From the multi-award-winning author Christopher Artinian, comes a novella featuring one of his most intriguing characters. People are calling Safe Haven “Gripping”, “Captivating”, “Emotional”, “Compelling” and “Scary as Hell”.Before Safe Haven: AlexA virus has infected billions all over the world, turning its victims into vicious zombies. The UK and Ireland have remained uninfected…until now.… uninfected…until now.
Alex Munro’s city is put in lockdown as an outbreak of the zombie virus takes hold. Each day the government broadcasts claim a new victory in the fight. Each night more shots are heard as the undead begin to stake their claim to the streets of Leeds.
What will he do? What can he do? For Alex, family is everything. Survival is everything. Heroes aren’t born. Heroes are made. Today we need a new hero. Today we need Alex.
This is his story.
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Before Safe Haven: Alex (A Zombie Novella) by Christopher Artinian and narrated by Kim Bretton is an emotional read…grab the tissues. Yes, it is worth a listen as the writing and narration are fabulous (all of Christopher and Kim’s collaborations are FYI)- it’s more a question of if you should listen to this or the first book of Safe Haven first. With that being said, if you continue to read my review,***Warning***, contains spoilers if you have not listened to the first Safe Haven book. I highly recommend the Safe Haven series if you are new to Christopher’s books and if you are not but haven’t listened to this one, you should.
This novella tells Alex’s story and events at the beginning of the outbreak. It’s about family, or what family should be, and zombies. It’s an emotional read due to Alex being infected and the subsequent events. Kim’s narration is excellent. She brings the characters to life and makes each one special.
Parental guidance/trigger warnings: It’s the beginning of the zompoc- some violence (Mike beats up some guys who were trying to rape a woman), discussions of Mike beating up a priest who was assaulting a young girl, drinking, or other like situations. Language used: Sx8, Fx23.
*I was given a free review copy of the audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review. Thank you for allowing me to listen and review the book!
Even though I knew how this story would end, that didn’t take anything away from reading it. Christopher Artinian is a wonderful author and this story is no exception. Great character development, great world building and great emotion throughout make this a 5+ star read.
As always, Kim Bretton’s performance make an already fantastic book even better. She really brings the characters to life and makes the listener fell like they are living in the story, not just listening to it. Just be sure to have some tissues handy when listening because you will need them!
I was given the chance to listen to the audiobook version of this book by the author/publisher/narrator and chose to review it.
I enjoyed this short story about Alex a lot. This short story gave a voice to Alex that made him seem more real. Although Alex was a secondary character in the series, his influence helped to make Mike and Emma and the whole family strong enough to be able to meet the challenges being brought about by the changing world. I have been a fan of Christopher Artinian’s “Safe Haven” series since I listened to the first book in the series in audiobook format, and I recommend this series to others. Kim Bretton’s narration was outstanding, and she kept my attention throughout the tale. I was given a free copy of the audiobook and I have voluntarily left this review.
Alex’s story, I always wanted to know more about the man that had such a profound effect on Mike, and I wasn’t disappointed. This was incredibly moving and terrifying all at the same time, as the family realises how horrifying their new reality is. I loved this book, and couldn’t put it down.