Twisted World: A Broken World Novel

Twisted, Book 1

By: Kate L. Mary

Narrated by: Heather Firth

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's Summary

Twenty years ago, a deadly virus swept the globe, ravaging the population. People died and came back as monsters, and through the tragedy that rocked the world, survivors were born. Megan James is the product of survivors. Her parents crossed hundreds of miles of dangerous countryside to reach Atlanta and the promise of a real future.

Now, two decades later, Meg is facing a crisis of her own. Her father has vanished and is presumed dead, and her mom is teetering on the edge of insanity, but all Meg really wants is to return to the safe world she always thought she was living in. Only Atlanta isn't everything her parents thought it would be. The slums have grown and corruption is rampant, and despite the promise of democracy, the new government has been slow to change. Through it all, the only consistency seems to be the zombies. Decayed and barely more than skeletons, there is no reason they should still be moving. But they are.

Facing the harsh world alone, Meg gets a job in the entertainment district of Atlanta where she meets convict fighter Donaghy. Angry at the world and his circumstances, all the fighter really wants is to be left alone. But when he gets swept up in Meg's problems, he finds it impossible to turn his back on her.

When a mysterious note resurrects old rumors about what the CDC is really doing, Meg can’t help wondering if her father might have met the same fate that her uncle did 20 years earlier. With the help of Donaghy, she will search for the truth among the darkness that has settled over Atlanta, where they'll soon discover that the mutated virus has brought forth creatures nobody could have imagined, and the evil intentions of the men in charge are much more sinister than anyone ever thought possible, making the future look harsher than ever before.

©2016 Kate L. Mary (P)2018 Kate L. Mary

Life is a struggle.

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

Yes it is an interesting but depressing story of one of our civilizations possible futures.

What other book might you compare Twisted World: A Broken World Novel to and why?

N/A

Which scene was your favorite?

Did not have a favorite but this updated version of this series 20 years later continues the character driven experiences of desperate people having very difficult lives.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

Dont fool with mother nature.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

A Jump Ahead

Twisted World is the first in a new series of books in the Broken World universe. I'd purchased the first three audiobooks in this series previously and had rated all 5 star, and I had the opportunity to get a free review copy of the new series premier, so I jumped at the chance.

The book starts 20 years after the first series, after the seventh book in the Broken World series. As I've only listened to the audiobooks, I've only heard the first three. The book is definitely a good entry point to the world, but if you have listened to just the audiobooks of the prior series, this book gives more than a bit of "spoilers", and doesn't sugar coat past events by either avoiding discussing them or speaking ambiguously. However, the further release of the original series is undetermined at this stage, so if you're like me and wanting to enjoy more audiobooks from and support this author, this book is recommended. One minor personal issue with the story was the amount of people being referred to primarily by generic kinship nouns (eg uncle, aunt), and in this book where we had both birth and adoptive parents, and multiple uncle's etc, when Meg would refer to an uncle, I'd be unsure which uncle was being referred to, and in many cases, who that uncle or aunt actually was ( eg is that the wife of the missing uncle so her adoptive father's sister in law, or her birth mother's sister, her adoptive mother's sister), etc. Only having listened to the first three audiobooks, in some cases I just wasn't familiar with the people.

In this 20 year future, it is more like The Walking Dead, where zombies aren't much of an issue, it is just bad, bad people... People have figured out how to deal with zombies by now, and in the city are just being used for fighting.

The story forms a comfortable, complete arc, and the main questions and goals of the story are covered, and it ends with answers, and new questions and issues to deal with in the sequels.

Narration was excellent, with good character differentiation, and a worthy first novel for the narrator.

Recommend, with the caveats as above!

