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mehsi's review
4.0
So after reading this author's short story collection, I decided to check out if she had more zombie books. And she had! This series.
I immediately hunted for it, found it, and when it was time for my before-sleeping-reading-time I went ahead and read a bit. Normally I don't really want to read horror before sleeping, but I just couldn't wait until the next day.
We have 3 characters, Samson, Veronica, and Ben. Out of all of those I think I liked Ben the most. At first I wasn't sure what to think of him, but then he definitely won from Veronica. Samson was last. He was a good character, but a bit boring and bland. Like he got the spotlight but only until someone better comes along.
Two of these characters (Veronica and Samson) will tell us what happened with them during the initial outbreak and how they tried to make life in a hell hole of zombies. It was quite interesting, and I felt so so sad for both of them. They both lost a lot. They both had to go through so much. Of course, this is what happens in an apocalypse, people will lose loved ones, but you still hope that they will be luckily and keep their friends and family. Like with Andrew and Juliette (though I did not see one shred of chemistry between the two of them).
I loved how the stories connected in the end. How where we left Veronica and Samson with zombies connects with Ben. It was such an amazing moment when that happened. Like everything just clicked together. So this is why that happened. So this is what happens afterwards.
I have to say that while I liked to see Ben's journey to find Veronica, I didn't like Juliette in it. Yes, she has a mental illness, yes, she isn't doing well, but really? She kept bitching about everything, like she couldn't comprehend that things have changed. And really? What she did when they were outside? No. Just no. I get that she probably was breaking down, but she endangered everyone. I was amazed that she was allowed to come with the group.
The author did an amazing job on writing about the zombie apocalypse, I could just imagine myself there. She described every detail, from the smell to how the zombies acted.
There were however a few things that I didn't like and for that I will take 1 star.
1. There were several errors with sentences. Sentences just didn't make sense, I had to re-read them to check if I was reading it wrong, or if the author wrote it down wrong.
2. The changing POV. I don't mind multiple POVs, however, I do hate it when it is done wrong. When a character switches after 1 paragraph. Which happens a lot in this one. One moment we would be with Veronica, then Samson. Or Isaac > Veronica. Or Ben > anyone else. It just got a bit annoying, I would still be with x character, and suddenly we would be with y.
3. While I now can see why we get Ben's POV, it still grated on me as I was thinking we would finally get Veronica and Samson's. It also took me a while to see that this was set in present day, and not, as with Veronica, taking place around the time the outbreak started.
But all in all, this was a wonderful read, quite short, but I didn't mind as it was perfect that way, and I would recommend it to everyone looking for a zombie book.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I immediately hunted for it, found it, and when it was time for my before-sleeping-reading-time I went ahead and read a bit. Normally I don't really want to read horror before sleeping, but I just couldn't wait until the next day.
We have 3 characters, Samson, Veronica, and Ben. Out of all of those I think I liked Ben the most. At first I wasn't sure what to think of him, but then he definitely won from Veronica. Samson was last. He was a good character, but a bit boring and bland. Like he got the spotlight but only until someone better comes along.
Two of these characters (Veronica and Samson) will tell us what happened with them during the initial outbreak and how they tried to make life in a hell hole of zombies. It was quite interesting, and I felt so so sad for both of them. They both lost a lot. They both had to go through so much. Of course, this is what happens in an apocalypse, people will lose loved ones, but you still hope that they will be luckily and keep their friends and family. Like with Andrew and Juliette (though I did not see one shred of chemistry between the two of them).
I loved how the stories connected in the end. How where we left Veronica and Samson with zombies connects with Ben. It was such an amazing moment when that happened. Like everything just clicked together. So this is why that happened. So this is what happens afterwards.
I have to say that while I liked to see Ben's journey to find Veronica, I didn't like Juliette in it. Yes, she has a mental illness, yes, she isn't doing well, but really? She kept bitching about everything, like she couldn't comprehend that things have changed. And really? What she did when they were outside? No. Just no. I get that she probably was breaking down, but she endangered everyone. I was amazed that she was allowed to come with the group.
The author did an amazing job on writing about the zombie apocalypse, I could just imagine myself there. She described every detail, from the smell to how the zombies acted.
There were however a few things that I didn't like and for that I will take 1 star.
1. There were several errors with sentences. Sentences just didn't make sense, I had to re-read them to check if I was reading it wrong, or if the author wrote it down wrong.
2. The changing POV. I don't mind multiple POVs, however, I do hate it when it is done wrong. When a character switches after 1 paragraph. Which happens a lot in this one. One moment we would be with Veronica, then Samson. Or Isaac > Veronica. Or Ben > anyone else. It just got a bit annoying, I would still be with x character, and suddenly we would be with y.
