Glen Tate

ABR's full The Preparation (299 Days Book 1) audiobook review can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I haven’t listened to any straight up survival stories. Maybe I feel that I need that something extra, you know zombies, werewolves, psychopaths, to make it interesting. However, there was something about The Preparation (299 Days Book 1) that kept drawing my attention.

I have been seeing many audiobooks popping up in this new sub-genre in the last few months, so they have to be entertaining right? I am going with my gut and nothing else on this one, my gut is only right about 80% of the time.

Have you seen the television show Doomsday Preppers? Well get ready for that in much much higher detail and explanations than the show has ever provided.

I was entranced by the character development and overall back story of Grant Matson. going from a young poor kid with less than nothing. To a highly successful lawyer, with everything that money could buy. Yet he felt unfulfilled, like there was something missing.

Intertwined with lots, I mean a ton of what could be considered right wing conservative propaganda. If your not open minded to this sort of information, either don’t listen or you might get ticked off. Or you might start singing praises, who knows.

What I know is this was a intricately crafted story of one man realizing there is more to life than money. That being personal security and the safety of his family when the worst happens. With this story that would be the slow collapse of the government, leaving the public to fend for them selves.

I intensely agreed and disagreed with so many different things, I couldn’t stop listening. In fact I have already started stockpiling for my own peace of mind. I am hooked on this story and there are a ton of audiobooks in this series that I only hope there is enough time for.

Kevin Pierce is not the typical type of narrator. Because this was not a big boisterous, polished newscaster type of performance, nor did it call for such. Characterizations were only done just enough to barely differentiate characters in a scene.

Pierce blew me away with his soft-spoken approach. That over time, expertly grew from an scared uncertain boy to a self-reliant and assured man doing what he thinks is best. I hope to be able to get to listen to more from him.

Audiobook provided for review by Audible.… (mais)

I'm on the fence about this book. At the beginning I was rather concerned that it would be a 300 page pro-gun, pro-religion, anti-government rant of the authors views.

Paragraphs such as, One night he just said, "God, I can't do this on my own. I need You". Right as he said that, he had the overpowering sensation that everything would ultimately be alright, but after lots of misery and sacrifice. It was more than just optimism; it was a certainty that amazing things were ahead of him had me a little worried, but whilst there are some religious undertones it's not to the point it detracts from the story. It's mentioned then the author moves on, although the "outside thoughts" received by the main character are odd in my opinion, I'm unsure if these are meant to be a representation of the guys subconscious or he's hearing the voice of God, which would fit the the above quoted paragraph, and also drive me away as a reader if it were to continue in future books.

There's a few pro-gun notes such as; A half hour ago he was a helpless and frightened sheeple. Now he was a gun owner. Owning an AR-15 was the definition of liberty. He looked at the gun [...] and thought "This is freedom" (I was surprised it was just freedom and not Freedom with a 'F') and there was quite bit of gun terminology in there but I don't think it was over the top, it's just a story that involves firearms.

In terms of writing, it's plain and straightforward; there's a couple of editing issues such as one paragraph begins saying a parking lot was full, then ends saying it wasn't full then later references it stating weren't that many people in the parking lot but asides for that it conveys the story adequately.

Overall though it is a pretty good tale of one man's journey to become more prepared, he's not some movie superhero and he has a regular life with regular restrictions. I'm aware it's part of a series but I have to say I was rather perturbed by the ending, or should I say lack thereof - it simply stopped as opposed to having some temporary resolution or pause. That's how I felt anyway.… (mais)

As another reviewer has said, book 2 picks up right when book 1 leaves off. As in, the next chapter picks up. This is a touch annoying to the reader, as your first impulse is to think "Did you just slice the book in two in order to get more money? Why the weird cut?" Btw, Book 2 ends in much the same manner as Book 1 - as if the next book will pick up right at the cut-off point. As interesting and well-written as the series is, I'm not interested in paying $7-$10 for a kindle books that could easily have been combined with the previous book. That said....

I was wondering when Grant was going to wise up in regards to Lisa. Frankly, had it been me, I'd have left Lisa at the curb long ago. But that's me - and the author did a nice job of portraying Lisa in both a negative and positive light so I'm probably about the only person who just wanted to shoot Lisa and leave her on the road. Lisa's mom? Makes it easy to see where Lisa's attitude came from.

It's also fascinating to see how some people's minds work. There's Grant, who has to prepare in secret. Lisa, who ignores everything in hopes that "normal" will be back tomorrow. Nancy and the state auditor who, even in the midst of their world crashing down, are still trying to position themselves for a future grab for power.

Any novel that deals with the collapse of the US is, by nature, going to be speculative. That said, the events and their timing rang true to me. That not everyone would panic at once, that some areas would still appear "normal" even while literal battles raged in another, and that there would be a short period of time where you could do last minute preps safely.

Even with the odd start and finish of the this book, I'd recommend buying and reading it.… (mais)