Iron Mike

By: Patricia Rose

Narrated by: Zachary Liebenstein

They came, but not in peace. They came to destroy us. Our cities crumbled. Our people died by the billions. Their weapons were sophisticated beyond our worst nightmare. In this chaos, a teenage boy must get his sister to safety and, in doing so, become a man.

Iron Mike is a light science-fiction story. Yes, aliens invade, but they're more the background. It's a heavily character-driven book. It begins with Mike trying to get his younger sister to safety, to get her "behind a line of soldiers at Fort Knox" to keep her safe from potential looters and rapists. Along the way, Mike picks up strays, so his responsibilities increase exponentially. Hard decisions are made, as in any apocalyptic tale, and consequences are accepted.

©2015 Patricia Rose (P)2015 Patricia Rose

Critic reviews

"Patricia Rose's post-apocalyptic coming of age science fiction novel, Iron Mike, is fast-paced, exciting, and thought-provoking…Rose's vision is grim and dark at times, but her heroes grow stronger, more self-reliant and competent with each challenge they face. This is a well-written and absorbing story that will prove to be a pleasant surprise for readers who have grown somewhat weary of the ubiquitous zombie and plague apocalypse tales so prevalent in recent years…It’s an impressive debut novel that is highly recommended." (Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite)

Loved it!

A truly enjoyable story. The plot was very interesting and kept me sucked in till the very last page. The characters were likable and relatable, my favorite being Mike. I liked that Patricia Rose gave us the point of views from none human characters, this really helped to see the story from all sides. The narration was great. I highly recommend this book.

Enjoyable read

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.


I would recommend this book. It's an easy listen with serious but yet adds fun.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character was Iron Mike. He always found a way and his determination

What about Zachary Liebenstein’s performance did you like?

I didn't particular care for the narrator but he was tolerable.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I did listen this more than once and in one setting.

Any additional comments?

I will definately keep an eye out for this author. Awesome read.

This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.

Kept my interest

Not terribly original but at least it kept my attention. Good pace. Decent cast of characters. The addition of Hershey was charmingly disarming amidst the death and destruction. I would read and/or listen to this author again.

Awesome

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely. Loved this book, I flew through it. Was a perfect mix of scifi action humor and just plain sad at times.

What did you like best about this story?

The story was unexpected for me. I couldn't guess where it was going and the parts written from the dogs perspective were delightful.

What does Zachary Liebenstein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The extremely weird pronunciation of some words can be off putting but once I got into the book it didn't matter.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Yes to both. I don't like spoilers in reviews so I won't give anything away but some parts are very sad. The parts from the dogs perspective were wonderful and funny.

Any additional comments?

As much as I absolutely loved this book I can't say enough how much I hated how it ended. It felt wrong and didn't work for me.

Entertaining, with a very unique character

If you like apocalyptic stories, you will like this book. It is entertaining throughout, and the character development is good. There is a unique character in this book that the author wrote very well in my opinion, it is a dog.

I'm not giving anything away in that the author tells the story from the perspective of several characters. The one that will surprise and entertain you the most is that of a dog. Not only does the dog have a point of view about what is going on in the story it seems accurate to the way we, as humans, might perceive a dog thinks.

The book has lots of action, comedy, and I love story of course.

My first issue about the book that I didn't like was that it ended halfway through, I'm sure in anticipation for a sequel. My second issue is with the narrator, although he was good, his enunciation at times was not. Finally toward the end of the book the character perspective became a little blurred at times. I mean that in the beginning of the book it was easy to tell who was thinking what, but toward the end it became a little bit fuzzy as to who was narrating that part of the story.