Warrior Within

Surviving the Dead, Volume 3

By: James N. Cook

Narrated by: Jordan Leigh

Length: 14 hrs and 3 mins

Publisher's Summary

There are many who do not wish for peace.

As the Free Legion declares war on the survivors of Hollow Rock, Gabriel and Eric find themselves drawn ever deeper into the growing conflict. Aided by a fledgling militia, and a small contingent of federal operatives, the two warriors must find a way to defeat an unyielding enemy who threatens to destroy all they have grown to love.

To win, Gabriel must become the leader he was born to be, while Eric, haunted by his actions since the Outbreak, must descend deeper into the heart of darkness.

In this battle, nothing is what it seems. The tides of power are shifting, and soon, a danger even greater than the living dead will rise.

Surviving the Dead I: No Easy Hope

Surviving the Dead II: This Shattered Land

Surviving the Dead III: Warrior Within

©2013 James N. Cook (P)2013 James N. Cook

Why change?

Would you be willing to try another one of Jordan Leigh’s performances?

No. Can someone please explain to me why the narrator is changed in the middle of a successful series. By the third book readers are accustomed to, and, if they are listening to the third book, satisfied with the narration of first two. You get comfortable with the narrators voices and cadence and connect the characters with the narration. As I have previously experienced with the Sigma Force series, the replacement narrator for this series cannot hold a candle to the previous narrator, Guy Williams. The voices are forced and without emotion. The lead character, Eric, is now shallow and almost unrecognizable. If another book is offered I hope that the author and publisher have the sense to go back to Guy Williams and beg him to resume narrating the series and perhaps rerecord this one. It would be an excellent addition to the series if not for the narration.

surprisingly good

Did Jordan Leigh do a good job differentiating all the characters? How?

jordan leigh is a new narrator. he does a pretty good job differentiating the characters; however, my biggest caveat of the story is how he narrates steve. i kept thinking of those cheesey gov't sponsored voice overs from the movie starship troopers. jordan's portrayal of steve is too cartoony. another reviewer, greg, says jordan's portrayal of gabe is kind of like batman. i agree, but i got used to it. the new narrator isn't bad, but i did ding that part of my rating one star.

Any additional comments?

why do i say "surprisingly good?" at the end of book 2, you kind of get the idea that the story is going to take a turn - a turn away from battling with zombies to clashing with another group of survivors. as a zombie junkie, i wasn't sure if i was going to like the change in plot. after finishing the story, i can safely say that i think this is the best book in the series.

at the end of book 2, eric and gabe run into steve, the green beret eric met and didn't really get along with in book 1. steve offers them refuge in hollow rock and treatment for eric's gunshot wound, but they need to trade something in return. elizabeth, the mayor, wants them to train some of the citizens of hollow rock so they can defend themselves against the free legion, another group of survivors who've been looting all of the other towns.

as book 3 opens, 6 weeks have passed and eric and gabe are training a group of volunteers. i was worried that this would be cliche and boring, but it ended up actually being interesting and exciting. the amount of the story devoted to training is just right, and you believe the story the author's spinning.

the author does a good job of building the suspense of a new enemy- the free legion. again, i wasn't sure of the direction of the story, but this is a nice twist! eric is tasked with infiltrating the free legion, and i was really leary about how the author was going to do this, but i must say this was my favorite part of the story. it's horrifically delicious listening. lol

this leads me to pacing. the author does an excellent job of pacing the story. he continuously keeps the story moving. the author doesn't linger or waste too much time on one part of the plot. it is kind of teasing though! the overall story is broken into 3 parts, and i kind of wished the author had squeezed out a little more time with each part. must have been the editor! lol but the writing is much stronger in this book than the previous 2.

a few new characters on both sides are introduced, and they are unique enough to stand apart in your mind. they add depth and flavor to the story, especially the evil ones. i enjoyed listening to how survivors are indoctrinated into the free legion. it's heartbreaking and diabolical!

overall, a very good story! even though the zombies are less of the plot, i enjoyed the direction of the story! now if james cook would just get to writing the next chapter in the series! lol btw...he's got a good blog and an interesting story.

Ummm what happened to the zombies??

Any additional comments?

Although I still like the series as a whole, I was not as happy with this book as the first two. This book was much more, well, "macho". Much more specific gun and arms references, loads more martial arts moves and so on. Now I'm a girl who's not bothered by men who are men and guns doing what they are designed for, but this was over the top even for me. Also missed the infected--only a few real references in the book. I still like the storyline, so I will be getting the next book too, but I hope there's less macho and more dialog.

