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The Final Day cover art

The Final Day

Written by: William R. Forstchen
Narrated by: Bronson Pinchot
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Publisher's Summary

The highly anticipated follow-up to William R. Forstchen's New York Times best-sellers, One Second After and One Year After, The Final Day immerses listeners once more in the story of our nation's struggle to rebuild itself after an electromagnetic pulse wipes out all electricity and plunges the country into darkness, starvation, and terror.

After defeating the designs of the alleged federal government, John Matherson and his community have returned their attention to restoring the technologies and social order that existed prior to the EMP (Electro-Magnetic Pulse) attack. Then the government announces that it is ceding large portions of the country to China and Mexico. The Constitution is no longer in effect, and what's left of the US Army has been deployed to suppress rebellion in the remaining states.

The man sent to confront John is General Bob Scales, John's old commanding officer and closest friend from prewar days. Will General Scales follow orders, or might he be the crucial turning point in the quest for an America that is again united? As the dubious Federal government increasingly curtails liberty and trades away sovereignty, it might just get exactly what it fears: revolution.

©2017 William R. Forstchen (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

What listeners say about The Final Day

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Self indulgent and not for non Americans

Ok, so I love the genre we used to call "The end of the world" or post apocalyptic, which is now called any number of things. Much of the time, if it's set in the USA, there's a fair amount of "rah-rah America" chest thumping in the novels. Which would maybe be called "patriotic" to someone of that country, but if you aren't...it's a bit loonytunes. I'm Canadian. Born in the 60s. Lived through the real Cold War. I love my country but do I wish to replay the war of 1812? Nope, no I don't. And in no case would I think that being a British soldier in a re-enactment would give me enough clout after the world ends to become a leader and take on the big evil government! Even if I played a general, too. (I know, I know, technically John is a retired general with no battle experience, but our military doesn't work this way, I don't think your's does, either. Writer is not ex-military, for sure.)

One Second After was good. What I hated, was in the middle of a battle-- in book 1 or 2, I forget--they literally STOPPED before evacuating, and have a conversation about John's daughter being pregnant. In what world EVER would that happen if you had at best an hour to evacuate? No woman would think,"oh, we have to talk about this, now". And neither should a man with sense. It was silly and if it had only happened once it would have been ok, but this kind of stuff happened more than once in the series.
Contrivance in order to wax philosophical or not, it's annoying. I honestly don't believe if we were on our last gasp as survivors we'd really care about a teenage pregnancy, especially not if we've already dispatched our dog(s).

What else did I dislike? All the political foolishness. The US of A is not the only country that READS. Nor do we in the rest of the world really care about President Washington kneeling in the snow, unless we're reading history books, which we aren't. I'm interested in American history, but not when I'm escaping from realism while listening to End of the world books.

This review may change, it's not really a review of this book more a summary of gripes. Still an hour 15 mins to go.

1 person found this helpful

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Struggled to finish

I could not engage with this at all.Bronson is a good narrator and he is the reason I bought this book.For some reason I am psychologically compelled to finish a book. This one put me to sleep so often I cant even remember the 'hero's" name. A total waste for me.

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  • Ben
  • 2022-01-08

Had to finish the story

The author has an annoying tendency to draw out dialog between characters and often has them repeat themselves over and over again. everything else was alright. Alot of forced history through the dialog as well but that's ok, I like history. The one thing that pisses me off the most, spoiler alert, is that you never find out who the double crossing spy is so he could be roasted by John later.

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Excellent book

Very well read, the narrator Bronson Pinchot really brought the book to life. Having had all the books from this trilogy read to me would highly recommend this process.

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A great end to a great story.

I loved this series. It is hard to wrap such a storyline up but he did a great job with this final book.

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  • shelley
  • 2017-01-04

The narrator didn't ruin it for me..

Ok, so Joe Barrett did an awesome job narrating the first book and I was hesitant about buying the second book but did and once I started listening the narrator became secondary. I pretty much felt the same way about this book. The book is so good and the narrator does a good job, it's not his fault he's not Joe!!
For anyone who doesn't know the series, this is the third book and probably would not make a whole lot of sense with out listening to the other two books in order beforehand.
About the book: WOW!!! This book is really good, it picks up right where the last one left off. The story continues with the hardships and the discoveries of older computers that had been stored away and were off line and off the electric grid when the EMPs went off. I'm talking old machines with the standard 14" screens. But the new powers that be don't like this and there is a final confrontation that makes you sit back and think that Yes, I can see this happening. Scary. The end is kind of melancholy but good.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
If you found this review helpful please indicate so.
Thank You.

