The Hatching

By: Ezekiel Boone

Narrated by: George Newbern

Length: 8 hrs and 46 mins

Publisher's Summary

An astonishingly inventive and terrifying debut novel about the emergence of an ancient species, dormant for over 1,000 years and now on the march.

Deep in the jungle of Peru, where so much remains unknown, a black, skittering mass devours an American tourist whole. Thousands of miles away, an FBI agent investigates a fatal plane crash in Minneapolis and makes a gruesome discovery. Unusual seismic patterns register in a Kanpur, India, earthquake lab, confounding the scientists there. During the same week, the Chinese government "accidentally" drops a nuclear bomb in an isolated region of its own country. As these incidents begin to sweep the globe, a mysterious package from South America arrives at a Washington, DC, laboratory. Something wants out.

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake.

©2016 Ezekiel Boone (P)2016 Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Part One of ???

Any additional comments?

I enjoyed the book - narration was great, the characters were fairly interesting and the premise was fine and made believable. But this is just the first part of a full novel: at the "end" the characters had not grown,the threat hadn't been beaten (or not beaten), and honestly the characters had done nothing but stand around and watch stuff happen. The whole book was simply "Act I" of a monster story.

I am looking forward to seeing what happens with the characters and what the next step in the monsters' evolution is... but this isn't the first book of a trilogy, it's the first third of a book. And since the last parts haven't been written yet, I wish I had known that going in.

16 of 17 people found this review helpful

FLESH EATING SPIDERS

This is not a bad book and it is not a good book. Believe all the reviews that are three stars or less. While there are some spider yucky scenes, this book is basically written to draw you into the next book. The book is more about relationships and who is sleeping with who. When you find out the married woman is sleeping with another man, don't feel bad for him, cause he is sleeping with someone else. No such thing as a happy marriage in this book. We bounce back and forth between several characters, which are in the story to make it book length.

Other reviewers have complained about today's writers, writing for the series or the Trilogy. That today's books are not full stories, just teasers to get you to buy the next book. This is another one of those. In the horror section, about the only authors that can be trusted to write a full story is Stephen King and Joe Hill. It is even worse in the Sci-Fi section. This had potential, but I am not going to support this type of writing anymore, and will not get book 2.

The narrator is very monotone, which does not help.

74 of 93 people found this review helpful

Great Characters, iffy science and poor ending

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

For the most part it was well-spent. I found myself liking the characters and their stories The ecology of the creatures may be plausible but I found it a little hard to swallow. And the ending was disappointing for me.

What was most disappointing about Ezekiel Boone’s story?

The end if you can call it that. It just stopped and left it open for sequel.

Have you listened to any of George Newbern’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

I have not listened to any of his other performances. I will say he did a fine job with this novel.

Could you see The Hatching being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes for Scyfy and with the cast of Sharknado.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

great fun and not terribly traumatizing.

If you've read the blurb for the The Hatching you'll know that this an apocalyptic disaster story about carnivorous spiders invading the world. I'm terrified of spiders, but I really enjoyed this book. There are some pretty yucky scenes that made my flesh crawl, but overall this was just great fun and not terribly traumatizing.

There is a large cast of characters in various settings around the globe from China, India, South America to Scotland and the US. I thought it was great that Ezekiel Boone stayed away from the usual stereotypes. Instead, there are female scientists and soldiers, gay survivalists, and the president of the US is a woman. If I had read other reviews before starting this, I would have realized this is the first book in a series. As it was, I was a bit shocked by the ending. It just ended. Very abruptly. As this was pretty entertaining, though, I'm quite happy to wait for the next installment to discover the fate of the remaining characters. The Hatching reminded me a lot of classic horror/sci-fi stories. This would be awesome on the big screen. As the focus is firmly on the action, there is little in the way of character development or profound prose. But I think it delivers what it sets out to do. It's an entertaining action story that doesn't require any deep thoughts.

The narration was pretty good. Considering the sheer amount of characters and the varied nationalities George Newbern had to portray, he did a fine job. His Scottish accents weren't very convincing, but he was excellent portraying all the different female voices. Not one of them ended up sounding squeaky. There were no issues with the quality of the production.

I would recommend this to anybody who enjoys end-of-the-world disaster stories with a good range of likable characters.

Audiobook was purchased for review by ABR.

Please find this complete review and many others at my review blog

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11 of 14 people found this review helpful

Where is the rest of the story?

The whole book felt like the introduction chapters and set up to the actually story. But where is the story? Is this the first book of a series? Idk? The end makes you think it's over before it even began.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

what

Narrator sucked, story didn't wrap anything up, presumably left open for a sequel but honestly I don't care enough about this stupid story and its stupid innumerable characters to bother. Good for a plane flight or two if you just want to listen a dude talk for 6 hours otherwise SKIP.

4 of 5 people found this review helpful

Half A Story

This book has a good old time horror premise, but it suffers in its execution. The story leaves you hanging and is finished in the second novel. Add, the narration does not keep the reader interested in the story. I think I dosed off a few times and you know what I missed—NOTHING. Try other authors that write complete stories in this genre and definitely avoid this narrator.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

The next B disaster movie

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would reduce the amount of obvious and uninteresting character backstory. Made the story too telly instead of showy. Also the author would choose the wrong time often to digress and any tension build up in the story line would dissipate

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

No. Too cliche and not well enough written.

Which scene was your favorite?

The spider attack on the plane.

Could you see The Hatching being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I can see this being turned into a B movie. Don't expect there to be any major names.

Any additional comments?

I gave the narrator a four because didn't want to blame him for the poor writing. The only gripe with the narrator was the lack of gravitas in his delivery. This may have had more to do with the authors use of too cute dialogue at the wrong time.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

B flick movie

Sounded exactly like a dumb Sci fy movie. But this one was split into two books. Would not read the second one.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

is this a screenplay?

I was enjoying the story until the end, felt like part I of a trilogy!

2 of 3 people found this review helpful