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  • Dark Recollections

  • Adrian's Undead Diary, Volume 1
  • By: Chris Philbrook
  • Narrated by: James Foster
  • Length: 7 hrs and 42 mins
  • 4.6 out of 5 stars (57 ratings)
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Dark Recollections cover art

Dark Recollections

By: Chris Philbrook
Narrated by: James Foster
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Summary

For the first time, the Internet phenomenon is now in print! Beheading a zombie isn't easy in a world where you're more afraid of the living than the dead. Adrian Ring's simple life is thrown into chaos when the world is ripped apart by a plague of undead and legions of desperate survivors. Retreating to Auburn Lake Preparatory Academy, Adrian attempts to rescue friends and family on the way while dancing around his impending insanity over who and what he left behind, and evading maniac survivors. He saves his cat Otis, but shoots his mom. Pretty successful, all things considered.

Dark Recollections is the first part of Adrian's own story of how he survived after "That Day". Told through his eyes as he talks to his laptop, affectionately named 'Mr. Journal", and through short stories that entwine with his tales that bring forth dark visions of a world being eaten alive by an unimaginable evil. Adrian's Undead Diary is an eight-part epic about a solitary, guilt-stricken man who didn't think he deserved to live, but realized very soon that he survived and suffered for a reason. Dark Recollections is the first book in the AUD series. It covers Adrian's journal entries from September 21st 2010, to December 1st, 2010. Intermingled with his personal diary entries, book one also contains the short stories "Phil's Story", "McGreevy's Report", and "Soccer Mom".

©2010 Chris Philbrook (P)2014 Chris Philbrook

What listeners say about Dark Recollections

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

fun and entertaining

I loved the cheeky banter in the writing, I can see myself really loving this guy

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Good, but also a little hollow.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

Yes, I'd get rid of the third-person interludes. Everything about this book says it is the journal of a man in a zombie apocalypse. So I found it a little grating having stories that vaguely connect to him, but that he has no knowledge of. Mark Tufo did the same in his zombie books - I'm guessing when he realised the limitations of a journal told story - but he did it after a book or two.

In short I'm not a fan of it as it breaks me from who is telling the tale.

If you’ve listened to books by Chris Philbrook before, how does this one compare?

No, this was the first of his I've listen too, but if it is a first work of his then it is a promising start for sure.

Have you listened to any of James Foster’s other performances? How does this one compare?

Don't think so, but I listen to a lot of books. Certainly he is a good narrator though.

Do you think Dark Recollections needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Needs one? It has a few so this is kind of pointless as a question.

Any additional comments?

The book is pretty good. I liked it for the humour and some of the scenes were very good.

What I marked it down for was this. The emotional and character connection wasn't there. This maybe due to lack of character interactions, but is also due to the book really not telling us much about the main character.

Which leads on the things we do know about him, and that a lot of them make you not like him that much. He is also massively inconsistent in behaviour. He apparently adores his girlfriend, but at the start he doesn't go to where she is likely to be, and has no good reason for this. He goes straight to his mothers house right away to save her, and then when he finds her as a zombie he shoots her with less emotion than killing a cockroach.

He randomly gives out food to a family that are hungry and saves people trapped by zombies, but then later - and right after declaring he is going to help more people and try and get more people at his location - sends a seventeen-year-old girl out unarmed into a world she has no idea what she will be facing. Might as well just shoot her in the face.

Also, some of the scenes were written for drama but not that likely. The locked classroom of kids springs to mind. If you read it, ask yourself if you can see someone with military training get caught so flat-footed, given that he had to know exactly what would happen. Heck, it is more likely he strips the weapons off the guy when he first meets him.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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this sets the standard for zombie books.

Never have a character and narrator been paired more perfectly together. I resisted this for a while because this genre has been mined pretty deep without anyone really hitting gold but this series changes that. With a likeable lead character in Adrian and his very human approach to the zombie apocalypse I powered through this series back to back and loved it.

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1 person found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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At last a true zombie story

I love this story Narrated is so funny the way he talks I could listen to him all night finally someone Who knows zombies don't make a noise they are slow endless in the pursuit this is not a gory zombie story but it is well written The way he goes into each person story. I have got all four stories I hope there is more to come

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Just Wow!

I'm always looking for a good zombie series and this ticks all the boxes. This is written in diary style and follows Adrian's struggles with daily life in a new world, just trying to survive and all the emotions that brings with it. totally original take on the Zombie apocalypse. really looking forward to the next one!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Worthwhile!

Great zombie post apoc literature, Zombie fallout-esque style of writing and humor. Very entertaining and a must read for fans of the genre and Mark Tufo fans in particular.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant

I Enjoyed this audio book very much from start to finish great story line too

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Author and Narrator are a match made in heaven

This book was recommended to me for ages by friends and because I felt that zompoc genre was overloaded I kinda resisted a bit to be honest. When I eventually purchased Book 1 from the series I regretted my delay pretty much instantly. This is by far one of my favourite series in a long, long time. I bought the rest and for the first time in ages remembered what it was like to be hungry for time to listen. Sitting in my car outside work to 'finish a chapter' was a feeling I missed and it was back...boy was it back.
James Foster absolutely nails the narration. I can't imagine anyone else being anywhere near as good and actually find this adds an immersive element to the story.

This is not a zombie gorefest for the sake of shock, so if you are looking for that then look elsewhere. What this does give is an incredible story about humanity in the face of adversity. The emotional rollercoaster gives me laughter, sadness, horror (it is a zombie apocalypse) and hope as we follow Adrian on his journey and the world he lives in. The characters are wonderfully flawed, engaging and likeable (or not). The writing is incredible. You may have realised I like this series. A LOT.

Buy the darn book! And make sure you have enough credits for the rest because I guarantee you'll need them.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Excellent

The dialogue in this book is so witty and amusing. The book is an absolute gem of the genre.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Hilarious, chilling, heart-wrenching...

I first read Adrian's Undead Diary when it was just an online blog in real time. It was captivating. I love the story, and yet somehow Foster's performance embodies the goofy, guilt-ridden Adrian Ring and breathes new life into what was already a masterly written story. This isn't cheesy zombie apocalypse like many in the genre with the same old tropes; this is a human story about a guy trying to survive, while trying to be a better man to atone for a sin he perceives has made him a lesser one.

Read the first story and you'll want the rest. I never get bored of it and Philbrook is a writer of immense talent who should be better known. He writes with real craft and above all else, he writes with heart. You'll want Adrian as your best mate, with his witty, self-deprecating humour and stupid big heart, and air punch when he brings the pain to those who threaten his people.

Philbrook's brilliant writing and Foster's virtuoso performance with the material create the perfect storm. Read this, and live every heart pounding day of the apocalypse with Adrian MacArthur Ring. You'll laugh, cry, wince, swear and have a whole host of other emotions. What you won't do is regret buying this book.

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