A Dystopian Society in a Post Apocalyptic World - The Last Survivors

Never thought I'd be reading a post-apocalyptic book, let alone writing a review...but a friend recommended this one and I started just to see what it was about -- after all, it is free. So now I'm on to Book II. Took a while to set the stage, but now I'm reading to see what happens next. Characters are becoming real and the plot twists captivating. Read on!

Just finished book six. A real fun series. Was recommended because I read so much zombie fiction. I've read both Adair and TW books. Thought I'd give It a shot. It did not really hook me in until about halfway through book 3. The scene that goes down in the the town square at the end of book 5 is worth reading the whole series. All the characters are well constructed. Fitzgerald is the bomb. I'll most likely continue with the sequel series as well. ?

The world has reverted to a more primitive time. Ancient ruins are glimpses of our technological age. Knowledge we once had has been long lost and this age functions on myths and misinformation. Brutality and hardship is a way of life. But worse is the creatures who hunt in the Forrest.

A great story, hard to put down. Plenty of action with some real bad guys in the story that you would hope that they get their just reward. Now have to get the second book to continue to see what happens.

More zombie apocalypse, this time in spore flavor, complete with unlikable mother who is unwilling to cleanse her infected child and blah blah blah. Not even an entire story, just a first part of nothing complete. Missed opportunities and ho-hum.

Great series all around. I read book one more than a year ago and very much liked it, but didn't get around to continue the series until last week ago. Then on vacation I finished books 2,3,4 and am burning to get my hands on book 5. The series is great, the characters are well developed, lovable/hate-able and still realistic. The backdrop and world explanations are detailed enough to make sense, but not so detailed you need to be a scientist to understand. I think the two authors make a great team and should do more collaborations.

Also recommend the Slow Burn series.

Quite good as far as dystopian novels go. Great characters, nice world building, thoughtful and feels real. No big logic bombs to ruin my enjoyment so far (and I'm four books in as I write this). My only complaint is that the books are too short. Supposedly the series will go to six books, although I would recommend the authors extend that to ten, or fifteen, or twenty.

When I started this, I thought, Oh no! JAZA (just another zombie apocalypse). It was actually much better than I expected. Competently written and plotted, with interesting characters. Still, basically mind candy, but more M&Ms than off-brand.

Great first book that has me hooked and wanting to read the whole series. This reads like a medieval/ first settlers type of series and I love it. Great characters, awesome story and just an overall great read!

The series started out kind of slow, but within a chapter or two, oh my gosh it became intense! Great story up to now, I cannot wait to see how it continues. Somewhat different than the usual dystopian story, a lot after twists and turns I did not see coming. Great read!

A competent post-apocalyptic novel with some sympathetic characters, but with one unexplained plot hole. How can the population of "demons" be increasing, since they are just infected people, when the "clean" population has collapsed and new infections are "Cleansed?"

Not bad at all! First considering this one was free always makes it better but the overall book is pretty good. It felt a tad slow in the beginning but picked up speed shortly thereafter. I'd suggest this if you can or even can't get it free.

After reading the "Slow Burn" series "Ebola K" 1&2, I've grown find of Adair's writing style. I've not read any of Piperbrook's works, but felt this was worth a try. This was very different from anything else I've read in the genre. The first book was definitely tantalizing to make me want to read the next installment.

A series as gripping as the Gunslinger/Dark Tower??? Thx to the authors for their collaboration. If the rest of this series is anything like book one, they may just have a Classic on their hands. Please change the title! So much creativity inside deserves a better name on the front.

Really enjoyed the premise and the gore was elegantly described. The fact that I was reading it on my phone at work probably says how 'unputdownable' it is. So bought the rest so there is no delay. Good stuff.

A good page turner. The future world overrun by monsters and ruthless rulers. A hero that is both good and bad. Really liked this book. It doesn't end with this book which is disappointing. May have to buy part 2, cause I want to know more.

Believable characters taking shape amid an unknown ancient world. Can picture the ruins of our beloved civilization through the eyes of these people struggling to just survive far removed from whatever ended the world as you and I know it.
Will definitely continue with this series as long as it holds my attention like the first installment.

A collapsed society that reverts back to midevil tactics is a nice change from the zombie norm. I just got through with the first book in the series and though it was great!! The character development is just enough to give insight but not enough to make the reader lose interest. The story line is fresh and well told. Good job guys!!!!

I enjoyed this sad, yet, exciting story. It is disturbing to think of man destroying himself & his world. Hopefully, nothing like this will ever happen. Great imagination. I will read more from this author. Thank you.

Book was suggested by a friend who is into dystopia style books and such and it was a good call. Good pace, characters were a bit on the nose so to say, but over all the only thing I didn't like was the cliffhanger.

Good book. Good storyline. Just trying to figure what city the ancients hailed from. Trying to decipher different structures. Did Ell and William spend the night in a parking garage? All interesting thoughts and questions

OK story, sometimes made difficult to read by poor editing. At, "...your the problem..." I wanted to tell the authors the difference between your and you're. In the age of spell check, auto correct and instant grammar checks, for a "your" error to get through is inexcusable and sloppy, and distracted me from the rest of the story looking for errors. It would still be a three-star book with tighter editing, but I would have enjoyed it more without the errors.

I found this book very interesting. Bringing the end of the world what I am assuming is several centuries into the future. Its a great view point of how things might go as the human race got further and further form the life and technology that we all take for granted right now. Cant wait for the next book in the series to come out.

Absolutely loved it !! I usually get a book hangover after reading a series but I decided to read this and it did not disappoint . T he characters and the stories behind them make this a great read !!! So glad I took a chance !!!!

