R. G. Wilson

Everyday people, extraordinary situations

Revisado: 01-03-24

My favorite part of this series is that the MCs are ordinary, not military, not prepers,not survivalists. Firemen, construction workers, teens, and protective moms... all with everything falling apart.

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Too much going on

Revisado: 11-07-23

This started out a great CME Apoc story with a non-prep'er non-SpcOp ordinary Joe, but then we ended up with secret military plans, clandestine military groups, engineered plagues, former military as friends, secret societies, etc. I'm not saying it was horrible, but each new layer made me enjoy it less. I really wish it stayed a great CME Apoc story with an average Joe MC.

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Great Stories to fill Gaps

Revisado: 06-22-23

The stories are great. Fills in a lot of gaps from when characters separate in earlier novels. Also explains why characters chose whatever side they are on. I wish there was a female narrator for the female perspectives, and the voice/intensity chosen for one of the male stories killed me.

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Depends on what you're looking for

Revisado: 06-02-23

I'm going to address the performance before the story because that's quick. In the first 20% of the book, it seemed to me that the narrator didn't have the characters locked in. The pacing/pitch of each character just wasn't always hit solidly, and it bothered me. Two of the female characters sounded the same as well. I truly debated if I wanted to continue listening to the rest of the novel based on this. If you feel the same, just keep going. Shelman locks it all in about 20% of the way through and it is a very solid performance from then on. During the last half, I cannot remember a time when the performance drew attention to itself, which is the highest praise I can give a narrator.

As for the story, it really depends on what you are looking for. This is a great gorefest slice-of-life piece going from the first moments of zombies through about three days. There isn't time for characters to have an arc... it is just too quick. Hernandez introduces several characters and uses the story to really lock in their personalities and relationships, and we get to know the Chronicles of the Dead version of the zombie plague. We get to see what minor bites versus major gore does to the human and the effect that has on how they turn. We get to see a large range of zombies, and a lot of them hit in different ways--how they died, a wide range of ages, what they mean to the main characters, what they look like now, etc.

My only complaint about the story is I don't feel it fully resolves the plot... and I won't touch on that specifically because I'm not doing spoilers here. Just know that this story has more similarities in plot development to Safe Haven or Adrian's Undead Diary (which are both series that I love, even though their first books don't fully resolve) than it does to the books in Cascadia or City series (more books I love). Unlike Safe Haven or Adrian's Undead Diary, Urban Gridlock has a large cast with tight-knit families that rival Flemings novels.

So, in summary: big cast, tight-knit family units, short time span, lots of gore, and a nice take on the severity of zombie bites and how that affects the change.

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Didn't have what I wanted--get the print version

Revisado: 05-25-23

I have the print book, but I don't have as much time to read as I do to listen. I figured I would listen to the book and then reread the fine points. I found that the only Audible copy was an abridged version... which had me very worried. The reviews were mostly good, so I gambled on it and lost. I was hoping for a part of this to touch on Chapter 19 of the printed book--it did not. There were many chapters not touched on, and the few parts that were covered were different. I'm not going to say I didn't learn anything or that I hated what I heard, but it was not "Story" and didn't fit my needs. While the Audible version of Story was good in its own way, it should have had a different title and stated it was inspired by "Story" and not so much an abridged version of it. Now I have to read the print version anyway.

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Favorite climactic scene of the series so far

Revisado: 04-12-23

There were a few more slow sections than I'm used too from Shami, but the payoff was worth it!

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