Yesterday's Gone: Season One

SUMMARY:Here is the summary of this book review, in case you are in a hurry: Yesterday’s Gone (Season 1), by Sean Platt and David Wright (and edited by Jason Whited) is a serialized, post apocalyptic suspense thriller written from multiple viewpoints. The story, like others of the genre, is complex and escalates steadily to the cliffhanger ending. I thought the ending was skillfully done. It didn’t straight-out annoy me as many cliff-hangers do. There was just enough resolution to satisfy me, while still (strongly) encouraging me to read the next book -- which I have purchased in ebook and audiobook formats (because I roll like that).THE MEAT AND GUTS OF THIS REVIEW:My to-be-read pile is tall. I have more books waiting for my attention that I will ever find time to enjoy properly. I also know that Sean Platt and David Wright are extremely prolific artist. So why would I torture myself by starting a series?Because the are a lot of fun to watch on their podcasts. They have a healthy attitude about and pride in being writers. The first book in the series was free and I thought, somewhat unrealistically, that I might practice putting the/a book down if it wasn’t deserving of my time. (I am a bit of a finisher, despite being prone to slow reading...daydreaming… and distraction.)So I grabbed Yesterday’s Gone, Season 1 and slammed it down on the top of my digital “to-read” pile.I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping for the best and afraid that I would be disappointed. I knew from just sampling the beginning that it was well written (as far as basic craft and mechanics) and the premise was interesting, but I was making a commitment to spend a lot of time with these to authors and their imaginations.One of my goals for this year is to learn to read faster, for the sake of enjoyment and revising my own work more efficiently. I started out reading very fast, and slipped into my normal let’s-poke-around-this-fictional-world-with-a-daydream pace.This, my friends, is a sign.I stayed up late at night with the story. When should have been doing other things, out came on my Kindle Fire. This was a last ditch attempt to give my eyes a break from phone reading, which is my normal MO. I finished it in what was a fairly short time period in comparison to how I normally read.And now I'm the proud new owner of both an ebook and an audiobook version of Yesterday's Gone, Season 2.Season one is a long and complex book with lots of characters. There are multiple viewpoints which is something I often like, but can be mishandled by some authors. There were a few points in this story when I was having a hard time differentiating between the characters (possibly because I didn’t make time for ‘enjoyment reading’ for several days at a time; I was writing a lot). Once I latched onto my favorite characters in the story, the entire thing started to grow on me.A FINAL WORD (WRITTEN LATE AT NIGHT AFTER WORKING A FULL SHIFT AND THINKING ABOUT ALL OF THIS STUFF):Sean Platt and David Wright are the real deal. They write an excellent suspense thriller. In short these guys are pros. I don’t award as many five star ratings as I used to when I first began reviewing books. Even as I write this I'm not sure if I can justify giving a full five stars, because I hold five star books in a much higher standard. The basically have to change my life (nonfiction) or leave a long-lasting resonance that not many stories do these days.I hope the tone of this review isn't too much. It might be that I've somehow expected less of writers who write in such a great quantity and so quickly (despite my own propensity to attempt the same thing). As a writer, I agree that writing quickly can often lead to a better, more honest story, but while I say this and tell myself I believe it, the long-standing view of our society is that creativity should be slow, painful, and leading to alcoholism and suicide.How dark is that? Wow. We grow up believe this and still want to be artists? Why can’t writing, or painting, or making music, or anything be a joyful and fulfilling process? Why, I ask you!?And even though I am also an independent author and bridle at the stigma, it is easy to look for faults in the work that an author has spent the time, energy, and personal risk to self-publish / produce.This makes me feel like the strangest kind of hypocrite to judge fellow indies more harshly than I would a traditional published author, but I guess it's just hardwired into my daydreaming-prone brain.The point is that I am seriously impressed with this story and recommend it to anybody who enjoys thrillers or serial fiction or both. The only risk I took in reading this book was that I might waste my time. I downloaded it from Amazon for free and I enjoyed it. Enough to buy season two. It remains to be seen if I will like season two enough to buy season three, but I imagine that I'm probably hooked.I SHOULD PROBABLY SLEEP NOWI should probably sleep now, it’s the responsible thing.

Let me start by saying I really wanted to give this book 5 stars. Not because of what I read in the pages of Yesterday's Gone - Season One, but because Sean Platt and David Wright have stepped outside of normal conventions and created something that should be admired and commended. They created true serialized fiction for the Kindle that is both compelling and entertaining.However, with that said, I have to review the book based on what was on the page. For the most part, I really enjoyed the story. It hooked me right from the start and the chapters turned in interesting ways. Most of the characters were engaging and fleshed out, but a couple felt like simple fodder and at times disappeared from the page even though they were in the scene. I imagine that writing such a large cast can be overwhelming for even the most accomplished writers.The pacing was spot on. Tight plotting kept the story moving forward and didn't allow for any bogging down with exposition or over indulgent verisimilitude. However, it still delivered those wonderful little moments that raised the work beyond simple formula.The writing itself flowed well, but could have been tightened in a few places. One episode in particular, toward the end of the season, felt loose and unpolished. A forgivable sin, especially given the quality of what came before. But it was because of that previous quality, and the standard that it set, that the drop was so obvious.Overall, the first season is a tremendous effort that is worth checking out. It offers something new and creative to the genre. Most importantly, from a reader's standpoint, I'm invested in the story and its characters and fully intended to read season two.

