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The Beginning of the End

Apocalypse Z, Book 1

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The Beginning of the End

By: Manel Loureiro, Pamela Carmell - translator
Narrated by: Nick Podehl
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The dead rise…

A mysterious incident in Russia, a blip buried in the news - it’s the only warning humanity receives that civilization will soon be destroyed by a single, voracious virus that creates monsters of men.

Humanity falls…

A lawyer, still grieving over the death of his young wife, begins to write as a form of therapy. But he never expected that his anonymous blog and journal would ultimately record humanity’s last days.

The end of the world has begun…

Governments scramble to stop the zombie virus, people panic, so-called Safe Havens are established, the world erupts into chaos; soon it’s every man, woman, and child for themselves. Armed only with makeshift weapons and the will to live, this survivor will give mankind one last chance against…Apocalypse Z.

©2012 Manel Loureiro (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc. Horror Science Fiction Scary Fiction Zombie Cats Russia
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I'm going to check out the next in series. good book. good translation. try it

not a bad read. worth taking the time out.

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What did you like best about The Beginning of the End? What did you like least?

This book is really poorly written, Day By Day Armageddon isn't the best series of books ever but I have would really recomend it over this if you like the idea of a first person narrative Zombie story. This seems to hinge on descriptions that try really hard to be graphic.

There are some really really great ideas in this book. The fact that the protagonist is an average dude. The fact that the question of sanity and PTSD is explored and setting a book like this europe was an interesting way to handle it. However the story doesn't carry them off well at all. I feel like this may be because it's translated into a second language but that doesn't help those of us who don't speak spanish sadly.

The second half of the book is frankly agonising, if this is a conscious choice on the part of the author then considering the content ( I will avoid spoilers) then it's fair, but I found it incredibly hard to listen to.

Has The Beginning of the End put you off other books in this genre?

I wouldn't stop reading Z-fiction but I think I'm pretty happy to let this series go. Like I said, some good Ideas, and a sold narrator but overall it's a poor retelling of other Ideas from better stories.

Any additional comments?

Listen to DBDA and the new Version of WWZ if you feel like some zombie stories. If you're looking for another DBDA then please keep looking, this isn't it.

A bad story read well.

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As reviewers have already commented this tale unfolds in the form of one man's blog that is kept in a diary and, while the internet is live, via a web blog. The language is relatively simple, but never preambles. The narrative follows, at times a predictable formula. There is a terrorist attack on a secret military base slash research facility. What follows is a tumbling of the dominoes as secrecy and governmental ineptitude leads to a worldwide pandemic of the un-dead who behave very much like the flesh eating Zombies.



Our protagonist is a lawyer by trade; he is widower who lives alone in Galicia Spain, except for his cat who figures heavily in his life. Through his blog/diary we see how society begins to unravel as the pandemic spreads from a remote zone in the Russian Federation until it reaches Spain and finally his front door. Not wishing to give spoilers, our lawyer and cat are forced to leave their fortress home and embark on journey to find some safe haven. On this `road trip' from hell our hero will meet both the best, worst, and profoundly stupid of humanity.



This novel has been translated from Spanish, and appears to be the first of what sounds like a `series', containing his travels and experience's. I just want clarify I was listening to the unabridged version and have not read the book, but I am sure they are one in the same. I found the story entertaining, and it was refreshing to have a story based in mainland Europe as opposed to North America, where most of the novels and films I have seen, seem to be played out. This book is not going to win any literary prizes - but this is not one of those books. Some rather interesting Horror fiction has been coming out of Spain lately and this story is one of them. In summation then this is an interesting and entertaining book, which is cat friendly to boot and I recommend it.

Tackling Zombies using Scuba gear

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A very enjoyable story with lots of interesting elements and plenty of suspense though it has IMO an overly dramatic and at times odd narration. In terms of the writing there are lots of obvious things which could have been corrected with a decent Editor - silly stuff like "the corridor was pitch black" followed by a detailed description of the corridor, "I was paralyzed with fear" then immediately "strangely calm", "I had grown used to the hideous sights" though "bile rose in my throat and I wanted to throw up", he realizes that he needs to be quiet so as not to attract attention yet shouts with joy, fires automatic weapons and kicks steel doors multiple times with gay abandon - these things may have sounded OK with a different narrator. Because the main character apparently has the learning curve of a plank you kind of want him to die but that still didn't stop me enjoying this listen!

Some lazy writing but very enjoyable story...

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the story was an amazing plot line and I really enjoyed this, because the narrator was amazing and I loved it, the ending was fabulous and thrilling absolutely 5 stars

the story

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