Gray: The Complete Collection

Gray #1-3

by Lou Cadle

A dense black cloud boiled up in the southeastern sky. It rose high and fast, like a time-lapse movie of the birth of a thunderhead. But it was no rain cloud. Wholly black, it reached up and up until it loomed over her, blocking out the sun. Somehow, she knew, it was Death coming for her. Pre-med student Coral is on vacation in Idaho when something terrible happens. The black cloud is followed by a wildfire and searing heat that lasts for days. She survives deep in a cave but emerges days later to find the world transformed, with blackened trees, an ash-filled sky, and no living creatures stirring--except for her. So begins her desperate to find water, and food, and other survivors...and the answer to the mystery of what happened. this is a combined edition of Gray I, Gray II, and Gray III, originally published in 2015 and 2016.

Genres: Audiobook, Post Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Survival, Fiction, Apocalyptic

620 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 6, 2017

About the author

Lou Cadle grew up in Tornado Alley near the New Madrid fault, was in San Francisco's 1989 earthquake, watched minor eruptions of Mt. St. Helens from close up, and hiked several times over Kilauea's active lava flows. Cadle currently lives in haboob country.

Reviews

[Empress Reece (Hooked on Books) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read a lot of dystopian/ post-apocalyptic books because it is one of my favorite genres but I got to to the point where I was tiring of the same old, run of the mill post-apoc books. So I admit when I came across this series I was hesitant to start it because I thought it was going to be "one of those."

I'm so glad I didn't discount it and proceeded to listen because even though it does contain the usual tropes, it was a very, very solid post-apoc series! It was extremely well written and the storyline and audio performance kept me engaged from start to finish. It really just exceeded all of my expecations!

I think what really makes this series special are the two main characters, Coral and Benjamin. I liked both of them immensely and was fully invested in their survival and outcome. I enjoyed watching Coral's character grow in strength and maturity and I liked seeing the dynamics between her and Benjamin's relationship evolve.

Another thing I really liked about this series was the ending. I was glad it didn't follow the norm like so many others I've read, and Coral and Benjamin decided to branch out on their own, just the two of them, instead of returning to the community to rebuild.

If you are also a fan of post-apoc stories and/or you're a woman in a relationship, friendly or romantic, with an older man, then you should give this series a try. I think you'll really enjoy it!

[Jen · Rating 5 out of 5]

First off, let me say that nobody asked me to read or review this, I didn't get it for free, and I'm not trying to promote the book on Amazon. I say this because I've just gone through several pages of books available on Kindle Unlimited and found that most of them just aren't worth reading.

But - WHAT a story! Best p/a I've read in a long while and perfect ending. Lauren Fortgang is perfect on audio.

It's so nice when you happen upon a hidden gem amid all the . . . other stuff.

[Karen’s Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, this was a good apocalyptic series! An event causes complete and utter destruction to the earth leaving only a handful of survivors.

Trees, plants, animals, houses, people, EVERYTHING... burns.

Coral was about to enter a cave when the event occurs, and manages to survive by keeping herself deep inside where she's protected from the world burning.

She manages to find one other survivor and together they try to travel to the closest city. Because of the event, temperatures stay way below freezing, and it constantly snows. There's no trees for wood, so they have no fire for cooking or to keep warm. There's nothing left of homes which means no scavenging for food. Because of the heat of the fires, everything is gone. No clothes, no food staples, etc.

Out of all the apocalypse books I've read, this world was one of the most despairing. Coral is one strong protagonist and I loved her and Benjamin.

I had both the Kindle edition and the whispersynced audible edition, so would switch back and forth depending on what I was doing. The narrator, Lauren Fortgang, was amazing in this!

[Jennifer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gray: The Complete Collection is a decent post-apocalyptic story with well formed (if not always enjoyable) characters and settings. Not quite as good as The Dog Stars by Peter Heller, but overall better than Swan Song by Robert McCammon. I recommend going into Gray with some patience and forgiveness for the first couple of chapters...I felt that Cadle rushed through them to get to the "post" part of the post-apocalypse, and a more gradual approach might have been better. But once the real motion of the story gets rolling, I found the pace to be more enjoyable.

I have mixed feelings about Coral, the main character. There are times that I felt she was petulant and whiney -- but then I remembered her age and the fact that the story is told almost exclusively from her perspective...within her head, and infused with her emotions and reactions. From that perspective I could at least appreciate the authenticity of her character, but I can't say I ever really cozied up to her. Benjamin was a little less fleshed out as a character -- more likeable, though -- but his input and influence felt right and were a good balance to Coral's unfounded self-criticism and tendency to mouth off.

