The Risen: Part II

By: Adam J. Smith

Narrated by: Aria Gray

It's not the dead that scare her. Nor is it the living. It's her reflection that she fears.

Born of beast, through blood and bile and spewing guts. A beast she must temper, while her humanity scrambles in the earthenware of the world of once-before. She did not know her parents, but they are there every day - in the mirror, in her burning eyes, in her twisted ways. And in those dead still roaming the Welsh hillsides and towns.

From the farm to the distant sea, mutates and those at the apex must learn to fear her while the rest must learn to accept her.

Or else...

©2020 Adam Smith (P)2021 Adam Smith

I like this take on the apocalypse

This is a great take on a post-apocalyptic world, in this case, Wales and the people and creatures who inhabit it. I thought this was awesome as I have friends who emigrated from Wales and it was pretty cool using that as the backdrop. I like that even though this is the second in the series, you can hear the story and not feel like you're thrust into the middle of something already in progress. I think I may check out part 1 and take that for a read and see what that was like. I love having the protagonist being a woman, a strong one, who has real human needs and thoughts, though sometimes they are a bit different for her. As you learn more about her, that comment will make more sense. I like the overall ideas and concepts presented in the story, but there was one major hurdle for me. I don't want to blame the narrator directly as it may be the software or hardware being used, but large portions of the story we lost to me simply because I couldn't hear most of it. Whole chapters or parts of the dialogue were unable to be heard unless you put the volume all the way up, making the rest of the parts of those chapters and dialogues way too loud. I hope this is something that can be fixed as this really held me back from enjoying the story, having to constantly play with the volume and rewinding to try to get what was happening or being said. The narrator also had a habit of gently whispering men's voices which added to this issue. She has a nice voice and emotes fine, but I was missing too much of what was being said and happening. Frustration took over eventually, and I stopped playing with the volume and rewinding my way through and just kept slogging to the end.

Full Disclosure, I received a free copy of this audiobook for review from the author.

Very good post-apocalyptic/zombie story

Having read the Neon series by Adam J Smith and jumped on the opportunity to get an Advance Reader Copy of the audiobook for The Risen Part II from StoryOrigin. In the interest of full disclosure, I haven’t read to listened to The Risen part I, but that’s something I’ll rectify in short order. As far as Part II goes, listening to this book/story was one of those experiences that became a nonstop adventure. I was very reluctant to turn off the book and found excuses to keep listening every chance I got. I really enjoy the post-apocalyptic/zombie genre and have read/listened to enough to know this is a story I would pay to see in a theater or would love to see as a TV series. The action and characters were scripted so well, I, as I said, was sucked right into the story that the story flowed seamlessly until that final sentence. Aria Gray’s narration was very good in bringing the story to life, the only negative for me was in some instances where she lowered of her voice to almost a whisper making it necessary to increase the volume.

dystopian Wales with mutants and plot turns galore

the narrator got my attention quickly; the tone and depth of voice she used in audiobook was perfectly suited for intro of character and plot turn

set in future dystopia in Wales, society has continued collapsing under onslaught of humans who have turned into mutants due to contagious virus. akin to zombie tales, infection occurs by bite and fluids. unlike zombies, mutants continued to evolve and are the primary external threat. meanwhile as always, mankind own worst enemy.

the protagonist is a cross breed who has been raised as human by a family who sees her as both a weapon and lesser member of family

the plot engages quickly and as book proceeds, still time for backstory.

enjoyed this book enough that I went out and got the first Risen to see what I missed......