Isolated Domain

By: Tyler Drinkard

Narrated by: Benjamin Powell

Length: 4 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's summary

Stolen uranium, a partner on the run, and one dark secret.

Hare has stolen imported goods since he can remember. Sure, it wasn’t the most honest living, but in the conurb where amenities are scarce, there wasn’t much opportunity for “honest work”.

Everything was going smoothly, and Hare kept a low profile until his partner suddenly decided to steal something priceless for himself. Now, Hare finds himself at the center of a police operation, desperately trying to find his partner with the help of his best friend, Chunk. As Hare embarks on a journey far and wide, will he be able to find him and bring him back? Or will he discover that there are much bigger secrets under play?

One thing is for sure, though. This journey is going to change Hare’s life forever. The question is, will it be for better, or for worse? Explore an unforgiving dystopian science-fiction ride with thrills and surprises.

©2023 Drinkard Digital LLC (P)2023 Drinkard Digital LLC

There's a good story here, but it wasn't developed

I received a free review copy of this audio book, at my request, and am voluntarily leaving this unbiased review.

The synopsis for this book really hooked me. Something big, stolen, that leads to unraveling everything the main character thinks they know? Count me in! However, in this case, while it delivers the premise, it doesn't develop it into a compelling story.

Part of the problem, with this story, is the length, in both ways. This story introduces a new society, economic system, food system, etc, all in about 4 hours, with all the story. This means a lot of info dumps early on, to set everything up. Not exactly leading to riveting stuff. This also means that with nearly half the story setting up the setting and background, the other half is basically sprinting from event to event with no time to set up situations, explain their relevance, or most importantly establish a mystery.

On the flip side, 4 hours was far too long on a book that was a struggle to invest in.

The lack of a mystery, was the biggest issue for me. I went into this, with an expectation of a plot to figure out. Of a character unraveling something, and following along as things are revealed. Instead, the story bumbles from exposition to exposition, never building the plot or twisting expectations. It was dull.

The characters are all, similarly, flat and dull. No real depth, back story or complexity. The characters are basically all, what you see is what you get. Not surprising, for a story of this length, but with nothing else going on, the characters could have been a way to bring it together.

The voice narration, by Benjamin Powell, was also kind of dull. There was no inflection, no differencing between characters, no bringing the book to life. It was just a plain read.

All in all, there is a good story here, that just wasn't developed. I think if the author were to sit down and turn this 4.5 hour story into a 8 hour story, there may be something worth listening to. The world needs to be built and shown, not explained to the reader. The characters need to be brought to life. And the mystery needs to be slowly and purposely unraveled, rather than stumbled through.
Overall, it wasn't great, but I've listened to.