Wasteland Marshals Volume One

Wasteland Marshals, Book 1

De: Gail Z. Martin, Larry N. Martin

Narrado por: Roger Wayne

The world ended. Then things got tough.

Shane Collins and Lucas Maddox are the last two US Marshals after a global cataclysm that destroyed most of modern civilization. They're still on the job, fighting the good fight, although they're no longer fully human and maybe not entirely sane.

Witches and werewolves were not covered in their training as US Marshals. Then again, neither was the Apocalypse.

It's hard enough trying to navigate a new world of monsters, magic, and no decent takeout. Then there's the strange magic corrupting the land that affects them more now that Shane is tied to the collections of magical energy throughout the countryside, and Lucas has an ancient elemental spirit riding shotgun in his head.

Yeah, they never mentioned this stuff in training.

The Wasteland Marshals series is an action-packed near-future post-apocalyptic thriller full of grim ghosts, legendary creatures, shifters, and elemental spirits, brave survivors, loyal friends, and found family. This omnibus includes the first four novellas: Wasteland Marshals, Witch of the Woods, Ghost of the Past, and Shutdown Crew.

©2022 Gail Z. Martin and Larry N. Martin (P)2023 Tantor

Very happy with this purchase

I enjoyed the stories when I read them but, as often happens, turning the books into an audiobook adds a different dimension that bumps the story(ies) up a notch. I was thrilled to find that the authors had decided to turn the first 3 Wasteland Marshals stories into an audiobook omnibus. I couldn’t use a Credit fast enough!

The first story builds the world of the dystopian future of earth and the relationship of the marshals; two men who’ve been best friends since childhood. I normally don’t enjoy dystopian stories but these work for me. There are some paranormal elements and enough good people to keep the tales from being dark and depressing. There is no romance, just 2 friends who have always been there for each other.

Loved It!!!

Great start to a great series! I only wish that the next book was available, and the next one after that, and the next one after that…

Great Start

Really enjoyed this. Hope there is more of their journey coming to continue the story. Narrator was great as well.

Finally, a read worthy of the genre…

Dystopian apocalypse, magic, sentient AI robots, ghosts, werewolves, zombies, AND a strong plot, solid writing and action? Credit-worthy.

Weird shift between the book parts

Part one of the book hooked me, but part 2? I swear the characters totally switched personalities and, unless I’m crazy, appearances. The overall story tone changed as well, as though a lot of time passed between writing the first and second parts and the author couldn’t get back into the same groove.
The narration couldn’t have been better. 10/10 for the voice actor.

Not as gripping as I expected

Urban sci-fi fantasy in the apocalypse is my jam (hello, Kate Daniels or Hell Divers), so the core concept was great. The four novella format should have been the perfect vehicle to get right to the action and supernatural. Instead, this played more like the weird western genre (Six Gun Tarot, for instance), except lighter on gothic, grit and horror.

These four stories ended up being rather dry and lacking memorable characters. The development of the MCs was interesting and probably my favorite part. Aside from Lucas and Shane, however, there weren’t supporting characters or villains or creatures that captivated me.

Each story plods along, focusing more on explaining how the world faced nuclear disaster three years prior, yet failing to convince me how the supernatural elements became ascendant in such a short time. There’s a level of detail on weird things, like an extended discussion on the difference between shifters and werewolves. These worked for me when I thought of them like Twilight Zone or Black Mirror episodes: each book picked a sci-fi or fantasy concept and then asked what if (A.I.s continued to evolve after the apocalypse, government research ran amok after the apocalypse, etc).

Ultimately, cool concepts weren’t enough to leave me chomping at the bit for more. I craved more action, more than two fleshed out characters, and more plot than having two Marshals riding into a new locale to slowly uncover, and then quickly defeat, a vaguely developed menace.