3. While I now can see why we get Ben's POV, it still grated on me as I was thinking we would finally get Veronica and Samson's. It also took me a while to see that this was set in present day, and not, as with Veronica, taking place around the time the outbreak started.
But all in all, this was a wonderful read, quite short, but I didn't mind as it was perfect that way, and I would recommend it to everyone looking for a zombie book.
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
tracey_stewart's review
1.0
Based on an author's (or narrator's?) post in a Goodreads group, I tried out the sample available of this book on Audible, liked what I heard, and threw caution to the wind and bought it. It is an interesting slant on the ground AMC trod this summer with Fear the Walking Dead: the very beginning of a zombie apocalypse, as people are still standing and watching creatures who used to be friends and family shambling closer and closer, wondering why cousin Jimmy is so pale, and why is he growling … The Undead in this universe were fast and loud and persistent, and I liked that.
Unfortunately, that's about all I liked.
I didn't much care for any of the characters. One main character, the lawyer Sampson, fluctuates between Slimy Lawyer and Put Upon Nice Guy, to the point that I was uncomfortable when another main character who was a teenaged girl met up with him; I kept expecting the scumbag to re-emerge. I will say all the characters were something more than cardboard … it's just that what they were instead was inconsistent and, unfortunately, ultimately unlikeable. Also, not entirely believable: the level of bickering in the middle of a world-ending crisis might, sadly, have been realistic, but it was incredibly annoying to read - - and, also, I find it hard to believe that, coming upon a CVS that had gone unlooted (which is highly improbable, security gate or no security gate), our heroes not only stock up on water and power bars and lighter fluid but … deodorants. And then a while later use up most if not all of that incredibly valuable lighter fluid on something really stupid for which they could have used any number of other accelerants.
I'll come back to the characters.
The narration had some high highs and low lows. The voice of the narrator and those used for male character voices were mostly fine, though it was a little interesting that two of the three black men in the cast of characters were pretty much identical. The women, though … *shudder* In the book, the women, excepting teenaged heroine Veronica, are at best worthless, at worst "batshit crazy" and overall really horrendous. In the narration, they're the epitome of cliché gay caricature voice – terrible.
The language periodically made me twitch: "the people her and her brother had stumbled upon", for example. And the constant use of "lie" as the past tense for … "lie". I thought it was "lied", which made me see faintly red, but I checked Google Books: nope. Bodies lie about, little islands of present tense in the midst of a past tense book. (Along with "squat" as the past tense for "squat".) A few actions like a man placing a bag on his back are described with such gravity and emphasis that they should be significant. (They aren't.) And things like "Ben shared a laugh with himself", or someone's "happy hands"…? No.
Another bit I didn't much like was what seems to be a nastily right-wing stance (referring to the uber-bitch Juliette as a spoiled liberal – which, no).
Going back to that CVS: First of all, CVS in Florida carries booze? Huh. Anyway. The store was described as having no other door than the front entrance. I find it hard to believe there's any public building without a back door, for trash removal and to comply with fire codes if nothing else. Where do they get deliveries?
The car name-dropping gets old; I'm not sure why we need to know exactly what make and model everyone drives, except to make occasional points about some characters' wealth (or former wealth) and so on.
The cuts in the narrative are sometimes abrupt and confusing – going from talking about Sampson and Moira to a new chapter (hard to distinguish in an audiobook) and "they all" in the first sentence – but here "they" refers to Abe and company; later, a shift in the other direction, from Abe & co to Sampson.
One thing I have to give some credit to the author for: the tale of what happened to Al. It was, at first, nicely handled – by which I mean the story was withheld and and evaded for quite a while, which I at first found irritating but came to appreciate as – at first – a nice bit of storytelling, good suspense-building. However, it stretched out too long, to the point that when some () of the details finally came out I had already pretty much figured out what happened and didn't need to be told. There were a few near misses like that in the storytelling – and inconsistencies, such as Veronica telling the story of how her father was attacked – but not as the father told it. She was not there; she has only what her father related to her. Where did the new details in her version come from?
I wanted to continue liking the book. I would have loved to like it more than the afore-mentioned "Fear the Walking Dead", about which I was kind of lukewarm. But "Breadwinner" didn't suffer from comparison – it just suffered from its execution. This wasn't the first time I've had cause to bless Audible's return policy … I wish it would be the last.
Unfortunately, that's about all I liked.
