Eden Rising

By: Andrew Cunningham

Narrated by: Greg Hernandez

"The Earth died in less than a minute. Maybe that's an exaggeration. It's not like the planet ceased to exist altogether. It just seemed like it. Cities were reduced to rubble. Millions of people died that day. I've since been told that 95 percent of the Earth's human population was wiped out. I don't know if that's true - I mean, who can know that for sure? It's not like we still have any of the technology that we once used to determine such things. But I do know that it was almost empty of people - live ones, that is..."

Thus begins the journey of Ben and Lila, two ordinary teenagers forced to rise to extraordinary heights when faced with a world that has suddenly and inexplicably died. Dealing with the sorrow of all they have lost, but the love they have found in each other, they set off on an odyssey that will bring them to the limits of human endurance and face to face with the frailty of their very existence. From the extreme violence of many of the surviving humans toward one another, to a world physically falling apart at the seams, Ben and Lila are determined to make it through the devastation in their quest for a place to quietly share their life together. In the process, they have to become as violent as the world around them in order to survive, while struggling to hold onto the humanity that will keep them sane.

Eden Rising is a survival tale and a love story, but it is also a book that delves deeply into the human psyche to discover just how far we would go to survive, and how much inner strength can be found when things are at their absolute worst.

©2013 Andrew Cunningham (P)2020 Andrew Cunningham

Life lessons!

Loved this story! The true meaning of love. To go through a world that has fallen apart to the true meaning of life! Narrator was great!

Horrible narration.

The reader is awful. He’s very dull and lackluster with no expression or inflection. He sounds as if he’s lecturing to a group of 12 year old boys.

Great storyline, but ...

Could have been more strongly written. Narration sounded like a robot. Just the type of story I like, though.

Intense Dystopian YA Sci-Fi Read!

The Review

This audiobook was not only well-read but incredibly well-written. The action picks up immediately, as the two protagonists find themselves going from awkward teen romance hanging in the air to waking up and finding the people of the world dead.

The author does an amazing job of leaning hard into the dystopian YA sci-fi genre, while also bringing a maturity to the narrative by examining the psychological effect an apocalyptic event like this would have on any survivors, let alone two young teens forced to grow up very quickly. The pain of the loss brings to them a bond that highlights a growing romance, while the horrors they endure in the narrative and the lines they must contend with crossing showcase complex and deep character developments, a key to this novel’s pacing and delivery overall.

The Verdict

A must-read, heart-pounding audiobook and novel, author Andrew Cunningham’s “Eden Rising”, the first in the Eden Rising series, is an edge of your seat dystopian YA novel that is not to be missed. Memorable characters, romance, and deep psychological character studies all define this amazing novel, and readers will not be able to get enough of this wonderful work. Be sure to grab your copy today!

Terrible narration

This book could have used a good editor. The writing is to stiff. The narrator was awful.

Apocalypse Suspense

Good story line but a little bit predictable and some parts somewhat not believable such as these young “kids” learning to defend themselves in such a short time frame. But I really enjoyed the 7+ hours of Highway entertainment. Found ourselves taking the long way to get places just to listen in our car.

Great story terrible narration

Narrator sounded like a computer, no feelings put into the reading. If the next books have same narrator I will skip

Great post apocalypse book

I chose to listen to this book after receiving a free audio copy. All opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased.

I’ve read quite a few post-apocalyptic books, and Eden Rising is one of my favorites. Don’t get me wrong, I like reading about zombies, but what happens in this book seems like something that could really happen. The explanation of how this apocalypse happened made sense, but it was also alarming.

Ben and Lila are strong and well-developed characters. They were so cute to begin with because Ben was trying to get the nerve to ask Lila on a date, and suddenly, they were the only ones alive as far as they knew. They quickly learned to work together and to lean on each other as they dealt with survival, and they soon found that they were deeply in love. Their love story is sweet on top of all of the death and horror that they have to face.

The narrator did a good job. His tone and pace were good, and he was able to express the characters’ emotions well.

I like the ending of Eden Rising for two reasons. First, I liked the ending. Second, and more importantly, it ended at a good point in the series without a cliffhanger. I’m getting ready to listen to the second book, Eden Lost, because I really want to know what’s ahead, but the author didn’t have to use a cliffhanger to make me want to get to the next book.

Love this story

I really enjoyed the story line and the characters in this book, but the narrator was so stilted and lacking in the emotion of the characters it was much less enjoyable than it should have been. Would have been soooo much better with the right reader.

New beginning

First I was very impressed by the author and narrator the story very written and the narrator brought each and ever character alive with both feeling and emotions.
I never read or listen to and book that involves two teenagers from the beginning to the end you live their life as somewhat misfits from broken homes. As the story goes alone you watch as they grow up to face a new world were majority of humans have died and animals are not afraid of humans anymore.
There so many stories in stories of death, new friends and the US trying to restart with some good and bad people who wants to enslave what people are alive and take advantage of them to enrich themselves
This is an awesome read and audible and i highly recommend the book to everyone