The next generation

I had a great time with this audiobook. I recently read six of the seven books in Kate L. Mary's Broken World series and really enjoyed myself. When I saw that there was another series set in the same world, I knew that I needed to read those books. Once I started listening, I couldn't stop and ended up finishing the book in just a couple of days which is pretty fast for me with a book this length. It is safe to say that I enjoyed this book. As I mentioned, this book is set in the same world as the Broken World series. I was happily surprised to find that many of the characters that I had grown to love in the first series were back in this book, just twenty years older. I think that readers could start with this book without any issues but readers of the earlier series will have some additional background information that could be helpful. This book is partially told from Megan's point of view. Megan is Axl and Vivian's daughter and it was really nice to get to see her all grown up and navigating the world as competently as her parents had done in the previous series. Megan's father is missing and her mother isn't dealing with things very well so it is up to Megan to keep things together. She gets a couple of jobs in order to keep the bills paid. One of her jobs is in the entertainment district where she meets a convict fighter named Donaghy. It quickly becomes evident that there is more going on than Megan originally realized. I really liked both Megan and Donaghy's characters and I thought that they made a wonderful pair. I liked the mystery in this book. The zombies have changed and it seems that there may be a whole mystery around those changes. The CDC was the organization that saved the world from the zombies but it seems they may be involved in a whole lot more. There were a few characters that I spent a lot of time trying to work out their true identities. There was a lot of action in this story to keep things very interesting. Heather Firth did a great job with the narration of this book. I thought that she did a fantastic job with both the female and male points of view in this story. Her reading helped to bring this story to life by adding a lot of emotion to it. Her pacing was very well done and I found her voice to be very pleasant to listen to for hours at a time. I would recommend this book to others. I think that this is a very well done story set in an interesting world. I thought that this book had a wonderful combination of action, mystery, and great characters. I cannot wait to start reading the rest of the series. I received a review copy of this audiobook from the author.

Pleasantly Surprised

I am not normally a lover of books with zombies. Zombie books are one of the few book groups that I see the word zombie and I automatically skip over it not giving the book a second though. However, when I read Twisted World's synopsis the story sounded so intriguing that I figured I would try to put up with some zombies. I could not put this book down! The story was fast paced from start to finish. When the book finished I felt I had only listened for 2 or 3 hours. It just flew by. I really enjoyed the story, characters, and the world building. I didn't mind the zombies. The love story was not overly sweet or overdone. Very dark world that I would love to revisit in the future. Heather Firth did a great job with inflection and emotion. I would of liked a little more distinction in some of the character voices, but overall they were very good. I received a copy of this book at my request, and I have voluntarily left this review.

Great Book

Not much I can say other than "wow". The author did an amazing job telling a dystopian/ zombie story that is different from what we have come to recognize in this genre. ladies, this book also has an amazing love story! Not to mushy or trashy but just right! This book has something for pretty much everyone. I can't wait to start the sequel and see what happens next. The usual good guys aren't so good and the "bad" guys .... well different. The narrator did a great job making the characters real and thus making it very easy to emers yourself into their lives. She really made the characters interesting and gave them emotion when they talked. Great book to add to your library!

Great new apocalypse series!

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily
left this review.

I am a HUGE fan of zombie apocalypse stories and so was quick to jump at the chance to listen to another one. I'm glad I did. The author does a great job of building the cause of the apocalypse into the story line. The characters were well developed and the book was narrated very well. Heather Firth did a great job of bringing the book to life. I will DEFINITELY seek out the rest of the books in this series once they are released.

Great

Great story I liked the characters and action I recommend this audiobook and the narrator did a great job Thank you for a great story when I can I want to listen to book 2 Terri

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS!!!

I loved this story and am on book 2 now...Its super interesting how this post apoc world is...and I think I need to read the preceding series...but either way...this is good stuff! I was drawn right in and couldn't put it down!! Super excited to read this entire series and the spin off one...I recommend!!! :)

Good Continuation of Previous Series

I really wish that publishing companies would keep the same narrators for characters. Heather Firth isn't a bad narrator. She fits the character of Meg pretty well and does okay with male voices however the characters in the first part of the series had distinctives voices so hearing those characters in a new voice is distracting. The way the narrator says "been" and a few other words is also distracting. If the narration had been done with Holly Huber from the first part of the series and Heather Firth I would have given this a 5 across the board. All that being said I like the continuation of the series with new characters and new challenges and will continue the series.

