The First Days

As the World Dies, Book 1

By: Rhiannon Frater

Narrated by: Cassandra Campbell

Rhiannon Frater's As the World Dies trilogy is an Internet sensation. The first two books, The First Days and Fighting to Survive, have won the Dead Letter Award for Best Novel from Mail Order Zombie. The First Days was named one of the Best Zombie Books of the Decade by the Harrisburg Book Examiner. And AmericanHorrorBlog calls Rhiannon Frater "a writer to watch".

The morning that the world ends, Katie is getting ready for court and housewife Jenni is taking care of her family. Less than two hours later, they are fleeing for their lives from a zombie horde. Thrown together by circumstance, Jenni and Katie become a powerful zombie-killing partnership, mowing down zombies as they rescue Jenni's stepson, Jason, from an infected campground. They find sanctuary in a tiny, roughly fortified Texas town. There Jenni and Katie find they are both attracted to Travis, leader of the survivors; and the refugees must slaughter people they know, who have returned in zombie form.

Fast-paced and exciting, filled with characters who grab your heart, The First Days: As the World Dies is the beginning of a frightening trilogy.

©2008, 2011 Rhiannon Frater (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"One of the few zombie novels fueled by the power of feminine protagonists in an apocalyptic world gone wrong." ( Harrisburg Book Examiner)

I'd pick another series...

The names of the first two characters starts the story off confusingly - Katie and Jenny - and it went downhill from there. And I'm not convinced the author kept the characters straight either: it felt like sometimes Jenny was the hysterical useless twit, and at others it was Katie. Unless both women were supposed to be hysterical twits?? perhaps...

Jenny is an abused wife, but this felt like a feminism 101 version of spousal abuse. Jenny recollects how she was planning to leave her hubby, then a few pages later, she goes on about what a terrible wife and mother she was, and how much she needed a "strong" person (aka Katie) to follow. It's like the author read a book about how abused women behaved, and tried to incorporate this into the book. Including a moment where Jenny was going to "pay back" Katie by offering her sex. It didn't feel real - especially since I'm pretty sure women don't turn lesbian in a matter of a few hours.

And Katie says when offered the opportunity to join an armed group: "I think we're better off on our own"??? are you nuts? Yeah, sure... a couple of people against the world - it's even irrelevant that they are both women... nobody wants to face a zombie apocalypse with just one other person at their back. (Of course, the next day, they're all gung-ho to join a group...the reader is not told what stimulated this sudden change of mind.)

Then when they finally find a place where they think they'll settle down to stay (the author - I mean Katie - tells us directly that they want to stay here)... all of a sudden Katie (a lesbian) realizes that she has felt a connection and "feeling that they have a future together" with a man she met 30 seconds ago. Err... I'm not clear if this is meant to show that lesbians turn straight when necessary, or...

It is one of the more poorly plotted (two women take a road trip through the zombie horde, then they take another one), stereotyped (lesbian and abused wife), and repetitive (enter building, fight zombie, run to truck, run over zombie, rinse and repeat) zombie books I've read. I decline to read any more in this series.

Try Mark Tufo's zombie books if you want this type of story with better plotting and characters who act more like normal people would. Or Grant's Deadline series if you like more conspiratorial zombies. Or the Day by Day Armageddon series for a journal style one, or the Undead Situation for a one-off zombie book... they're all better written.

I love This Series Bring it on Zompocalypse

What did you love best about The First Days?

The characters were well developed and there was hardly any down time or calmness.
I think guns and zombies go together perfectly, so it's all good!!

I fell in love with the end of the world!

Where does The First Days rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The best series of books that I have gotten from Audible so far! I find myself listening to the story over and over again!

What was one of the most memorable moments of The First Days?

There are so many memorable moments in this series! I found myself on the edge of my seat over and over again! My favorite moment in this book comes with the intro of Nerit- the aging female Israeli sniper. I so want to have her cool factor!

Which character – as performed by Cassandra Campbell – was your favorite?

Cassandra’s characterizations are all top notch! However Katie, Jenny and Nerit are her best

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

This book had me on the edge of my seat and I could not stop listening to it. I would find myself tensing then relaxing again only to hold my breath a moment later!

Any additional comments?

I would suggest reading (As the world dies: Untold stories book 1) before moving on to book 2. Rhiannon is an excellent writer that has rich character development! Her books are about the people in a situation, instead of A situation with people thrown in. I have become an avid fan of hers and this is where it all started!

I liked it.

I enjoyed this series. It isn't a series I listen to over and over but I did enjoy it.
The story was not for hardcore zombie fans in my opinion.
There are better zombie books out there but if you need more to listen to, it's not a waste.
Listen to the preview before purchase to see if the narration suits your listening taste.

The romancing didn't over shadow the story

Yes, its a bit of awkward feeling for a dude to listen to two girls swooning over a guy, but never mind, it was a bit refreshing to see things from a girls perspective and there is still a good story going on which isn't over shadowed. Still plenty of action with guns and gore. Perhaps tone it a tad down for the likely majority male listeners and give them a bone too to chew on too.

The story is about two women surviving the initial outbreak and how they eventually find their way to a survivors compound there they start retaking the city...well, at the end anyways. By far the most powerful part of the book, or perhaps any zombie book I've listened to, is the opening scene which you hear in the audio sample. That was creepy and scary. You start identifying with Jenni right away and relieved that she quickly turns out to be a helluva tough cookie despite what she went through.

I think the narrator did a great job. I don't know much about Israeli accents but it was believable to me.

The writing quality is great, makes me respond emotionally, happy parts and sad parts of the book did what they were supposed to do. Ending was kinda "meh" though.

Going to buy the second installment now.