FORSAKING A CREDIT

Book 1 of this series started out well enough. It had me hooked sufficiently to get Book 2. Book 2 meandered around but I still wanted more and spent a credit for Book 3. Book 3 tested my resolve to keep going but thought the author was really going to surprise the faithful following with Book 4. Book 4 sucked.

If you want to spend 30 to 45 minutes listening about making soap, an hour or so describing food gathering, preparation and eating, an hour or so describing teenage girl depression, then this book may be for you. Little action, poor writing and an ending without a credible reasoning for this whole mess!!

NOT WORTH YOUR CREDIT!!!!!!

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19 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Completes the series nicely... with a 3.5 read

Was glad I went ahead and picked up book #4 in this series, it nicely wound up all the dangling story lines from books 2 and 3... it wasn't a never-ending series after all. Just know you can stop listening after book 1... but if you choose to read 2 you won't have a stopping point until the end of this book. A. American may continue with another book... there is still room in the plot and cast of characters, but the series can be complete here. This is not a series book you can read out of order... it wouldn't make sense at all if you hadn't read the other 3 first.
Writing skills remain pretty basic and there are more than a few flaws an editor should have caught and cleaned up. However, I like this series and was pleased to be back with the family and friends scattered between the "refugee camp," Sarge's military group and the camp along the river as they harvest food from nature. Occasional strong language and violence... but as always the main characters are the good guys. He lightly covers issues such as sanitation (what happens with no TP and how to make soap), alternate food sources (including how to skin a squirrel), depression post event and formation of extended groups for mutual benefit. If you liked the first one, you will like this one.

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18 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Less a conclusion and more a lingering death

Look, none of the series is particularly well written, but what they had was passion and belief in them. The guy writing them knew his subject - survival when society crumbles - and that made up for an awful lot that was missing in terms of literary merit. Often the book was a manual for surviving when the brown stuff hits the fan but by book 3, the author was struggling to keep things going whilst not repeating the same old things.

Book 4 though is almost entirely a waste of time and, in terms of the overall story, pretty much irrelevant. Characters that weren't that brilliant to start with but were at least kind of believable, are now paper thin, spouting trite and repetitive dialogue. Plot points that were once fresh and interesting to read are repeated and rehashed, with what should be major events built up into absolute non-events.

Most of the time you get the distinct impression our author Angry American ran out of things to say and just... kept typing anyway. It's almost entirely filler.

Avoid.

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15 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Closure to the series

This book wrapped up the series nicely. Although there is still the possibility of a fifth book, this book did not end with a cliff hanger. Duke Fontaine does a fantastic job narrating the book and I look forward to listening to other titles by him.
If you enjoyed the first three books, you will definitely enjoy this one.

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8 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Author struggles to keep seris going

Any additional comments?

I have read all of this series so far. For me this series is like the old westerns relocated to the 21st century. The story is all black and white, good guys and bad guys, black hats and white hats, no thought required. The author does not commit any glaring non-forgivable "technical" errors that so often ruin these kinds of novels. But, in each subsequent book the author seems to be struggling to keep the story going and has gradually slipped too far into wacky conspiracy land and away from the basic survival challenge plot.

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4 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

I love this series

Where does Forsaking Home rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

While it's not the best series I have ever read. I find myself looking forward to the next book. I am now attached to the family and can't wait for the next book. This series has been one of my most favorite ones to read.

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3 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

I will miss the banter of this group of friends

What made the experience of listening to Forsaking Home the most enjoyable?

As the characters evolved and reunited it was great to be a fly on the wall listening. I will miss these guys and hope to hear more.

Any additional comments?

Realizing it is rare for this many people to work that closely together without conflict is a bit unrealistic. They seemed to handle differences by constantly venting small amounts of frustrations in daily banter. I like that approach and will look for friends and allies with similar traits. There is a good lesson here....

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2 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

Great continuation

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

Yes, if you have read the other this is a must to give some closure to the open ended last book. Was well put together and left with more of a sense of satisfaction.

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2 les gens ont trouvé cela utile

The story really devolved in books 3+4

My apologies to the author and narrator for the harshness of this review, but I've spent a lot of money and time on this series and now have some thoughts to share. My review is notably longer than the others, but if anyone sees this, I recommend reading it to avoid yourself some pain.


