Ground Control

Jacqueline Druga’s name is synonymous with post-apocalyptic stories. Not always zombies, but when they are, they are different from main stream ones and are worth listening to. This was a great unique story much like all of her others. I really enjoyed the aspect of how these two stories were told from the Doctor’s point of views and not from a hunter.

I really enjoyed the plot of each story. As cliché as this sounds, I thought they were a breath of fresh air for the genre. I thought they were unique within the genre and especially liked the whole vaccine angle. Both stories were separate but played well off of each other as they contain some of the same characters. Each story could stand up alone if you come across them separate, although after listening to one you will want the other.

Since these stories are fairly short you don’t get a lot of character development, however, you will quickly get attached to specific ones. The main ones are quite interesting though and you will feel their pain as they struggle to survive the Codies.

I really enjoyed the voice of the narrator. He adjusted his cadence and tone but none of that was necessary because I really just enjoyed his voice. He told the story perfectly and I would be more than happy to have him narrate the shows I fall asleep to.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

3 people found this helpful

Intriguing.

Seeing as this is two novellas together, I don't want to say too much about the plot because I'll spoil it!! The first novella is about Dr June Mannis and takes place a few years after the first outbreak. Not much is known about CO-D4 other than people die, and reawaken changed. They call them Cody's. It took them years, but mankind believe they have they outbreak handled and are curtailing the spread. There doesn't seem to be a cure, so it's become law to Rectify (kill) any one affected. Dr Mannis believes that they people infected can retain some of their humanity and there's hope for them. In the second novella, it's a continuation of the first but the MC is Dr James Ung, a friend and college of Dr Mannis. I'm not going to get into the plot of that one because it will spoil the first!!

I'm glad these were bundled together because they were so short! The plot is fast paced and flows nicely. With it being so short I was afraid in case either plot development or character development suffered, but it didn't. All the characters were well written and developed and it was easy to become invested in their story. I really liked both Dr Mannis and Dr. Ung. The plot was unique and intriguing. I liked the spin the author put on the typical zombies. After the ending, I'm really looking forward to the next one to see where the story goes.

Andrew B. Wehrlen reads this well. He is clear and easy to follow and has plenty of tones and voices for the different characters. I always enjoy his performance and this was no different.

I was given this audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. This in no way affected nor influenced my thoughts.

3 people found this helpful

An interesting take on zombies.

~Disclaimer: I received a free audiobook copy of this book.~

An interesting take on zombies. I felt talking about the very human reaction to loved ones being bitten brought a good dose of humanity and sorrow to the story.

I plan to read the other two books in the series because I’m interested in seeing where it is going. The ending of the second novella is very compelling.

The sample of the narrator is fairly representative of his voice throughout the story.

Dynamic duo

I think I love Major Tom. I hope there is more to this story. I love the take on the vaccine and the cure that turns up in book 2. Couldn’t stop listening to this series.
So much action and a great story! Druga is climbing to the tops of my favorites list really quickly.
Great writer and narrator team! Druga brings nonstop action and Wehrlen brings the voice!
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Zombies From A Different Point of View

The strength of these two novels from Jacqueline Druga is the point views provided from medical professional and military survivors of a zombie apocalypse. If the world stabilized after a zombie virus then its possible that there would be people interested in trying to treat people recently turned if not out of their own interest then that of their families should they ever be infected. At the same time a military or policing effort to clear buildings of those turned would be essential unless we all wanted to simply live with zombies in the house next door waiting for them to break out in time. These books explore where those two themes conflict.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Interesting Take on Zombies

Fast paced zombie story with a focus on the medical side of things and the potential cure. Great fun.

Narration was great, kept me in the story the whole time.

I received the code for this audiobook at my request and am voluntarily leaving this honest review.

This one didn't suck

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

These were pretty decent zombie apocalypse books. They weren't my favorite, but they held my interest, had a decent story line and the main character wasn't completely stupid and annoying. The narration was very well done. That is what made this one for me. My only real complaint is how short it is.

I liked it, but i cant love it

This was a free book to me and it will get an honest general review, no spoilers. Its hard to fairly review a book that's so short (actually 2 book together). I liked aspects of the book, i thought there was some original content and ideas, decent characters, and i think the narrator did well with the performance and voices with one exception that i just couldn't ignore. At times throughout the book its as if the audio was sped up to like 1.25 - 1.5 normal pace. Certain sentences were spoken very quickly and it didn't really seem to fit into what was actually happening in the story. It was a little jarring to me. Its a shame because besides that i really liked the narrators voice, cadence (at normal speed) and the voices - female voices are hard to not "over do" i think. Frankly i think he could do a better job than most i've listened to. I think he could be really good with a few tweaks, in my opinion.
Another problem, but one that i expected, is that the book is so short there just isn't a lot of room back story and depth for this type of subject matter. It would be very hard to do it all in a short 4 1/2 hour book. All in all, book moved along pretty quickly and i did want to keep listening (for the most part).

"this book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review"

Controlling the Uncontrollable to Save Humanity

I received this book for free. I am voluntarily leaving this review and all opinions expressed herein are my own.

This is books one and two [really novellas] in the Rectify series. Book one is a standalone story and has a completed ending. Book two picks up not long after book one ends and provides a quick recap but, it ends on a cliffhanger where the story arcs are not wrapped up.

Book one centers on Dr. June Mannis. She works in a hospital. There is a pandemic disease CO-D4 which strikes its victims and within a relatively short period of time, they die and then come back to life as incredibly violent cannabalist individuals. While there is a scramble to formulate a vaccine, the only solution currently is to rectify [kill] these sick individuals prior to them coming back. However, Dr. Mannis starts to believe that not all of these sick individuals will come back violent and all of them do not need to be rectified. But no one believes her.

Book two picks up not long after book one ends and centers on Dr. James Ung - who worked with Dr. Mannis. The virus is raging out of the control and the vaccine does not appear to be working sufficiently. Major Tom Leland, who killed all the infected individuals in book one, has somewhat softened to Dr. Mannis' ideas and tries to recruit Dr. Ung to join him in further Dr. Mannis' work. But can they stop this snowball from rolling down the mountain?

Since these are very quick novellas, there is a not a huge amount of character development. You do get glimpses of people's lives but not a sense of getting to know them well. However, it is the disease which is the main character here and the sense of urgency to control it which drives these novellas. The writing style, with short choppy sentences, certainly lends itself to the immediacy of the situation. The plot is fast faced and flows from one frantic situation to the next.

The narrator, Andrew Wehrlen, does a very good job at keeping the tension of the story up and conveying the desperation of the characters in trying to control that which is spiraling completely out of their grasp.

2 Novellas

Two stories of medical professionals trying to survive a zombie outbreak. These two people work together at a hospital when the outbreak occurs. I enjoyed both of these novellas. The narration was very good and added to my entertainment. I received this for free for an honest review.