Overall the story took me with it without a struggle, and although I can see where some other reviewers got mired in the lengthy passages of Coral's thoughts and feelings, I think that added a deeper dimension to the whole experience of struggle and survival.

This collection may be more of a 3.5 or 3.75 than a 4...but I can recommend it to fans of the genre without hesitation.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a survival story to the core. If you like knowing the nitty gritty details of how one would survive in an extremely inhospitable environment (in this case, after a cataclysmic event that significantly diminishes, probably to extinction in many cases, life on the planet as we know it) then this is a book for you. Nothing is glossed over, oversimplified, or tempered down for the faint-hearted. The sh$t gets real. Going from having everything one needs to survive at one's finger tips to struggling just to make it to the next day without starving or freezing to death significantly changes the few remaining human survivors. Let's just say, of the very few human survivors, most don't adjust well, and many completely lose whatever humanity they had. But, despite the violence of nature and the complete breakdown of whatever is left of civilization, two people find each other and form a powerful alliance built on respect, loyalty, compassion, and love, so all is not lost. The ending is very satisfying and is very hopeful, which I really appreciated after working my way through all that struggle.

[Anastasia Alén · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled across this on Audible and WOW! Better than I would have ever expected. Gray tells a story of Earth after "The Event". Fire burning for several days followed by cold weather that doesn't seem to go away and remaining humans trying to survive in this world.

I really enjoyed this book. I'm not sure how it would have worked in three standalone books but the collection of all three was very cohesive. Audible edition had great performance by Lauren Fortgang.

I'd recommend this for anyone who likes survival stories or Andy Weir.

[Idamus · Rating 1 out of 5]

Chapter 8 book 1.
I give up, rather bad all in all.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gray is a pretty darn good Post Apocalyptic saga. The world has basically ended in a tempest of heat and fire. All the wood is gone as are most of the creatures. The few survivors have to make do in what is apparently some sort of nuclear winter. Everything is ....Gray. 18 year old Coral survives, as she happened to be exploring a cave. I started this story really liking Coral...then I started to really dislike Coral...then I liked her again. In hindsight, it was easy to forget that she was just a young lady with no survival skills (other than an ability to fish), who was cast into a strange new world. She meets Benjamin, who is actually a good guy, and they two experience a long line of traumatic events and disappointments as they struggle to survive day to day. As far as Post Apocalyptic goes, this one had its standard fare of cannibals, psychos, savage rapists, and crazed out military dudes. We even had a cult of over-the-top Scientology-uberMormon types that were breeding aliens for the big day! Cool!! I was a bit disappointed at the end though. It seemed that after a long build up to escape from yet another band of crazies....they just sort of found normalcy. Very anti-climatic for me. Overall, this was a pretty decent story in the PA genre (and thankfully no zombies made an appearance!)

[Madison Boscke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on audible.

Without giving much away, this book was intense and long but worth reading. I definitely saw the last major conflict coming as soon as they went in to the town - it reminded me a lot of the walking dead in some ways, obviously, without the zombies.

There is one major thing I didn’t like which was that there was absolutely no explanation or resolution to the event. The author kind of skirts the issue by repeated statements similar to “what’s done is done” and that there is no use or time to wonder or dwell in the past. This may explain the character’s ability to move on but as a reader it is annoying to have no closure or have gained no knowledge except for the speculation hashed over during parts of the book which was barely mentioned. I think this happened because it would be hard to find a way to add them finding out the answer of what happened to the story but it still left me annoyed after investing 20+ hours into reading.

Even with that though, it was a really good read and great when you need something different and slower paced but it isn’t easy to put it down.

[Chris Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING AUDIOBOOK
Im at least 3/4 through the complete collection and iv been gripped from the start. well worth a read/listen and the narration is top class.
well done this is a great apocalypse book that really puts shit into perspective very well written! love it.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing was very direct and I really enjoyed the length. It gave you time to get acquainted with the characters and really worry about them. Definitely not for everyone, but you'll like it if you like realistic post apocalyptic fiction.

[Linda Gleaves · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you Jen from Today at Jen's Library for recommending this book! I enjoyed it from first word to last. Lauren Fortgang's narration was excellent as always.

[Mia Condon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want more!!!

[Carlos Trevino · Rating 4 out of 5]

Opened this hoping for some supernatural/alien/government conspiracy plot, but by the time I'd surmised this was a straight up survival story, I'd already read too much to just put it down and not finish. The evolution of Coral is my favorite aspect of the story. She starts off as a modern 19 year old whose both dependent on technology and doesn't have too many DIY skills. Throughout the story you evolve into a bad ass with her.

