My full review can be found on
https://blujeansbooks.co.za/review-abandon-us-audiobook-by-e-t-gunnarsson/
Thank you for the opportunityy

DNF. I got about 20% before I had to put the audiobook down. Sounded like a good premise but it just didn't pull me in.

I don’t know what about this says “thriller”. Apocalyptic, yes. Survival story, yes. Thriller…it’s a no from me.

If I hadn’t gone into this expecting a thriller I might have enjoyed it. But when it has the word “thriller” in the subtitle, you really have to deliver. This book didn’t do that for me.

Thanks to NetGalley I was able to listen to the audio. I found it overly boring. However the voice of the narrator was soothing and I’d absolutely listen to more books using him as the narrator. So a five star narration. The story, again, was solid but certainly not a thriller as advertised.

⭐️⭐️

I can’t give it more when it wasn’t even remotely thrilling but instead dull and boring.

3.5 stars rounded up.

While navigating a new world, this was a good zombie-like apocalyptic story. I enjoyed this audiobook as the main characters struggle trying to survive in a world that has been ruined by humans, by war and by a virus/mutation.

I do struggle trying to keep up with some more Sci-fi novels, but this one was really good at keeping a decent pace and not too much jargon that I still understood what was going on throughout the whole story.

Thank you to NetGalley for my audiobook!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review.

This book was depressing and gripping at the same time. This apocalyptic world was harsh and just intriguing, I wish there would have been more about the mutation of humans from the pollution. I would enjoy more stories from this world.

Not to be dramatic or fall into the conspiracy boat, but this storyline has got to be my worst nightmare. And I can see it happening in the future.

Robert Ashton is a service technician trying to survive in a futuristic United States. The planet is ravaged by pollution, a civil war has broken out between four different factions trying to take control of the country, a deadly pandemic is raging, and World War Three has broken out. When the situation becomes increasingly chaotic and dangerous, Robert and his partner Zilv flee to the underground to eek out a living with a friend. As Robert turns to smuggling to survive he also has to fight against other survivors and a landscape full of deadly mutants. Just how far will he go to survive? (I listened to the audiobook version of this novel).

I freely admit that I highly enjoyed this book at the start. It was action packed and exciting. The action was very visceral and I loved reading it. I really liked the different characters (especially Robert’s childhood friend). However as the book went on it really started to drag. It can be very repetitive in its action. It felt like the same fight scenes kept happening over and over again. The only thing that changed were the people (and sometimes not) that he was fighting. He had a very shoot first and ask questions later mindset that in my opinion got him into a bunch of fights that didn’t even need to happen. The descriptions were very over the top in some sections and could be a pain to read through. The author can be very repetitive in their descriptions of almost everything in the book. The action was very fast paced and that could be a bad thing at times. Robert would get in a sticky situation or conflicts would arise and they would get solved before I had a chance to get too worried about them. I wish some of the things in the book had been fleshed out more and you had more of a chance to sit with them. The book takes place in three parts and at times it felt like the author was trying to jam a trilogy into a single short book.

Overall I think I liked this more than I didn’t though. The good bits outweigh the bad for me. I think that if you like post apocalyptic stories and creature features you will more than likely like this. DO NOT RECOMMEND FOR YOUNGER READERS. Book contains graphic depictions of violence and gore.

This book seemed to never end - in a good way! It followed the adult life of a main character (instead of devolving into a tired and deflating treatise about the end-of-times) from his pre-apocalypse life to his struggle to survive with and sometimes at the expense of his friends...as the world deteriorated into post-apocalyptic nightmare. The author's creativity is demonstrated when exploring the future world's power source (interesting!) and social system, and also the extent of evolution-helped-by-mutation (which I found unbelievable, unfortunately, from a biological standpoint).

The violence depicted throughout the story and the several times where characters are left to die or suffer helplessly may be upsetting to some.

