. He goes from a smart man married to a smarter woman, to a bitter raging wretch whose motivations I didn't believe. I listened to the intro to the next book and though interesting, I find my Audible queue of books more interesting to me at the moment. Maybe I will come back to it. Maybe.

Yikes

Never before had I been so utterly frustrated with a male character as I was in this novel. I never realized that I'm so used to female idiots as main characters, that I got almost shocked and outraged when I hit upon this one. I kept hoping he would make the right decision but noooo, the moron kept going. The story wasn't bad if you don't mind the main character and the reader was good.

End of the human race?

If you could sum up Sub-Human in three words, what would they be?

No humans left.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Sub-Human?

Nothing stands out.

Which character – as performed by Ray Chase – was your favorite?

Craig. He sounds just like Walt in Breakers.

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

No extreme reaction.

Any additional comments?

It was an okay read with an interesting enough plot. I am not overwhelmed to get the next book in the series any time soon.

Craig was annoying.

Warned number of times about the effects of his actions and just won't listen. smh

Surreal Story, Masterful Narration

What made the experience of listening to Sub-Human the most enjoyable?

Ray Chase is rapidly climbing up my greatest narrators in the known universe list. He kept this roller coaster on mushrooms of a story racing forward through multiple time warps, disasters at sea, rampaging pubescent-voiced evil simulants and some other stuff I am still trying to come to grips with and cannot mention at this point.

What did you like best about this story?

After being 2x4'ed by the fickle finger of fate, Craig finally catches a break and gets some peace of mind. I just hope that in the next episode he also will get a well deserved piece of ass - be she cyber or human. I do not say this lightly. Craig was made to experience the ultimate rip my heart out and stuff it down my gaping pie hole situation through absolutely no fault of his own. The chin-deep lake of crap this guy had to wade through from basically the first or second minute until the blood spattered, radiation contaminated curtain came crashing down really had me hoping that Craig would at least end up conscious or hopefully be able to stand without assistance. I was not disappointed.

What does Ray Chase bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ray Chase has a way of narrating that just clicks with me. This story was a trip, and there is no better audio guide for this kind of book than Mr. Chase. I am fired up for the next installment.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

An early in the story bombshell exploded in my ears and had me blurting out loud "No way!" and "f.....ing ruthless". Needless to say, I was moved. I knew from that moment on that this story was going to be a keeper.

Any additional comments?

Hey Audible... why are you making me wait for what.... 3 weeks to hear the next installment? This is a bush league move. I can honestly say without reservation or fear of contradiction that YOU SUCK! Here I am, with cash in hand wanting to keep the vibe I got from this book going and I have to wait until someone somewhere in your organization gets around to making it available? Let me guess, the reason why the next book is not available for several weeks is due to: (a) your company is staffed with out of touch half wits, or (b) you can't squeeze the next book in the series in because you have yet another batch of poorly written trash about some highland slut trying to get into the pants of some pouting, shirtless, mullet - sporting loser, or (c) you all just don't give a damn about your customers. My money is on all of the above. I hope the puss bag mono-browed mouth breathers involved in delaying the second installment of this series get a big fat pink slip in their stockings, or if that isn't in the cards, a really nasty and festering bout of poison ivy / oak in all the right places.

Too much gore

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would not.

Would you ever listen to anything by David Simpson again?

Maybe

What does Ray Chase bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I wouldn't have read this book. The narration helped.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

Doubtful

Any additional comments?

The premise has endless potential. The author chose to continually focus on how a super soldier could torture and kill. I expected some of that, but that's about all there was. I kept waiting for this book to take off, but realized that's just what the book is - light on ideas or insights and heavy on gore.

Acceptable

Is there anything you would change about this book?

The plot was good. The story engaging. It wasn't the most amazing book of all time but it was entertaining.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

The time hops were oddly developed. Either more detail and weight needed to be given to it, or just skip it entirely. It felt like the author was just trying to fill pages.

Which character – as performed by Ray Chase – was your favorite?

The character of the AI was actually very well performed. The performance of this character was my favorite.

Do you think Sub-Human needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

The second book in the series - Post Human - was utterly awful. It was not related to this book in any way, and was completely unneeded.

Any additional comments?

This is a nice piece of brain candy. There is no deep thinking required, but its entertaining all the same.

Fantastic Story with an excellent ideas

Fantastic story with great idea development by the author. The person reading the story is not to my taste, though, and he has some very odd inflections that make many of the powerful characters actually sound weak and girly. I think that this book would have been MUCH better with a more powerful reader that properly captures inflections.

Nasaly Narrator

I liked the book. I cannot think how much more awesome it would have been if the narrator from 'Fear the Sky' had read it. This narrator is not awful though. He just adds a little too much flare to it, which does not allow you to really imagine your own flare to the viice or inage of the chatacter. I will listen to the rest of the books though. ~JTC~

Great story, Great author. It is absolutely worth

Great story, Great author. It is absolutely worth the purchase and read. It has adventure, humor, drama, all that you want in a book. You wont be disappointed.