154 people found this helpful

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  • Ohio reader
  • 2017-01-11

best dystopian trilogy ever

Any additional comments?

I've read many a dystopian novel & trilogy in my 80 years, but never one so well written as this by a master storyteller, read by a narrator who so richly conveyed the various characters, and a cast of characters to care about. This story brought me to tears several times, but is far from maudlin. Again, the very best dystopian story ever. Read all three books. They're well worth the time.

66 people found this helpful

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  • Patrick
  • 2017-01-06

Jaw dropping conclusion to a chilling and dark potential future...

I read the first novel in this series based on a scary NPR piece about the potential risk that faces our power grid from EMP and what could happen and was unable to put it down... As was also true for the second installment, I could not stop myself from finishing this book. Thankfully with whisper I was able to sync up and keep on with it while working. Finishing it in a marathon read.
Stunning. A truly great story, superb performance and breathtaking experience as a whole. If you have not read the first novel you really should start there. I suggest, on and autumn or winter Friday night following work and call in Monday, because once you start you won't stop.
This is an eye opener work of fiction witch has all the terrible consequence of real world potential for actually happening. But be warned, it will rend your heart in two over and over again while the fate of your favorite characters play out.

27 people found this helpful

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  • Dan
  • 2017-01-30

Better than One Year After

This was better than the last novel but it definitely did not have the same heart as part one. One thing I really liked was revisiting a character from part one that was not in part two. I enjoy the narrator but little things bug me. One character's name is pronounced different than the forst two parts. Thankfully, though, New Jersey native John Matherson lost the Southern accent he developed between parts 1 and 2. The storyline had some plot holes and reality issues that gave the appearance that Mr. Forstchen is tired of this story and wants to move on. With all that said, I did enjoy it overall and find it a fitting end to the series. I hate to see it end but feel the passion ended with part one, which I listen to repeatedly.

21 people found this helpful

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  • Wayne
  • 2017-01-09

'I love it when a plan comes together'

The After trilogy is complete and it ends as well as possible. The Final Day has some real surprises. The novels should be listened to in order.

The first novel in the series, One Second After, was narrated flawlessly by Joe Barrett. One Year After was narrated poorly by Bronson Pinchot using a fake southern accent. This novel is narrated again by Bronson Pinchot but without the fake southern accent. Pinchot is still not nearly as good as Barrett, but he does an excellent job.

I very highly recommend the After trilogy.

18 people found this helpful

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  • Doug Crutcher
  • 2017-01-04

Sorry William I could not get past chapter one

First and formost I am a huge fan of One Second After, and was so excited when One Year came out but the narrator change made it so hard to enjoy. So when The Final Day came out on Audible I bought it and gave it a try.
Sorry to say I could not get past chapter 1 . For me there was no life to the characters, no passion no real way to discern between them. My suggestion try another narrator and I
Will buy them both again and try them.
Your stories are awesome but you need
Someone to deliver them that does not sound like a parent who has read the same tired story to his children over And over again.

18 people found this helpful

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  • jim
  • 2017-01-06

A great ending/...

Classic story telling not far fetched as one with think with idiots who are plotting against our world.

13 people found this helpful

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  • Jason S Lewis
  • 2017-01-04

excellent book but narration needs work

it was a good story to finish it. the main grip I have is that the narrator performance of this book was not as good as the last one. he did not use same voice for characters and sometime it was hard to discern who was talking bc characters sounded same. other than that I enjoyed to book. it shows the struggle of trying to be loyal to what seems as a legitimate govt and standing for the US Constitution. it shows the struggles good men have to go through to keep honor and integrity in a messed up situation. and though this story in the trilogy is over the author can always continue the story in this universe by going through how the USA goes to reclaim the rest of the USA from the foreign powers still occupying parts of it.

13 people found this helpful

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  • Kevin B.
  • 2017-01-07

Mr. Forstchen does it again!

If you liked "One Second After" and "One Year After", "The Last Day" is a must to listen and/or read. It was the perfect ending to the series. Bronson, the narrator of "One Year After" is back and better then ever. His narration brings this story to life. Looking forward to listening to and reading all three books again soon.

12 people found this helpful

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  • Kelly
  • 2017-01-14

I sure hope there will be another one.

I enjoyed listening to all three books. The story held my interest and I could hardly wait for this book to be released. You should make a movie from the three.

11 people found this helpful

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  • harel
  • 2021-01-10

it's good but the first book was the best

it's not uninteresting, it's definitely more military oriented than the other books. I listened to the first one because it felt like what would happen after a cataclysmic event. I'd say I had to listen to the two other books because I wanted to know the end but it was deprived of the substance I was interested in at first.