Quick recap of the series so far.
First book got me hooked, they had a mission. Second book was engaging though less believable. Third was a substantial let down.

Now, book 4.

It was terribly difficult to enjoy. It combines the worst elements of the previous 3 stories.

Here's my reasoning:

1) It is clear the author has run out of things to write about and now focuses on the most mundane tasks, human interactions and emotions in order to fill the pages.

For instance, how many times in book 3/4 have you read about mind numbing food prep. They spend at least 50% of the book talking about making pancakes, stew, roasted pig, etc... Hell, I think 10% of the book is just about making pots of coffee while watching Thad grinning. I'm not even kidding when I say there are entire sequences dedicated exclusively to the mechanics of making a pot of coffee and pouring it out for the characters, replete with demands from the teenage girls for their cup of coffee too. The scenes occur without a single interesting development, just mind numbing mundane details. Everytime I get to one of these sequences I have to pause and contemplate why I'm still wasting my life listening to this. The author just gave up on meaningful interaction or conflict somewhere during book 2, and instead has migrated to the task of populating the page with filler. An enormous disappointment when survivalism has so many opportunities for meaningful, exciting content -- especially when they live life on the edge so close to an enemy camp.

Another example of these mundane interaction has been noted by other reviewers in the simplicity of their conversations. The author has dedicated an unreasonable amount of space to detailing meaningless exchanges. For instance, how many times have Thad and Morgan had the *exact* same conversation involving one of them patting their bellies while mentioning their excitement for dinner (while grinning of course). How did the author re-read these sequences and think "yeah, this sounds captivating, and not at all completely repetitive"

Another case is the constant ass clownery of the military guys. Most of my family is military men and I totally get the immature boys-club mentality, but writing about tiny, meaningless pranks is pointless. For instance, Doc kicking the back of Mike's leg causing it to buckle, somehow warrants 30 seconds of narration about how everyone was "doubled over in laughter". I mean... just no. It's a truly sad attempt at bringing levity to a situation that neither needs nor benefits from it. The expense is the the story is chock full of these 1 minute pranks detracting from any sense of severity about their situation.

Reviewers who are complementing the banter between friends as being a captivating part of the book, just... how? Are you not sick to death of the same routine food prep, horseplay, jokes and gimmicks being used on repeat? Do you actually enjoy the author writing even the most meaningless interactions? Jesus, the number of times I've read exchanges like the below make me want to scream:
"hey" I said
"hey Morgan" Thad said
"are you hungry" I said
"you know it" Thad said
"what are you making for dinner" I said
"whatever is good" Thad said with his wide grin while rubbing his belly. That sure got a laugh out of me.

^This. This is not real writing. My 6 year old niece could write a more interesting exchange, and I don't even have a six year old niece.

2) The characters are somehow getting even more paper thin and less believable.

I'm just going to write this as a laundry list of complaints.

The girls in the story are absolutely worthless both from a survival and character POV. Utterly helpless and devoid of any respect for their situation, even the adult women are, effectively, complete zeros in their inability to grasp their environment. They play almost no role in the story line itself as they serve only to nit-pick on domestic issues (think about it: how much different would the story really be if Mel and Bobby were written out of it?). I expect a certain amount of "male-centricity" in a survival series, but the author has literally made their entire existence a tax on the group. Even Jamie, the SpecForce soldier is an insecure clown of no consequence and plays only the most minor role in the story. It was utterly predictable that they would not actually use her shooting skills and instead trade it for a damsel in distress decoy at the DHS base.

Mel is a special kind of awful. The author clearly could not figure out what to do with her. She does not seem to have any concept of what's going on around them unless it impacts the kitchen. Seriously, just remember back to when Morgan shot their 3 neighbors in the head point-blank? Blew the head off of little-bits abductor? Or killed the guy in their front yard? She was somehow right-as-rain within a minute or two and back to fretting about domestic concerns of running low on soap, or wanting better bathroom accommodations. It's just a ridiculous, unbelievable character.

The daughters are, in my humble opinion, the worst part of the story. They somehow make it into nearly ever scene involving Morgan, but they're always either whining or doing something utterly mundane that doesn't bear mentioning. I am not sure how these characters even made it into the book.

