Hard to take seriously

This sometimes felt a little campy to me. I did enjoy the story but it’s hard to take it seriously at times. The narrator was ok. Not my favorite but she did an ok job.

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

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Arrival

A good book.It reminded me a bit of 'Under the Dome',but,it was still good.A paramedic gets stuck on the other side of the dome from her children.Chelsea Stephens was a very good narrator.I am looking forward to book 2.I was given this book by the narrator,author or publisher free for an honest review.

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Not bad...

This one's not bad... Easy to listen to and good narration. There are way too many storylines though for such a short book, and none of the characters is ever truly developed. The book doesn't really stick to any one genre, and seems to borrow entirely too much from other well-known movies and authors. It's a bit of a mash-up of every good sci-fi/horror drama you can binge on Netflix over the weekend. Personally, I think the authors have more talent than what is presented here, because all in all the various storylines aren't bad and could each be developed in to a very good book. Not a bad effort though, and an easy enough listen on a long road trip. ***This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.***

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Odd and not that good.

The main charachter in this book is about the most frustrating charachter I've ever read. Her personality is like a tangle of a half a dozen different annoying charachter tropes all mixed together. In one scene she can go from overly tough to a complete coward and there isn't a lot of explanation as to why. There is no consistency to any of the charachters and there seems to be a disaster looking in the most mundane of scenes. Side charachters get completely forgotten and the ending isn't satisfying at all.

The story premise manages to be original and overdone at the same time.


Spoiler: in one awful scene the main character and her partner, who are both armed (one with a gun the other a large knife) are running from a group of three unarmed "homless" people in a tunnel. I another scene the same main character takes on three 7 foot invulnerable beasts alone in unarmed combat (and guess who wins?). It hurt to get through this one.

I received this book for free in exchange for a fair review.

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1 person found this helpful

I am definitely itching for the second book!

Arrival, War on Earth, is the first book of Zach Bohannon’s and J. Thorn’s apocalyptic-thriller series…

And I am definitely itching for the second book!

Before I go any further, I want to make sure that I am perfectly clear and transparent on a few things. One, I am not an avid book reader or a connoisseur of audiobooks. I prefer movies and video games, with an occasional TV show thrown in now and then. With that said, when I do find a book to read, it has to grab me and not feel like a chore. The same can be said about audiobooks; however, thanks to a free Audible code from one of the authors (thanks!), this was my first audiobook, so, I wasn’t sure what to expect!

Since my knowledge of books is limited, I will refer to the basic school principles of a good story. Just like any good book, this story has a beginning, middle, and an end. But this story’s progression starts off good, then is great, and then it is fantastic! However, what is most interesting to me, is that this book is part of the beginning of something bigger - and that is what has me excited for more!

Overall, the story follows a day-in-the-life of Maya: a mom with two kids, a divorcee to a crazy ex-husband who will do ANYTHING to keep his kids, an EMT along with her younger partner, Reno, and a loving daughter to a mother who loves her grandkids.

Initial, the story started out slow for me, but, as it progressed, I was finding more and more things to relate to. What stuck out to me the most was Maya’s two kids, Laura (young teen) and Aiden (pre-teen); they reminded me of my daughter and son in some ways. Listening to how she spent her day as an EMT was also interesting and made me think of some of my friends who are nurses. And hearing her relationship struggles was eye-opening for someone who is married and can’t imagine life without his wife (this guy). ;)

Throw in a couple other intriguing moments, such as Reno’s attraction and affection for Maya, (we can see it Maya, why can’t you?!), and her crazy ex (who I do NOT want to talk about), and you got yourself some drama! And we haven’t even reached the main “problem” the characters have to deal with yet - the apocalypse! And that is where I will leave that!

Although I stated earlier that this story started out slow, the pace was nice. What it even better for me is that I wasn’t reading the character build up to the story; I was listening to Chelsea Stephens, the narrator. WOW! She did an excellent job narrating in her natural tone, as well as, changing up her tone, and sometimes accent, to fit the character she was reading for. If I am going to listen to audiobooks, I hope she is narrating! Of course, I am sure I will find others I like, but, she made my audiobook enjoyable.

When I finally got to the end, I realized there would be more, but, I was not disappointed in how it ended. I felt I got enough closure to comfortably wait for the next book. It’s not like some TV shows where you feel like the network and producers just want to be jerks and make you suffer while you wait several months for the next season to start; it felt comfortable where the authors left this book off. Of course, I want more, but, I’m happy where they left it and look forward to the next installment - NOW GET TO WRITING Zach and Jay! ;)

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OK

This book reminded me of the series the Doom with war of the worlds mixed in. I wouldn't have minded it so much since I love both the series and the movie but I found the main character really annoying and I could not connect with her. The other secondary characters I felt were OK. They did things I did not like but they felt real unlike Maya. I felt she was to good to be true. The other thing is that I found it had a lot of slow moments and this dragged the book.

It is OK but it is not the best that I have read/listened too.

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2 people found this helpful

Surprise Visit

The authors actually took the time to introduce some characters and give them a story before the invasion was brought into the plot The audio didn’t even seem to be science fiction for the first couple hours. Good story, good characters, and an interesting invasion.
And the narrator is an excellent choice for the main character.

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1 person found this helpful

Good Sci-Fi Adventure.

Would you listen to Arrival again? Why?

Yes............... it was an entertaining experience with a good narrator.

What did you like best about this story?

It was a combination of different types of genres, you do not even realize its Sci-Fi untill the
story is more advanced.

What about Chelsea Stephens’s performance did you like?

She made the story better then reading the book.

If you could rename Arrival, what would you call it?

A new Era.

Any additional comments?

This book was given to me for free at my request and I provided this voluntary review.

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13 people found this helpful

War of the Worlds Under the Dome

I knew going into this book that a dome was going to come down or up around the city. While it isn’t the same story from Under The Dome, it felt very similar and was glad that even the authors acknowledged this by giving a nod to Stephen King’s book. Also had a bit of War of the Worlds feel. The rest of the plot is your standard need to go rescue someone and the journey that takes them on.
Fast paced and exciting after you get through the initial setup of the story, although other than the whole alien invasion there were some aspects that seemed a little far stretched, even for sci-fi. Definitely has some syfy channel vibes. The two main characters are well developed and you sympathize with Maya and her goal of getting to her children knowing what they have been through with her ex-husband. She is a strong woman who cares too much for her profession and seems to want to be the caregiver to everyone, even when it isn’t in her best interest.
There is a brief part of the plot that revolves around mole people. Always enjoy mole people and their way of life. Sadly they weren’t as involved in the plot as I would have liked and weren’t really necessary for the greater story. From there we are introduced to the aliens coming down from the sky that are going to take over all while Maya keeps trying to get to her kids. Given the large number of books out there like this I’m not totally sure I will continue with the story. In the end I just didn’t think that this offered anything new and was just a mixture of other plots that established themselves.
Chelsea Stephens does a great job narrating. I liked her character voices except for Reno, just didn’t think it fit his personality. Hopefully she will reprise her role for the next books.
I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

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2 people found this helpful

good story with a frustrating main character

I was given this free review copy audio book at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Although I liked the overall story, and even thought it was well narrated, I just never grew to like the main character. I just found her down right unlikeable at times and never connected with her character. I liked a lot of the secondary characters more than her. Anyway, with that in mind, I still enjoyed the book and think it is worth checking out. I would be open to the next book in the trilogy... who knows, maybe Maya is redeemed in book 2.

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1 person found this helpful