Hard to put down

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free audio copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. I did not read the Broken World series, but I’m going to have to because I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It begins 20 years after the zombie apocalypse, so I was curious what the world would be like after so many years. Would her post-apocalyptic world be anything like The Walking Dead? Meg’s adopted father is missing, presumed dead, and her adopted mother is acting crazy. She gets 2 jobs in order to pay the bills and keep the apartment she and her mom are living in. The first job working on a clean up crew is dangerous enough. Her second job is working as a cocktail waitress on the seedy entertainment district. Who knew she’d meet Donaghy, a man she’s falling in love with quickly? Then there’s Jackson. Meg has known him since he saved her and he expects her to return his feelings, but she’ll never think of him as more than a friend. And is he really a friend? He sure doesn’t act like it sometimes… Obviously, there’s a lot going on in Twisted World and once I started listening to it, it was difficult to stop. There’s suspense, danger, and a touch of romance. What else could you ask for? I’m already listening to the next book, Twisted Memories, which tells how things got to where they are now. It’s good, but I want to know what happens after Twisted World! The narrator did a good job with voices and pacing. If you like post-apocalyptic stories, this is definitely worth your time. It’s more about the characters within the walls of Atlanta and the zombies outside the walls are just a part of life.

Post-apocalyptic Zombie Goodness!

I received this book via a promo code and this is my voluntary review. Okay, so I found this series after having devoured the Oklahoma Wastelands series (Which based on the time period I'm guessing is set a few years prior to this story happening) I know this series is an off-shoot of the broken world series and this story centres around Meg, the adoptive daughter of Axl and Vivian from that story, but I haven't followed it yet, just jumped right in with Regan and Kellan's series first. Anyhoo.... where to start? Regans group runs into trouble with a CDC hunter looking for those immune to the zombie virus but we never got to see what happened in New Atlanta hence the reason I loved this book so much, we are following the neice of the holy Angus James, the first known immune human to the zombie virus, he died about 20 years before Meg was born, or so she was told. Her dad's just gone missing and her situation keeps getting more and more desperate as her best friend Jackson pressures her into developing their relationship into something deeper, bringing out sides of his personality that frighten her. To keep a roof over their heads since her Mother is physically present but checked out she takes up a second job in a night club in New Atlanta... here she meets a prisoner of the new government whose forced to battle zombies gladiator style to earn another day of his life. Donaghy saves her from an attack and since then keeps getting embroiled in the mystery surrounding the misfortunes befalling Meg. Conspiracy theories start not to sound so strange when several attempts are made on her life and Jackson becomes increasingly unhinged (He has his own short Novella Twisted Mind which I seriously reccommend following up on before moving onto Twisted Memories) Romance blossoms, Meg falls for the D... Donaghy and gets help from her new boss Dragon in chasing down the clues to find her father Axl. This book ends on a cliff hanger but in an awesome way that leaves you eager to hear the rest of the story. I reccommend getting the boxset or getting all of them at once to avoid missing out on the pace of the story. I devoured this in rapid succession to the entire Oklahoma Wasteland series also narrated by Heather Firth in under 2 days and I'm moving onto Twisted Mind, then Twisted Memories followed by Twisted Fate and I've enjoyed Kate L Marys zombie universe so much I'll be going back to its origins and starting the Broken World Saga from the beginning of Angus James first bite.

Conspiracies

A community living in fear, a corrupt government, Meg begins to realise that all is not as it seems in her world after her father disappears and she has to shoulder the responsibility for her family. I really liked Meg, and her persistance to uncover the conspiacies and lies. I can't wait to start the next book, this is a series I want to follow!

Twisted World: A Broken World Novel

Zombie apocalypse I am a big fan of zombie audible books and o.k Twisted World: A Broken World Novel its a romance type book but I got the audiobook for free and so here's my review, I enjoyed the storyline it's a bit steamy to listen to without your headphones on, but it really does have a gripping story to get into as a fan of zombie genre books fan. The book does end on a cliffhanger but the Twisted world is part of a series set in a post-apocalyptic world and there are many more books wrote by Kate L.Mary in this style to read, if you enjoy zombie books with a little romance sprinkled in .great narration by Heather Firth and writing by Kate, more for the ladies to be honest

Zombie apocalypse

I really liked this zombie audible book, it was only one woman who read this book, but she gave everything. For the men she changed her voices. I would have preferred a guy talking, but she did a pretty good job by herself too. The story was petty gripping, the only thing that nagged me, was that it has a cliffhanger. Sometimes during the story I had to shudder how the filth and the situations were described, but it is a world with zombies. Def. a yeah from me for this book, it was a bit mysterious, brutal, gory and even love and betrayal. I voluntarily reviewed an Advance free Reader Copy of this.

