The End Has Come

The Apocalypse Triptych

By: Hugh Howey, Jamie Ford, Jonathan Maberry, Seanan McGuire, Nancy Kress, Carrie Vaughn, Ben H. Winters, Scott Sigler

Narrated by: Vikas Adam, Gabrielle de Cuir, Justine Eyre, Roxanne Hernandez, Alex Hyde-White, Emily Rankin, Stefan Rudnicki, Judy Young

Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's Summary

Famine. Death. War. Pestilence. These are the harbingers of the biblical apocalypse, of the end of the world. In science fiction the end is triggered by less figurative means: nuclear holocaust, biological warfare/pandemic, ecological disaster, or cosmological cataclysm.

But before any catastrophe, there are people who see it coming. In the midst there are heroes who fight against it. And after there are the survivors who persevere and try to rebuild.

The Apocalypse Triptych tells their stories.

Edited by acclaimed anthologist John Joseph Adams and best-selling author Hugh Howey, The Apocalypse Triptych is a series of three anthologies of apocalyptic fiction. The End Is Nigh focuses on life before the apocalypse. The End Is Now turns its attention to life during the apocalypse. And The End Has Come focuses on life after the apocalypse.

The End Has Come features all-new, never-before-published works by Hugh Howey, Seanan McGuire, Ken Liu, Carrie Vaughn, Mira Grant, Jamie Ford, Tananarive Due, Jonathan Maberry, Robin Wasserman, Nancy Kress, Charlie Jane Anders, Elizabeth Bear, Ben H. Winters, Scott Sigler, and many others.

The end is nigh is about the match.

The end is now is about the conflagration.

The end has come is about what will rise from the ashes.

©2014 John Joseph Adams & Hugh Howey (P)2014 John Joseph Adams & Hugh Howey

Weakest of the triptych

While still entertaining, I consider this to be the weakest in the series. One thing it does properly is concluding many stories that started from part one (The End is Nigh). Whether the ending is satisfactory is a different matter. Some new stories (the Disneyland one stands out here) are really beautifully written. But unfortunately, this volume is a continuation and conclusion of the triptych, and cannot stand on its own.

Some great payoff, some not so great.

Would you listen to The End Has Come again? Why?

No. Of the stories that started in the first book in this series and were concluded here, several of them were quite good. Others of them read as though each chapter had been written by a different writer-- one who hadn't read the previous chapters. The overall production feel was different in this third and final installment, too, leaving me with the lingering feeling that this book was an afterthought and was put together long after a long hiatus.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The End Has Come?

Hugh Howey's "Wool" adjacent story wraps up in chapter 23 and it's a total gut punch; I wish I hadn't experienced it, honestly, and if I had it to do over again I'd skip that story completely. If you're a fan of the Wool omnibus, be warned.

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

The narrators were all very good, though there wasn't as many as there were in the previous books in the series. Thus numerous back-to-back stories were read by the same narrator whereas in the previous books the stories were distinctly broken up by the emergence of a new narrator for each one.

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

"Makes a predictable nuclear winter look like a spa day."

Some really great stories that draw you in...best is to start from book one and listen all the way through!

Some really great stories that draw you in...best is to start from book one and listen all the way through!

Bit of a let down.

The quality of the stories was more mixed than previous installments. Some conclusions were solid but others seemed not up to par with the setups. But more were the performances. This seemed more of a beta release, fewer performers and thus less distinction among tales, with some that kept the same person one to the next. Also, no extra info such as author info. All led to a rushed feel, a "who do we have handy to record?" feel to get this out now!

Entertaining, Thought-Provoking, & High Quality

Any additional comments?

Most of the returning authors finish their triptychs with engaging flair, while newcomers deliver some great post-apocalyptic stories. Marathoning all three books, back-to-back, might not be recommended. Inundation of depressing themes and zombies (maybe too many derivative zombie centric narratives) could wear on some readers. That being said, ‘The Apocalypse Triptych’ is the best collection of sci-fi short stories published in recent years: continually entertaining, thought-provoking, and high quality storytelling.

Oh, and the audio books are an amazing listen throughout, though format abruptly changes to a more minimal, still enjoyable experience with ‘The End Has Come’.

great book

loved it great stories! recommend it to everyone! wish stories were a little longer but was good all the same!

What if?, What now? Fun listen!

Any additional comments?

This was a fun listen that wrapped up some of the stories started in previous volumes but also had some new stories too. All were interesting, some definitely deserve a whole book of their own!

Damn it Hugh Howey!!

If you enjoy reading a long series only to have main characters die senselessly and/or otherwise interesting stories simply run down the drain, read on.

Highly enjoyed the series up until this point.

Sadly, this will put me off any future Hugh Howey offerings. Good imagination, too little sense of purpose or closure in his writing/editing for my taste.

Not as Good as the First Two

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

Nothing really struck me with this final part of the trilogy. The stories finished, but nothing that interesting happened.

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

I felt like the authors had lost interest in their stories and phoned it in.

Third book was phoned in

The performance quality was not even close to the caliber of the first two. Instead of stories ending with a distinct sound effect and information about the author, each story audibly blended into the next, sounding more like a chapter change. Overall the stories were well written. I had expected more hope for the future in at least some of the stories, but almost all had endings that were even more grim than the during the apocalypse stories of book two. I found the whole experience quite depressing. If you have listened to the first two books, I do recommend listening to this one, if for no other reason than to get the final part of the stories that span the volumes. Just don't expect any cheery endings.

Disapointing!

As a great fan of the first two volumes i have really disappointed with book 3. In the first two volumes there were occasionally stories i disliked, some that were good if not entirely convincing but many that were absolutely mesmerising. Unfortunately in volume 3 these proportions have been reversed and i was left utterly disappointed.
Some of the stories were so fanciful they had no chance of working. Sorry but its a big thumbs down from me.

A fitting end to the series.

This audio book was a great treat, many of my favourite authors and narrators in one place.

The quality of the stories, has continued to be high throughout all three books. This third installment has not disappointed.

So many of the stories where quite thought-provoking, this book required a leisurely second listen.

Disappointed

Really disappointed. This is so different to the original 2 parts. The stories feel weaker and a lot of the readers have changed. Why would you change the readers for the same characters of the common stories. More than one book does this. First book I have stopped listening to.