The Death

A Post Apocalyptic Novel

By: John W. Vance

Narrated by: Guy Williams

Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins

Publisher's summary

The Death will find you... Devin Chase was just living his life, when the world changed in an instant. In the matter of a week a deadly virus known as The Death ravages the world killing over 90% of those infected. After six months in a self-imposed quarantine, he emerges into a new world. As he travels, he discovers others like him who are immune, but he also discovers that the world he knew is gone. It has been replaced with a savage and brutal one where the only rule is kill or be killed. Lori Roberts a mother, wife and business woman finds her world turned upside down from The Death. Her and what remains of her family travel to a FEMA camp for help, but what starts as hope for her turns into horror once she discovers what is really happening.

Separated by thousands of miles but connected by the same desire, both Devin and Lori will do what is necessary to survive.

©2014 John W. Vance (P)2014 John W. Vance

It was okay.

I enjoyed the book enough, but didn't end up caring much for the characters or the writing style. The characters changed too drastically, too quickly. The reader did a mediocre job. He made an effort at the different voices and did an okay job at it, but he would inflect his tone really oddly and it the tone would often conflict with what the dialogue was.

Overall, it was a decent story, but I probably won't use my credits on the last two books mostly because the last book is just over 4 hours long (not really worth a credit, imo, or $10). Seems like a lazy way to end a story.

Excellent Listen!

The characters and story build nicely. This makes us wonder what life would be if there was a collapse. What kind of a person would one become when things get scarce and there is no rule of law? Will start the next one quickly.

Gripping with lots of surprises!

I've read a few plague books but this one felt new and original. Worth the money, though agreed with another reviewer that the actor made the woman sound stupid! Worth listening overall though!

Review of The Death

First off I think it only fair to say I was provided with a free copy of the book so that I could post a review. So with that being said here is my review.

In any review I really do not like to write about the content of the book just because you usually get all that from the editors notes or the description from where you are buying it. Plus it is really hard to cover the content of the book without giving away key points and plot twists. So I will keep my review to basic aspects about the story line an very little about the actually story itself. From the title and the genre you should by know this is a book about an apocalyptic event that befalls the world in the form of a virus being released.

One of the first things I liked about the book is that you are not barraged by a myriad of characters in this book. When you read A Song of Fire and Ice by George RR Martin you are introduced to so many characters it is almost impossible to keep them all straight (an before all you Game of Thrones fan boy start ragging on me….I love that series and have read all five books. But I know more than a few people who have given up because they could not keep track of all the characters). The other thing I enjoyed about this book was the rawness of it. The characters in the book who “the good guys” do not live some magically charmed life. They get hurt, they get shot and not all of them make it to the end of the book. The other thing I really enjoyed was the fact that there are no super soldiers. It seems like allot of other books the main character always seems to run into a former Navy SEAL or ex DELTA guy or at the very least a former military Sniper an suddenly amazing feats of violence or unreal action scenes are there by made believable. Not in this book. For the most part these are just normal people who have to survive in very trying times. Characters get tired and have to rest, they suffer scrapes, cuts, and bruises. It really develops to feeling of exertion and the toll that the fight for survival takes on the mind and body. I really liked that. The plot line starts out a little slow and one does have to grind through the first part of the book but I would say that after the first third of the book things pick up fast and things really get intense. I lost one good night of sleep to this book finishing up the last two hours of it.

While not giving away any of the plot, there was a last minute development that I found kind of cliche. But I will have to see how the author handles this in future books of the series. Overall I found the book entertaining and a great read. I am looking forward to the next book in the series.

Decent story, but the narrator ruined it.

What did you like best about The Death? What did you like least?

Decent story, but good God, the narrator could NOT voice women. He made them all sound like 50-year-old brainless, whiny, petulant weaklings. Every time he voiced a female I cringed and it totally took away from the story. I hated all the women characters because of it. He did a good job at the general narrating and for men, which is why I gave him two stars, but dude, your voicing for women is absolutely abysmal and frankly, a little insulting as it sounded like mocking. Is that really how you think we sound?

Would you recommend The Death to your friends? Why or why not?

Only if the voices for women were rerecorded.

Would you be willing to try another one of Guy Williams’s performances?

I'd avoid it because of his terrible job of voicing women. No, I really would avoid it.

Started good but...

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The description and the reviews piqued my interest in this book but it didn't quite deliver. It started out well and seemed to be heading good places but it just suddenly stops. I felt almost robbed like the author wrote one story then broke it into parts to make more money.

What was your reaction to the ending? (No spoilers please!)

Abruptly disappointed. It seems like it's ramping up and then it's just over.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The narration was passable but not awesome. A different narrator could have given it more umph.

Do you think The Death needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It already has a follow-up book (or books) that should have probably been just one larger book instead of 3 smaller ones.

Any additional comments?

Honestly, I do not think I'll continue the series.

Excellent pick up from first book!

Would you listen to The Death again? Why?

Yes I would, I found it a very good distraction from my normal evenings. I live essentially off grid and enjoy a life if no television,so reading is my entertainment and these two books are my first audiobooks! Gives my eyes a break but I still can enjoy "reading"!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Devon, I am enjoying watching his growth as a character and how he as a self proclaimed "liberal" is finding the err of his ways. I am Hoping though that Brianna is going to become a post-SHTF lean mean butt kicking fighting machine like Tess!

Which character – as performed by Guy Williams – was your favorite?

I think he does his best job with Devon,

Wow

This book was much better than what I was hoping for. So good in fact that I've already downloaded the next series in the trilogy. Excellent writer!

Ooh, a good book

So there are two tales going on here; the book switches rather rapidly between Devin and Lori but wasn't hard to keep track of things as the characters are kept to a minimal. Both are pretty dumb really, Lori is shielded in the FEMA camp, while Devin hid out for 6 months too terrified to face the changed world. Not dumb like it leaves you screaming at them in your head when they do stupid things, it's more as they are portrayed as naive, weak civilians. But they develop and there are other more talented characters.

There are survivors, raiders, cannibals are a crazy sect as fitting an apocalypse tale. Too bad no zombies :/. Hardly any scavenging or building fortifications. I was impressed by the twists in the story, I wasn't expecting several developments. Good story, I liked it!

Narrator isn't bad, but is challenged with female voices, getting slightly better towards the end. It's that kind of transvestite voice. Too bad for him there are so many female characters! I'd pay a couple of bucks more if audible books had two narrators, one male, one female.

Hard to keep my attention

Story was slow. Characters were incomplete and too naive. Narration was boring. will not get 2nd book.