Zonaton

By: Linda Mooney

Narrated by: Audrey Lusk

Length: 6 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

A hundred years ago, the last people of Earth landed on planet AR617b. It was their only hope after being forced to flee the dead planet that was once their ancestral home.

The native inhabitants of AR617b, known as gerons, are sentient creatures that resemble a cross between dragons and griffins of old Earth lore. When they initially tried to destroy the settlers, a deal was made to ensure both species' survival. It was decided that each year, every five-year-old human child must take The Walk across a hundred meter field. If they don't stop or run, they will arrive safely on the other side and be allowed to grow up and have families of their own. But if they break the rule, the gerons will kill them - unless, by a strange quirk of fate, a geron decides to pair with the child, taking and raising the human as its own.

Emmala took The Walk, and found herself adopted by one of the older gerons, an immense silvery-white creature named Zonaton. For the next 15 years, he cared for her, protected her, and loved her. But now Emmala's real family wants her back, and they will do everything they can to have her returned, even if it means killing Zonaton and starting an all-out war with the gerons.

What neither the settlers nor gerons realize is that there is another alien species watching and waiting for the two combatants to go into battle. Because when they do, that will be the aliens' cue to destroy everyone and claim AR617b for their own.

©2014 Linda G. Mooney (P)2015 Linda G. Mooney

Wow! This was better than expected.

What made the experience of listening to Zonaton the most enjoyable?

I loved the relationship building. It was strange, odd, bordered on creepy at first then turned into a form of purity that was very sweet.

What did you like best about this story?

Zonaton hands down was the best part. I just fell in love with him. He was so protective of the her. But I also loved the world building. I had a vivid picture of the set up and how things worked. It was quite fascinating.

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

Audrey did a great job with the various voices.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I found it very hard to pull away from it. I even took it on a couple of trips so I could keep listening. I'm not sure what it is about the story and character, not to mention the great world building that pulled me right in. The only negative was the miner angle. I didn't get it since it was really made clear what their motives were from their perspective.

Any additional comments?

I hope this world is revisited again soon. In the mean time, I'll look for more works by this author.

“This audiobook was given by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review via Audiobook Boom.”

OK but Over the Top

The story was cute but it had so many holes, don't try to really look too close. Why do the miners attack, who are they, want do they want? How the heck does a whole community go so over the top, worse than the old witch trials with barely a hint to get them going. Love the way they did the narration for the voices in their minds vs. spoken. Story was OK, but way over the drama limit for me.

Original

l quite enjoyed this unusual and interesting story and how it unfolded to show the truth behind the aliens and home planet residents. The narration was interestingly done too.

Original alien romance!

I was pleasantly surprised! This is my first book by this author and I’m glad I took the chance. I couldn’t stop listening! The originality, writing, and awesome narration keep you interested and listening. I love the way they produced Zon’s voice! Definitely worth it! I was gifted this audiobook in exchange for a honest review.

This was better than expected

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

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of Zonaton?

When Zonaton requested to come back as a human after his death

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

Did not read the book. Audrey Lusk did a great job with the various voices

Any additional comments?

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

A Science Fiction Romance..

Any additional comments?

Zonaton, the male lead, chooses to pair, a rare action, with Emmala, the female lead, during her time for the "Walk".

As Emmala grows older, she and Zonaton develop feelings for one another.

I liked Emmala, she was a strong well developed character.
I wasn't to sure about Zonaton in the beginning but he grew on me.

The book was interesting but there was more focus on the villagers than the growing relationship between the two leads.

The story was not as carefree and fluffy as I had originally thought, there is some violence and references to child abuse.

Despite being a bit different from what I was expecting, the book left me curious, wanting to be provided with an update on the main characters and whether or not they can have children of their own. Is there a book two?


Audrey Lusk did a good job with the narration.

Note:
"This audio book was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review."

A tale of a dragon Romeo and his Juliet

This book was wonderful and an excellent addition to the genra. I loved the way the world was built and the way the different species interacted with one another. I received this book in an exchange for a review from audiobook boom and I loved every minute of it. Stayed up late and finished it in two days. Buy it it's great

Friend or Foe?

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBoom dot com.

The incestual theme was slightly awkward, but I'm not going to judge it. It feels a little bit like a sitcom, where the characters all work on a misunderstanding that arises from miscommunication. The Gerons rescue human children who were abused and give them better lives, but the humans see them as monsters who steal their children. The humans make excuses to wage war despite invading the world to begin with. We know humans and Gerons can communicate, so I don't know why they didn't communicate more. There are a few semi-explicit sex scenes. I like how the Geron made a snide comment on human religion about their lack of afterlife. There were some unanswered questions, but nothing that irritated me. I'll give the story 3.5/5

The narrator did a great job portraying the hysterical mother. She's also capable of using a very deep voice for male characters, which is difficult for a lot of female narrators. I think she added an effect for the geron voices, but I don't recall off-hand.

Fab world building!

The synopsis of this was interesting so I requested this for review and I was given this audiobook in exchange for that, an honest review.

This is the first book from Audrey I've listened to, and I think she did a great job with the character voices, actions and reactions. The guys were pretty gruff and distinguished, like Zonaton, I do think the only thing that got to me was sometimes the squeak on the women was a little high especially when over excited, I hated Emmala's mother for that... but it did give her a good trait I wanted to kill her for. haha horrid woman.

The world building and fantasy elements in here, were really interesting. There wasn't a lot of back story, or info dumping, and as Emmala grew up things were explained then when we were ready to know about it.

I did sometimes think the relationship between Zonaton and Emmala was a little creepy. Its difficult to understand how you can grow to love something like that, that isn't human, but as the story developed and the care, devotion and love they both shared deepened, it was more obvious to me, the reasons why and I understood it a lot more. I thought the Geron elders were right to be worried over Zonaton loving her as much as he did, but it was a very sweet love in the end.

There were a couple of parts that I cringed at, the berry field scene, it's not my first abuse scene, but it wasn't something I had expected in the novel. It really did evoke some strong emotions, I was horrified for Emmala. But it was very well written, it wasn't that explicit, and there was a good resolution from it, even if there were consequences for Zonaton and Emmala.

I would have liked more to the ending here. After all there was a lot going on, there's a lot to still go on for the world. Is it over? Is there any more in this series? I hope so. I'd defo pick up the next one, by both narrator and author.

Thank you for letting me listen, very entertaining....

Strong plot until the end...

The storyline was wonderful until I got to the end and felt like so much was left hanging. The book needed at least one more chapter or van epilogue to answer quite a few questions. At the moment it feels like it needs a sequel focused on another pair maybe, to see issues between the Gerron and Humans resolved.

Audrey Luss does a good narration job until it comes to villainous females when her voice makes them all sound like mean preteen girls which I found seriously annoying.

Overall a really enjoyable scenario and story. I'd read a follow up.