I enjoy survival stories. Whether it’s an EMP, an alien invasion, or a zombie/virus outbreak, I enjoy them all. Well…no, I guess I can’t say that because I did not enjoy It Began. A post-apocalyptic EMP survival story? Could have fooled me. This is definitely unlike any other survival story I’ve ever read. Forget the fact that the lead character is completely unlikable, so much of the story makes ZERO sense. Main character is in a car when the EMP strike happens. She notices a plane coming crashing right towards her so she gets out of the car. Cool, right? We’re in for some excitement. Okay so two minutes later some random woman hands her a gun?!? Say what? Totally random and nonsensical. Then days later, she goes into town because the cops are looking for help. What can you do? She rides a bike to the next town to talk to the mayor about trading gas for food. So let me get this straight the people running her town are just sending out random people to negotiate for them? And the mayor of the other town actually sees her and says sure we’ll trade a truckload of food for a bit of gas. Say what? Food is would be one of the most valuable resources in this situation and yet the guy is willing to trade it away for gas…when at the time he wasn’t even sure they had a working car…and oh wait does his town not have any gas stations? Let’s not forget the main character’s sister, who seems to be a crazy shut in who must be psychic because she not only predicted the end of the world, but seemingly has been stockpiling food in a shed in the backyard. Almost nothing happens in the book. And it seems as if there is almost no one out in the streets in this town that supposedly is home to thousands. No mass looting happening. In every other survival book I’ve ever read you see a breakdown in society, but doesn’t seem to be happening here. Sure we see 2 maybe 3 random looters, but even they aren’t truly ‘dedicated’ to looting. Had I been reading this and not listening I’d have given up on it. You spend so much time in the main character’s head where all she does it ramble on about nothing. Her actions are not even remotely realistic.
That being said, Becket Royce’s narration is extremely enjoyable. I listened to her a time or two before, and had high hopes for this one when I saw her name attached to it. She didn’t disappoint. Unfortunately even her talented narration couldn’t save this story.
I’ll definitely be listening to more stuff narrated by Becket Royce, but I will not be continuing on with Mr. Lockwood’s Zero Power series.
I received a copy of this audio title for free in exchange for an unbiased review.