ABR's original The Colony: Renegades audiobook review and many others can be found at Audiobook Reviewer.

I have had the pleasure of hearing Michaelbrent Collings books before. I am amazed at how his mind works! Collings is definitely creative with a dark twisted side that only a true writer of horror can manage. This is clearly evident in The Colony: Renegades: The Colony, Volume 2.

I would imagine that waking up one morning and find oneself smack in the middle of a zombie apocalypse would be mind boggling. However, to discover that the zombies are not only changing but are practically undefeatable would be enough to make most throw up their hands and give up. Not so for Ken or his pack of survivors who travel into the city to find his wife and children. Every parent’s nightmare – to be separated from family when they need you the most and the overwhelming fear of failing them.

The building where his wife works is overrun with zombies but ones that ignore them until they attempt to back out. Herded further down the hallway, Ken and his pack discover that the acid vomiting zombies are the not the only ones to fear – now there are newer, stronger, and more deadly ones!

Collings combines fears like a master playing on untapped fears, drumming up nightmares that are best left forgotten in the early morning light. Instead he drags them out for all to experience setting them loose to roam through our minds and dreams.

In this short volume, Collings added new fully developed characters and even though I had not heard the first volume it is clear that the main characters are solid in their development. The plot flowed smoothly as did the fear!

I have not had the pleasure of hearing the first volume, yet volume two’s start was not confusing – it was clear that this rag tag group of survivors had suffered and managed to survive a harrowing journey and defined their mission in this volume clearly. The ending was abrupt but it was at a good place – makes me want to hear the rest.

Kent Clark did an excellent job of narration. He spoke clearly and concisely. His characters were clearly identifiable. While he could have overplayed the horror and excitement, he did not. He drew the listeners in with his skill and let the story over take me.

The audio production was good with the exception of some light static like background noise whenever there was a “chapter” pause. The audio flowed smoothly and there were no issues.

Audiobook provided for for review by the author. ( )

Its only been a few hours since society has collapsed and already the zombies are evolving. They are smarter, faster, stronger, they spit acid and there are more of them. Things look bleak for Ken Strickland and the other survivors, but they have hope and they will do what it takes to survive the zombie apocalypse. This is the story behind book 2 in Michaelbrent Colling's zombie trilogy, The Colony: Renegades.

In book one of this series, the zombies were not as strong and the the thing you wondered about most was will Ken find his family? In The Renegades the main point I wondered about was how were the characters going to survive in this new world where there are zombies at every turn. These zombies aren't the kind that stumble through the street and walk slow, they are smart, they work as a team and can communicate with each other and they can attack you even when you dismember their bodies..

In most horror novels you find a character that is dealing with something that is much stronger than them and they're fighting against the odds to survive. Michaelbrent Colling's book takes it to the extreme. While reading I was constantly thinking that there is no way that the humans can survive. There is a scene where they survivors are trapped in an elevator shaft while zombies are climbing up the walls to get them. At one point they look down from a window and see so many zombies that they can't see the ground. There is also a scene where the zombies are climbing up a construction crane to get to their prey.

While writing this trilogy Michaelbrent must have thought to himself what is the absolute worst situation that I can put a human in? The answer to that is the Colony trilogy. I don't think I've ever read a series of books where the humans had to go through so much to survive. These characters go through hell and back, they lose hope and regain it, they fight among themselves but then have to work together to survive. The Renegades is a hardcore thriller that you can't stop reading because you have to know how the humans will make it through.

The nonstop action in this book is what really makes it a good read but I also liked the relationship between the characters. For instance the way Ken and his wife act towards each other in the story I think is how most married couples would act in this situation. I also liked how the characters change in the story. Despite a short period of time passing, everyone changes into a different person by the end.

It's hard to find any bad things to say about this book. I love the way the story is told and I love the characters. True horror in a novel is watching a character you like have to survive an impossible situation and The Colony: Renegades is filled with impossible situations. My only complaint is that I felt that some of the scenes were over described and the book ends on a big cliffhanger. This didn't bother me too much, if you made it this far in book 2 than book 3 is already a must read. Michaelbrent Collings has made one masterpiece of a zombie story. ( )