** I received this audiobook as part of my participation in a blog tour with Audiobookworm Promotions. The tour is being sponsored by Grace Hamilton. The gifting of this audiobook did not affect my opinion of it. **
“Dark Retreat” was a fairly middle-of-the-road read. The plot was predictable, the characters didn’t have much development and the bad guy was pretty obvious, but I found the particulars of the apocalyptic situation to be interesting. Books in this genre usually have the “end of the world” come about as a result of war, aliens, zombies, etc. but the idea of a natural phenomenon that could, theoretically, happen for real was a nice change.
I didn’t find any of the characters in this story to be terribly well developed or even all that interesting, though they seemed pleasant enough. Their actions tended to fit what the author needed rather than what that character should actually do based on past descriptions and behaviors. A prime example of this was Navy SEAL Wyatt tromping through the forest, speaking in a normal tone of voice, and otherwise acting like he had zero understanding of stealth when he and Megan first went hunting. I felt like this was something that, based on common sense and his military training, he should have known than to do. Megan was stubborn, annoying, and naïve, and we’re reminded constantly of her past let-downs. She didn’t show much in the way of growth and she, too, made illogical decisions because the author needed her to do so to drive the plot forward. The other characters (besides Rosie, who actually played an important-ish role) were pretty unmemorable and seemed to be there as filler more than anything else.
The attraction between Megan and Wyatt felt unnatural and forced in the beginning, and personally, I dislike this kind of not-quite-insta-love. I much prefer relationships that develop more naturally and enhance the storyline, but in “Dark Retreat” it all felt just a bit jammed in and heavy-handed. Too much of the plot hinged on it at some times but not at others, as if this story didn’t quite know what it wanted to be. I did, however, find the survivalist aspects of the plot to be interesting, and the fact that what caused all the chaos is something that could potentially be fixed gave the story an underlying note of hope. The lack of aliens, zombies, and nuclear war was also refreshing and I admire the author for coming up with something a little more unique than what is typical for this genre.
My favorite part of this whole experience was the narrator. Andrew Tell voiced the characters well and he provided the right amount of tension in places it was needed. His pace and tone were great for this type story. I think he gave this story a life and depth it would have lacked in print, and he’s definitely a narrator whose work I’ll look up! The audio quality was consistent and professional, with no awkward pauses, distracting background noise, or volume changes.
Bottom line: I didn’t love or hate this book and the only thing that kept it from being a 2 or 3 star experience was the narrator.
Review first appeared on Notes from ‘Round the Bend blog