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  • This Is the Way the World Ends

  • An Oral History of the Zombie War
  • By: Keith Taylor
  • Narrated by: Matthew Crow
  • Length: 10 hrs and 21 mins
  • 4.0 out of 5 stars (36 ratings)
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This Is the Way the World Ends

By: Keith Taylor
Narrated by: Matthew Crow
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Summary

***SOON TO BE A MAJOR TV SERIES***

For thousands of years the virus lay dormant, trapped beneath the Siberian permafrost. Then we decided to dig in the wrong place.

FEBRUARY, 2031: The global population stands at just 400 million, and the scattered survivors bear the scars of our decade-long struggle to defeat an enemy few once believed could exist. Some nations have emerged from the war stronger than ever. Others hang by a thread. Some no longer exist at all.

In the aftermath of the zombie pandemic Keith Taylor, noted pre-war author of post-apocalyptic fiction, traveled the world to interview survivors from every walk of life, culture and stratum of society, ranging from American political leaders to Scottish oil rig workers, from Mongolian miners to members of India's homeless underclass, each with their own tale of survival against an enemy that feels no remorse, fatigue, fear or mercy; only insatiable hunger.

These chilling eyewitness accounts chart the course of humanity's most brutal war. They lead us from the emergence of the virus in the Siberian wilderness to the visceral, horrifying Shibuya footage, through the panic and chaos of the evacuations to the disastrous consequences of the UN's sweeping refugee amendment. They end with us battered and broken, diminished but not defeated, in the fragile peace we now enjoy.

Together these interviews represent the most illuminating and complete commentary to date of humanity's loss.

From these candid accounts emerges an image of early 21st century civilization as it truly was: imperfect, divided and wholly unprepared for a disaster on such a scale. This Is the Way the World Ends: an Oral History of the Zombie War takes an unflinching, uncompromising look at the world we had and lost; a look at the pain we suffered due to our inability to accept a single, simple truth:

Zombies are real.

©2017 Keith Taylor (P)2022 Keith Taylor

What listeners say about This Is the Way the World Ends

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Written by a simpleton

So, take the most tedious parts of WWZ, inject a few unsubtle shots of manipulative political messaging, mix it all together and hand it to an actual decent narrator. Boom, here's the result.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Homage to world war Z

A great book with world war z like storytelling. Fans of zombie novels will enjoy this book.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Just Awful Accents

The narrator should not be allowed to try accents, he is monumentally unsuited to it.

His English morphed into Scandinavian, his American into Irish, and some of the others were so bad as to be problematic.

Ruined the audiobook to the extent that it was impossible to finish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

a brilliant love letter

A fantastic love letter to the epic book that is world war z and it's author. The storytelling is very good, with some very unexpected (and chilling!) chapters. The accents could be better, but that's a challenge for one narrator!

I can only wish for more like it, it's refreshing from the usual fare around.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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Nowhere Near As I Hoped

Not a great book, hard to get into and to be honest struggle to listen to.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

close but no cigar

If you don't want to read all the review I think it was good apart from the ending which ruins the book with foresight would of used the credit on somthing diffrent. this is based on WWZ and starts out like it it showing the infection spreading it has some political message and is quite good especially as society breaks down the way this is presented all seems a little disjointed compared to WWZ and some of the chapters have aspects that take me out of the world but it goes 5 star until it reaches wicklow Ireland and then the ending just feels cheated after finishing the whole book seems like it could have been great with a bit more thought one of the few audio books that didn't live up to what I expected

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Listener received this title free

Different

Unfortunately, I could not get into this book and DNF. I didn't like the interview/documentery writing style of this book, it didn't hold my attention. However, the narration was very entertaining.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

an engaging and realistic set of stories

despite a few dodgy accents, an excellent story, filled with some vivid stories which resonate, intrigue and excite. A well-thought out and well-executed set of narratives forming a believable possible future. the section on the oil-rig was especially excellent. very much enjoyed!!

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    5 out of 5 stars
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Definitely worth a credit

fantastic book, well written and as an avid zombie genre fan I highly recommend this title.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Decent if inconsistent story. Accents ahoy!

A decent alternative to World War Z. The different chapters reflect different character's experience of the zombie virus and the quality of each tale differs wildly. Some bits are thrilling and some are a bit dull. Still, a very good listen overall. The narration is good except for the inconsistency in attempting accents. Clearly they didn't think they would get away with an Irish accent so just don't bother trying it, but they do try a Scottish one which is okay, but the regional English accent is just comical to anyone from the UK. The word "boodget" (budget) just took me out of the story completely.

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