[Mike Pluta · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a post-apocalypse story focused on the breakdown of 'old-world' mores, development of mores for the 'new-world', and the individual decisions of letting go, standing firm, or compromising.

When faced with near certain death, what lines are you willing to cross? Are you willing to cross those lines you swear to never cross when faced with the imminent death of a loved one?

[Barbara Morrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This series is good!

I love post apocalyptic fiction but get bored when it’s just a recital of ammunition types and MREs. This series has a little of that, but also a great story! I’m a copy editor by trade and some series have many errors. Not this one. Highly recommend!

[Mike Anderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first half pulled me in, but from there it just stalled out. This is unfortunate because I liked the main character and had enjoyed reading about her struggles and her ingenuity in facing them.

In trying to put my finger on what my problem with the series was, eventually I decided it was a bit like my problem with The Name of the Wind, wherein the storytelling was strong but the story was just aimless. Only in this case, the storytelling wasn't particularly strong, merely adequate. I got tired of hearing the same lines about Coral worrying about Benjamin. "He was her world... What would she do without him... The thought of being without him... If she were to lose him...". She loved Benjamin and feared for his safety, we get it. Enough already.

One of the book's threads was the examination of what different post-apocalyptic societies might look like in their infancy. As one might expect in a novel like this, they are all pretty grim; a military force bent on subjugation, a misogynistic cult, and a town with a dark side. All were standard fare for this kind of story and not particularly inventive. The part in Boise tried to make a mystery of it, but the secret was so obvious I find it hard to believe that the inhabitants hadn't caught on before Coral's revelation.

The ending was so-so. After building a world bereft of hope after an extinction-level event, the author finally throws the hero a bone and she grabs it like a drowning person. In my opinion the new hope she found was not realistic; science says that prolonged heat of several hundred degrees followed by an out-of season freeze lasting 20 months means that nothing is coming back. Someone with her medical background probably should have known that. However, I can see how someone in her position would seize any straw she was given. Maybe it was the author's intent to have the heroine finally succumb to the false hope that she'd observed in others on a few occasions, but the rest of the story wasn't nearly as subtle as that, so I doubt it.

Overall it was an enjoyable but not particularly noteworthy book.

[Todd Wells · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though it seemed to start more in the genre of young adult fiction, I came to really enjoy this story and the characters. The post-apocalyptic story kept my interest and gave a different view than other stories in the same arena. The interplay between their time alone with the main characters and their times interacting with other survivors was a great way to show the larger picture of humanities struggle in the midst of a deep dive into the lives and growth of these two people struggling to live and eventually finding enjoyment and happiness in the midst of that ongoing struggle.

[jboyg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Well Done Post Apocalypse Tale

This is a collection of three novels following a young woman through what is left of the world after a terrible and unexplained event kills off most of the population. She's a great, spunky young gal who refuses to give up. This reads, in some ways like a Gary Paulson lost in the woods survival story. And the traveling companion she hooks up with is a real survivor with some serious skills. It's kind of a standard story but so well executed it kept me going all the way to the end and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Mercy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Story Telling

This nook had me hooked. I mostly listen to audio books because I have to multitask, however , while reading this book I kept finding myself trying to find every spare minute to at least get in a couple pages. If you're a fan of apocalyptic fiction this is a must read.

[Lindsay Reed · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great Story

It’s a great story but I couldn’t get it out of my head that no 19 year old girl in her first year of college would be that mature and know that much about medicine. Just a few years older and I would have given this 4 stars.

Also, it seemed way too detailed when it didn’t need to be and in some instances details were lacking.

Additionally, I hate typos….

[Elvia · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great series! I wish it would have gone on and on. I want to know how they continued to survive.
The travesties they had to endure to survive were so real and foreboding. It makes me think of what would happen if it really happened....I would die and quick. Surely.

[Craig Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow. I'm not usually into this type of story, yet Lou Cadle really made this believable. Lauren Fortgang was a fantastic narrator as well. Top notch.

[Aschael Meierhoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fast paced and entertaining this book will keep you wondering as the characters slowly continue their journey of surviving an apocalypse.

[julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great take on the post-apocalyptic dystopia! Really refreshing relationship between the male and female leads!

[Ishie Sancho · Rating 4 out of 5]

PA/dystopian is my favorite genre, so this is definitely up my alley.

Impressions: I enjoyed it. The first forty pages or so feels a bit YA in the whole Dick and Jane sentence structure and exposition dumping about the main character, but post event, it settles into its pace and gives a good performance.

If you liked Swan Song or the Stand, despite being VERY different books, the lengthy meandering asides that don't seem to contribute to the central narrative but paint a grim picture of survival where the surroundings always exist as an antagonist. In fact, in that aspect, it's almost more like Hatchet or one of the Jack London stories in most of the book just being a grim struggle to survive horrendous conditions. Lots of "justifying buying a multi tool" in its readers.

