• Roads Less Traveled: The Plan

  • By: C. Dulaney
  • Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
  • Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins
  • 3.7 out of 5 stars (243 ratings)

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Roads Less Traveled: The Plan  By  cover art

Roads Less Traveled: The Plan

By: C. Dulaney
Narrated by: Elisabeth Rodgers
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Editorial reviews

Elisabeth Rodgers delivers a thrilling performance of The Plan, the first book in C. Dulaney’s Roads Less Traveled series. When the zombie apocalypse hits without warning, the long-time friendship between Kasey and Ben is put to the test. Loner Kasey chooses to turn her home in the mountains into a stronghold, while Ben decides to leave for West Virginia with a group of friends. Too bad the undead have a pesky way of foiling even the best-laid plans.

Publisher's summary

Ask yourself this: If the dead rise tomorrow, are you ready? Do you have a plan? The dead rose, and the living quickly realized that Hollywood-style tactics were the quickest way to find yourself one of the walking dead.

Kasey, a strong-willed loner from West Virginia, and Ben, a college student from Pennsylvania, have shared an unlikely friendship over the years. And their bond is stretched to its limits when society collapses under a tide of zombies. But Kasey has something she likes to call The Zombie Plan. While Ben sets out for West Virginia, taking with him a ragtag group of friends, Kasey prepares for their long-term stand against the deadheads at her home in the mountains.

But every plan has its weaknesses, and the youths are unaware that a freight train of tragedy is bearing down on them all. In the darkness that follows, Kasey's Plan slowly unravels: friends lost, family taken, their stronghold reduced to ashes.

©2011 C. Dulaney (P)2011 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Dulaney didn't reinvent the wheel, but goddamn if she didn't send it spinning down interesting paths. I'm invested now... what's going to happen next?" (Thom Brannan, author of Lords of Night, co-author of Survivors)
"If you're addicted to zombie literature, this one's for you. C. Dulaney's Roads Less Traveled: The Plan is crafted with such beautiful and terrifying scenes, you'll think you are one of Kasey's friends, running from the dead and preparing to live in a dark new world. Her prose crackles off the pages and into the mind's eye. By the time you've finished reading, you'll be clamoring for more from this exciting new author!" (Clyde Wolfe, author of Down Darkened Paths)

What listeners say about Roads Less Traveled: The Plan

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Solid traditional no frills zombies... yeah!

I have put off listening to this one for sometime, not for any other reason other than I didn’t like the art work on the cover, and because I have never listened to a book with this narrator. I know I am sad person, but with so many great titles all fighting for my money, and with me being such a stingy scrooge… you get the picture. But, then it became available at a special price. I can never look past a discount. Perhaps, that explains my life, surrounded by broken cheap things!

I know this one has been reviewed a lot, and honestly those reviews are pretty well written. So I wondered why should I even bother writing a review on this one? However, the more I thought about it the more I came to realization that the zombie genre really has delivered some pretty impressive curve balls of late. So perhaps a more recent review with some contrast to some of the newer one’s might help some people make a purchasing decision.

A zombie title without werewolves, vampires (we are all looking at you Mark Tufo), and terrorist attacks, God v Satan battle, artificial intelligence, robots with zombie drivers inside, or even a ninja in a squirrel outfit is really a rarity these days… Yes there really is a zombie book with the main character wears a squirrel outfit. Perhaps in the next one or two books in this series some or even all of these things will appear… but I doubt it. This seems to be your classic run to the mountains, follow the plan type deal. I’m not saying this is bad or good. Just letting you know so you can make informed decision on what you are buying.

Personally I like my zombie titles with a lot of humor, comic style (very adult) comic style violence. I’m not a real fan of those zombie stories, which take themselves too seriously. So titles by Jake Bible are my favorite at the moment.

More recent ‘serious’ zombie titles like the ‘Arisen’ series written by Michael Stephen Fuchs and Glynn James step the modern times and action up a notch or two. But the ‘Arisen’ series suffers by the fact that it is really just one or two books divided into multiple parts in a cash grab type deal… Yes I am back to my stingy nature!

