The concept behind the story is intriguing, which is a shame that it’s never actually really explained or even explored all that much. It’s a year after the ‘purge’ and yet we never really learn all that much about this purge. We get vague information about AI being implanted/integrated into everything, including much of the human population, but no real look at what really happened when the AI decided human’s time of running things was over. It’s a year later and we are introduced to one of the few survivors. We’re kind of told that people became drones or sentinels, and yet if that is the case then why does it seem that the entire population has also been wiped out, which is it? The story revolves around two survivors who meet up, but I never felt any connection, never felt I had any reason to really care that much about either, and their journey seemed totally unfocused. I read/listen to a lot of survive fiction and there is always a goal beyond just mere survival, but that wasn’t the case here. There never seemed to be any concrete goal. The glimpses we are given of the world definitely got my attention and I wanted to know more, it’s just a shame that never happened. I’d consider continuing with the series if I knew the next volume actually went into what happened and showed more of this new world our ‘heroes’ are in.
As always Andrew Wehrlen’s narration was solid and it was really his narration that kept me listening until the end.
I received a copy of this audio title in exchange for an unbiased review.