A bad story read well.

What did you like best about The Beginning of the End? What did you like least?

This book is really poorly written, Day By Day Armageddon isn't the best series of books ever but I have would really recomend it over this if you like the idea of a first person narrative Zombie story. This seems to hinge on descriptions that try really hard to be graphic.

There are some really really great ideas in this book. The fact that the protagonist is an average dude. The fact that the question of sanity and PTSD is explored and setting a book like this europe was an interesting way to handle it. However the story doesn't carry them off well at all. I feel like this may be because it's translated into a second language but that doesn't help those of us who don't speak spanish sadly.

The second half of the book is frankly agonising, if this is a conscious choice on the part of the author then considering the content ( I will avoid spoilers) then it's fair, but I found it incredibly hard to listen to.

Has The Beginning of the End put you off other books in this genre?

I wouldn't stop reading Z-fiction but I think I'm pretty happy to let this series go. Like I said, some good Ideas, and a sold narrator but overall it's a poor retelling of other Ideas from better stories.

Any additional comments?

Listen to DBDA and the new Version of WWZ if you feel like some zombie stories. If you're looking for another DBDA then please keep looking, this isn't it.

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Tackling Zombies using Scuba gear

As reviewers have already commented this tale unfolds in the form of one man's blog that is kept in a diary and, while the internet is live, via a web blog. The language is relatively simple, but never preambles. The narrative follows, at times a predictable formula. There is a terrorist attack on a secret military base slash research facility. What follows is a tumbling of the dominoes as secrecy and governmental ineptitude leads to a worldwide pandemic of the un-dead who behave very much like the flesh eating Zombies.



Our protagonist is a lawyer by trade; he is widower who lives alone in Galicia Spain, except for his cat who figures heavily in his life. Through his blog/diary we see how society begins to unravel as the pandemic spreads from a remote zone in the Russian Federation until it reaches Spain and finally his front door. Not wishing to give spoilers, our lawyer and cat are forced to leave their fortress home and embark on journey to find some safe haven. On this `road trip' from hell our hero will meet both the best, worst, and profoundly stupid of humanity.



This novel has been translated from Spanish, and appears to be the first of what sounds like a `series', containing his travels and experience's. I just want clarify I was listening to the unabridged version and have not read the book, but I am sure they are one in the same. I found the story entertaining, and it was refreshing to have a story based in mainland Europe as opposed to North America, where most of the novels and films I have seen, seem to be played out. This book is not going to win any literary prizes - but this is not one of those books. Some rather interesting Horror fiction has been coming out of Spain lately and this story is one of them. In summation then this is an interesting and entertaining book, which is cat friendly to boot and I recommend it.

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2 people found this helpful

exciting

pages of a diary come to life. had me on the edge of my seat in parts. brilliant narrator

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Need more

There are two more in this series, neither are available in English, audio or print. You may want to consider this fact before you read this one.



It is indeed a cracking read, right from the start you love the main character and his faithful feline companion. I like the fact that his sidekick is a cat, cat's are unpredictable, they cannot be trained and in a tricky situation they can be relied upon to disappear in an instant. In an apocalypse situation, I would imagine a cat would be a constant source of annoyance and greatly add to the already considerable danger of everyday life and in this story, the narrator is determined to look after his cat [Lucullus] come what may. This adds a real human touch to the story and adds much interest and danger to the story. he has to keep him fed, carry him around, call him, without actually making any noise, comfort him and talk to him to keep himself sane. It could so easily be a dog, a dog could be a hindrance too but would have many plus points like warning when it senses danger and protecting his master, maybe even laying down his life for him, with a cat, this is never going to happen. If he want's to keep his cat, he has to work at it and he does.



I have read in other reviews about this books predictability. Once you know the story is about the Zombie apocalypse, surely you expect certain things to happen. Most people die and return as the walking dead right? That's not a spoiler and certainly not unexpected is it? Stay in one place, you eventually run out of food & water and the Zombies will almost certainly find you, you will have to move on. You will have to do things out of character, you will learn new skills, you will do anything to survive and the Zombies WILL keep coming. Predictable or simply expected?



If you like Z stories, there is nothing here that will disappoint you. I highly recommend this one.

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2 people found this helpful

Some lazy writing but very enjoyable story...

A very enjoyable story with lots of interesting elements and plenty of suspense though it has IMO an overly dramatic and at times odd narration. In terms of the writing there are lots of obvious things which could have been corrected with a decent Editor - silly stuff like "the corridor was pitch black" followed by a detailed description of the corridor, "I was paralyzed with fear" then immediately "strangely calm", "I had grown used to the hideous sights" though "bile rose in my throat and I wanted to throw up", he realizes that he needs to be quiet so as not to attract attention yet shouts with joy, fires automatic weapons and kicks steel doors multiple times with gay abandon - these things may have sounded OK with a different narrator. Because the main character apparently has the learning curve of a plank you kind of want him to die but that still didn't stop me enjoying this listen!

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5 people found this helpful

not a bad read. worth taking the time out.

I'm going to check out the next in series. good book. good translation. try it

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1 person found this helpful

Excellent

Really glad I found this audio book its an excellent zombie story well narrated with a believable storyline and likeable characters. Now onto book 2!

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LOST IN TRANSLATION

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

ZOMBIE FANATICS

Would you ever listen to anything by Manel Loureiro again?

I dont think so, maybe it was the translation but it didnt really grip me in any way.

Would you be willing to try another one of Nick Podehl’s performances?

Id give him a seond chance though his reading was a bit over dramatic at times.

You didn’t love this book--but did it have any redeeming qualities?

It was set in Spain and Russia, not the US...which made a refreshing change

Any additional comments?

ending was a big anti climax

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1 person found this helpful

Zombie Tangle

The author tells the story of the Zombie Apocalypse through his journals which removes a lot of dramatic tension because you know when he announces the start of another entry, obviously he has survived the events to be able to tell the story. I got tired of being told how frightened he had been, how horrible the zombies were, how gruesome the scene was. After saying the same thing about 10 times, it started to get annoying. I think the editing is poor which is a shame because it's quite a good story - Apocalypse Z is solely told through one man's experience and is very much his tale of day to day survival. Like World War Z, this tries to put some logic into how you might actually survive. The voice is good, the American accent is a bit off-putting but he does put a lot of personal angst into the events. I think he should have eaten the cat, though!

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One of the worst books ever read/listened to

I could not finish listening to this. If a teenager had the determination to write a sci-fi/horror novel, this is what they would come up with. This book takes suspension of disbelief to a whole new level. Not only is the main premise ridiculous, but the details: transformers blow up because the electricity supply has failed, his freezer defrosts almost instantly, he listens to the police on short-wave radio, his car engine fails catastrophically because he drives along a bumpy road....it's just ridiculous. To cap it all, the narrator has a whiny American voice and I lost count of the number of times he said: 'life is a bitch'. Sorry, puerile rubbish.

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8 people found this helpful