ABR's original Consumed audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

If you liked “Slow Burn” by Bobby Adair and “Mountain Man” by Keith C. Blackmore you are going to love this series.

Recap from Devoured (book 1). Lance, (a down on his luck, out of work and demoralized man) tried to help a deranged woman walking down the street. He got hit by a car trying to save her. Wakes up in the hospital. The hospital was crawling with, blood thirsty flesh eating, monsters. Managing to escape, with the help of Doctor Emmett Brown, Lance made it back to his apartment. That was an easy day, it got worse.

Consumed (Hunger Book 2)

Lance, Cass, Doc Brown, and Eifort are still on the river. The have decided to stay in the boat as long as they can. Making short trips into towns for supplies. However, the Minuteman leader, Ralph, has other ideas. He wants Lance dead so he sends a man to bomb the boat. They all survive the sinking boat but lose most of their supplies. Opting to maneuver through the flesh eating monsters, vampires and power hungry humans, they find a vehicle and decide to try for Greensburg. Lance, Cass and the others strive to survive each day – one hour at a time. You will have to find out the rest for yourself. I think this book is even better than the first one.

I really love this series. I have listened to book 1 and 2 twice. When Lance met Cass the real fun started. The banter between them is so funny. It’s the comic break needed in this type of story. She is constantly amazing him with her skills. She is a vampire slaying Zena, with a double edged ax. He loves it.

The pace is fast; the action and violence will keep you on the edge of your seat. You “need” to turn the page to find out what happens next. There are a lot of surprises in this installment. You won’t want to miss out. I hope book 3 comes out soon. Perhaps there will be answers to who/what/where the virus came from, perhaps the “vladdies” (vampires) will die out from lack of human blood and perhaps we’ll see who is behind the flying jets that grace the sky occasionally.

Wayne June is doing his superb rendition of reading again. I could listen to him for hours. Wait, I do listen to him for hours. He has that kind of voice and he really gets into his characters.
Wayne June and the production team are great together. Excellence shows.

Audiobook provided for review by the author. ( )

Even better than the first. But, you will want to read the first of you have not because story picks right up where the first left off. ( )

think author Jason Brant chose the title for each book in the series based on his perception of how readers will feel after finishing the story...Yep, I'm "Consumed"!

First I was "Devoured" for free and then immediately purchased the next two books in the series. This story starts right up where the first story ends; Brant doesn't spend several pages retelling his earlier work to bring people up to date.

At Heinz Field, Lance reunited with Dr. Brown and SSGT, Eifort from his stay at the hospital. Together with Cass, the foursome had escaped the attack by commandeering a large boat owned by Ralph's militia group - the same one used to unleash the Vladdies upon the safe zone . They've survived the next couple of weeks floating on the river and foraging for supplies on land during the day. The undead fear the water, but the militia could swim and one member successfully scuttles the ship, forcing its occupants into the dark river fighting for their lives.

There is a "crazy" kind of guy that comes across the radio everyday at noon providing updates to the survivors around Pittsburgh. His information is helpful to their survival, but he refuses to aid any one group - stating that he is neutral like Switzerland. I also believe in the saying, "What goes around comes around" for both acts of kindness and violence. The foursome finally locate a farm up in the hills that has plenty of supplies and no signs of the undead. Life is great for a few days until Ralph's militia group finds them! Lance and Cass get away, but Doc and Aifort are taken prisoner. First priority: get them back alive!

Going forward, "Consumed" keeps readers on the edge of their seats, anxious and fearing for the safety of the main characters who seem to face insurmountably odds against both the living and the dead. There isn't a good place to stop reading - plan on starting early in the day or you'll be up way into the night.

Great job Mr. Brant! Thank you for keeping my heart beating and especially for losing so much sleep during these two books. Looking forward to starting #3, but will wait until Saturday morning! Highly recommended! One of the best zombie series I've read to date.

John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel ( )

The second book in the series is even better than the first. I especially love the characters, and the action is non-stop. ( )

This Book Consumed Every Free Moment I Had

Wow, after reading this book I just have one word to describe it: HolyFreakingAmazingBatmanBalls.

Seriously, this book rocks and I had such an amazing time reading it. It's earned Jason Brant his own folder on my Kindle because I plan to snatch up the rest of his books as fast as I can. I really try hard to make myself wait a day before posting a review that way the story has enough time to sink in but I couldn't wait for tomorrow so I've just decided to throw caution to the wind and write the review now.

