The Hatching

A Novel

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.

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.

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.

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

[If this review helped, please press YES. Thanks!]

This was great!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I will recommend this audiobook to anyone. I enjoyed it on all levels.

What other book might you compare The Hatching to and why?

That is a tough one because I rarely find a book that I enjoy enough to finish. But I absolutely finished this book and will listen to again very soon.

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

Mr. Boone gets all credit for the book but George Newbern brings it to life! I will be checking to see what other books he has narrated. He makes every character believable.

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

Again, I enjoyed all of it.

Any additional comments?

Yes. As this is the first book in this series, I just ask Mr. Boone to PLEASE finish the next installment ASAP and make sure Mr. Newbern tells it to me! Thanks to you both.

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.

Don't miss this book !!!!!!!!!

I own a thousand audiobooks.

"The Hatching" is in the top one percent.
I will pray to the Book Gods that Ezekiel Boone writes many more.

Likable characters, I'm sorry, thats important to me.
The story and plot flow seamlessly.
You won't need a legal pad because each character is fully developed and memorable.

A great book!!!!!!!!

Don't miss this one.

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.

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.

So Much Worse Than Zombies…

What other book might you compare The Hatching to and why?

Invisible Spiders by Jason R. Davis.

Any additional comments?

What breeds in hours, has way too many legs, the social structure of an ant colony and the ferocity of a school of piranha? Something a lot scarier than zombies. This is an apocalyptic thriller that hits the right spots. There’s not a lot of gun play but the characters are three dimensional enough to keep you in the story mostly because they are so atypical— a female president that swears like a dock worker and is having an affair with her aide, a gay prepper couple, a female etymologist and her really emotional boyfriend… This is clearly the first in a series and it’s a great start.

INVASION OF UGLY HAIRY CLICHÉD SPIDER STORY: RUN!

Any additional comments?

This "novel," is riddled with pointless, meandering back stories that simply distract from what is essentially a 1950s Z-movie plot. Reads like a "waiting to be made into the next special effects-laden, Scif Fi Channel barn-burner." The narrator did a sound job throughout, despite the shallowness of the material. And no, despite what other reviewers write, this will NOT scare you (assuming you remain awake). Avoid.