So this title falls right in the middle of these types of zombie genres. Others do the humor better, others do the action better, some even do the story line better. But, and there is always a but! This title does nothing wrong. I couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t help but think, ‘that’s a good plan, I think I would do the same’.

I am going to purchase the rest in the series even if it is full price! Yes you heard it here… Just don’t tell anyone as I have a reputation to uphold!

Oh and I almost forget to mention the narration. It is pretty good, easily listened to at 1.25 speed without any problems. And really I wanted to speed it up more so I could hurry up and find out what happened! Only on a couple of occasions did the female narrator struggle to do the voice of some of the male characters. But it certainly didn’t distract me from listening to it. Elisabeth Rodgers is no RC Bray but I would have no problem purchasing a title she narrates in the future!

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14 people found this helpful

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

Perfect! Highly Recommended!

This was a great listen! It's on my top zombie books list along with the likes of Day by Day.

The narration was just wonderful, one of the best I've heard. Real pleasure to listen to her read to me.

Sensible characters handling situations in a sensible way which I could relate to. But I can't figure out why Keri is such a b*tch.

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10 people found this helpful

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

Not that impressive

Trying my best to get through this story - The narrator is very good, but she should not be doing mens voices, it reminds me of a 12 year old child voice. THis story so far is slow, not alot of zombie blood and gore that I love like in Apocolypse of the dead, and beyond barriers, dead city, tooth and nail, remains if the dead, domain of the dead ........ I wish Audible would get more real zombie gore stuff

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

What Plan?

There wasn't much of a plan here. Keeping a few guns around and some food was not much of a plan. No detail why she had a Zombie plan in the first place. It seem like everyone gets zombiefied in a short time period with not many survivors. The town of maybe a couple of dozen people mentioned in the book would be initial survivors till an outside attack occurred. The ability of a few college kids to travel great distances without much problems yet the rest of the population succumbs easily to the plague of zombies. The whole scene of the attack on the house was amateurishly written. I have no plan to continue the series. Only a few teenage girls would find this book interesting.

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

pretty good opening zombie apocylapse book

Any additional comments?


this is the 1st zombie story that i've read or listened to where the main characters have a "zombie plan" in place when the zombie apocylapse happens. so when the dead start eating the living, they already know what to do.

kc and ben have been friends for 6 years; however, they've actually never meet in person. they met on the internet and over time, hashed out a "zombie plan." as the story begins, ben is in college in western pennsylvania. from his dorm window, he witnesses zombies attacking and eating people in the parking lot. in west va, kc is at work and sees something strange- someone shuffling through the hall seemingly carrying someone on their back. upon closer inspection, she sees that one of them is biting and trying to eat the other. kc realizes this is what she and ben have been planning for- the walking dead.

ben reaches kc by phone, and she instructs him that he needs to get to her house asap. ben tells her, he's waiting for his friend, jake, to get to his dorm room before heading her way. jake is a long-time friend of ben's and as such shares ben's and kc's belief of having a "zombie plan." the problem is jake is stuck in the chem lab with a few other students.

the first part of the story revolves around ben's escape from the campus and his journey to kc's house. this part of the story is told from 2 sides- ben's side and kc's side. while ben, jake, and a few other students flee the campus and journey to west va, kc is alone, making preparations and scoping out what's going on in her area. ben and kc are the main characters, but there are other characters. ben's friend, jake, and the other college kids with them- zack, trisha, and michael. kc's best friend, mia, is stuck in her home, and she and kc have a heart-wrenching phone call. i liked the secondary characters, but i found jake annoying.

this brings me to narration. maybe that's why i felt so annoyed with jake's character. he does a lot of yelling, yelling at other people. sorry ladies! i don't really like female narrators b/c they can't do men's voices well. yes, i've listened to bad men narrators whose female characters sounded like they have adam's apples, but i prefer men doing women over women doing men. maybe b/c most of the audiobooks i've listened to have been read by men. see...i'm not sexist! lol anyway, the narrator does do women well.

the second part of the story revolves around the group eking out a living at kc's house. kc's a loner and isn't entirely comfortable around people. so having a bunch of college kids living under her roof is something she has to learn to deal with. the second half of the story is your typical zombie story- once you have a safe house, fortify it, the area around it, and venture into the closest city.

