The Last Zombie Ocean, Book 1

By: Michael John Grist

Narrated by: Sean Patrick Hopkins

Seven billion zombies. One man.

When the zombie apocalypse hits America, not a soul is left alive.

Except Amo. He's a comic book artist. He's a video game world builder. He's just a regular guy living in New York City, with only his wits, creativity, and basic decency to guide him.

He's alone against Seven billion zombies. Will he survive?

'Robinson Crusoe' meets the zombie apocalypse like you've never seen it before, packed with adventure, gore, and a mind-blowing twist. A tale of post-apocalyptic, zombie survival action that kicks off the Zombie Ocean series, continued in Book 2, The Lost. Burning questions will be raised and answered, like:

• How do you survive when the whole world wants to eat you?
• Where does hope come from when you're the last one alive?
• Where are all the zombies going, and what on earth do they really want?

Would you survive? Measure yourself against Amo - scroll up and get your copy now.

If you like apocalyptic stories like I Am Legend, The Girl with All the Gifts, or The Walking Dead you will love this book.

©2016 Michael John Grist (P)2016 Michael John Grist

A love hate relationship

Would you try another book from Michael John Grist and/or Sean Patrick Hopkins?

Yes and yes.

Would you be willing to try another book from Michael John Grist? Why or why not?

Yes because he obviously thinks outside the box.

What does Sean Patrick Hopkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

His performance was perfect for the main character. Any other voice and I don't think I would have made it through the book.

Was The Last Zombie Ocean, Book 1 worth the listening time?

Yes even though there were times I really thought I'd had enough.

Any additional comments?

I really bought the book because I had to know why the comments were so confused. Now I understand why. There were things that just plainly infuriated me. What exactly happened in the beginning? How does someone who writes about zombies know so little about survival type things? No matter how unlikely the zombie apocalypse is theres just no way you could not have the "how would I" thoughts if you write about it. These things and more made me want to throw it in. However, its just so different a story that I just just had to know what happened. I sincerely hope there is another book to answer some questions, and if there is, Lord help me, I won't be able to pass it up.

My first zombie apocalypse book!

Any additional comments?

I loved the HECK out of this book. Going in, I had no idea what to expect. I've never read/listened to anything of this particular genre. I was so pleasantly delighted by it, and I can't wait to listen to the next one! Wil Wheaton used to be my favorite audible narrator, but Sean Patrick Hopkins may have just taken the top spot.

I really loved it, but really didn't love it......

I really really loved the book, but at the same time, I really didn't love it, if that makes sense. I don't want to say I disliked it or hated it, because that's too extreme. The good parts were awesome. The bad parts were just ridiculously stupid.

If you're like me and love the blood, guts and fear of true zombies, this isn't your book. These aren't zombies at all. So it's like a bait and switch. You look at the cover and are expecting a true zombie book. Nope, you aren't getting that here. This book is like "I Am Legend" except the bloodthirsty mutants are lovable pussycats that just want to cuddle. You end up feeling sorry for them, which is fine, just as long as you're ok with not hating the "zombies" of a zombie book. I ended up really liking this storyline.....it was interesting.
How the "zombies" came to be though, now that was just stupid! The author can write so well and tell a story so complete and thoroughly captivating, but then he adds in something like how this all came to be and I just can't get over it. (I won't give it away in my review.)

I'm giving this book an overall rating of 4 stars. The story gets a 3.5 rating, rounded down to 3. If the cover of the book had been different, it would have helped my rating. That bio-hazard symbol should not be there. This was a very sudden apocalypse. There was no quarantine or anything. It all happened overnight. So that symbol is very misleading. The stumbling zombies on the book, did not happen. These are running, dried and withered people, very similar to the "I Am Legend" creatures in appearance. And if the apocalypse had come about any other way that how it did (still, soooo very stupid) my rating would have been higher. But I'm still stuck on that.

The narration was perfection. 5 stars all around for Mr. Hopkins! <3

I'm looking forward to book 2! Maybe the author can explain "the big bang" to where it's more believable and the idea be more accepted.

This book was given to me for free in exchange for an honest review.

Nice twist!

Not the average zombie tale. Had a very surprising twist to it. Refreshing! Very different from any zombie story i have seen so far.

Amazing New Zombies

Would you listen to The Last Zombie Ocean, Book 1 again? Why?

Of course because this is just too awesome to not listen to/read again.

What other book might you compare The Last Zombie Ocean, Book 1 to and why?

There isn't a zombie book to compare this to because it is so unlike the others

What does Sean Patrick Hopkins bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

He gave the story life and character that it wouldn't have just coming from the pages on their own.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

It was really hard to stop listening because i just had to know what happened next.

Any additional comments?

