Dreadful Objects So Familiar

by Kyle Ross, Rhett Samuel Price (Narrator)

Donovan Kelly is an avid outdoorsman and survival enthusiast. When a routine camping trip to a forest preserve comes to an end, he emerges from the woods into a town overcome by Blight, a super virus that has turned the town's denizens into feverish, infected cannibals. With no escape from the town, Donovan must fight the infected as well as a group of survivors bent on controlling what remains of the empty town. And then Donovan discovers what survival really means.

Audiobook

First published July 20, 2015

Reviews

[AudioBookReviewer · Rating 4 out of 5]

My original Dreadful Objects So Familiar audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

Donovan is a young man who fancies himself as a survivalist and an outdoor enthusiast.  He does love the outdoors but beyond that he soon realizes he is not a skilled survivalist. After having finished his vacation time in the woods, he returns to town to pick up his car and head home.  Donovan is stunned to see that people are shrieking and attacking others on the street.  There are dead bodies everywhere and infected people running amok attacking and eating people.  Not being from this small town, Donovan quickly heads to the woods to a small cave someone had told him about where he sets up his shelter.  Not knowing whether this blight is world-wide or just this small town, Donovan sets about surviving.

Then there is Pardo, a janitor who had been ridiculed by the teachers and principal at the high school, who settles into the role of savior.  He quickly brings everyone in the school together and sets about planning survival via “Lord of the Flies” style.  Donovan and Pardo with his varsity team of henchmen try to out maneuver one another.  Not only does Donovan have a few issues, but Pardo has a much darker, evil side that leaves the town’s few remaining citizens’ survival questionable.

Kyle Ross focuses on a smaller scale of the apocalypse focusing on one town and a few people. This allowed the listener to focus on those characters and see them more fully.  I enjoyed the pieces where you are introduced to the character then suddenly you are privy to their individual thoughts experiences and explanations about why and how they came to be in this situation.

Dreadful Objects So Familiar is engrossing and action packed.  Its strength is in the smallness of the apocalypse rather than the global or national level – this involves characters that are ordinary, down to earth types found in a small town.  Ross carefully builds each character with rich and vivid information.  The story is suspenseful with several twists and turns as well.  I cannot wait to hear more from Ross!

Rhett Samuel Price, narrator, did an excellent job of telling the story and fitting into the story in a fluid way.  When Pardo’s evilness took on a voice, it was done in a creepy spine chilling tone makes one look around just to confirm it’s not real!   I enjoyed how each person had a voice with none of them being annoying or whiny – granted I expected the principal to have one of those type voices – Price found another less annoying voices for him BUT one that definitely identifies the principal appropriately.  I found his storytelling to be interesting and with just the right amount of emotion.

I found no issues with production, everything went smoothly and with precision.

Audiobook was provided for review by the Author.

[Todd Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dreadful Objects So Familiar is sort of a zombie apocalypse story, although there isn't much zombie action. The story centers on Donovan Kelly. Donovan is a survivalist and has been honing his survival skills most of his life. When the blight turned all of infected into flesh eating cannibals, Donovan managed to seek shelter in a cave. There were other survivors left in the town. They were ran by Parma, an ex bully. He now controlled the remaining survivors which consisted of some students and the high school principal. None of them enjoy taking orders from Parma, but no one will stand up to him either. When the group finally encounters Donovan, things get hostile.

Again, not as much zombie action I was expecting but there are a lot of good survival techniques practiced by Donovan in this book.

The narration by Rhett Samuel Price was excellent. Great job telling the story in such a way that made it creepy.

[Alyssa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A slow burn survivalist adventure where the main character, Donovan, must defend himself from infected people ready to eat him, and a powder-hungry antagonist who just wants to watch it all burn. I really liked the character development in this because you felt like you knew the main characters and their motivations well.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

A compelling story about an erstwhile survivalist whose only chance to stay alive is to infiltrate the zombie-infested town below. But it's not so simple, as there are survivors whose leader is intent on establishing his long-sought dominance over the townspeople. Anyone who threatens his authority (including our hero) is viewed as a threat. Thus, by setting up two separate antagonists--and by forcing the ever-human protagonist to make some distasteful choices--the narrative is far more compelling than it would be if a simple story of survival against the walking dead.

Meticulous in its detail, the novel offers a fantastic glimpse into decisions we hope we'll never have to make. Although I don't read this sort of thing, I found myself drawn to it each night, as the stakes grow ever higher. It's not perfect (there are certainly some plot holes to be discovered if you look hard enough, and the prose is occasionally overwritten), it was a really fun read, visual, visceral, and ultimately satisfying.