Bernard Jan's Blog - Posts Tagged "post-apocalyptic"

The Scattered and the Dead (Book 1): Post Apocalyptic Fiction by Tim McBain

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Scattered and the Dead (Book 1): Post Apocalyptic Fiction by Tim McBain and L.T. Vargus is a 634-pages-long post apocalyptic saga that warms your heart, chills your bones, makes your skin crawl and stomach churn.

Post apocalyptic might not be the totally-one-hundred-percent-and-absolutely right word, though, because the apocalypse happened, is happening and is going to happen, depending which story we read, which characters we follow, centered around the massive and ultimate doom of mankind.

What I love about McBain’s and Vargus’ writing is the poetry of transformation of the characters, events and their environment. “Action scenes” at the eve of destruction are nothing like low-rated action movies or books. Mitch, Erin, Travis, Baghead and others are not just scattered temporary survivors trying to outlive the infected teeth and stale breath of the new zombie era. Some of them touch us, some of them make us laugh, others annoy us as it should be in the real world. And that's how it is in their real world.

Although The Scattered and the Dead (Book 1) is a lengthy book, at times slow with not much going on, it keeps pulling you further and deeper into, simply demanding from a reader to cross the finish line. Except, there is no finish line.

Unavoidably, we part with some humans and humans-turned-zombies along the way into the uncertain future of the American Zombieland. However, some of them keep going, marching through the green, shabby or dead grass, driving through once crammed and then empty roads, scavenging or hiding in abandoned houses populated with occasional decaying or dried up bodies, or just leaving the nuked cities behind. Scattered but not yet dead.

Bernard Jan
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Control Freakz by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Michael Evans, a high school student, an advocate for a better future and a young adult author, nailed his appearance on the writing scene with his debut novel Control Freakz. I didn’t expect such mature and imaginative writing from someone so young! The fact I’ve read the second edition of his first novel in Control Freakz Series, which has a couple awesome plot and style changes from the first edition, as the author says in his note, cannot diminish the quality of his writing and story-telling.

If you are a fan of post-apocalyptic and dystopian literature, this is the book you must read. Not just to support the young and ambitious author but to enjoy the action-packed story of Nathalie and two of her best friends, Hunter and Ethan, who are trying to escape attempted mind control by the invasive government of President Ash in the post-apocalyptic America.

As you read Control Freakz, you see the love and attraction Evans has for the words and how instinctively he handles them. But his love goes much further than writing books and telling exciting stories. He wrote this book (and the whole series) as a wake-up call and out of concern for our own world and its future. His desire to inspire others to advocate for positive changes in their lives and our world is admirable and I support him in that.

Michael Evans is a teenager whose commitment to his writing and love for this world we should all recognize and support.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com
Bernard Jan



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Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Forever Gone (Control Freakz #0.5)

In Forever Gone, the first novella in the Memories From The Darkness collection set before the first book in the Control Freakz series, a young author Michael Evans describes with maturity of an experienced writer the heartbreak, doom and fall of one marriage and lost love. Determined to escape a controlled life from the hands of her husband Wilburn Ash, the President of the United States, the First Lady Danielle finds her freedom in a divorce and plotting a secret plan to stop the fanatic rule of the most powerful man in the world who can end her life at any moment or sign of rebellion before he destroys everything else.

Shattered Pasts (Control Freakz Series #1.5)

A great dark novella about a young girl Dulce, a sole survivor of the Camp Camel bombing, who struggles to reconcile with her past in which she lost everyone she loved. Even when she is welcomed in the rebel organization of the White Knights which is trying to save both the people and the country from the merciless hands of the American government, she knows that won’t be easy. Apocalyptic scenes of destruction and the atmosphere of dystopian world sunk in fear, in Shattered Pasts, the second novella in Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection, are fantastic.

Dream On (Control Freakz Series #2.5)

Things get better, more exciting and unreal as we travel through Memories From The Darkness: A Control Freakz Novella Collection! In Dream On, Justin, who gave his life to the secret organization Syndicate of Truth, wants it back. Sacrificing thirty years of his life meant nothing, because when he betrayed the most powerful of the powerful ones, he started to pay the ultra-high price. There is only one way to his freedom and liberation from the days filled with regrets, guilt, nightmares and one beautiful but haunting dream of being reunited with his lover Rose Parker, imprisoned in Area 51. But to make this dream become a reality, he will have to give up everything else.