Regarding the narration, the narrator did a good job using distinguishable voices for different characters, although I did get two main characters (Robert and his friend William) confused several times - either because of their similar voicings or because their names were both generic, and the description of these characters did not create unique enough pictures of them in my head.. Other than that, the narration added to the life of the book - good pacing, good energy, and captivating.

An element of the book that could use improvement was the labelling of every new chapter with a datestamp. I often was unable to remember what the "current" date was supposed to be, to be able to tell how much time had passed from one chapter to the next. At one point in the story, the main character demonstrates his own confusion about how much calendar time has passed - I think this can be subtly emphasized by replacing the datestamp with an (accurate or estimated) time that's elapsed (so, "two months later" or "a couple weeks later). And perhaps this can get "muddier" as the book progresses, as it would in the experience of the characters?

The biggest element of the story that I found hard to swallow and mostly unnecessary was the description of the "mutants". For them to have obtained functioning extra body parts via mutation from the environment is far-fetched - if this was toned-down, I can see this majorly affecting only one scene in the story, of which a re-write would not be a detriment to the story.

I recommend this book to any who are compelled by a story of how life as we know it might end, and how normal, everyday people might successfully scratch and claw for survival.

I was given an ARC Audio book for an honest review, which is much appreciated. This book is a prequel to the authors first novel, which I haven’t yet read… but guess what book is now on the top of my “To read” list! I enjoy a good apocalypse story, and this book did not disappoint. The best part, it wasn’t like many others I’ve read. No big manly main character with a military background to save the day! Just regular humans trying to survive. The main character moves from an eastern city dweller to what seems like the deserts of the southwest. Much like ‘The Road’ by Cormac McCarthy, you’re never really sure what part of the country the characters are in. The pace of the book was excellent, the characters are realistic, and you find yourself hoping they’ll find a Utopia, all the while knowing they won’t! I look forward to going back and reading the sequel. We’ll done!

This book had a good premise, but unfortunately didn't quite deliver. I wanted to like the characters, but they didn't have a ton of personality. Beyond survival, I really couldn't decipher any of their goals. I think the author has a lot of potential and definitely a good imagination, but this book could've benefitted from a bit more editing. The worldbuilding details were good but the delivery was a bit clunky, and the writing was a little repetitive. In the first third I feel like I heard the words "unemployed and homeless" every couple minutes, and in the second half it was about how Robert was just doing his best. But I do hope the author keeps writing, like I said they have good potential and I think future projects will work a lot better for me.

As for the audio narration...the narrator did well with differentiating character voices and with emphasis and drama, but I question if they were the right option for this project. Since it's set in America, it kind of removed me from the book some to hear such a strong British accent with some typical American vernacular, and the American accent was inconsistent. I'd love to hear them do other projects that lend more towards their strengths.

So many things, so little time. The audiobook is over nine hours, and had the author eliminated the darling, oh darling, I love you, I love you too, I'm guessing 7.5 hours total run time. I was shaking my head, after all the F-words, was ready to scream at "there is a bucket for #2" and "if you die, I'm going to kill you."

The genre classification is horror/Sci Fi Fantasy. I'm still shaking my head.

This is another retelling of The Walking Dead, and not done well.

The narrator has a deep voice. I could visualize him doing sports, true breaking news, etc. The book didn't showcase him well.

Thank you NetGalley and Bragi Press for accepting my request to read and review Abandon Us.

This book did not hold my interest. After listening through part of chapter four, I gave up on it because it was moving too slowly with the back story. I was waiting for the apocalyptical event to occur but it was was not happening.

Robert and Zilv are in love and barely surviving in a dystopian end of the world situation. Pollution, crime and disease are the main concerns. Society is crumbling and anyone who is left in this world begins moving into the sewer system to try and survive. Zilv falls ill and Robert knows that he will do anything it takes to help her. When things cant seem to be worse monsters come and start killing everything in their path. How will Robert survive?
The book had a very slow start I found myself wondering off and not paying attention for a while. The world building was important just quite slow. The descriptions in this book are amazing. I could fully imagine the world and immerse myself into it. I felt the air and how pungent and toxic it was. I could picture the monsters and so much more. Without the amazing descriptions in the book I am not sure I would have finished it. It was a good story but did not keep me captivated from start to end. Thank you Netgalley for the audiobook arc in exchange for an honest review.