The girls in the DHS camp, Jess, Mary and Fred serve zero purpose to the story so far as I can tell. I get it, they're "helpless women" chained up in the detention center waiting to be saved. But nothing, NOTHING that happens to them has any consequence on the forward momentum of the story. At this point you kind of just want them gone.

Jeff, the IT analyst has made quite the transformation. From almost choking to death on bubble gum in his first scene to becoming a well trained Mosin-Nagant wielding hard-ass sniper capable of DHS squad-wipes, the evolution of this character is extreme (in a bad way). I also can't help but notice how the narrator changes the characters voice every other scene or so. Somehow being from AZ he has a ridiculous southern drawl, and being a computer guy he somehow also has a whole heap of unfounded confidence with the ladies.

I won't even get started on Niagata (the interrogator). I couldn't have written a more D-rate, stereotypical character if I tried. I think the author must have been watching zero-dark-thirty when he wrote this one. Also, it's kind of like the author just sort of forgot what to do with the guy -- after developing his character for a few pages he... just kind of has that last meeting with the camp administrator and then *POOF* no further mention.

Quick aside, but somehow everyone in the book is a master tracker, and it's been like that since book 1. I'm sorry, but I don't care if you're a hunter or what -- there is no chance of your average Joe tracking an abductor, or an enemy ATV several miles on the fly without a hitch. It's just ridiculous and it's a common recurring activity in the book.

Morgan... just Jesus Christ. One second he's a family man teaching "little bit" about making food while laughing with Thad, the next second he has absolutely zero reservation about putting a bullet through the head of an abductor, or publicly executing his 3 neighbors. Moments after he's back to his usual fatherly self. His back-and-forth focus between delta-force-esque action hero and superb family man gives me whiplash. It's just not believable.

Thad was a major part of the story for the first two books and was a valued ally to Morgan. He was probably the most likeable character, but he also proved his ferocity by literally disemboweling the man who killed Anita and Tony in a barn and feeding his entrails to the pigs. Then fed another man to the pigs at Reggie's in the last book. Now, somehow, he has lost all appetite for doing anything other than sitting at the camp, grinning, and using the smoker for food prep. What an absolute waste of a character you actually invested time in developing. At this point I kind of hope Thad's character drowns in knee-high river water, or gets backed over by a dump truck -- just to spare him the drawn out death of being relegated to a meaningless role.

Sarge and the 3 army guys are more believable, if not a little annoying at times with their childish antics. I also find the writing and narration consistency for sarge and his team to be among the most believable. Overall, I'd be more enticed to keep reading this book if all the main characters died in a hurricane and sarge and the crew were the only ones left standing. That would at least add some focus and action into the plot.


3) The story line simply is not moving. At all. AT ALL!!!

Slight spoiler alert but at halfway through book 4 I can tell you that they're in EXACTLY the same position as they were at the end of book 3 (all characters). No development in plot or characters has occurred. Each day in the story is literally just CTRL+C, CTRL+V by the author. There is ***literally*** no movement. You can get the audiobook, jump to chapter 30 and miss out on ***nothing***.

It doesn't matter if they're hunting gators, surveying the camp, doing an interrogation, making soap, pouring coffee, you name it. Nothing they do shows any sign of MOVING THE STORY FORWARD AT ALL!

4) Narrator.

It surprises me when I read other comments complementing the narrator. If you think Mr Fontaine is doing a superb job then I highly recommend reading books done by RC Bray, Scott Brick or Ray Porter. It will help recalibrate your idea of what "good" is. Duke is not "bad" but he leaves a lot to be desired. To be fair, I think he has stretches where he does a terrific job in this book, but then other stretches where it's just painful to listen.

Long vocal pauses at random times with vocal emphasis placed on the "wrong" words is not good narration. Neither is an even, monotone of reading of events.

Overall:
I love SHTF novels and was particularly excited about this series given it's length and high reviews, but I've completely lost my enthusiasm for it. I don't know how any person could possibly continue this series, much less enjoy it. Unless you're a middle school boy making your first foray into juvenile literature then I think the probability of falling in love with this series is no more than 0%. If you buy this book -- don't expect it to keep you on the edge of your seat, nor should you expect that it'll make you think. Ultimately the ending is quite... anticlimactic.

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1 personne a trouvé cela utile

enjoyed

I liked it . . . . . . . . . . . said me today.

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1 personne a trouvé cela utile