But it is not fast paced and each portion of the narrative has its own arc. I enjoy the survival story, so liked that aspect of it. I enjoyed the exploration of cPTSD, increased suspicion and paranoia of any other humans not of your "tribe" to an introverted degree, the idea of rising to expectations even when you feel a great deal of self doubt. I thought the main character went through a believable arc, and she felt very 19. A lot of books, particularly those that are YA, (though I don't think this one actually is supposed to be) have 18-21 year old characters who act like their core audience of 12-15 year olds. Instead, Coral is basically an adult, with some lack of experience, emotion, and impulsivity of youth, but also grows up very quickly and explores adult emotions, rather than relying on immature behavior to drive conflict.

I saw a lot of the plot points coming, but I also read a great deal of post apocalyptic fiction.

[Jamie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't really understand all the glowing reviews. This isn't the worst PA series I've read but it certainly isn't great. Here is an example: She opened four cans of soup and set them around the fire and began to dig a snow cave. The soup had defrosted by the time she returned to the fire but not as warm as.. She lined the cans of soup around....She dug in the snow until she found a stump with potential for fuel. She used her knife to gouge out..." That isn't verbatim, but it is the majority of the book. "She mixed cream of mushroom soup with fish....a taste she had grown bored of...didn't want to think of washing sleeping bags in this weather...take forever to dry...scrubbed herself with cold water and a washcloth..."

Boring, tedious, minute details of every single action. Some books in this genre benefit from those descriptions. When an author creates a detailed, imaginative world for their characters, the tiny details are a delight. That is not the case here at all. Its so dull. I fast forwarded several scenes in the second and third books because I had wasted so much time listening to all the insanely detailed daily life tasks passages that went on for page after page in the first book. The premise of the series is interesting but it is written in such a tedious fashion that the author ruined most of the interest or fascination with the concept.

[Samyann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plot. Coral, a young woman camping alone in Idaho, takes refuge in a cave to escape a violent storm and fire that goes on for days. The book never clearly defines precisely what happened. We never learn if there was a war, celestial event, or volcanic eruption - but the result is a very long nuclear winter. Gray is a story of survival - the sky rains mud, snow, and ice gray with soot. Nothing has survived, no game, no birds; everything is burned to ash. Coral is confronted with devastating hunger, thirst, fear, attacks, and the worst and best of humanity.

Liked. This is a survival story of an apocalypse that does not involve zombies, clicking knees, or ghouls from the grave. It's a thoughtful representation of what might really happen and what lengths man will go to survive. No sex, no objectionable language. There is violence, but not grizzly. Narration and production are fine.

Not so hot. A bit of fill with Coral thinking too much; she creates paranoid scenarios of events that never happen but could, a bit too often, IMO. This is a three-book series - so long - which is not a criticism.

Written by Lou Cadle, narrated by Lauren Fortgang, about 25 hours of listening in unabridged audiobook format, released in August 2017 by Podium Audio.

Recommended.

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing early on in this book needs a lot of work, but after a few chapters the author hits his stride and it improves dramatically. The book stayed engrossing even through the parts where not much was happening. Nice, snappy dialogue from the main character, though there were a few decisions she made that made me want to pull my hair out (like not telling Benjamin about her attack! WTF was the point of keeping that to herself when it could have saved them so much suspicion and misunderstanding!) I also didn't really sympathize with her mistrust of the Boise people. Despite all she'd been through, there wasn't any real clues given that there was a serious problem with them (minor problems, sure, but overall there were more benefits to staying with them than risks.) The revelation at the end hit like a punch to the gut though.
Despite the shaky start and its few flaws, I ended up appreciating this book a lot and went right into another book by the same author that I am enjoying immensely. The author should consider rewriting the first couple chapters though so its not as flat and repetitive, as I imagine that probably stops some people from continuing on with the book.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review will contain one spoiler...




I loved the main characters, they each had strengths and weaknesses, something I feel like many books no longer do, I liked that there are just getting through it one day at a time, chugging along, problem solving and having each other's back. A story of survival and friendship, I love that. I loved that their relationship wasn't romantic...

...and then it was, and I was very sad, and while the age gap didn't bother me at all given the context, and it wasn't overly shoved in your face, it was still a let down, I just almost thought I had realistic characters and a companionship without any sexual strings, that would have been incredible and unheard of.
Additionally, I think the end was a touch rushed, I didn't need to know what happened to everyone because that wasn't the point of the story, but just a touch more might have been nice.
Still a solid story.