Survivors

By: Terry Nation

Narrated by: Carolyn Seymour

A deadly virus spreads across the world as quickly as the passenger jets that encircle it. Within weeks most of the global population is dead. The human race is thrown back into the dark ages. The few left alive must rely on the most basic skills to survive one day to the next.

Abby Grant ventures out into a strange new England, her husband dead, the fate of her son unknown. Jenny Richards flees London. Engineer Greg Preston arrives from abroad. Desperate lone travellers come together, their instincts to form a community, even if that means rebuilding civilisation from scratch.

But not all who are left have such high ideals.... And while she has the chance of a new beginning, Abby cannot settle until she knows the truth. Has her son survived?

©1976 Terry Nation (P)2014 Big Finish Productions

Pandemic Survival

Although this novelisation ties-in to the 1970's BBC TV series this book stands on it's own as an absorbing post-apocalyptic survival story. Survivors is a story that looks at the fall of civilisation following a pandemic and how the people who survived it deal with the world that is left behind. Even though the book features the main characters from the TV series and treads some of the same ground, no knowledge of the TV show is required as Terry Nation tells the whole story in this book.(With a different - and radical - ending!)

The atmosphere of this novel is intense. As the story unfolds the ominous sense of foreboding is palpable. From the onset of the pandemic to the struggle for survival in post-apocalyptic Britain Terry Nation takes his characters on a journey through emotional turmoil, some savagery and genuine horror as the world unravels in the catastrophe of the viral apocalypse.

This audio book is well narrated by Carolyn Seymour (Abby in the original Survivors TV Series) and Carolyn manages to keep all of the character's voices consistent and delivers the reading in just the right tone for this type of book.

Absolutely Horrible

What could have made this a 4 or 5-star listening experience for you?

This book left me fuming.
Loved the premise, horrible execution. The characters aren't particularly likable and little is provided to explain their behavior, like walking around unarmed after the end of the world. Stupid people who seem incapable of learning from previous mistakes.
What was up with Ruth's makeup?
What happened to the evil rich bitch?
Did Knox get his comeuppance?
We'll never know.
The sub plots that could have made this story interesting are never developed. There's some conflict with political factions vying for power and bad people tacking advantage of the week. No payback, no resolution to these story threads.

Would you ever listen to anything by Terry Nation again?

Absolutely not!

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Survivors?

The last 2 minutes of this train wreck. Seriously, what was the point in killing off the main character at the very end of the book? The death had no meaning. It was like the author suddenly realized he'd reached the minimum word limit. If I'd wanted a Greek tragedy, I would have picked a different book.