Audio Book Review: Alone

Alone

By:  Scott Sigler

Publish Date:  March 7, 2017, Audiobook Release March 7, 2017

Format:  Audiobook - 16 hrs 41 mins
Narrated By:  AB Kovacs

Genre:  YA Fantasy, Science Fiction

Series:  3rd in The Generations Trilogy series; Book 1 ~ Alive, Book 2 ~ Alight

Impression:  Conclusion with battles of the heart, mind, and physical all on land and in space.

Synopsis:
“We thought this place was our destiny—not our doom.”

Pawns in a millennia-old struggle, the young people known only as the Birthday Children were genetically engineered to survive on the planet Omeyocan—but they were never meant to live there. They were made to be “overwritten,” their minds wiped and replaced by the consciousness of the monsters who created them.

Em changed all of that.

She unified her people and led a revolt against their creators. Em and her friends escaped an ancient ghost ship and fled to Omeyocan. They thought they would find an uninhabited paradise. Instead, they found the ruins of a massive city long since swallowed by the jungle. And they weren’t alone. The Birthday Children fought for survival against the elements, jungle wildlife, the “Grownups” who created them . . . and, as evil corrupted their numbers, even against themselves.

With these opponents finally defeated, Em and her people realized that more threats were coming, traveling from across the universe to lay claim to their planet. The Birthday Children have prepared as best they can against this alien armada. Now, as the first ships reach orbit around Omeyocan, the final battle for the planet begins.

First Sentence:
A stabbing pain jolts me awake.

Purchase At:
Amazon  /  Barnes & Nobles  /  Book Depository

Audible

My Thoughts and Summary:

*I listened to this book of my own choosing and enjoyment.

By listening to this through Scott Sigler's site, we learn that we have a new narrator and that Scott was present with the recording, which helps in getting many of the pronunciations correct. So there are names and such that were pronounced wrong by the previous narrator that this new narrator has correctly. I had enjoyed the narrator in the first two books. I would have liked to have had her back. But! I found I grew to like AB Kovacs as the story went. There was enough time between books to give me a breather for the voices to change. And, AB Kovacs felt to slip into the persona of and older, veteran Em who's lived through a lot and grown along the way.

The one great thing about listening to this audio book chapter by chapter through a podcast is that Scott starts each episode with a bit about what he's doing but also with a recap of what's happened previously, leading us in. Which is especially nice with the first chapter as it's been a while since I listened to book two.

We see how things have grown in the last year since the bloody battle between Springers and the birthday children. Some things are good, with the growth of city and crops and working together. Em and the Birthday children have started to create a society. They are living with the Springers. The kids are all growing older and slowly finding what they need to survive - food, technology, and surviving the wilderness outside the walls of the city. But there are bad things too. There's something growing in agitation between Springers and Birthday Children. There are fights and beliefs that they shouldn't live together in a city. There is a group of Springers that keeps fighting them and the Springers they get along with. There's trouble among the Birthday Children too. They are starting to become more aggressive and have terrible nightmares. There are space ships coming into space, that could very well be threats.

Nothing is easy, but Em and her people have their hands full of problems and situations as they work to make a peaceful world to live in. But, will that be on this world? Things are looking grim as the space ships near the planet they are calling home.

This has to be the longest book of the series, at least from what I'm guessing from listening. And with all we cover, it needs to be long so the series can be tied up in the end.

So many things happen in this book! Battle on land with rogue springers, battle from above with other ships coming, battle in space... The information we learn... We learn what's causing the races to come to this planet and why. We also learn about the anger issue. About "The Call" to come to this place... The new people we meet! Oh man. Scott has packed so much in this book and poor Em's emotions have to be all over the board! We get the answer to Em and Matilda fight between them. And the bigger battle to save their lives.

After we get the big climax with the Em/Matilda arc, it feels the story moves slower to get to the end, to get through the battle for their lives. But I think in part it feels I've been waiting for this since starting the first book. And, it feels as though I'm starting over again, getting to know the character all over again. In the end, it feels we get a closing for Em/Matilda.

This is the end of the trilogy. It's a long book, but takes a path not expected. What a ride here. It feels like we've lived ages with these characters with all they've lived through.



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