Iron Mike

By: Patricia Rose

Narrated by: Zachary Liebenstein

Length: 10 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

They came, but not in peace. They came to destroy us. Our cities crumbled. Our people died by the billions. Their weapons were sophisticated beyond our worst nightmare. In this chaos, a teenage boy must get his sister to safety and, in doing so, become a man.

Iron Mike is a light science-fiction story. Yes, aliens invade, but they're more the background. It's a heavily character-driven book. It begins with Mike trying to get his younger sister to safety, to get her "behind a line of soldiers at Fort Knox" to keep her safe from potential looters and rapists. Along the way, Mike picks up strays, so his responsibilities increase exponentially. Hard decisions are made, as in any apocalyptic tale, and consequences are accepted.

©2015 Patricia Rose (P)2015 Patricia Rose

Critic reviews

"Patricia Rose's post-apocalyptic coming of age science fiction novel, Iron Mike, is fast-paced, exciting, and thought-provoking…Rose's vision is grim and dark at times, but her heroes grow stronger, more self-reliant and competent with each challenge they face. This is a well-written and absorbing story that will prove to be a pleasant surprise for readers who have grown somewhat weary of the ubiquitous zombie and plague apocalypse tales so prevalent in recent years…It’s an impressive debut novel that is highly recommended." (Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite)

Wow! Iron Mike Was an Awesome Story!

Iron Mike was an awesome story. It's full of intense drama, action, humor, and even some romance.

The character development was great, and the story was told from multiple POV's. There was even mental dialogue from a dog named Hershey who was lovable, loyal, protective, and one of my favorite characters. He's thoughts had me laughing. There's a lot to be said about man's best friend! Mike and Kari were my other two favorite characters. Mike for his determination, and how he became a hero, and Kari who was not only tough, but a fighter as well.

The story is mainly centered around Mike, who is 17; however, the contents of the story is for adults.

Aliens have come to harvest the earth, and their initial attack has wiped out the majority of humanity. These aliens believe humans are not sentient beings; therefore, have been targeted for extermination.

After the aliens initial attack, Mike sets out to get his sister to safety, and soon picks up women named Kari, and a group of children. During their trip to Fort Knox, they are attacked by aliens, and Mike endures the first of many challenges. Along the way, Mike receives aid from an unlikely source.

This story had several twist and turns, and the ending was not what I expected, but I don't want to spoiler any of these events for anyone. If you are a fan of dystopian Sci-Fi, you will enjoy this story. I know I did!

The narration was great, and I was able to easily distinguish each character.

"This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast dot com."

Excellent story, so-so narration

For what seems to be a first book, this is terrific. The pacing is good. The story is split into segments, each dealing with a different character, or set of characters, but there is sufficient detail in each for it not to feel as though the story jumps around. There are a few 'cliff-hangers', but nothing is left hanging too long.
The main characters grow and develop from brats to responsible adults who learn to make difficult decisions with maturity. There are some very funny moments, and some equally heart-rending ones too. Some scenes definitely stay with you long after you have finished listening. The aliens too, are rather different to the norm in this type of book.

All in all, a very satisfying book, with the potential for a follow-up.

The narration is a different story altogether. He has a pleasant voice, well-pitched without any of the irritating squeakiness when depicting a woman or a child. It is easy to identify which character is speaking. So far so good. However.
He has the strangest pronunciation of some words I have ever heard. This is not down to the difference between UK and US pronunciation - I am used to that, this is just odd. He also places emphasis on the wrong part of a word, so that you stop and think 'What'? and miss the rest of the sentence. He speaks slowly and clearly, but his pacing ... is often . . very . . jerky. Some of this can be down to editing - a decent editor would have picked up on these issues and at least pointed them out.
It wasn't bad enough to make me stop listening, by any means, but it didn't enhance the story. I found myself becoming more and more irritated as the book progressed,wishing I could edit it so that it flowed more smoothly. It's a shame, because potentially, if these issues can be ironed out, I think he could be up there with the best.

Absolutely loved it!

So, I already listened to and reviewed this book in February of 2016 and I absolutely loved it back then. Audiobooks were still fairly new to me and at that time this was one of the best I'd ever listened to! It's a great post-apocalyptic story of survival after an alien invasion that wipes out most of humanity. The main story line takes place in and around Ft Knox, KY where I was stationed in the Army. I love when a book takes place somewhere I'm familiar with. Anyway, I've listened to many more audiobooks by more well known authors and narrators since listening to Iron Mike and I can honestly say, this is still one of my absolute favorites! I'm hoping a sequel will come soon!