I didn't much care for any of the characters. One main character, the lawyer Sampson, fluctuates between Slimy Lawyer and Put Upon Nice Guy, to the point that I was uncomfortable when another main character who was a teenaged girl met up with him; I kept expecting the scumbag to re-emerge. I will say all the characters were something more than cardboard … it's just that what they were instead was inconsistent and, unfortunately, ultimately unlikeable. Also, not entirely believable: the level of bickering in the middle of a world-ending crisis might, sadly, have been realistic, but it was incredibly annoying to read - - and, also, I find it hard to believe that, coming upon a CVS that had gone unlooted (which is highly improbable, security gate or no security gate), our heroes not only stock up on water and power bars and lighter fluid but … deodorants. And then a while later use up most if not all of that incredibly valuable lighter fluid on something really stupid for which they could have used any number of other accelerants.
I'll come back to the characters.
The narration had some high highs and low lows. The voice of the narrator and those used for male character voices were mostly fine, though it was a little interesting that two of the three black men in the cast of characters were pretty much identical. The women, though … *shudder* In the book, the women, excepting teenaged heroine Veronica, are at best worthless, at worst "batshit crazy" and overall really horrendous. In the narration, they're the epitome of cliché gay caricature voice – terrible.
The language periodically made me twitch: "the people her and her brother had stumbled upon", for example. And the constant use of "lie" as the past tense for … "lie". I thought it was "lied", which made me see faintly red, but I checked Google Books: nope. Bodies lie about, little islands of present tense in the midst of a past tense book. (Along with "squat" as the past tense for "squat".) A few actions like a man placing a bag on his back are described with such gravity and emphasis that they should be significant. (They aren't.) And things like "Ben shared a laugh with himself", or someone's "happy hands"…? No.
Another bit I didn't much like was what seems to be a nastily right-wing stance (referring to the uber-bitch Juliette as a spoiled liberal – which, no).
Going back to that CVS: First of all, CVS in Florida carries booze? Huh. Anyway. The store was described as having no other door than the front entrance. I find it hard to believe there's any public building without a back door, for trash removal and to comply with fire codes if nothing else. Where do they get deliveries?
The car name-dropping gets old; I'm not sure why we need to know exactly what make and model everyone drives, except to make occasional points about some characters' wealth (or former wealth) and so on.
The cuts in the narrative are sometimes abrupt and confusing – going from talking about Sampson and Moira to a new chapter (hard to distinguish in an audiobook) and "they all" in the first sentence – but here "they" refers to Abe and company; later, a shift in the other direction, from Abe & co to Sampson.
One thing I have to give some credit to the author for: the tale of what happened to Al. It was, at first, nicely handled – by which I mean the story was withheld and and evaded for quite a while, which I at first found irritating but came to appreciate as – at first – a nice bit of storytelling, good suspense-building. However, it stretched out too long, to the point that when some (
Spoiler
never allI wanted to continue liking the book. I would have loved to like it more than the afore-mentioned "Fear the Walking Dead", about which I was kind of lukewarm. But "Breadwinner" didn't suffer from comparison – it just suffered from its execution. This wasn't the first time I've had cause to bless Audible's return policy … I wish it would be the last.
liedora's review
4.0
This novella length book is the first in a post-apocalyptic trilogy, and is a good start to what promises to be an interesting series. Some readers may think that at 139 pages it couldn’t possibly set the scene for a gripping trilogy, and those readers would be wrong.
This type of post-apocalyptic themed novel seems to be all around us at the moment, but in this debut novel I found something I hadn’t come across before, a complete storyline and some very relatable characters. The main protagonist is a strong man faced with unenviable choices and following a course of actions he may have thought himself incapable of before the collapse of the world he knows. Through a skilful use of writing and rich development of the characters, this Author is able to give this books readers a thoroughly emotionally charged and realistic journey through their trials and tribulations.
The situations the Author places her characters in are well described and thought through to the point the reader is made to think and examine the way they would react in the same circumstances, and as I have said in previous reviews I do like a book that makes me think.
Although I am not a big fan of zombie novels, I am looking forward to reading the remainder of this trilogy and would, therefore recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre of book or is an avid viewer of The Walking Dead.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/01/07/review-the-breadwinner-stevie-kopas/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
This type of post-apocalyptic themed novel seems to be all around us at the moment, but in this debut novel I found something I hadn’t come across before, a complete storyline and some very relatable characters. The main protagonist is a strong man faced with unenviable choices and following a course of actions he may have thought himself incapable of before the collapse of the world he knows. Through a skilful use of writing and rich development of the characters, this Author is able to give this books readers a thoroughly emotionally charged and realistic journey through their trials and tribulations.
The situations the Author places her characters in are well described and thought through to the point the reader is made to think and examine the way they would react in the same circumstances, and as I have said in previous reviews I do like a book that makes me think.
Although I am not a big fan of zombie novels, I am looking forward to reading the remainder of this trilogy and would, therefore recommend it to anyone who enjoys this genre of book or is an avid viewer of The Walking Dead.
