Ahren Paulson

Zombies for Cold War / WW2 alt history geeks

Revisado: 02-18-21

Interesting take on a zombie outbreak from the perspective of soviet spec ops in the late eighties.

A lot of military focused books, especially the spec ops vs. zombies style I’ve read, wind up being so heavily focused on the tactical stuff that the main characters wind up being completely bland and uninteresting. This book does not make that mistake. There’s no shortage of tactics and details on weapons and combat, but the characters also grapple with who they are, what they’ve become, and what they’re willing to do. It makes for a much more compelling story than a lot of the blank-slate-main-character books in these genres.

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Black ops and poor life decisions

Revisado: 02-18-19

If there are any old school game geeks out there, let me sell you on this book with one description: it’s like an insane Shadowrun Op in space without the magic.

One thing that puts me off on a lot of military sci-fi is flat, bland characters and ponderous dialogue. Fortunately, this book doesn’t have that. The characters are sarcastic assholes, occasionally sympathetic, and there are enough hints of the world and the back story that I’m definitely going to finish out the series.

Its not analogous to real life, of course, but the language and the training feel reasonably authentic to what I experienced in the military. At the same time, he manages to avoid a lot of cringe inducing tropes that sci-fi/fantasy authors often miss when writing women characters.

The author gets a little crunchy with some of the tech and weaponry, but I think he does a good job balancing that out for readers who aren’t heavy military/tech nerds.

The narrator is good too. She does a great job with back and forth dialogue, and you can tell she’s present for the whole story, so she helps build up tension and drama where needed.

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I listened to this, and it was excellent

Revisado: 08-02-18

The narrator was excellent.

The story was excellent.

It’s got medieval steam-punkish power armor, and that’s pretty excellent.

The set up of the world is interesting, enough hints of what’s going on to get me hooked without too much long winded back story and exposition.

Really looking forward to the rest of the series.

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More Bob Good

Revisado: 04-20-17

I loved the first book. Second book does not disappoint. Five stars; need more Bobiverse books.

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Awesome book

Revisado: 02-08-17

Go ahead and get this book. No spoilers, it's just great. Narration is excellent too, so nothing to detract from the story.

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Good zombie series

Revisado: 05-26-16

There are a lot of terrible zombie apocalypse themed books out there. I've listened to or read plenty of them. Fortunately, this is not one of them.

Excellent narration, good story. Lots of tactical situations that are well explained, and the action never gets ridiculous. The main protagonist is very well trained, not superhuman. Enough characterization to keep the people involved from feeling one dimensional.

I'm only two books into the series so far, starting on the third, but I'm quite happy with it.

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Cool Thought Experiment

Revisado: 03-08-16

If you liked the problem solving aspects of The Martian, then you'll enjoy this book. Very well researched, and the character interactions and events felt very organic. Lots more personality and belief issues than I expected, but all well done.

Makes me realize that myself and nine of my fellow doughy, middle aged cubicle worker friends wouldn't last a week.

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Excellent Space Opera

Revisado: 09-25-15

Good story and great narration. Good character development. Took a little while for it all to come together, but the establishing time was worth it.

I love military sci fi, but the characters in this genre are often bland stereotypes and about as deep as a puddle. James Corey makes the characters interesting, believable, and likable, flaws and all.

Some male narrators put too much of a high pitched lilt on their voice for female characters, and it winds up being distracting. Jefferson Mays doesn't do that at all. Excellent narration all around.

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