An OK story but narration ruined it.

Let's start by saying that I listen to 59% of this book but couldn't keep going and had to put it aside. I really think this is a case of better off reading than listening!!! The story itself was enjoyable but the narrator ruined it. It felt like he paused after every sentence and the way he told the story was very stilted. I even upped the speed to x2 but that didn't help. It. Was. Most. Annoying!!!! ;) I don't think I've ever listened to a more stilted reading before and really didn't enjoy it. I'll think about getting the book and reading it to see if I like it better that way but I need time before I do, it's hard to think of reading this without thinking it's going to be stilted!

a little too much bad language.

Any additional comments?

I loved the story and listened to the whole thing but the overuse (for me) of the f word and an awful, then dismissed rape scene, made me give it just 3 stars overall.

I wanted to like it...

This is probably the worst audio book I’ve heard, and that’s saying something as I have about 160 Audible titles in my collection. I really enjoy this genre and was looking forward to listening to this book. It's long (almost 11 hours) but there was no way I was going to be able to listen to that narrator that long.

The story does have an original twist on an alien invasion (hence the two stars), but while I can suspend my grasp on reality long enough to listen to a story about an alien invasion, I simply couldn’t bear the way some parts of the story were written. For instance (spoiler alert) the main characters are involved in a car crash and the driver ends up with a giant shard of glass sticking out of his arm that he eventually plucks out. Having seen numerous crashes up close and personal (including fatal crashes) I can tell you that that’s not going to happen. Windshield glass is laminated and the glass in the doors is safety glass that crumbles. So what do they do? They walk (with a bunch of little kids) a really long distance. I get that the author wanted to do this for a vision of the story but with this story line the majority of the population (over 90%) suddenly dies. Are you going to tell me that there aren’t going to be a heck of a lot of cars available? C’mon. Then at one of the military bases what does one of the few commanders left decide to do? Build towers and raid a local shooting range and gun shop for weapons. OMG.

I could go on but it’s probably unnecessary. As this was a free audio book ("This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of AudiobookBlast dot com.") I could have probably just said that I didn’t like it but I did promise to give an unbiased review. So that’s what I’m doing. I kept hoping it would get better so I listened to almost half of it. It didn’t. I guess part of reason for this scathing review is that I wasted that time on a book this bad.

I laugh, I cried and I cheered!!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely. I love the way the story was performed. I am not sure if it was done on purpose or if this was Zachary Liebenstein way of narrating but it worked.

What other book might you compare Iron Mike to and why?

It's hard to say, I mean the theme of the story is pretty much the same as other alien invasion stories. But the way the story was told and how it was narrated, it really made it fun to listen too.

What does Zachary Liebenstein bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

This is my first time listening to Zachary Liebenstein work so I have no base of comparison. But I do very much like the way he delivered the story.

Any additional comments?

I did not want the story to end. I am crazy about Hershey and I want to be Hershey's human. I love that part of the story was told in Hershey perspective. That really made the story interesting and because of that I was so attached to Hershey that I cried when the unthinkable happened. Can you tell I am a dog person?

**This audiobook was provided by the author, narrator, or publisher at no cost in exchange for an unbiased review courtesy of Audiobook Blast.**

" what the f..., My God!" should have been the title.

I looked forward to this post-apocalyptic thriller because of the five star rating and good reviews. It cost a lot, started off quite promising but and to my dismay the author makes the characters
only use harsh blasphemous words and phrases which takes all the enjoyment out of the reading. please could there be a warning to other sensitive readers that this book contains the name of The Christian God, and his son in all its forms. Disgusted,

Awesome Read!

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

I would totally recommend this book to a friend. This is not the type of book I normally listen to, but the character development is so great that you find yourself crying and laughing with the characters.

What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?

The performance starts out slowly, and some of the words are not pronounced correctly. However, it is not so distracting that you don't want to finish the book, and after the first few chapters he gets his "Stride" and it is much much better.

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

I laughed MANY times during this book, and found a few tears streaming down my face.

Any additional comments?

I totally recommend this book and I am looking forward to the next!!

Really unique. Stunningly visual

Loved this story. Was on the edge of my seat the entire story. Fell in love with the characters. It was refreshing to find myself loving even their flaws. Although its hard to surprise me---this ending did. Hav recommended this book (by word of mouth) to everyone I've talked to---and will continue