a nice wrench is thrown into this part of the story, and i was kind of shocked by one of the repercussions.

there is zombie action in both parts of the story. in the 2nd part of the story, the author effectively uses the power of a zombie hoard, which is an aspect of the genre i always look for.

overall, the road less traveled is an ok opening zombie story. but i must tell you that i have just finished the 2nd book in this series, and it was excellent. i'm submitting a review of that one too. if you're a fan of zombie series, i would tell you to listen to the 1st book so that you can really enjoy the 2nd book. the 3rd book comes out later this month - 6/25/13. i'm going to listen to it as soon as it comes out. so if you're hesitant to start a new series, please come back later this month for my review of the 3rd book. i'm really looking forward to it! yes, the 2nd book was that much better!

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4 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

So bad....

What would have made Roads Less Traveled: The Plan better?

Character development, believable dialog, an interesting story

Would you ever listen to anything by C. Dulaney again?

They say you only get one chance at first impressions and that's especially true for authors. I'm afraid Dulaney blow it with me in a big way

Would you listen to another book narrated by Elisabeth Rodgers?

Yes, she wasn't that bad.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from Roads Less Traveled: The Plan?

I would have to tell the author to scrap the whole book.

Any additional comments?

This book is so bad I'm actually angry at all those that rated this book a 5

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Characters I liked. A fast paced believable, story

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

Yes. It was enjoyable and interesting, Showed that the best laid plans...ect. I felt the characters were people I'd like to meet, and I cared what happened to them.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Roads Less Traveled: The Plan?

(Spoiler alert) Jakes death hit me hard and I didn't see it coming.

Which character – as performed by Elisabeth Rodgers – was your favorite?

Casey. I can see her clearly in my mind,

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

I both laughed and cried...that's the best kind of reaction I think.

Any additional comments?

I just hope the next one isn.t too far away. I want to know what happens next.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Flat characters lacking in internal consistency

I was hopeful moving into this series having just finished different one and needing a new "long term relationship" for my commute. I tend to like zombie stories and while nothing in particular differentiated it from the standard, it looked like something I would enjoy. I was wrong.

The story was below average. As mentioned above, there is nothing that differentiates it from the standard and arguably already overdone zombie genre. It lacks any nuance or originality. Given that the book was called "The Plan", one would have expected that a plan would be the focus of the book... one would be wrong. The "Plan" apparently only consisted of "I'll come to your house". That's a really bad plan, which probably helps to explain why this is a really bad book.

The characters are flat, single dimensional shells. They lack realistic internal motivation and, more disturbingly, lack any internal consistency in their thoughts, emotions, or actions. To add further insult, the characters motivations fly in the face of basic needs and drives. Every action seems random and only serves to push the story along. Any character could be inserted into any scenario to make the action needed to get to the next plot point.

The lack of dimension to the characters makes it hard enough to connect, but then factor in the amazingly odd insertion then deletion of characters... it was like reading something from a 9th grade English class (the C students not the A ones). For those that have read the book, think Ashton the plucky 7 year-old (wtf?) and Brandon the co-protagonist initially who then degenerates to a secondary supporting but ostensibly important character who is rather unceremoniously dumped. The writer doesn't seem to care about her characters, makes it incredibly hard for the reader to.

I won't even get into the very miraculous timelines...DC to West Virginia on foot in 7 days. A shoulder gunshot wound apparently totally healing in about 3 or 4 days.

I highly recommend avoiding this book. Having already fallen for book one, I will be avoiding the remainder of the series.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Juvenille

I am a big fan of the zombie/apocalypse themed stories.This one, while I was able to finish it, just did not have the vibe to it. It lacked detail, basically a bunch of young stereotypes hanging out at a ranch having high school drama with the occasional zombies showing up.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

A Great Listen

Any additional comments?

I was worried when the story began with the main character having a "Zombie" Plan which she had been preparing for for years, which seemed ridiculous. Luckily it quickly redeemed itself by not focusing on that, and kicking off the nonstop action. This was the first book I had read that did not bother pondering the why or how of the infection, it just went head long into how the characters react and try to survive. It was a refreshing change and a really good listen.

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