Desolation

By: ML Banner

Narrated by: Mikael Naramore

A world devastated: a sky filled with magical auroras at night and deadly radiation during the day; technology all but gone; hundreds of millions dead by fire, starvation, disease, and violence. The survivors will have to face their own desolation.

Three groups struggle to endure and hold onto what little they have, while others will do anything to take it all. On a beach in Mexico, a small town in Wyoming, and a rural ranch in Illinois, epic battles between good and evil will be fought. Winners will have to face forces of nature never seen before.

But, there is a dim light on the horizon. A 150-year-old secret may lead the lucky few to a place that holds the promise of a new future, unless the sun doesn't set on humanity first.

This is the stunning follow-up to the #1 Amazon best seller Stone Age.

©2014 Toes in the Water Publishing, LLC (P)2015 Toes in the Water Publishing, LLC

Desolation a serious view of a possible future.

What did you love best about Desolation?

I first stumbled onto ML Banner’s book the “Stone Age” which was his first book. This book brought to light an apocalyptic scenario I had not seen before in any other book. It is based on the 1859 Carrington Event with real facts and possibilities. No other book provided the insight of what a solar coronal mass ejection (CME) might be like, nor what the results could be. That book really hit home. It shook me to the core and as former Marine I could see the facts being provided and backed up by a scientific viewpoint. I could not wait to read his second book “Desolation”. The second book was just as good and provided a continuation of the story and further insight to the fallout of a CME. The characters both developed and continued, seem to spring to life throughout the tale. I know this is a work of fiction but after many years of human study I believe they are spot on. In conclusion I would say these books are a required read for anybody with an open mind, and the insight to be prepared for what the future might bring. Thank you ML for providing a much needed view of a possible catastrophic event which might be in our future.

What about Mikael Naramore’s performance did you like?

His performance was great and he brought life to the story.

If you were to make a film of this book, what would the tag line be?

A possible catastrophic event which might be looming in our future!

Engaging, Character Driven;Good v Evil

A solar flare has devastated the world as we know it. Electronic technology is gone, the cities are in flames and conductive surfaces, such as water, continue to give off electrocuting charges. Many are dying from starvation and disease, not to mention violence as people sink to thievery and worse trying to protect themselves and obtain food for their families.

Maxwell Thomas is a wealthy man who was prepared for the disaster. He had several homes and escape plans. He even knows of a secret community, Cicada, where the scientists were to gather for survival. Unfortunately Max has been ‘commandeered’ by a drug cartel with some vicious members. He must escape and get back to Bill and Lisa King in a resort community in Mexico.

Bill and Lisa have supplies thanks to their good friend, Max. They are willing to help others in their community until neighbors try to take the supplies by force.

Far away, in Illinois, “the Teacher” leads a religious group of followers. He has gathered an army of men to protect him and provide the basic needs of shelter, food and water for the crowd that follows. Since their supply is limited they conscript the followers to work, including attacking communities along their path to fill the needs of the cult.

College student, Darla King and her younger brother, Danny are walking away from the fires of Chicago, trying to get to their grandparents’ home in Michigan. It is a dangerous world to be traveling as wicked men are willing to rape and murder and steal the resources that are found along the way. After several attacks and difficult escapes, Darla and Danny stumble into the cult crowd. Darla quickly learns that crowds are not always safe.

Steve Parkington, Darla’s boy interest, and his father have crashed in their small plane. They find themselves with a small group of survivors on a well-stocked and protected ranch, known as Wright ranch.

In Nebraska, Maggie, an astronaut and scientist, becomes the sole survivor of a space capsule crash. Now she must fend for herself in a hot and hostile world. Along the way she will rescue and be aided by another scientist who is traveling by bicycle to get to Cicada.

I was quickly engaged by the good characters and their battle against the evil forces. I liked the excellent story telling writing style which pulled me in and made me care about the characters. The author shifts among the scenes until the people and groups converge.There seemed to be a few loose ends but I still was engaged and enjoyed the tale.

I did not realize this was a second book in a series until I started it. I wish I had read/listened to them in order but still this was good but I could tell that I missed some character build up as well as the initial disaster. I will want to pick up the first book and I am also interested in the Cicada series that follows these events even if it is set years later.

Audio Notes: Mikael Naramore does a good job with the various voices and the emotional energy of the story. He also delivers the narrative with strong, appropriate pacing. The narration made this an easy and engaging listen, enhancing the story.

I received this audio from the publisher for an honest review. My rating 4.25.

Another Great Story from ML Banner

Would you listen to Desolation again? Why?

No. Listening to a book you have to take your time to listen to make sure that you know what is going on in the story. Whereas, if I had read the book, I probably would have burned through it at certain points and might have missed something, because I wanted to know what was going to happen. I would be more apt to go back in the book and re-read what I had missed versus going back and trying to find what I didn't hear.

What does Mikael Naramore bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I love the different voices. You have some audiobooks where you cringe when you hear the reader try to create different voices for all the characters, but this isn't one of the cringe worthy audio books.

Any additional comments?

I really enjoyed all of the different scenarios that were going on for everyone in the story. I thought that they all wove well with each other. I was never confused as to who was who or where each of the scenarios were taking place. I had never read the first book in the Stone Age series, but have read Cicada. So now knowing where each of these characters came from in the first place was great for me!

How do we survive this new world?

Desolation takes place after the storm that wiped out most of the worlds power and has devastated both people are places.

The narration was good for this. I have no complaints but I don't really know what else to say about it. His voice was good for this type of fiction, but I didn't come away wowed or bored. But this is better than some I've heard recently.

I have to start my review off by saying that I did not read the original story in this series before reading this. I'm kind of regretting that. I'm not sure if the people in the Desolation came from Stone Age (book one) but there was little to no character development at all. This is a series I would highly recommend you read the first before trying to read the second. With that being said, I also don't think this works as a stand-alone -- for the reason listed above and because there wasn't much explanation as to why the world was the way it was. It was just a "this is how it is now" type of story.

I have a really hard time rating something like this because I don't know if I would have liked it more had I read Stone Age or not. The story just felt drawn out and kind of plain. I seriously wonder if most of the bang was written in book one.

The story had some neat characters in it that had slightly better back stories and more interesting story arcs. But overall most characters felt underdeveloped and underutilized throughout.

Overall, with not much to go on this book was missing quite a bit. But I hate rating it low for that reason -- so I'm going to give it an above average rating just because I did finish it. It was enjoyable enough to read from beginning to end.

I may revisit this if I get a chance to read the other book and see what I think of it after I understand they who and why of some of the people within.

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