Impact Winter

I like these. I listen to these types of stories via podcast on my way to and from work via Spotify or some other service.

This one has some grit. Quite a bit of grit. I like grit. The story follows 2 sisters. One hate vampires one is drawn to them jealous of their ability to live in the world rather than hide in fear. One is a soldier fighting the vampire from killing off humans, the other stays within walls feeling helpless. Boy does this story take the things they dispise and make them see other sides of it. It makes them choose between instinct and loyalty. I liked it. I do feel though there is definite room for this type of audio story to grow into so much more as the format grows. I can't wait to listen to season 2 which is out already. I just need to wait til my drive to and from work and sporting events with my son. This one made me take the long way home a few times.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It reminded me a lot of Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan’s The Strain trilogy in a very good way. The audio was very well done and the story was very engaging. What I just kept coming back to though was the thought “I wish this were just a book”. You’re not going to get the same descriptions and insight from an audio drama as you’d get from the written word. Overall, still pretty good and I’ll listen to the next one when there’s no new podcast episodes.

I don't understand why this isn't higher rated. One of my favorite vampire tales of all time and probably my favorite audiobook. Graphic audiobooks are so much better than regular audiobooks.

The story is set in 2043. A comet has hit the earth covering the earth from the sun which created perpetual winter. The vampires now run free. Were they here all along or did the comet bring them? There are multiple kinds of blood suckers, some more sentient than others but all are unimaginable horrors.

Follow this amazing cast as they try to survive this vampire apocalypse

This was much better than I expected. I have listened to a few of these audible originals and not been impressed. I am actually interested in listening to future “winter” stories if they are written. Give this one a chance.

Fun! Perfect casting and acting. The story is quick with meaningful character arcs and a fully realized world. I'm not normally a fan of vampire stories but this sucked me in from the start. Excellent sound production, too.

Impact Winter by Travis Beacham and read by a full cast is an excellent post-apocalyptic vampire story. Reminiscent of Matheson's I Am Legend, while also being freshly compelling. Despite this being an Audible Original, it feels a bit strange to think of Impact Winter as an audiobook, and in fact Audible describes it as a “performance.” It's an audio drama told primarily through dialogue: with a full cast, foley effects, and musical score. It is very well performed and produced! The place where it seemed a bit more mixed was in the plot. It seemed like the first season of a TV show or the first arc of comic. It left some major world building elements unexplored and set up potential future plot events, which I suppose might be the content of a possible sequel? Despite this I did like the ending, I just wanted more. I really enjoyed this narrative. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Finally got around to reading an audio drama. I understand why there is demand for these types of audiobooks for the past decade, but I still prefer your standard narration without all the shiny bits and soundy noises. Perhaps it's because I have misophonia and unnatural sounds are too much for me, or maybe I'm just boring.

The premise of Impact Winter is promising, although the writing is unfortunately not. The character arcs didn't seem believable to me and made them rather bland. One takeaway from all this is the casting. These voice actors are excellent, including the kickass Liam Cunningham and Bella Ramsey.

Side Note: I was completely surprised when they played a Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield song in the mix. Not only is Seth my favorite musician, but absolutely underrated.

____

Audio read by: full cast, including - Holliday Grainger, Esmé Creed-Miles, Himesh Patel and Liam Cunningham

I wanted to give this a go because it said it was attached to producers from The Walking Dead (including Robert Kirkman). 
A comet hits earth, clouding the atmosphere and making the sunlight disappear, which leads to the open emergence of vampires? I said yes, I could get behind that. And it has these really cool kinds of vampires too: there are mindless zombie-eating type vampires (kind of reminded me of I am Legend (the movie)), then shades which are like your run-of-the-mill vampires, then there are overlords which have gifted powers, and then there's of course a vampire queen. Plus there's a badass female vampire Hunter with a sword? Felt like a post apocalyptic Underworld. 
The problem I personally had with this one is that it is an audio performance, not an audio narration. I'm guessing I could have easily found that out if I did even the simplest research, so that's on me. However, I have stated several times in the past now that they just aren't for me. The performances were fantastic, so it's not that I have anything against it, it's just to the point where it's more of a play, or like listening to a movie without seeing it, than reading. 
The production is filled with noises—scuttling feet, fighting, heavy breathing, background noise—sometimes to the literal detriment of the audio levels. And because it's filled with those noises, there's next to no description within the story. If you're not fired up to use your imagination the entire time, this probably isn't the one for you. It was not easy to listen to while going about my day. 
My biggest gripe though was that in between the chapters there would be music. Some of which was so bad that I actually considered stopping the entire thing, and it's only 4.5 hours long. I hate music in audiobooks. 
Great concept, iffy execution. I don't think at this point I'll continue with the teased sequel. 

I was looking forward to this one. While it is a quick listen and sometimes fun, it is a bit tedious and overly noisy.

This isn't a typical audiobook, but is instead more like a play with sound effects and music. Sometimes I enjoy ones like this with a full cast and a live play aspect. This one however, was too much. It overtook the story for me and lessened my enjoyment.