Mordacious – Book and Narration Review

Mordacious by Sarah Lyons Fleming


Mordacious – definition – Of a person or animal given to biting.

Author Sarah Lyons Fleming
Narrated by Terese Plummer and Luke Daniels

I love, love, LOVE, this book!  Actually all 3 in the series that I have heard so far, and I know of at least 2 more to go.

If you like the Walking Dead TV show, then you should like this series.  It’s the ‘End of the World’, ‘Zombie Apocalypse’, type story.

But I find Sarah’s books much more than that.  The characters seem so real, and alive…and funny…and flawed.  You just can’t help but root for them to make it.  To find a SAFE place.

Every time there is a happy homecoming, and someone is reconnected with family previously assumed lost…you just want to applaud and celebrate with them!

And when someone is lost, you wish you could be there to help the rest pick up the pieces and find the strength to carry on.

There are multiple stories in this series, and each book is told from different perspectives.

In the case of ‘Mordacious’, the story follows the paths of two separate individuals, Silvie and Eric.

I like that each time the perspective changes, the audio book lets you know who is talking.  Even though we have 2 narrators, and it’s obvious from the narration whose story we are following, I still like that it states it plainly.  It’s like…setting up the stage and I like that.

The narration is great, of course.  I wouldn’t recommend this in audio format if I didn’t enjoy the narration, as well.

I usually prefer to listen to single narration, but I find this collaboration of   male and female narrators worked exceptionally well.  You can still get enough examples of their abilities in the various characters that each portrays throughout the story, to hear that they are both extremely talented.

In fact, I will be researching both for future posts, but for now I just wanted to get this story out to all of you.

I love that this is part of an interconnected series, so that the stories don’t end when the book does.  I have 3 down and as far as I know, 2 more to go.  I am so looking forward to hearing those!

So if you like ‘End of the World’ stories, you should give Sarah Lyons Fleming a try.  I love her writing, and I hope you will too.

Happy Listening!

*This article may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Affiliate links. Some affiliate links may earn a commission for Daisy Flynn Romance if you make a purchase. This does not increase your purchase price, and may even allow you to receive a discount in some cases. (As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases)*

Sarah Lyons Fleming – Author

Mordacious by Sarah Lyons Fleming


Until the End of the World – And After – So Long, Lollipops – All the Stars in the Sky

Mordacious – Peripetia – Instauration (The City Series)

World Departed – World Between

OMG!! Where to start with these books??

All three series are set in the same time frame and overlap some due to family relations and geographic locations.

The ‘Until the End of the World’ series (UTEOTW) follows a group of friends over several years as they deal with the End of the World and the Zombie Apocalypse. Migrating from New York and trying to find a safe place to live. Safe from the Zombies and away from bad people.

The ‘City Series’ follows a group of people who are stuck in New York, cut off from the rest of the country by destroyed bridges.

And in the ‘World Departed’ series (the most recently published), we follow a group of people traveling from California to Oregon, and another group they eventually meet up with in Oregon.

There is so much I love about these books including all the survival tips and suggestions. I’m a little bit of a ‘prepper’ myself although not like the ones people tend to think about when they hear that term.

But ultimately it is the way the characters are written that really draw a reader in. Any author who can create characters that a reader feels invested in and will cry over when they are hurt or killed, now that is a great writer! Sarah is definitely in that category.

I am of course more of a ‘listener’ than a physical reader though, so the narration must also be good to earn my attention and respect. All of Sarah’s books are professionally narrated, with experienced narrators that only increase the power of each series to the point that many of her fans are now pre-ordering her books as they are near completion. I know that I pre-ordered the most recent book, World Between, along with many of the Facebook Group that I am proudly a part of.

I don’t follow many authors but I keep up with Sarah to know what is coming up, and because so many of her followers are of a similar mindset as me. It’s a really great Facebook group, much like family. A crazy, kooky family, but a family just the same.

I have to say that Sarah is in my top 5 favorite authors, and that is really saying something if you knew how many books I have read and listened to over the years.

If you are interested in Zombies, the Apocalypse, or End of the World stories, then Sarah Lyons Fleming is one you absolutely MUST add to your list. Believe me, you will not be disappointed.

As always, I wish you all Happy Listening!

*This article may contain affiliate links, including Amazon Affiliate links. Some affiliate links may earn a commission for Daisy Flynn Romance if you make a purchase. This does not increase your purchase price, and may even allow you to receive a discount in some cases. (As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases)*

Terese Plummer – Narrator

Another outstanding narrator!  What can I say?  I love being able to bring talented people like Terese Plummer to you.

My first experience with audio book narrator Terese Plummer, was with Mordacious by Sarah Lyons Fleming.

If you haven’t experienced Sarah Lyons Fleming, or her ‘Until The End of the World (UTEOTW)‘ series yet, and if you like zombies…. you really need to give these books a try.

I am a ‘Walking Dead’ fan because of the characters and the whole ‘what if the world ended?’ search for answers.  And if you are too, then these books will be perfect for you.

Now, I read some of the book reviews for Mordacious, and one of the comments was that this book, the first in ‘The City Series’ books from Sarah took a little longer to get hooked into than the original UTEOTW series.

I haven’t read the actual book, so that may be true when reading the actual pages, but it wasn’t true for me when listening to the audio book version.

Surprisingly enough, it was Mordacious that got me into the whole UTEOTW series (as well as the novella So Long, Lollipops).