In The Shadows (Control Freakz Series #3.5)

From Forever Gone to In The Shadows, the circle is closed. In this emotional finale, one more and for the last time Jacob meets his old ally. This is his desperate attempt to ask for help to see his real family, or what is left of it, before the world is destroyed. And the world will cease to exist because the monster Jacob has created has started its countdown. It seems there is no one who will stop the President Wilburn Ash in killing everyone. But will the remaining time be enough for Jacob to get so much needed help and with it one last chance to see his family so he can tell them how much he loves them? A great last novella of this exciting, intriguing and dark post-apocalyptic thriller series.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan



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Mad World by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


From the Control Freakz Series to all his books in the Conspiracy Chronicles, I have never stopped admiring the talent and imagination of a young, teenage author, Michael Evans. That didn’t change after reading the first book, Mad World, in his brand new World Gone Mad Series.

Pumped with adrenaline, action and terrifying scenes of destruction of our world, Mad World grabs the readers and glues them to its last pages. The beginning scenes of the apocalypse are so realistic and gripping that we can experience the fear, panic, and disbelief creeping through our body as we root for the main character(s) we quickly become fond of. As the story develops further toward its darker moments with millions of people dead and their homes, towns and lives perished or robbed, its fatality clenches us even harder thanks to the greatness and ease of Michael Evans’s writing.

And all it took was one man’s addiction that led to the apocalyptic destruction of our future world.

Although Mad World, and the World Gone Mad Series, is a post-apocalyptic survival thriller, it is a dystopian and suspense story fueled by love for the family, people and mankind, but also by deep remorse and repentance. We can feel the author’s personal involvement in love and great care with which he created his characters and wrote probably his best book so far, but also in his goal to ensure that society never ends up there. In a mad world.

Michael Evans is the author with unquestionable talent, potential, vision, and the future. And so are his stories.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

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Bernard Jan



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Cruel World by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


At first, I thought Mad World would beat Cruel World in the action scenes and apocalyptic descriptions which still stick in my mind after reading it a month and a half ago. And it was like that until something happened, which made me reconsider my decision and embrace Cruel World without further doubts.

As the book description says, Cruel World is a story of Ryder on one side, injured and escaping the chains of the Syndicate of Truth as he struggles to reunite with his daughter Marin and wife Amy who are living a good life on a casino boat sailing down the Potomac River while figuring out the way to get back to their father and husband. This is the core around which young indie author, Michael Evans, with the skills of a seasoned writer builds the second novel in his brand-new, World Gone Mad series.

It is also a story in which each protagonist faces themselves and under a pressure of survival goes through metamorphosis, showing their true colors. But I will say no more. I will only summarize my impressions in the following sentences, hoping many readers will download this book or order its paperback and enjoy it as much as I enjoyed reading my advance review copy.

While members of a family torn apart by apocalypse are looking for a way to get back together and survive in the world overnight gone mad, the smells of destruction, burning, misery, confusion, and fear seep from the pages of this excellent novel. And poppy flowers. The field of poppy flowers. So surreal, calming, and the stark contrast to the destroyed world in which every undesired human being shall part with their life. Like a blooming announcement of the unexpected family reunion which will set a new direction and dimension for the story to take us. Cinematic, exciting, capturing. Cruel World is a real post-apocalyptic treat.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My review of Mad World.

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Bernard Jan



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Troubled World by Michael Evans

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Through the maze of lies, betrayal, death, and destruction, young author Michael Evans leads his protagonists on their bloody, long road of survival the apocalypse. Will the family torn by the bugs of suspicion and doubt when Ryder unravels the secrets of his past in front of them reunite and find strength to stick together after their mortal enemies set everything in motion to destroy them, with thousands of mutant animals being their last weapon of choice? On the mission that borders with impossible will they find strength to heal their emotional and physical wounds, forgive, and also save their ten dogs in the process?

Troubled World is the third installment in the World Gone Mad Series in which Michael Evans keeps pushing the limits of his fantastic imagination in bringing new plots, twists and turns, surprises, and challenges before his heroes. Nothing less exciting and adrenaline-packed than Mad World and Cruel World, Troubled World is the book to be devoured in one breath.

BJ
www.bernardjan.com

My reviews of Mad World and Cruel World.

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Bernard Jan



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