Sorry Folks this is not a zombie tale??

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This series is a great but as I listen away on the story line I became more and more confused. I have to confess that I am a great fan of zombie tales. This series goes way beyond the usual story and tells a fascinating possible future. I said it's finished for now, but I get the feeling this third book is nowhere near the ending I expected,
Not to say there was no action, but if you total the zombie fighting time all together in this book, I would give it about 40 minutes total. Then the book goes into a Spec ops tale with the legion and a even bigger foe and enemy countries on the horizon as the author hints at.
Now if I were to buy a Zombie tale book , wouldn't you expect a zombie story? Sorry to say I felt cheated and confused on where this tale went? If you purchase this book, don't be surprised you may just feel you read a Tom Clancy tale.

Good Book 3, bad narrator

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

It is a good follow up to book 2, It is worth a listen if you can stand the narrator

What was one of the most memorable moments of Warrior Within?

Nothing huge stands out, but a solid read

How could the performance have been better?

Go back to the original narrator. I can get over the voice changing from 2 to 3, but not the best choice. Especially annoying is he makes Gabe sound like batman now, I wouldn't say it "ruined" the book, but was for sure a bad performance.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

yes, for sure

Fire Jordan Leigh

Would you consider the audio edition of Warrior Within to be better than the print version?

No because I had to listen to batman tell the story

Who was your favorite character and why?

The ones from book one and two

How did the narrator detract from the book?

He sucked

Who was the most memorable character of Warrior Within and why?

Batman

Any additional comments?

Get the original story teller to redo this one so I can listen to it

A Non-stop thrill ride

A non-stop action thriller which continues the story of Gabe and Eric. The zombies take a back seat in this book to the marauders that threaten Hollow Rock and the action starts from page one and doesn’t stop. The story is well written and give you a couple of different views from both main characters and does well the paint a vivid picture. The characters are a bit static (hey it’s the 3rd book in the series how much can they grow) but they’re fun and have both their strengths and weaknesses. If you liked the other books in the story jump on this one as well!

Mr. Leigh does an excellent job with all the characters and really adds to the story.

This narrator leaves some to be desired

The book is in line with the others in this series, but the narrator is not good.

His voice for Gabe sounds like someone making fun of Batman.

quite bad

I liked the first 2 novels, as I found that Eric and Gabriel were interesting and believable. Now, they have morphed into super-humans that wipe out hordes of bad humans with little danger to themselves. In two separate firefights the heros wipe out about 50 living and armed opponents with ease, and I just had to turn off the book--it was too stupid to be entertaining.
The new narrator is definitely not as good as the original, but the content of the book made it a crime to continue.

Good but the narrator has changed.

Any additional comments?

I'm not 100% done with this yet but it's good so far. The one thing that makes it somewhat difficult is that the narrator is different than the previous two. There's nothing wrong about this narrator but all the characters voices are now different.

hard work

What would have made Warrior Within better?

get your last narrator to do this one

What will your next listen be?

anything by Mark Tufo

How could the performance have been better?

loved last 2 in this series but sorry this narrator changed the characters for me and really did not work for me made it just so hard to listen.

What character would you cut from Warrior Within?

the narrator :-(

Any additional comments?

where did the dead go? the narrator was so disappointing sorry, it made the whole experience such hard work really enjoyed first 2 books but this one just seemed long winded with no real direction for me........... just struck me as a filler book with no-where to go, no real character development or walking dead just pretty aimless

Why change the narrator?

What did you like best about Warrior Within? What did you like least?

The story was OK - little mention of the zombies though.

What other book might you compare Warrior Within to, and why?

Day by Day

What three words best describe Jordan Leigh’s performance?

I don't know

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Nah - it's the 3rd part!

Any additional comments?

Change of narration spoiled it for me. I was looking forward to it too. Jordan Leigh does a good job but he's just...different to the previous two.

Can't believe you change the narrator what's going on

The story is still going good but it's almost like the narrators changing the characters personality , I don't dissing people but it is really a stepdown should of kept the same narrator

Great Zombie survival story

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

Guys just love the military, trained, calculating non victim nature of the main characters.

What did you like best about this story?

The development and the character interaction.

What about Jordan Leigh’s performance did you like?

He is not as good considering the two books that have already been voiced. He changes the tone of established characters. But I went with the story anyway.

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

yes but spoiler alerts would be too much for people.

Any additional comments?

Read this series in order and I would say you`ll love the story.