So the whole story is that I listened to So Long, Lollipops first and really liked it.  But it being a novella I didn’t realize that it was a sub part as it were, of an actual series.  I didn’t have much time for research at that time, so I just moved on.

Then, I got Mordacious! And after Mordacious, I just HAD to find out if there was more.  And that’s how I found the UTEOTW series, and went through all 3 books in about 1 week.  Keep in mind that I have a full time job and am a single parent household, so that’s pretty devoted listening!

Back to the subject of this post though, one of the reasons that I think this story was so compelling to me, was of course the outstanding narration.  Mordacious is co-narrated by Terese Plummer and Luke Daniels.  I think that this was a really great pairing of talented narrators.

Terese has over 300 audio books to her credit, and Luke has over 250.  Both have been nominated and/or won numerous awards including Earphones, and Audie awards.  They are young, extremely talented, and prolific narrators.

As many amazing narrators do, Terese has an acting background including guest spots on Law and Order SVU, and The Good Wife.  She has worked in regional theatre.  She is a commercial voice artist, and a comic voice artist in Ironman Extremis, Pokemon, and Yu-Gi-Oh.

She received Audiofile’s Best Voices of the Year 2015, for her work on Robyn Carr’s, A New Hope.

I mean, seriously, this is what Terese does for a living… and it shows.

Some other award nominated/winning projects are; Robyn Carr’s The Wanderer, Jodi Picoult’s Sing You Home, Jennifer Haigh’s Faith, Wally Lamb’s We Are Water, Carson McCuller’s The Ballad of the Sad Cafe, Peter Cline’s The Junkie Quatrain.

If you haven’t heard Terese Plummer’s narration, and you are looking for someone great, give her a chance to impress you.  You can find more info from her website, www.tereseplummer.com.

And as always, from my family to yours, Happy Listening!

 

 

Julia Whelan – Narrator

 

Julia Whelan, born 1984 in Oregon, has been acting since she was 5 years old.  She is best known as teenager Grace Manning in the family tv drama ‘Once and Again’.

However my introduction to Julia’s work was through her audio narration of the Sarah Lyons Fleming ‘Until the End of the World’ series.

If you like the show Walking Dead, then you will likely love this Zombie Apocalypse series too!

I have (and have listened to) all four books, including the novella ‘So Long Lollipops‘, that were narrated by Julia Whelan.

The series order goes; Until the End of the World, And After(book 2), All the Stars in the Sky(book 3).  The novella So Long, Lollipops should be read between books 1 and 2, for the best chronological order, but it’s not required.

Also from Sarah Lyons Fleming (but not narrated by Julia), is the side story Mordacious.  Much like the novella, the story of Mordacious occurs in the same timeline as the Until the End of the World series, but it follows the struggles of a different group of people, including some  characters originally introduced in book one.

Once again the best combination of outstanding writing, and amazing narration.  This is truly a great example of how AWESOME audio books can be.

Julia’s narration on the whole series is just stellar.  In my 1-4 narrator rating scale, she definitely comes in as a 4!  Her timing is so eloquent, the emotion so real.  For me, this set is an all-around KEEPER.

You know some books you listen to once, and they may be great, but once is enough.  This set though, I just don’t want to put away.  I keep playing them, and will no doubt re-visit them like some of my other favorites, every year.

You just can’t help but fall in love with these characters.  Cassie, Nelly, Penny, Anna, Peter, Bits, Adrian, John, Dan……the list just goes on and on.

So if this sounds interesting to you, give this series a try.  If not, there are many other types of books in which you can enjoy Julia Whelan’s narration.  Including the mystery novel by Gillian Flynn, Gone Girl, that was turned into a movie in 2014.

To follow Julia on twitter click here.

Let us know what you think of Julia’s work, and as always, Happy Listening!

 

Luke Daniels – Narrator

My first foray into the work of Luke Daniels, was actually the novella So Long, Lollipops, by Sarah Lyons Fleming.  However, my favorite of Sarah’s book, including narration is Mordacious.  I just love this audio book!

Luke (and Terese Plummer), do such a great job of bringing life, emotions, and realism to this story.  They work extremely well together also.

The production and editing on this audio book, makes the listening experience effortless.  This is a great example of how great an audio book can be when all the components are there and aligned for perfection.

The writing is tremendous, the performances outstanding, and all the pieces put together to create the optimal listening pleasure.

It sounds funny to say that last, when I think about the story line itself, which is pretty much the ‘Zombie Apocalypse’ theme.  But when it’s ‘The End of the World’,  a somewhat OFF perception, and a sense of humor will be invaluable.  So forgive me if I’m just trying to get a head start:)

So back to Luke Daniels.  Luke comes from a family of actors.  He grew up with his both his mother and father performing and teaching in the Theatre.

Currently he has over 450 audio books to his name.  He has received numerous awards including 13 Audio File Earphones Awards, and Audible’s 2012 Narrator of the Year Award.

He has a deep love and passion for story telling, which can easily been seen by checking out his YouTube videos or viewing his Facebook or Twitter posts.

He is just such a fun loving sort of personality, that you can’t help but appreciate the fact that he has obviously found his passion.

His wide range of works ensures that there will be something for any type of audiobook listener.  So check out his available works, and give Luke a try.

Luke can be found through his main website, www.luke-daniels.com , on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Luckylukeekul/ , and on Twitter @luckylukeekul.

Happy listening!