Surviving

The Complete Series

By: Ryan Westfield

Narrated by: Andrew Tell

Length: 16 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

Listen to the entire post-apocalytpic series, Surviving (Final Chaos, Final Panic, and Final Dread) in one complete set.

When society falls, how hard will you fight?

They expected the solar flare, not the EMP. Now the lights are off and chaos is brewing. It's only a matter of time before violence erupts.

Jim owns a small electronics repair store in Rochester, NY. He quickly realizes the reality of the situation. He grabs his emergency kit, planning to get across town to his wife. But finding her among the chaos proves almost impossible. And if he does get to her, where will they find shelter?

Rob's been Jim's friend since grade school. He's the kind of guy who's always between jobs but has a big heart. When the lights go out, he doesn't know whether to believe Jim or not. After all, he's got a job interview that he needs to get to. What will it take to convince him this is serious?

Jessica's an independent young woman. In the short term, she knows she can take care of herself. But as the chaos grows, will she be able to learn to work with others in order to survive?

Surviving: The Complete Series is a three book series about real people fighting for their survival every inch of the way.

©2020 Ryan Westfield (P)2020 Ryan Westfield

I REALLY wanted to like it

I've been looking at this series for a long time, but I just refuse to use a credit on a book that's under 6 hours. When this 3 pack came out, it looked like a great value and I jumped on it. It starts off ok, and I was hopeful. I'm at the 11hr mark now, and I'm throwing in the towel. The story, to this point, is not anything new, but it's not bad... it's the storyTELLING that's bad. The writing. I hate to hurt the guy's feelings, but it's like early high school level stuff. For instance, he'll constantly use the same adjectives or phrases in back-to-back sentences. "She saw his mean face, plastered with that mean look."

Or, points in the story that are supposed to be full of suspense drag on WAY too long. A character sees a sign of a bad guy's presence, but instead of leading into an action scene or keeping the suspense going, he just keeps repeating the same point in different ways, "He knew this was bad. That shouldn't be there. That wasn't there yesterday. This could only mean one thing. They were already here. He knew he had to be ready. His blood was pumping. His Adrenaline was pumping." Aaarrrgggh!

Ok, that example was from memory. This is an exact quote. (It just came up as I clicked a random point in the story as I type this.) Grammar or punctuation errors are mine... I'm transcribing... "Jessica was staring out the window to the trees as the water boiled. All of the sudden, she saw something. It was a flash of something. Some color that wasn't natural. It had been so fast, she didn't get a good look at it. Maybe it was yellow, maybe orange. Jessica's mind went to the Carpenters."
Then some totally mundane stuff happens and back to "suspense"... "Jessica poked her head around the corner of the doorway. Nothing. No one was there. Where was Rob? If only she had some way to communicate with Rob, like a radio or a cell phone. She saw something move in the woods. It wasn't the same color she saw out the other window. This was a khaki color, like dirty khaki pants. Rob wore jeans, no khaki. Jim too. It wasn't one of them. Jessica didn't hesitate. She raised her Glock, and squeezed the trigger."

OK, so she didn't have any way to communicate, so WHY mention it? Especially during a suspense scene? And "Jessica didn't hesitate"? Really, because you're giving me the impression that it took 10 minutes!

The other thing that drove me nuts, and maybe I'm nit-picking, but during the action scenes, he'll says thing like, "The truck barreled toward him. It was just feet away. He had sweat running down into his eyes. He had no where to go. He heard the engine roaring as he drew his gun." OK, the truck was barrelling toward him, feet away, like 8 sentences ago!

So, I'm sure my rambling review can also be criticized, but I am not a professional writer, I don't have an editor, and I'm not even going to re-read what I wrote because I've spent way too much time on this review. I think I've given you folks some additional info to make a decision.

Tempo of the story is off

I’m disappointed in the overall writing. Sometimes I find myself thinking, “enough with the descriptions and internal thoughts of the character get to the action” and other times I’m in disbelief that so many scenarios can play out at one time in one day within the story. I got tired of every other paragraph describing life post emp. I get it there was an EMP - shizz is gonna get crazy.

Interesting story

Story line was pretty much there. Way to many "It felt good" lines, its almost comical how many.

There are also way to many times pretty dim witted characters get lost in intellectual introspection.

At times there were some fond references to what I would call pro-statism.

Knock those rough corners, add in a little more texture of what the surrounding environments are, and this author would have some potential.

I tried, I really did, but...

...this book was written for children. It is not a book for adults. The author uses the same words and phrases over and over. I made it through book 1, but about 15m into book 2, I just couldn't do it any longer.

Had potential until Book 2

It was difficult to listen to in book 2 and actually forwarded through several sections before completely giving up.

pretty awful

this was pretty bad honestly. i found myself rolling my eyes several times. basically finished it only because i already paid for it. the characters are completely clueless and dramatic and everything. you basically get 1 minute of the story and 5 minutes of what that person is thinking.

big holes in the story also. for instance 1 "bad" person didn't have a gun and then later on he mysteriously does and is just carrying all their "gear" and "supplies".

everytime someone gets hit they have a concussion and throw up, there is just food sitting around everyone else just missed but they go right to it and for the love give them some free ad revenue from Glock,Ruger and Subaru

Poor Narrator

This was a fair novel of people completely unprepared for life after the grid. This is how it would go for most. The narrator wasn't good, he has a good voice, but he needs to be taught that his narration can't have emotion when not doing a character's voice. Listen to RC Bray for how it is supposed to sound.

Entirely too descriptive

Good storyline draws his descriptions out entirely too long and you maybe should’ve called the book maybe because you use the word maybe way too much

Total Fiction

I liked this story mainly for the fact I live 30 miles south of Rochester, but overall, it is highly improbable. Nonetheless, if you can take it simply as fiction and use your imagination, it's a good listen.

sucked

I finished it then learned I could return books o well but it is dull

“Blood gushed!”

A great story and the fact you get 3-4-1 makes it great value!
All the stories are great and really get into the characters and their motives (including the bad guys!)
I did sometimes feel the story got a little overwhelmed at times, for instance I think they have 3 or 4 stranger encounters all at the same time (whilst at a remote location!) and all of them bad news. The story does focus on the worst possible outcome and a rapid deterioration in society (someone dies within the 1st hour of a power failure!) so it did lose a little believability sometimes.
But whilst feeling a little exaggerated at times, the story, characters and tension are all great and well worth a listen!
Narration is really good too with great pacing and character voices!
This is my honest opinion on a free review copy.