The Risen

By: Adam J. Smith

Narrated by: Aria Gray

A young couple's journey through a nightmarish hellscape. The dead in the shadows. The undead on street corners. At night, Nate must scavenge for his family. At night, death awaits. And who is the strange girl writing messages in blood?

Dark, thrilling, and tragic, The Risen explores a new kind of existence, where the undead aren’t the only threat to humanity.

©2016 Adam Smith (P)2021 Adam Smith

a dark dystopian tale of evolution

listened to second book in series first. that tale while dark was better than this book. that said, this was a good listen as the two protagonists evolve into something new while the world around them devolves to a feral state.
the book is worth the listen as it sets the stage for the he future world of the second book

The Risen

I tried to listen to this audiobook, but the volume was so low that I couldn't hear it. Therefore, I instead read the e-book. My rating of the performance is only for the volume and nothing against the narrator.

This started out as a zombie apocalypse book, but by the halfway point, it had devolved into something else entirely. There was some zombie action, but it mainly focused on a young couple's trek across Britain. I have to say that this was probably the most bleak, despairing and depressing book I have read in a long, long time. There were only a couple of light-hearted moments while most of the book was just dark. And, there were way too many unanswered questions as to what was going on with Nate and Ruby as well as how this whole thing started.

I have the second book in the series, but I'm not sure that I am interested enough in reading it to even try. I was given the chance to listen to this book by the author/narrator/publisher and chose to review it.

A zombie story with a whole new perspective.

The Risen part 1 is the story of Nate and Ruby, two young people caught up in the aftermath of a post-apocalyptical virus pandemic. Along with plenty of action, the interaction of Nate and Ruby as they travel to the coast really keeps this story moving. If you enjoy zombie type stories you might give The Risen a shot, it just may surprise you. I have to admit that I had listened to an Advance Reader Copy of part 2 prior to reading part 1, and now part 2 makes complete sense. When I got the opportunity to listen to an Advance Copy of the Audiobook of Part 1 I jumped at the opportunity and am glad I did, once again Aria Gray’s narration brought Nate and Ruby to life and highlighted a few item I didn’t remember reading.