Countdown Audiobook By Mira Grant cover art

Countdown

A Newsflesh Novella

Preview

Try for $0.00
Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Countdown

By: Mira Grant
Narrated by: Brian Bascle
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $14.81

Buy for $14.81

Confirm purchase
Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.
Cancel

About this listen

From New York Times best seller Mira Grant comes Countdown, a novella prequel set in the thrilling and treacherous world of Feed.

The year is 2014, the year everything changed. We cured cancer. We cured the common cold. We died.

This is the story of how we rose.

When will you rise?

More from Mira Grant:

Newsflesh

  • Feed
  • Deadline
  • Blackout
  • Feedback
  • Rise

Newsflesh Short Fiction

  • Countdown
  • Everglades
  • Sand Diego 2014
  • How Green This Land, How Blue This Sea
  • The Day the Dead Came to Show and Tell
  • Please Do Not Taunt the Octopus
  • All the Pretty Little Horses
  • Coming to You Live
Also listen to Feed: The Newsflesh Trilogy, Book 1.©2011 Mira Grant (P)2011 Hachette
Anthologies & Short Stories Dystopian Fiction Horror Post-Apocalyptic Science Fiction Scary
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Featured Article: The Best Audiobook Series of All Time by Genre


What makes a good audiobook series? There are as many answers to this question as there are listeners. For some, it might be epic battles. For others, it might be ongoing romantic twists and tensions. For still others, it might be elongated character studies or an in-depth analysis of a particular time and place. But the universal element of a truly great series is that it sticks with you long after the last word. These are our favorites from every major genre.

What listeners say about Countdown

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    190
  • 4 Stars
    110
  • 3 Stars
    35
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    4
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    174
  • 4 Stars
    97
  • 3 Stars
    23
  • 2 Stars
    7
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    175
  • 4 Stars
    89
  • 3 Stars
    34
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    1

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

and then, in the middle, some background.

Prequel information, released in the middle. If you're listening to the series already, you REALLY want this information.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Another Zombie Story, from the start.

this is basically a Zombie story, However it details the Human loss, the Human side of the virus that makes us all zombies in the future. A good listen. While confusing at times, Brian pulled off well. I would not have listened for over six bucks i must admit.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

The story isn’t bad

I read the other books by checking them out in the library I didn’t want to buy the physical copy of this book. It was interesting but the man who voiced it didn’t do a good job doing the female voices. It was kinda creepy

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

This short prequel is better than the main story!

I felt it had more plot and drama than the main novel. The writing was much better and seemed more mature. Maybe it gets better after Feed, but I actually prefer this short story to the novel.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Great prequal

An interesting prequal the other books in the series. Since the current series starts some time after the outbreak, it is interesting to see how the world got from ours to the one we encounter in the other books.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Good plot, terrible performance.

A unique introduction to a horror zombie series. This book is short, but contains a lot of detailed descriptions of biology. The author has an interesting take on the cause of a virus as creating the zombie apocalypse. With the paperbook, the plotline would have been fairly entertaining, but I surely don't recommend the audio book. The narrator's speech was terrible, full of lisps, poor timing, and irrelevant inflections. With that said, the main series has a different narrator who is much better, if not too cheery for a frightful zombie book

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Strong Prequel

Countdown is the story of the events leading up to The Rising, and acts as a prequel to the series. It tracks the scientists working on cures for cancer and the common cold, and the events that lead to these two seemingly wonder cures being released into the world, merging and becoming the Kellis-Amberlee virus, which upon full amplification, revives the dead into zombies. Countdown is full of characters only briefly mentioned in Feed and Deadline, and fills in much of the back story that sets the stage for these novels. You also see a few peripheral characters from the series, and get a glimpse of what they were like before the tragic day that changed the world forever. Yet, none of these characters are the true stars of this tale. The true star is the science of the Kellis-Amberlee virus. Unlike much hard science fiction that presents the science as hard theorem and datum, Mira Grant does what she does best by presenting the science in a beautiful, almost poetic way that allows the reader to do more than simply understand, but to experience it. Grant turns the actual viruses into characters, allowing us to see the transformation from helpful to world destructive in a vivid fashion. Yet, despite being a cautionary tale, Grant never demonizes the science or those involved in the development of the viruses. Instead she just allows us to see them for who they are and what they were hoping to accomplish. Countdown is Mira Grant’s gift to the fans of The Newsflesh World, a prequel that isn’t wooden or forced, but gives us a new perspective to look at the world she created.

This was my first experience listening to Brian Bascle and thought he did a good job. For the most part, he just allowed me to enter into the story and stay there, presenting Grant’s words as they lead me where I needed to go. He has a nice narrative voice, and handled most of the characterizations well. The only characters he struggled with were adolescent girls, which is not strange for male narrators. My only real complaint about the audio production was that the transitions were presented with no real pause letting us know we were moving to another point of view. This would pull me out of the story a bit, when I realized we had switched characters or story arcs. This small complaint wasn’t enough to really detract from a wonderful listening experience.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Read this one first

If you're interested in reading this trilogy, start with this one first. I think the first book should have had these excerpts in it.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Love this fresh approach

I really enjoy the Newsflesh series. I’m a zombie book lover and enjoy this series initially because of this. I stay for all of the additional story lines because the author has created a rich world with characters that are intriguing and well rounded. I well understand why this series has won awards. Those who like this unusual genre will be drawn in by this new refreshing look.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

You can't cure the common cold!

Looks to be an interesting story, we'll see how it develops. BTW, I don't think the common cold can be cured; it's a virus.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!