Crumbling buildings and broken lives.

Twisted World is this reader's first encounter with books by author Kate L.May,. It is also the first part of a serial continuation of the Broken World novels, and set some twenty years after the conclusion of the last book in that series. It is not necessary to have read any of the earlier books: although some of the older characters are revisited, many of the protagonists are new and they are all now living in New Atlanta, a fortified city protecting the inhabitants from the still pervasive zombies groups outside. How had they survived for two decades? That just one of the mysteries which engages our new characters. Intended to be a new beginning of hope for the original survivors New Atlanta, and the others like it, has failed to bring the Democratic haven that was promised. In the intervening twenty years, the virus has mutated, and periodic outbursts of flu devastate the population on average every five or so years. Whilst some of the citizens are comfortable, many more live in filth and poverty. Megan James has been one of the lucky ones, protected by her family name, but with the recent death of her adoptive father and her mother's descent into saddened grief, she needs to get work to maintain their apartment. She finds it as a waitress in a bar. Donaghy is not so fortunate. Previously arrested, he tours the settlements with a two guard escort, fighting zombies for the amusement of a paying audience and one of the fight arenas is in the same bar at which Megan gets a job. The story is told from the alternating first person perspective of these two characters. Narration is by Heather Firth, who does a stalwart job performing all characters with distinctive and appropriate voice. However, this was made decidedly more difficult for her given that one of the two story tellers is male. Ms.Fifth does well to give the impression of a more masculine timbre but perhaps a dual male and female narration would have been better employed here. Although a zombie story, these living dead play only a peripheral background role to the emotional tale of friendship, betrayal, family secrets, loss and love, political shenanigans, deaths and downright evil combined with a romance which is Twisted World. It is a story which holds the reader tight (even if the desire to shake a character briskly and tell them to use their wits sometimes erupts) until the sudden disconcerting ending: to be continued! If course this reader wants to have it all nicely tied up so that means getting book two, Twisted Memories. I was fortunate in being freely gifted with a complimentary copy of Twisted World, by the rights holder, following my request via Audiobook Boom. Thank you. I did enjoy the book, the characters were growing in personality and a reality which created an empathy for them, even if they did sometimes seem to act totally irrationally - but then, who doesn't, sometimes? And, as previously mentioned, I will be moving on to book two in the series. For those who enjoy dystopian stories, especially those involving zombies, this book is recommended. Reader, beware, however. This story is incomplete, ending on a cliffhanger, and you will want to get book two.

Exciting and kept me at the edge of my seat

Fast becoming one of my favourite authors this is another powerful read. To be perfectly honest with the cover saying book one I hadn't realised that this is a follow up from a previous series of novels. So in a sense I have started back to front nethertheless it is still an enjoyable standalone novel. I would like to work backwards though and read / listen to the first set and then relisten to this to get a better insight. The book kept me on my toes and interested throughout and I'm eager to find out what happens next. I was given this novel by the author/narrator in exchange for an honest and unbiased review

Can’t wait to see what happens next!

I was able to listen to this book in audio form. At first glance of the book cover it doesn’t really get my attention, but as I listened to this story, I found it very intriguing and I feel invested in finding out what’s to come in this series. Yes it ends in a cliffy. The setting and the characters are interesting. the whole dystopian zombie theme was a little different for me but didn’t actually mind it. Meg, Donaghy, Jackson and the other characters in this story left me with a wanting to know what happens to them. I always knew who the grey man was. Yay me. What happens next to Donaghy? Is Jackson really on the side he’s portrayed to be on or will there be a twist there? Ugh so many questions, can’t wait to listen to book 2.

Zombies!

