Odium cover art

Odium

The Dead Saga

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Odium

By: Claire C. Riley
Narrated by: Jennifer Reilly
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About this listen

It's better to die by the gun than die by the dead.

Nina's life was irrevocably changed when humanity's dead began to rise.

Now, she lives behind the walls.

The barricaded cities, erected by the government to protect the remnants of civilization, have become a brutal dictatorship - causing the inhabitants within to starve, steal, and claw for survival. Life behind the walls has become as terrifying as roaming the zombie-ridden landscape beyond.

Citizens trade what they can to gain food, water, and shelter. Nina has only one currency - her body - and she is tired of submitting herself to the greedy hands of the self-proclaimed leaders.

An opportunity to escape presents itself in the fate of a young girl named Emily-Rose. For the price of a stale piece of bread, she is set for banishment from the city, and most likely a horrific death at the hands of the deaders. Nina tells herself that it is sympathy and not self-preservation that makes her follow the young girl out of the walled metropolis, and into the overgrown world beyond.

Unused to fighting the deaders, Nina tries to scrounge for her survival and against her better judgment, begins to care for Emily-Rose. However, when you have a bread-stealing liability providing your only back up, survival seems even tougher. Nina is forced to fight for their lives, and with every zombie slain, she becomes fiercer, faster - a grim reaper with her not-so-sharp butcher's knife.

Along the path to a safe haven that might not exist, Nina and Emily-Rose meet Mikey, who introduces them to a new life they could not imagine, a life above the ground. However, this new world brings new dangers, and darker shadows than she knew.

Nina finds out that the deaders aren't the only thing to fear beyond the wall.

And that fear will not be ignored, or forgotten.

©2013 Claire C. Riley (P)2014 Claire C. Riley
Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Fiction Zombie Survival

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All stars
Most relevant
Wow this was an awesome start to what sounds like a great new series for me. This will definitely keep me occupied for awhile I loved it

Odium book 1

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I loved this audible book! I’ve previously read odium and I thought I’d give the audio book a try but not expecting to enjoy it as much as the written book, I loved it! I couldn’t stop listening and found myself doing extra recipes just so I could listen while I cooked. It really gets you involved with the characters and wanting to find out where this awful life will lead them. I can’t wait to try the next book.

Great apocalyptic story

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This was just how I imagine a zombie apocalypse playing out, an ongoing brutal battle for survival, something that brings the best and the very worst in the people trying to survive such horrific circumstances.

Nina has survived behind the supposed safety of the walled city, but not all is as it seems thanks to the leaders selfish thirst for power and control. When Emily, a young teenager is kicked out for stealing a mouldy bit of bread, Nina decides it's time to take a stand against oppression and leaves with her. So starts a second fight for survival outside, not just against the multitude of deaders all clamouring for her blood, but the surviving humans too! Who can they trust, when the living can be more vicious than the dead?

I really enjoyed this book, after a slowish start it built and the pace increased. Action, tension, gore, violence, heartbreak and the hint of love and loyalty amongst the anarchy kept me intrigued. Nina is a bit of a bitch, but tbh who can blame her? Trust comes hard, but she has Emily to protect now, not just herself and that in itself proves the goodness she has inside.

I listened to the audio version and the female narrator was very good, all from Nina's pov. I'll definitely be reading/listening to more of this series as I want to find out what happens to Nina, Mikey and Emily.
Rating 4.25 stars

excellent zombie apocalypse, good narration

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I jumped straight into this after I'd read 0.5 - Nina's Story. It started pretty much where 0.5 ended, but I think it could be read and work without reading it too. As this is still from the POV of Nina though, I'm glad I read 0.5 first for a bit of background story.

Throughout this story we follow Nina during life outside the compound of "the walls", on the run, after being pretty much kicked out for sticking up for a teenage girl, Emily. This is the first time she's been out there since the apocalypse began, and so much has changed.

During their travels they meet Mikey who leads them to a new group within another compound, but not all is as it seems. Secrets are revealed. Relationships are tested - and formed. Characters are lost, new ones introduced. There are a lot of characters in this one and I did struggle to keep up a little

We meet many Deaders along the way and Riley's descriptive writing of these scenes is once again superb, helping me to play out the story in my head. Though I knew what was probably coming, it was still sort of jumpy! There is so much going on in this  book but it all flows seamlessly and I can't wait to read the next one.

AUDIO
This was my first listen by this narrator and she really brought the story to life. She depicted the different characters voice tones and accents (where needed) really well so the characters were easily distinguishable.

Deaders brought to life!

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This very much feels like a zombie story for girls. Not just because of the female lead but because it focuses a lot on relationships. That's not a bad thing. It allows the reader to really get to know the characters and care for them.

The story itself is a solid zombie story. It doesn't break new ground but what it does give us is a different perspective from the usual testosterone filled stories. The voice of the MC has a wry, self-deprecating humour that is both entertaining and disarming. It gives a real sense of the character. This is reminiscent of, though not as good as, the brilliant Zombie Fallout books from Mark Tufo, and indeed all of his books, that have great humour that manages to humanise the characters in a way rarely seen in this genre.

The narration is lively and entertaining. The characters are distinct and skilfully brought to life.

I am looking forward to listening to book 2.

Zombies for girls

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