What I love about this book:

1. Awesome mutant zombies or Vladdies as they're called in the book. Get it Vladdies as in Vlad The Impaler! They're mean, super strong, fast and are like these giant zombie gorilla flesh eating vampire monsters. I know it sounds odd but trust me it's very cool and totally works. These things are mean. You know how you get when someone disturbs you when you're in the middle of a great book? Yeah, they're that kind of mean.

2. Awesome Characters that you can relate to: There are so many great characters. Lance is not your ordinary hero. In fact he was a bit of a loser before the mutant zombie gorilla apocalypse happened. Okay they're not really gorillas but their knuckles do drag the ground at times so they're getting called gorilla's by me. Where was I? Oh yeah Lance, he's just your average guy. He was down on his luck, couldn't hold a job, his wife hates him and he doesn't have a lot of confidence anymore. But once all hell breaks loose he's exactly the kind of person you would want on your side. He's a great guy. He's not super strong nor really fit or anything and he's not a very good fighter but he does his best and cares about people which is something I can totally relate to and once Cass entered the picture his confidence shot through the roof. He might not be the best zombie killer out there but he is the best kind of person to have as a friend during the apocalypse.

Doc Brown (Gonna go back in time) is a great character too. I love how can just take charge and gain control of a situation. He thinks about everyone along with every situations from all angles. He also happens to be one of the last doctors left in the US if not the world.

Eifort who is ex-military (since there is no more military, at least not around these parts) is a wonderful character too. She's small but deadly with a rifle. All of the characters have an incredible amount of depth to them especially considering how action packed these books are. They're an unlikely group of heroes who have become family to each other (and to me) in such a short amount of time. I simultaneously look forward to and dread the next books. I can't wait to read them but I don't want to lose any of these characters. I care about them too much which is just a testament to Jason Brant's skill as a writer.

3. Cass: Yes I know she should be covered under Awesome Characters but she's just so awesome that she gets her own number. I love the fact that the main badass of the tale is a woman. She's in shape, has a giant medieval battle axe (how cool is that?), can use a bow and arrow and dresses like a weird prostitute with a Mohawk. Hey who cares about fashion, it's the end of the world. Social conventions no longer have any meaning. Time and time again she saves Lance or as she likes to call him: "dumbass". I love their interactions. I love how she seems to bring out the best in him and even though I think she should have chosen me over Lance I still really dig her character. I mean I wasn't even really in the book so I can't blame her for that. Besides Lance is pretty cool. He does end up saving her quite often too, well maybe not as much as she saves him but you get the idea. They're really good together and the two of them are the heart and soul of this series.

4. Lots and lots of action. The book is action packed. If there was anymore action in this book then .... well I can't really come up with a good line for this one but you can imagine if I did. it would have been awesome.

5. Great Book Covers: These book covers rock. The art work is just amazing.

6. Stupendously Spectacular Suspenseful Storyline: (Hey, I was going to throw sequel in there too so you got off lucky) The story-line is nothing short of incredible. I'm all about the little things in a storyline. Most of my favorite scenes in books aren't the big action sequences or the big reveal or the big moments but the little things. I love it when a good author does those little things well. A great author can turn anything into a plot device. A shower, having a meal, a friendly conversation by the fire, etc. Jason Brant not only does the little things very well but he manages to wrap them around the action so that the big things and the little things are all linked into one big smorgasbord of awesomeness. (I'm really big on that word)

Things I disliked about this book!

1. It Ended: I want to keep reading this forever. Why did it have to end?

2. Cass chose Lance over me: Hopefully I'll be in the next book and she'll make the right decision :)

3. Uhm, that's it: Oh yeah, I didn't like Ralph. I really hated his character. I really hope they get him in this book (I can't tell you if they did, that would ruin it). But I guess that's not really a dislike since he's the badguy. So I guess I like Ralph. Now I'm very confused!

This series became an instant favorite of mine. I cannot wait to read the next one and it never ceases to amaze me how Jason Brant was able to write about a zombie apocalypse which let's face it has been done a billion times and make it feel so completely new and unique. I cannot recommend this series enough. It's one heck of a ride and I think this book will pretty much appeal to anyone who likes good dialogue, plenty of action while still having a great deal of depth to the characters, lots of fun and funny moments and lastly but most importantly Cass. Really, she's something else. Plus if all of that isn't enough to entice you then Jason Brant included the short story Lotion as an added bonus which is a hilarious tale of post-apocalyptic proportions. He wrote it and it was published in an anthology a while back and several people contacted him asking if he could expand the world and write some more books and he decided to do just that. The rest is pure awesome reading goodness. ( )