The Salvation State

De: Marcus Damanda

Narrado por: Jessica McEvoy

"This is what the truth is. Second Salvations murdered my parents, and I'm running away."

A single post over unregulated Internet channels. A sleeping society awakens to a chase, broadcast live on television screens all across the New United States of America....

Rebecca and Daniel have never met. A 15-year-old preacher's kid and a 16-year-old atheist outcast, they appear to have little in common. And yet they both have attracted the attention of a recruiter for Angel Island, where bad kids go to be remade-or destroyed.

Agents of the all-powerful New America Unity Church will stop at nothing to get them. They're building an army, a modern children's crusade, in which Rebecca and Daniel may be just the kind of future leaders they need.

If not, they might be just the kind of sacrifice necessary to keep the rest of the faithless in line.

©2016 Marcus Damanda (P)2018 Marcus Damanda

Salvation State Review

Would you listen to The Salvation State again? Why?

I will listen again

What did you like best about this story?

That it was fiction and not something that will happen in real life

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

This is my first time listening to her work

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I found myself disgusted by Ruth, DC and even Rebecca's father.

Any additional comments?

The Salvation State was an enjoyable listen. I have never read anything by this author or heard anything by the narrator before. I fell in love with both of their work and will definitely look for some of their other endeavors. If you are looking for a good storey line with great character development you will want to listen to this book.

Next please!

Fantastic. Didn't expect to like this one as much as I did. I was hoping it would be good and it didn't disappoint! Had me hooked! Great narration, interesting plot and characters. Definitely recommend.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review

Wow !!!

This book is written very well and so off my genre that I can't not be surprised why I couldn't put it down.
Performance is perfectly done.
I believe that the reason that I liked the book so much is because it's so believable, like it could happened or even might be happening right now under our nose.
Really amazing writing, can't wait for book 2 to come out.
Fully recommend !!!

Amazing dystopian read! Grabs you & doesn't let go

One heck of a roller coaster ride through a very feasible dystopian future of "New America" told through the eyes of a teenage girl struggling to come into her own. It has everything one loves in a dystopian novel, but so much more. The heroine Rebecca is very well rounded and extremely relatable. Salvation State is really well written and captivating. It's a slow burn but you'll quickly fall in love with the characters and be sucked into the battle right alongside them. As soon as the book ended I bought the Kindle version of the next in the series because I couldn't wait to find out what happens next. Marcus Damanda crafts a beautifully bleak yet tangible world that is easy to get lost in and Jessica McEvoy’s haunting narration grabs at your heart strings and doesn't let go!

Cultist America!!!!

What made the experience of listening to The Salvation State the most enjoyable?

The author showed me a story. I was never taken out of it with awkward sentences and the narrator was consistent in her voices. Highly enjoyed the story and the performance. The emotions that were protrayed made me feel for these characters and am now vested in them.

What other book might you compare The Salvation State to and why?

This is my first read in a book about some religion taking over politics. The author brought out the horror of when a state or country takes away rights and make you have to conform to a set if rules base in a faith.

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

She brings out the emotion of the teenage girls and the insane Ruth. She made me feel emotion for them and gave them life. She is a great narrator and I hope she stays on the project for the rest of this series.

If you could rename The Salvation State, what would you call it?

The Perversion of Christ in New United States.

Any additional comments?

I received this book for free in exchange for an unbiased review. I highly recommend this book. It is a fun read.

A gripping, dreadful tale of religion gone wrong.

What other book might you compare The Salvation State to and why?

From the feel of it, this book brings to mind other dystopian futures were the plot focuses on the young. The Hunger Games is one, but personally I find myself thinking of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising Sequence" often while listening to this book. This is high praise, as I have always believed the world created in Cooper's series to be both beautiful and terrible, and deserving of the term 'art'. This book, for me, does much the same.

What about Jessica McEvoy’s performance did you like?

As a fan of a podcast that she often narrates for, I have been exposed to Jessica McEvoy for some time now. She is a wonderful voice actor, able to hit both highs and lows in emotion and pitch. I have always loved how she can simulate 'lifting' her voice without causing me to turn down my volume. In this, she delivers one of her finest performances.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Almost everything after the last half of the book began, my stomach was constantly turning itself into tighter and tighter knots. I felt physically cold at times (and I listen while on the treadmill!) and when listening at home I would often have to stop, focusing all my attention on my ears, and what was being force fed into them. This book reaches for a visceral reaction, and it pulls it from you, disregarding fully your own desires on the subject. But then again...isn't that why we're all here?

Any additional comments?

Get yourself ready for this book. The beginning takes a while to get started, slowly building layer upon layer so that you get to know the world and it's inhabitants intimately. Damanda wants you to understand these people and places. He wants them injected directly into your blood, and he's not afraid to have you spend time with them to do so. When it picks up speed, it does so suddenly, and you feel yourself free falling into its conclusion. If I had any major complaint about this book it would be that there is not more of it!

Salvation state

The book started out slow. But after awhile it got better and better. Great book.

A Dystopian Thrill Ride

Some of it not the best world building I’ve ever read. You are grouped by every character are you coming to contact with

Religion rules the country. One girl fights back.

What would life be like in a country where religion is a dictatorship? Where individual freedom is replaced with a strict set of rules that are enforced by infallible authoritarian leaders? Where your lifestyle is defined and directed by the local church which, by the way, you are required to attend? Where defiance of any kind lands you in re-education camps, gulag-type prisons, or a six-foot deep hole?

The Salvation State is a shocking reminder of the fragility of personal freedom. Author Marcus Demanda tells the story of a teenage girl who bucks a rigid system, loses her freedom, and then wages a fierce war against her state-sanctioned captors. Thought-provoking and emotion-stirring, Demanda's story made me shudder to think how easily our country can be turned on its head and life as we know it erased.

Demanda offers readers an opportunity to explore sensitive, complex topics within the safety of this accessible, well written story. Narrated by Jessica McEvoy, who reads with enthusiasm and professional ease. If you enjoy stories with dystopian societies (The Handmaid's Tale, Hunger Games), then The Salvation State should definitely be on your reading list.

I was voluntarily provided this review copy audiobook at no charge. This review is unbiased and the opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

Great Narration of a Great Story

Top notch first book in what promises to be a worthwhile series. A distressing look at what would happen if religious zealots had their way in a dystopian America, complete with reformation camps and futuristic technology.

Adding her skillz to the mix is narrator Jessica McEvoy, who kills it doing voice work for many excellent podcasts (like NoSleep, The Wicked Library and countless others).

Keep up the fine work folks.