Cannot put this book down. It should become a movie. I feel like this place is real these people could be US some day. It is so easy to picture everything. You feel like you know these characters personally both the good and the evil. Better than slow burn and Ebola k and I consider them favorites.

Enough intrigue to want to read the whole series!!

Like able characters, curious tidbits about how things all went down, makes you wonder what it would be like to be around when nature retook the world!

Scary because 'The Cleansing' leaves only one option for a mole or other skin anomaly: death by the sword or fire. Towards the end of the book a man is introduced with calcified lesions. He fought off the spores and lives as a man not a monster.

Not a bad read. Spoiler alert.

This one starts with the human cavalry charging the beasts. The beasts are ugly, deformed and they stink. They are caused by spores. Spores that are released twice a year from the top of all of their heads. If the spoors land on you, you become a beast.

General Blackthorn commands the humans and his insane charge causes the death of many of his men. They are outnumbered by a large number. Blackthorns fourteen year old son takes charge of what's left of the humans and uses a different method of attack and its not a straight out charge. It works. In the following years Blacktnorn will lead the army.

Humans live is villages and small towns. The clergy in those towns and villages control all aspects of their lives. and Ministers make the laws. The clergy pays for nothing. Everything is provided to them at no cost. Food, clothes and women.

All the humans have is stories passed down on the ancients. The ancients who built the crumbling buildings that dot the landscape. There are a few humans, smarter than the village peasants who can read, add and subtract. Most though are uneducated and have only the Word of the clergy to guide them. Clergy who live off the labor of the villagers. General Blackthorn heads up the military and swords, knives and bows and arrows are what serve as weapons now.

The villages and towns have a Cleansing twice a year. Every member of the town has to strip and be examined for any sign that they will be turning into one of the beasts. If found to be they are burned alive. Its not easy being a human in this place.

Ella lives in the village of Brighton. Her husband Ethan went to war beside the soldiers when he was needed. Ethan came back infected. He surrendered himself and was burned alive.

Ella and her eleven year old son William now run the family farm. William has a bump on his neck. A bump that will turn him into a beast. Ella decides she won't be turning her son over for the Cleansing that's going to take place. She and William will be leaving Brighton and head for Davenport, a larger town where she grew up.

Ella and William almost make it out of Brighton but are caught by two guards. Ella offers herself to the two on the promise that she and William can go. Of course the guards will take what's offered but won't be letting them go. Ella manages to kill them with her knife and both she and William make it over the wall that surrounds the village and make it out of Brighton.

Bray is a Warden. A man who travels the woods. Right now he's watching a man sleep. The man is drunk and has the skin off the head of a beast. A skin that is worth money. A bounty is paid for all skins and Bray decides this one will be his.

The light fingered Bray manages to get the skin out of the drunken mans bag but the man grabs him. Bray manages to escape with his booty and being a Warden he's a ghost in the woods. As he ghosts his way through the woods he hears a scream. Bray investigates.

Ella and William make it to the river where they are attacked by a beast. The beast is big, stinky and more than Ella can handle. That's when a man, a man she later finds is named Bray, intercedes and saves her life by killing the beast. Bray invites Ella and William to go with him as he's headed where they are headed to Davenport.

Ella isn't very trusting of Bray but recognizes he's a Warden and moving through the woods and avoiding beasts and others is second nature to the man. She decides to hitch her self to Bray. A decision that almost see's her robbed.

So begins a pretty good read.

This one has Ella, William, Bray, General Blackthorn, Minister Beck, Father Winthrop the head of the Brighton clergy and an idiot, Franklin his apprentice, Oliver a young man that Townsend thinks is slow, an Oliver who's a long way from slow who is in fact quite intelligent, intelligent enough to know that the crap Townsend spews in his holy sermons, the Word, is just bulls**t, the Cleansing, a Cleansing that will see many burned alive, the Ancients who generations before ruled the land, the Ancients who the stories say had weapons, flew in the sky and had many machines, Ivory the son of a huntsman who's also quite intelligent, Jingo his mentor who has warts, a Jingo anyone would think would become a beast, a Bray who robs Ella and William and leaves them, soldiers on their trail, a Bray who has a change of heart and hurries to save Ella and William, an Ella, Bray and William who get trapped in one of the old buildings, a Bray who fights for Ella and William, a Bray who manages to kill three of the soldiers, an Ella and William who get him back into the cave when they hear beasts coming, beasts who eat the dead guards, a Bray, Ella and William who make it to Davenport, a Davenport where all the townspeople are dead, a Minister Beck who begins to believe a change in the way things are done is needed and Ella, Bray and William doing their best to escape the hunters and stay alive.

Five Stars. Ella and her group need a couple of US Navy SEALs and some F-18's and some real firepower. LOL

I enjoyed the book. It will be interesting to see where the series goes. What I was able to see from the first book is that they know how to writd, have done their proof reading & knos how to move a story forward. It was a good diversion.

I didn't expect to like the post-modern puritanical society. I read The Last Survivors because was the final book available for both authors. Of course, the book was awesome and the authors need to write faster both together and independently so I can get my post-apocalyptic fix. I suggest reading Dusty's Diary before The Last Survivors.

I listened to book via WhisperSync, as the timer ticked down towards the end of the book I started feeling anxious. I did not want the book to end. Beautiful collaboration between Piperbrook and Adair. I am eagerly anticipating the next book, in what I hope becomes a long running series.

The story is about survival in a harsh society. Well written by someone with a good sense of our future, if we don't turn from our ways., we will be in the same shape as the people in the story. GOD help us .

Looks towards the endgame of a pandemic apocalypse rather than the beginning. Characters are a little flat, but the society the authors create and the pressures on it reflect a lot of thought. Will be reading further to see how this world turns out!