Originally reviewed on: http://catesbooknuthut.com/2014/01/07/review-the-breadwinner-stevie-kopas/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
hyperashley's review
4.0
This book was freaking amazing! I loved every second of it and it captured me from the very first chapter and held me until the very last. I feel like this is how Fear the Walking Dead, will be because I've often wondered how you could tell a zombie is a zombie if it's not all decomposed. Apparently it's if they are covered in blood and chewing on someones neck, that's a good sign of zombie-ism.
A group of people all trying to survive an apocalyptic world crawling with the undead end up meeting and surviving together. Samson, the breadwinner of his family is still trying to support his family the best he can. The track star, Veronica is trying to get her brother and herself safely out of the city. Ben, Sal and Lucy were content staying in his a small apartment until meeting Veronica and her brother, then they all agree to travel together. They get ambushed and separated, where Ben runs into brothers Clyde and Andrew, and Andrews crazy girlfriend Juliette and they begin searching for Veronica. Will Ben find Veronica before the unthinkable happens? Will they all be able to survive the undead and worse those that are still alive?
I've been wanting to read a good book like this and I'm so glad I got the chance to. I've been reading so many sci-fi books lately that it was good to get into something else for a change. I always love a good zombie book, always! This is the first book in The Breadwinner Trilogy, and I can't wait to read the other two. Stevie Kopas did a fantastic job creating this zombie filled world that I want no part of. So many zombie books are the same because there are only so many ways they can be taken but this was really good. Sure it was a lot like a lot of other zombie books but that doesn't make it bad or predictable.
I was kind of shocked by some of the deaths! It is a horror/ post apocalyptic book so of course some people had to die but I really didn't see at least one of them coming. I liked the ending though, I was hoping it would end something like that. Another good thing was how fast everything started happening, it did not take long to get into this story at all. I loved how everyone ended up being connected throughout the book so there were no loose ends.
A group of people all trying to survive an apocalyptic world crawling with the undead end up meeting and surviving together. Samson, the breadwinner of his family is still trying to support his family the best he can. The track star, Veronica is trying to get her brother and herself safely out of the city. Ben, Sal and Lucy were content staying in his a small apartment until meeting Veronica and her brother, then they all agree to travel together. They get ambushed and separated, where Ben runs into brothers Clyde and Andrew, and Andrews crazy girlfriend Juliette and they begin searching for Veronica. Will Ben find Veronica before the unthinkable happens? Will they all be able to survive the undead and worse those that are still alive?
I've been wanting to read a good book like this and I'm so glad I got the chance to. I've been reading so many sci-fi books lately that it was good to get into something else for a change. I always love a good zombie book, always! This is the first book in The Breadwinner Trilogy, and I can't wait to read the other two. Stevie Kopas did a fantastic job creating this zombie filled world that I want no part of. So many zombie books are the same because there are only so many ways they can be taken but this was really good. Sure it was a lot like a lot of other zombie books but that doesn't make it bad or predictable.
I was kind of shocked by some of the deaths! It is a horror/ post apocalyptic book so of course some people had to die but I really didn't see at least one of them coming. I liked the ending though, I was hoping it would end something like that. Another good thing was how fast everything started happening, it did not take long to get into this story at all. I loved how everyone ended up being connected throughout the book so there were no loose ends.
renee_conoulty's review
3.0
This is book one in The Breadwinner trilogy and the first book I have read by the author. This is a fast paced zombie apocalypse story covering the first few weeks after the first outbreak.
We meet several groups of people from different walks of life and follow them as they try to survive. Some characters were likeable, and a couple were so irritating that I really hoped the zombies would eat them! **spoiler alert** one down and one to go..... By the end of this book, the different groups all meet up (well, whoever was left...) and I'm looking forward to the next instalment to see where they go from here.
I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
We meet several groups of people from different walks of life and follow them as they try to survive. Some characters were likeable, and a couple were so irritating that I really hoped the zombies would eat them! **spoiler alert** one down and one to go..... By the end of this book, the different groups all meet up (well, whoever was left...) and I'm looking forward to the next instalment to see where they go from here.
I received this book free from the author in exchange for an honest review.
mountainblue's review
2.0
1.5 stars
I was excited to try this new author and see how he approaches the old zombie apocalypse topic but I found the characters boring and one-dimensional, the plot similar to many other zombie stories I've read. There was nothing interesting, new or entertaining here so it's a dnf.
I was excited to try this new author and see how he approaches the old zombie apocalypse topic but I found the characters boring and one-dimensional, the plot similar to many other zombie stories I've read. There was nothing interesting, new or entertaining here so it's a dnf.
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