This book was awesomely written and had great narration by Sean Patrick Hopkins. I loved hearing all the struggles and different turns that the apocalypse took. This was truly awesome world to get sucked up into and everything wasn't at all what I expected. I've read several zombie books but this one is in a category of its own.

It was very weird and to fast. NOT ZOMBIES!

really cool to start good idea but it is not zombies it doesn't even mention they're actually dead! and the cuddling thing was just strange wrong audience for that kind of thing I think.

One Man Alone with Zombies

Any additional comments?

This was a very good book. It's full of action, zombies, and one man who must survive alone. I really enjoy zombie books and this one was no different. The narrator did a very good job.

I was voluntarily provided this free review copy audiobook by the author, narrator, or publisher.

Unique!

This is a hard book to review because to be honest, I'm still not entirely sure what my thoughts are about it!!! Plus, the things I didn't really like about it are all spoilers so I'm going to have to try and say what I want without really saying what I want!!

Character wise, for most of the book we only have Amo. He seems to be the only survivour of a "zombie" apocalypse. Now, he figures that the reason he survived was his illness. I'm not really sure what his illness was, just saying ;) OK, so his illness saved him and he is alone amoung millions of "Zombies". He seems to have everything easy though, plenty of food, passage between buildings etc. He is like this for months when he finally thinks that there must be other survivours. Surely he isn't the only one? So he decides to go on a road trip, all the while documenting his journey so he can show other survivours where he is.

Meanwhile, a girl Amo liked, just happens to survive as well. (How she survived was ridiculous BTW) She doesn't know that Amo is alive and spends months on her own too. She finally finds evidence of him and takes off after him.

I didn't particularly like either of the characters. Amo was OK, at times he was a normal person just trying to survive but other times he seemed to transform into some do gooder and it really didn't work.

Plot wise, while there was some really unique and quirky things to like about this, I found the reason the "zombies" came to be totally and utterly ridiculous!! How in the world could it possibly happen that way, and so bloody quickly?? And if it did happen that way, why was the place nearly deserted when Amo went outside? I liked the fresh take on "Zombies" but there is certain thing they do to a certain someone that made no sense really. If they are unique, and they tasted something for the first time, it would stand to reason they might develop a taste for it, would they not??? Maybe in future books they would, but I don't know. Also, the book dragged a lot at times. I don't think the author needed to go into half the things he did! Finally, the thing that really annoyed me was the change in voice, most of the time it's written in first person for Amo, but suddenly it would change to something else and someone else's POV, with no warning, and would leave me wondering if I was listening to something else!

In all, this wasn't really for me. I might pick up the second one but I'm not sure, I'm still annoyed with how the "zombies" came to be!!! Plus the "zombies" themselves were a big let down in a way. They aren't even really "zombies".

The narration was fine. Sean Patrick Hopkins did a good job with Amo and read it well.

I received this via Audiobook Boom. This in no way affected or influenced my thoughts.

Gritty, real, and a total surprise

I've read a lot of post-apocalyptic "zombie" novels. A lot of them follow the same cadence. Most of them even follow almost the exact same script. The Last couldn't have been more different. The first part of the book isn't even about the apocalypse, it was about Amo's life trying to get used to daily ticks and issues related to a coma that he was in. I honestly would have read a book just about Amo and his everyday dealings.

Because Amo was so well written and explained, he will probably be one of the most memorable main characters I'll read for a while. He was just so likable in a raw and flawed way. He's broke in so many ways, so it was easy to relate to him no matter how you grew up or what's happened to you in life.

The story itself could have been a few shorter books that I would have gobbled up after reading the intro. I couldn't believe the amount of story that Grist was able to pack into The Last. Amo's backstory, Amo's coffee shop experiences, Amo's first days of survival, Amo's killing fields, Amo's trip and realization, Lara's escape... I could go on and on. There were so many mini-plots going on that I would eat the pages up.

The next sentence could be perceived as a spoiler, and I'm going to try my hardest to not spoil it completely. Even Amo's realization and subsequent interactions made this book totally different than any other zombie post-apocalyptic book I've ever read. That in itself made this book totally unique in this genre.

Overall, if you've read this far, you can tell that I loved The Last by Michael John Grist. I looked up the series to see if there were more and was quickly surprised to find that there are 6 or 7 books. But series-haters -- you can just read this book and be happy. Another thing that can't be said about a lot of books in this genre. Grist actually writes a full story arc with a conclusion and everything.

I received this book as a gift, this has not affected my review in any way.

If you enjoyed this review please vote for it! And check out more like this at BriansBookBlog DOT com.

Started out good

Any additional comments?

This book started out good but then fizzled. For long sections of this book, I found it to be boring. The narrator was very monotone. I had a hard time staying awake. I received this audiobook for free through Audiobook Boom for my unbiased review.