This was my first time reading or listening to a story that featured Zombies, and I loved it! It has new adult romance components but they're really only a part of it. The whole book was intriguing and I really enjoyed the world building as well as these characters. Fascinating listen for sure! I have listened to Heather Firth before and I have really enjoyed her performances; this performance was just as excellent as the others others. What impressed me the most was how different she made herself sound for these characters. I probably wouldn't have known it was her narrating if it didn't say her name in the narrated by line. To me it shows that she has a wide range of voices and we also see it in her voice differentiation for every character. She really captured the overall feel of the story in this performance. I received a review copy at my request and have voluntarily left this unbiased review.

I'm Speechless

Meg has learned to live in a world forever altered by a virus that turned many people into horrible monsters. She has lost many people in life and now she may be losing her mother too. Her mother seems to be losing touch with reality more and more each day. Donaghy is a prisoner. He was arrested for defending his sister by almost killing the person who attacked her. He's accepted his fate as being forced to live his life fighting zombies for other's entertainment until he meets Meg. I have never really been a fan of the Zombie fanatics. I won't go as far as to say I hate it. I don't. It has just never been my thing. I don't see it as something that would really interest me. And yet here I am gushing over this book. Here I am looking to find a way to get the next book! It's amazing. I love it and can't wait to see where it goes from here. There's only one real big issue I had with this story. There was a smoker in the story. How do I know this? Because every time she was in the narration and that she was spoken it was brought up. A lot. In a very negative way. I get that smoking is bad. I get what smoking does to you. I quit smoking. But the very opinionated descriptions of the smoking got very redundant and annoying very quickly. This was over all a very good story. I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would. Especially with my stance on Zombie movies and books. It had a very unique twist to it that I enjoyed a lot. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. It's amazing!

A must read for zombie lovers!

Feedback ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! ZOMBIES! Oh my goodness did I LOVE this book. Zombie fights. Conspiracies. Twists. Action. Everything about this book had my attention. Right from the beginning I was absolutely absorbed in this altered Atlanta. This world was so believable that it truly made the book that much better. Kate was able to describe the desolate world after the virus killed and brought them back as zombies. The description of the world was exactly as I imagined it would be. There is the added benefit that it takes place in Atlanta, where the CDC (Center for Disease Control) is. Atlanta is practically the new capital of the United States so of course there is going to be political corruption. Meg is in the middle of the political scenario as her family members hold high positions in the city and her best friend, Jackson, is the Regulators son. However, Meg’s Father is missing and her Mother slowly losing her mind, they barely have any credits, so she is forced to find her way in the world. She is thrust into the entertainment world where most of the story takes place. The writing was so well done with a fantastic pace that just kept me wanting more. Kate provided so many twists and turns within this story that I devoured every part of it. And then with that ending, I need book two now! The story followed Meg and Donaghy. I loved them both. Meg is honestly such a fantastic main character. She is so strong and does whatever she needs to in order to provide a better life for her and her mom while her father is missing. The one thing I like best about Meg is that she never gives in. She could marry Jackson at any point to make her life easier but she knows she doesn’t love him and doesn’t want to just conform. Meg is everything I would want to be if I were faced in a zombie apocalypse. Then there is Donaghy. He is your typical “bad guy” who really has a soft heart and the perfect match for Meg. I’m so glad we were given dual point of views and to get his perspective. He finds himself in Atlanta as apart of a release program from D.C., which has been turned into a huge city prison. In the release program he has to fight zombies nightly for entertainment. After saving Meg, they are instantly connected and immediately their life is intertwined. Final Thoughts Overall, Twisted World by Kate L. Mary is an amazing read. I am such a huge zombie fan and this book did not disappoint me in the least bit. It perfectly fit a world that I would imagine after an apocalypse and her descriptions are fantastic. Even when she would describe the zombies, I would cringe because I could easily imagine them right in front of me. The main characters were absolutely fantastic to follow. I love Meg and her strong willed character. Donaghy was the perfect match for her and their relationship was everything I wanted from the story. I highly recommend this book for those who enjoy zombies, political conspiracies, twists, and action. Audio Review What an amazing audio this was! Heather Firth narrated the whole audio and did a fantastic job. Each character had their unique voice and I was never left wondering who was talking. I also really enjoyed that she changed her voice when reading through Donaghy’s point of view, really allowing us to get his perspective. There were many great parts of this novel and she just really enhanced them. I will definitely continue this series on audio and I am looking forward to the next book. I highly recommend this audio.