The World Burns: A Post-Apocalyptic Story

By: Boyd Craven III

Narrated by: Kevin Pierce

Length: 1 hr and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

Tension grips the country as the nuclear talks with Iran start to go poorly. This is largely ignored by the populace, and the threat of war goes unheeded.

Blake has lived his life through hard work and his blog - Back Country J. He's an off-grid homesteader, blogger, and author. He has the life that preppers dream of, and he never knows it. As an on-again-off-again handyman, he learns how to fix everything in his life except loneliness, until he meets Sandra.

Sandra is an army veteran who has caught his attention, and she's also the preacher's daughter. Sparks fly the first time they meet, and the shy hermit asks her out on a date.

Follow the couple as they try to survive raiders, hunger, and human nature when the balloon goes up after an EMP is set off.

©2015 Boyd L Craven III (P)2015 Boyd L Craven III

liked this because it was about the here & now

Taking a very small part of the world, author Boyd Craven III,   provides a unique view of an apocalypse as it is happening.  Blake is a prepper – an end of the world prepper who relies on his wit, bartering abilities and luck to make his home and small town life safe for him.  He blogs about his advances in building a prepper fortress relying on solar power and other methods of survival when the grid falls.

Sandra is an ex-military grease monkey and daughter of the local minister.  She’s also a secret reader of Back County J blogger.  When she meets up with Blake, the romance begins.  Not used to being around others for long periods of time, Blake struggles but falls hard for sweet Sandra.  Sandra falls even harder for him when she sees his preps and realizes Blake is none other than Back County J!  Just as they are ending their first date, the unthinkable happens – a massive EMP goes off rendering the area powerless, defenseless and our two sweethearts soon learn that life is going to be very difficult now that the power is out at the nearby prison thus releasing hardcore prisoners ….

Although Iran is mentioned and how the nuclear talks breakdown, they are only a side note.  I liked this book because it was about the here and now – it wasn’t about the big city chaos, the politics or military.  It is about the down to earth type people struggling against nature and humanity in their immediate area.  The struggle with morals and ethics is clear and emphasizes the situation makes them different.  This story is serious but light as well.  There were some duh moments during the romancing but they were fun and light.  Also, this story was not about blood and gore per se – yes there were some traps built that would do heavy damage but it was not focused on; neither was sex, in fact it was a nice change of pace.

The story line was strongly written and executed.  I could vividly “see” Blake, Sandra and the others as they came into the action.  Craven has a solid knowledge of human nature and the fears that drive us as a society.  He doesn’t hesitate to use that knowledge.

Kevin Pierce proved to be an excellent narrator.  Pierce spoke with confident tones with Sandra, a bit hesitant with Blake and so forth.  He portrayed each character vividly through his voice.  Smooth, his words tumbled forth effortlessly snagging attention and holding it.  He blended into the story like a shadow, you knew he was there but he became one with each character.

I enjoyed this book in many different ways - it was fresh, solid and as I said before - it had more down to earth characters.

There were no issues with production.  The audio was fluid.

Audiobook was provided for review by the author.

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

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Good book

Great narrator and great writing. Boyd Craven is a master of PA fiction, write more please!

Great prepper story

I loved the story. It was short though. I hope the writer makes a follow-up to this book!

great as always... love Boyd's books....

love all Boyd's books....
am always looking for the next book or series....
if you have never read/listened to his work it's a must!!!

loved it

great story line, can't wait for the next book. I hope it's a little bit longer.

great book

lol e the story but it all needs to be on audible so we can continue

where are the rest of the series?

great book, but book 2-5 are not on audible? I would like to listen to the rest of them.

Survival!

I really enjoyed this story but I think the author Boyd Craven did a huge injustice to listeners by breaking this series into a 5 part story. The length of each story is small, this audio was a close to 3 hours I think. I'll be honest as a listener, I would not pay the price or use a precious credit for a 3 hour story no matter how great the story is. With that out I'm ready to continue. I found this short story to be so much better than all the post apocalypse stories that are out now. The author has put together a solid storyline, enjoyable characters and detail. In all reality his version of the world ending could really happen so he does is a favor and he writes a story that could happen, hope not but he just shows us the truth if it did. Boyd brings fear to life and he gives you something to think on. I loved it but Boyd I wish you had kept it a whole story especially putting it in audio version. I would LOVE to listen to the rest of the stories.

Kevin Pierce did a wonderful job with his narration of this story. He kept the story flowing and I felt like I was there seeing Sandra and Blake as they are in the truck after their first date and seeing the fire, the stopped vehicles, and her worry for her dad. He did a wonderful job bringing this story to life. Overall, a perfect 5 🌟 rating.

I received this audio from the author/narrator free in exchange for an honest and unbiased review through Audiobook Blast.

Survival tips

This short story kept my interest and was actually full of action from start to finish.

Believable

Great character. A man of many talents. I enjoyed the story. looking forward to the next adventure.