Ancient Awakening

The Ancient, Book 1

By: Matthew Bryan Laube

Narrated by: B. J. Harrison

Length: 5 hrs and 57 mins

Publisher's summary

Hell comes home to Jersey. Seven ancient demons known as the Fallen have awakened in Newark, New Jersey, after 100 years. Fortunately for Mike and Ann, so has the one man who can stop them, Joseph Miller. Trapped in a hospital filled with mythical monsters, only together can they unravel the mystery of the Cursed and escape with not only their lives but their very humanity.

Ancient Awakening is a horror/action novel with just the right touch of comedy. It is the first book in the series The Ancient, which follows the adventures of eccentric demon hunter Joseph Miller. His job is to defend the human race against seven mythical demons and their offspring. Unfortunately for us, he has been dead for the last hundred years.

©2009 Matthew Laube (P)2011 Matthew Laube

Good story..Bad Narrator

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

The book was too short and read like a short story. The overall story was good and the only reason I downloaded it was because it was a free book off Amazon. The Narrator really did kill the story though.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator's accent was very distracting. He had some sort of British accent that he was trying to cover up with an American dialogue.

Was Ancient Awakening worth the listening time?

Yes

Kind of like a comic book

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

It was OK. The story really is sort of comic book like--straightforward, predictable, fast paced.

If you’ve listened to books by Matthew Bryan Laube before, how does this one compare?

Haven't listened to any others.

What about B. J. Harrison’s performance did you like?

The narrator had one of those old fashioned voices, like you might hear on a recording from the 1930's. Kind of fun to listen to.

Could you see Ancient Awakening being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

No, I don't think this would be a good movie or series.

Any additional comments?

Light hearted fun if you need to fill some time.

Action packed with modern tech against monsters

The audiobook tells us a story about an ancient champion of mankind, who slays monsters in a hospital in New Jersey. While this is the very core of the story, it Matthew Bryan Laube tells this story mostly through the eyes of three characters the Ancient One (Joseph Miller) a cop (Mike Samson) and a Biology Ph.D. student (Ann Melakh). This first person perspective enhances the action and characterization of each of these three characters, which helps elevate this story above a rather straightforward and unsurprising story.

The introduction to the story is less then interesting telling us of the last encounter Joseph Miller had with the monsters. The story picks up as soon as the book moves to modern times and we get involved with the two other characters Mike and Ann and from here it slowly build up until all three characters are at the hospital, the scene of most of the book. Here the monsters begins to rampage and our main characters must struggle (or lay wasteto many monsters in Joseph Miller's case) to survive. It is here the author truly shine and he lifts the audiobook up and makes it an interesting action story. The monsters here are all named after classical monsters (werewolves, vampires, banshee, demons) but are in most ways very different from the classics making them much better at fitting into the tale.

The story seems to want to be a horror story, but falls short becoming more an action story with monsters, where modern technology, usually in the form of guns, blows apart one monster after another setting humans nearly on par with the monsters. Here the character of Joseph Miller again stands apart doing most of his work with blunt objects (like the surgical cast he wears in the beginning), underlining how much different he is from everyone else.

The audiobook ends with setting up the story threads for the next book in the series and the author does an decent job at this and still manages to keep it brief.

B. J. Harrison narrates the story expertly and is able to draw out the essence of each of the main characters making them feel different to the listener, and with his help the audiobook becomes truly interesting and involving.

Overall this is an decent book I can recommend to people interested in action with a touch of the supernatural. The author clearly excels in writing action scenes and uses this to his advantage throughout the book. The narrator takes the story and in the best storytelling tradition makes it come alive for the listener.

New Jersey really isn't this scary!

Where does Ancient Awakening rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I'm normally not a fan of the genre, but after a friend recommended this book, I couldn't stop listening.

What did you like best about this story?

Being from NJ I found the settings to be familiar, but with enough of a twist to make me think twice before heading to those locations.

Which character – as performed by B. J. Harrison – was your favorite?

BJ created various voices for many of the characters. I couldn't call one out as better than the other, but in general his performance complemented the overall story quite well.

Any additional comments?

Don't listen to this book before you go to sleep.

Serendipity

I found Laube's books online by accident and loved both of them instantly. In "Miller" as the immortal defender of humanity who doesn't know what a pen or movie is, Laube has created a great protagonist who manages to be both hero, comedian, and flawed human who still comes out on top even when he loses. I have read and listened to these many times while waiting for the next book in the series to be released (I also follow Laube on Facebook for more tidbits from upcoming stories). I wasn't looking for these stories; I was just stumbling around the net, but I'm really glad I found these audiobooks.

not even in Newark

And definately NOT in University Hospital and I have been there. Amateurish bit of a story.