Admittedly, this is not my preferred genre, but I think it’s important to consider what my students might like. I can see how it would act as a prequel to another book (although I have not read that), but as a stand alone, I thought it was lacking.

⬆️
*Narrator does a great job with pacing and keeping the story going. No unnecessary voices, but clear, solid narrating to lead the listener through some heavy plot points
*Good exploration of settings—apts, tents, buildings, underground, warehouses
*Nice to see smugglers in a positive light
*Various types of fear as motivators work well to aid the plot and reveal character motives

➖
*Characters are fine, but don’t warrant strong feelings that made me root for or against them
* The jumps in time work to show the length of the struggle, but leave gaps that lead to questions about surviving so long

⬇️
*The “pet names”; whether it was all the baby/babe between Robert & Zilf or the bros between Robert and William. They all were forced and cringe
*Not really any new elements are a post-apocalyptic sci-fi story
*Setting leads to so many drastic changes in just 50ish years; not quite believable based on current technology

I’ll need to tell my students about: language, LGBTQIAP+, trauma, violence/warfare death, drugs, gore.

***Thank you to NetGalley and Bragi Press for the free ALC prior to publication. All opinions expressed are my own.***

n here we have Robert, who I did not like, trying to fight against the Patrions (I am unsure of the spelling as I read this in audio). Things are bad in this world and it's basically the little guys against the ones in power. The actual worldbuilding was good, the flat characters and the overly detailed paragraphs were not so good.

The only great thing was the narrator. The narration was the only thing that got me to the end of the book.

Abandon Us
by E.T. Gunnarsson
a Grim look at humanity and its discourse. the survival of a single man after a second civil war. The triad division of humanity, those who are fascisms, socialist, and capitalists. Destroying the cities, the demoralized economy, with back and forth battles. The war extinguished only with the nuclear invasion by China of the divided nations. This ends the world entirely, the marginal environmental recovery is extinguished. mankind is left to mutate, and battle with the remnants of cultures. One man looses his job, his freedom, his choice, his love and even the people he cares about. Its a sad recourse of humanity, and the fault of our own choices.

Nope. Dang halfway thru. I'm bored. It's like blue collar people with half a brain trying to escape a future 50 years from now but the continuity and idiocy was too much for me.

This was an adventure that felt too familiar to COVID. There is a disease that is killing people. There air is toxic. Everyone is forced to wear gas masks. Jobs have been taken over by machines. Humans are trying to survive. But there are some who do not want to change. There are wars and drug smuggled as well as death and scavenging.

This was a fun read
An apocalyptic environment making me think zombies are coming next

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this audio book.

This one wasn't really for me. I didn't connect with the characters and although the plot was interesting I just couldn't get into it. The narrator was pretty good.

An apocalyptic coming-of-age story! Young Robert Ashton and his partner Zilv are barely making it in a dangerous city. Pollution, crime, disease run rampant. Society begins to crumble, slowly getting worse and worse. Anyone who is left begins to move to the underground sewer system to survive.

Once zilv takes ill, Robert knows what he has to do whatever it takes. Grotesque, human monsters troll the city, killing anything in their path. How will Robert survive? Will he even want to?

🖊Published June 21, 2022

🤔Review: Quite a realistic dystopian end of civilization drama! I loved the sci fi aspect of the fall of society. The beginning was a bit slow but that’s almost required reading while the author builds the world up. Robert and Zilv’s relationship was a little *too* perfect, i can’t imagine a perfect relationship during an apocalypse. Too mushy.

But the details were wonderful. The descriptions of the monsters were horrific. I loved it! I also enjoyed the main characters growth, going from an innocent boy to a hardened man, desperately trying to survive.

Of course in true post apocalyptic fashion, not everyone survives!