Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • Fail State

  • An Audible Original: End of Days, Book 2
  • By: John Birmingham
  • Narrated by: Rupert Degas
  • Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (623 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Fail State

By: John Birmingham
Narrated by: Rupert Degas
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £15.99

Buy Now for £15.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

On Zero Day of the first and last cyberwar in human history the internet went dark, transport and power grids collapsed and cities began to starve. Ten days later millions have died from thirst and starvation, from violence and from the simple failure of the world’s machines to keep them alive.

This second installment of John Birmingham’s End of Days trilogy finds James O’Donnell and his friends Rick, Michelle and Melissa hunkered down in the wilderness, where they know a horde of starving, desperate exiles from the graveyard of the US East Coast is heading their way.

On the far side of the continent, in the Pacific Northwest, Jonas Murdoch helps lead the good folk of Silverton in defending themselves from waves of starving and desperate refugees pouring out of Seattle.

And slowly, cautiously navigating the inland waterways of California, Jodi Sarjanan and Ellie Jabbarah negotiate an apocalyptic landscape of burning skyscrapers and marauding gangs.

All of them are seeking sanctuary. A safe place where the madness hasn’t penetrated. But does such a place exist?

And what if they need to sacrifice their very humanity in the struggle to reach it?

©2019 John Birmingham (P)2019 Audible Australia Pty Ltd.
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Zero Day Code cover art
After the Silence cover art
Awakening cover art
Ring of Fire I cover art
Mortal Engines cover art
Elantris (3 of 3) [Dramatized Adaptation] cover art
Reborn: Apocalypse, Book 1 cover art
Rise of the Ranger cover art
Ascendant: Book 1 cover art
Outland cover art
Day By Day Armageddon cover art
All DEAD cover art
Forging Hephaestus cover art
Blackout cover art
End of Summer cover art
Genesis cover art

What listeners say about Fail State

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    426
  • 4 Stars
    142
  • 3 Stars
    47
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    3
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    472
  • 4 Stars
    76
  • 3 Stars
    13
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    376
  • 4 Stars
    129
  • 3 Stars
    49
  • 2 Stars
    10
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Gripping, action packed story brilliantly read

Read by one of the best in the business, coupled with the craftely and imnersive writing makes for a non stop adventure.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great read....highly recommended

Read the first two books in the series in succession and loved them both. This is an horrific and thought provoking story, because it's absolutely plausible and so well researched. Everything gels here.The writing is taut and doesn't meander too far way from the story arc. Event narrative is full but there's no padding. The characters are all credible. The story doesn't depend on coincidence or ridiculous implausibilities to move it along. Full credit to the narrator, who acts the parts rather than just reads the words. His sense of timing and interpretation are a marvel. He's also very good at accents (although a couple of the female characters are a bit exaggerated... they stand out because all the others accents are just so good). If you like this post apocalyptic genre you will love these books. PS ....this series should be required reading for any British government minister thinking of handing a contract for the provision of essential infrastructure to a certain foreign power because they put in a very attractively priced tender (they couldn't possibly have an ulterior motive could they).

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Continuing the awesome story!

The story continues and develops. New characters and more depth. Same awesome action. Absolutely
Fantastic!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous!

I am really loving this series. The second book was even better than the first which did a lot of scene setting. Great characters and lots of action with top notch narration from Rupert Degas. What sets this apocalyptic story apart from most is the fact that this is wholly believable, in fact it seemed scarily prophetic! The interlude chapters were great for giving the reader a real sense of the scale of what was happening around the globe. My only criticism is the jarring end to the first book & the jarring start to the second. There was no wrapping up or conclusion to the first book, it just ended very suddenly. Likewise with Fail State, there was no reminder of each character nor any sort of recap on the events at the end of book one. It did not in any way spoil my enjoyment of reading at all but spent the first few chapters thinking - who are they again? What just happened to them...? Overall though, great book & highly recommended.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very very cleverly written

Many times it had me thinking, the writer really must have done some good research, listened in 2 days I think!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

2nd book finished at 2am....

Enjoyed this conspiratorial survivalist covid ish worst case scenario end of world book. Its 2 am and I want to start the 3rd book even though I have a big day tomorrow and already lost 2 hrs sleep finishing this book. it's not a perfect book but it is an easy listen and Narrated very well indeed.
someone else said it was like walking dead without the zombies and I think they got that part spot on. I kinda liked lots of different experiences from people all around the world.
without giving anything away , I'd say Joe Rogan listeners will probably love tbis. I listened to joe in the very early days when he recorded podcasts on his phone with Redban. Yeah, that early ... all conspiracies and big foot....I'd say this book is somewhere between those very early days and graham Hancock's first appearance. just a bit of fun with a what if about it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Another great entry

The story continues and it’s ALMOST as good as the first. It’s hard to top the first one though with all the mystery it unraveled, but this one continues the stories in exciting ways as our pro- and antagonists navigate the impossible terrain.

Where I found the first book grimly realistic, this one is perhaps a bit more “actiony”. But this sequel also brings a deep and compelling despair, which is very satisfying to explore. So it’s not a bad tradeoff.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent story line and narration 👍

Easy to listen to, well written and entertaining.
A highly recommended series of audio books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

still enjoying these books

I read some of the comments before listening to these books ... everyone is entitled to their own opinion... if you dont like it by all means dont listen but why be so negative... you get what you ask for and in my opinion it is well narrated and entertaining story ... so the language can be a touch graphic but really that's akin to saying i didnt like the attitude of the characters... we are not meant to always like protagonist ... it's fun its enjoyable and it holds my attention... what more can you ask for

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Another great book. will definitely listen third.

Another great book in the series. I will definitely listen to the third book. The characters are very good.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!