This Rotten World

This Rotten World, Book 1

By: Jacy Morris

Narrated by: T.L. Howell

Length: 13 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's Summary

A sickness runs rampant through the world. In Portland, Oregon it is no different. As the night takes hold, eight men and women bear witness to the horror of a zombie outbreak. This Rotten World is the zombie novel that horror fans have been waiting for. Where other zombie works skip over the best part of a zombie outbreak, This Rotten World revels in it the downfall of humanity, dragging you through the beginnings of society's death, kicking and screaming.

©2014 Jacy Morris (P)2020 Jacy Morris

Decent Bleak Zombie Story

This Rotten World is a pretty good effort. A pretty long effort too. It seems to go on forever with a relentless, bleakness.
This isn't a kind or gentle zombie story. Most are not but this one kills off the characters with abandon.
It takes place in Portland, OR. Pretty much already populated by zombies, but I digress. I didn't really get a Portland vibe from the story. While locations and streets are mentioned, they seem randomly inserted and a Portland native can't really get a good handle on where things are happening. This could have been played up to more effect.
T.L. Howell does a good job of narrating a very long trek through blood, guts and the dead.

Good story ... but -- Edited review

UPDATE: I listened to this book again using a different Kindle. The narration was fine on that one. For some reason this title only played badly ... static sounding and grating voice. But on the new Kindle it was fine. I do like the story and will probably buy the next book in the series.
--- Original review:
I like the story. I can not stand the narrator. His voice grates on my ears and I have to really concentrate to understand him. That's sad. They should have gotten a better narrator. If I want another book and it happens to have this narrator, it's going to be a hard pass from me.

Loving it

Great character build and story line. Easy to follow along with easy visuals to manifest in ones mind as you listen along. The reason I gave it 3 for performance is like a lot of Audio books it sort of distracts to have one voice play many characters from female to male. From Asian to African American. To street to country dialects to different octaves. I am always hoping for an Audio Book experience to become more like Classic Radio. However I give the narrator applause for trying.

get this book!

seriously, if you're on the fence, just get it. I was somewhat weary of this book at first. first time listening to something from this author and narrator.. but I'm really Really glad I did. I think the best part about this book was getting to the halfway point and realizing i still had 5 more hours left! This book really sucks you in. If I had to place this book I'd say it's a cross between T.W Brown and peter Meredith, both have really good zombie series and this book felt right at home among the other really good ones. The writing is very enjoyable and the characters are pretty beleiveable. Despite the author stumbling into some of the really common mistakes like clip vs magazine .. I couldn't fault him for it. If that is my only gripe about this book, and it definitely is, then hats off to the author for keeping me engaged if not completely rooted to my seat while I worry about what might befall the survivors. By the middle of this book.. I already wanted MORE. Very glad there's at least one more book out already and hope the author keeps Howell as his narrator for the remaining book(s). If you enjoyed this and can't wait, his second book is on amazon! Enjoy! Thanks Jacy Morris for a great start to a series :)

This rotten book

This book was all over the place with 400 characters to keep track of, let alone the ridiculous people that the author introduced and then just killed.. A horrible book I regret listening to.

enjoyed the listen.

enjoyed the book from start to finish. Liked the narrator, and the characters in the book.

Perfectly fun zombie story

This was so much fun. Great story following several people through the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. Great characters with believable storylines. Such a good time, I am excited to get to the next book

A profound way to bring this book to a close!!!

The narrator was impeccable with an uncanny ability to effortlessly assist me into the shoes of the various characters in this story.

The author did an overall good job of juggling & bouncing between such a large cast but in my opinion, they were a little overambitious in that regard.

There were times throughout the story when it felt as though some characters were forgotten for extended stretches.

It seemed like the reader/listener is then treated to an extra large helping of that character(s) arc when the author returned to them.

It was as though after realizing how neglectful they'd been of those characters the author went too far in the other direction in an effort to maintain a balance amongst the extensive cast.

Not that this was a significant problem but it did seem to detract from the overall pace & flow of the story at times.

This wasn't any issue that would prevent me from recommending this book but it was something I was acutely aware at various points while listening.

Also I found that some characters had significantly more development & back story than others while at the same time, nearly every character didn't have enough of other one.

It left me feeling like I didn't really get to know any of the characters as well as I should've for an introductory story of an extended series like this.

I assume & expect the author will have gotten a better grasp of this aspect in the subsequent books in the series and look forward to giving the next one a listen in the near future.

*SPOILERS* One aspect I found absolutely perfect was the manner in which the author brought about the ending of the book.

The one character you would fully expect to carry over into the next book in the series is tragically killed during the last dash for freedom was a well planned & unexpected.

The stoic speech the president gave while knowing he was also infected literally gave me feelings of inspiration.

Even though it was off camera he made sure he was heard making sure everyone watching or listening could hear him telling his aides to give his love to his wife & daughter before he demanded a firearm to bravely take his own life.

A perfect ending to an imperfect but incredibly enjoyable story.

Got wrenching first person experience.

loved the audio book. Great first person experiences of the end of the world.
At times gut wrenching, but I prefer more realistic stories were things don't always have a happy ending, and not everyone lives happily ever after.

"optional" headline

After reading a review for this title, I saw one that said if you are on the fence do yourself a favor & just buy it. I took that advice & absolutely do not regret it. Author does an amazing job of capturing your interest so you are on a rollercoaster and then book 1 ends. Thank heavens book 2 is available on audible

Do not waste your time or money

9 chapters in. The narrative is boring, clichéd and sub-standard for even the most basic horror novel. Absolute trash.

A proper zombie apocalypse!

Don't expect a happy story about people finding themselves amidst the end of civilisation. This is a horror story. And a bloody good one too.
If you slow the reading down to 90% the narrator sounds a bit like Skinny Pete from Breaking Bad. And it lasts longer.

gripping

loved the audible version. kept me riveted. I listened at every opportunity to the book.

Good book

Great book,got better
as it went on, will be getting the next in the series

Fantastic

For my first audiobook I chose well!! I really enjoyed this and can’t wait for the next one!!

Very good

Well written terrifying and captivating and the narrator is doing a very good job.
i am looking forward for more books.

Best zombie book in ages

If you like this sort of thing and have the arisen series, mountain man etc… then this is probably for you

This Rotten Book

Dreadful piece of writing. Author has a serious zombie problem! I abandoned this book after a few chapters of never-ending gore with little story.
If there were a 'zero stars' rating, I'd award it!
Very annoyed that I wasted my money on this trash!

shambling just like the zombies

I've managed to get 42 chapters in. I'll probably finish this but it's hard going. The dialogue is clunky and terrible. the descriptors are atrocious. Why is every non white person pointed out? Is the default setting white? The whole part about being at a punk show and selling out and whatever else was just drivel. I doubt the writer has ever met anyone who goes to "punk shows" because that was just incredibly bad. Then there's words thrown in randomly and I can only guess there was thesaurus around.

Characters are two dimensional stereotypes as well. Not sure how this has such a high rating.

Loved it!

I love a good zombie book or film and this hits the spot. Yes it’s got all the usual tropes eg bites and noggings being bashed in but it also has believable characters and a we get a lot of backstories which I like. Plus it’s well read.