AudiobookReviewer

ABR's original The Hunt Chronicles: Awakening audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

The story starts with a beaten down Christian Hunt starting to write down his apocalypse adventures up to this point. Right now he fears the worst, very little food and ammo, surrounded by zombies, it is not looking good. Hunt is a military veteran of Iraq suffering from PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) who wound up having a roommate that was a novice prepper / survivalist.

The zombie virus spread through the population as a severe flu. I find in very amusing that Hunt was able to steer clear of the initial outbreak because he was home sick for days. Eventually meeting up with several survivors, all colorful characters, especially Fish.

My favorite part of this story is the unique take on the zombies. A mere bullet to the head might not kill the undead, we find out that you have to completely destroy the brain for them to be down for the count. Along with that they are not your typical completely stupid variety of zombies. Given enough time they will be able to climb stairs and ladders and even turn door knobs. If that wasn’t enough there is a second type of ghoul. The are referred to as Scabs, and are very fast and smart. They are able to stalk humans for days, waiting for the perfect opportunity to take them down. Then they like to get up close and personal for the kill, with their own home made melee weapons. Did I mention these scabs are even harder to kill.

Second favorite part was Boomer, the German Shepherd, I love when animals take a role in survival situations. They can add so much humanity to a story with so little effort.

I will admit it took me several hours to get into the story. Mostly because of the authors somewhat repetitive writing style. Lots of statements followed by “but” and then something obvious. That being said I am into it now and I will be looking forward to the next installment of this series and other work by J.D. Demers.

There were several spots where there was an obvious recording session change, going from the “normal” sound to a horribly tinny along with an increase or decrease in the volume. That being said Joshua Story did a pretty good job with the characterizations and he keeps a steady pace no matter what is happening. Some would find that not changing pace for action versus drama would hinder a story, usually I feel that way, because Story’s delivery was so constant it did not bother me at all.

Looking for something in the zombie genre with a unique twist? Take a chance on this one. If you can get past the minor issues that I found and stick with it. You will be able to enjoy a story you may have overlooked.

Audiobook provided for for review by the author.