I'm fairly new to the e-book and the self-published/indie genre, and the quality is usually somewhat sporadic. But not so with "Yesterday's Gone: Season One." What a great story! I loved all of the characters right away, even those I didn't like that much - they are each believable and react in believable ways when they find themselves in an unbelievable situation. And what a situation - wonderfully crafted and convincingly scary and confusing, with little bits of answers doled out often enough to keep me engaged and wanting more! The cliffhangers at the end of each Episode leave me gasping, laughing at the shock I've just received, and anxious to read on. I'm so thankful that I discovered this series AFTER all of the episodes were out, because I've just devoured all six in about 24 hours or so. I can't imagine the agony of waiting for the next one to come out! The shocks and gore are believable and necessary to the plot of the story and are in keeping with what it seems the characters would do in a given situation, and while there's some over-the-top crude and rude language, it mostly comes from a character who's over-the-top crude and rude - and yet he's such a gleefully insane and essential character, it completely works (he's one that I don't like, but I love)!As for the technical aspect of the writing, well, that's been all over the board, too, with the indie e-books I've read. But this one is good, with good grammar, a quality vocabulary, and few typos - not to mention a plea from the authors to let them know if there are any errors they've missed. Given that many authors don't seem to realize that errors even are errors (I read one book where "it's" was used incorrectly - but consistently - throughout the entire book; it hurt), this is refreshing. It's such a great story that I'd keep reading even if it were chock-full of mistakes, but it makes it even more pleasurable not to be distracted every page or two with a grating mistake.Wonderful, wonderful book and great authors - can't wait to keep reading this series and then dive into all the others! I love discovering new authors who have a large number of works...nothing worse than the feeling of closing the final book after reading everything they've written and then having to wait and wait and wait for more. If you like post-apocalyptic stories, this is one of the greats. After Season 1, I'm ranking it up there with The Stand and the like.

I haven’t seen “Lost” or “The Stand”, and the best post-apocalyptic novel I have ever read, is the “Gone” series by Michael Grant. (I too loved Stephen King’s, “The Green Mile”, and bought them as they came out in novellas)!Having just finished Season One, Episode One, I’m not quite sure yet if this book will rank up there on my favourites list, but so far, I can’t put it down!I love how the authors write for each character, both in dialogue and narrative. It really allows you to get to know the characters and get into their psyches a lot easier. Plus, you know who you are reading about just by the tone of the episode. My favourite to read about is Boricio. (I stressed “to read about because Boricio is far from my favourite character)! It also adds to the development of the characters and their interactions with the other characters.This “book” truly grabs your attention and doesn’t let go.Which is why I was so engrossed in this book that I read right to the end of episode 6, not once thinking to jot down my review!For as long as I can remember I’ve wanted to keep track of the characters and what happens to them throughout the book. In more than 30 years of reading I haven’t done it. Until now.And this is the most perfect book to have started on! Especially since there is more to come. Not knowing when I’ll get to read the next books in the series, now instead of rereading the entire book, (which I’m sure I’ll do just for pleasure anyway), I simply have to read my synopsis and I’ll be all caught up and ready to start the next book! Something I wish I had done for many, many books I’ve read.That speaks volumes for how much I enjoyed the book! And it’s decided, this book is definitely now on my top ten list of favourite books.I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thrilling, captivating, exciting read. Just be prepared to not get anything done while you’re reading it!Connie Carswell@orcanut (Instagram)@orcaloopy (Twitter)Ottawa, Ontario

Romanzo forse troppo lungo (ben sei libri, mi sono arenata dopo il secondo), non originalissimo nell'impianto complessivo.Chiaramente ispirato a 'The walking dead', con una punta di elemento alieno, tuttavia piacevole alla lettura, ben scritto, con personaggi a cui è facile affezionarsi. Non vi cambierà la vita ma può valere la pena.

Wow! Just - wow!One book full of cliffhangers, from the start to the end, with a story packed in between that will keep you glued to the book in nail-biting suspense, following the protagonists through their trials and tribulations in an end-time scenario.So how to describe this? Is it horror - hm, yes? Fantasy - erm, yes. Sci-fi - hmmmm maybe? One day, most of earth population just (seems to?) vanish, and we follow a couple of survivors from different parts of the US during their struggles to survive. Sounds like just another "end of world" book, but oh! this one is different, believe me.I love the narration style, the different volumes in this series are apparently called "seasons", the chapters in this book are "Episodes", and within these episodes are, let's call them sub-chapters, following each of the protagonists in turn (and bother! each of them ending in a cliffhanger).Usually I'd hate books ending with cliffhangers, basically forcing the reader to buy the next (and next and next) in a series, but this one was so well written, the scenario and protagonists so captivating, that I actually want to get the next ones (want? need seems to be the proper word here).I would love to go into more detail, but then I would have to give spoilers, that wouldn't do at all! Try it out for yourself and get hooked onto this series as I did!

This is one awesome piece of dysotopian literature! Really loved it. The plot is very well designed and your just cannot stop reading it. It is a bit different from the traditional dysotopian literature, as it is not entirely scientific. But that does water-down the plot. In fact it was good to see something different. The characters were all different from each other and that made the story interesting, I mean in one chapter you are reading about a teenager trying to survive and you reach the next chapter and find a psychopath looking for his next victim. It gets a little bit confusing in the middle, but you get what had happened a little while later. I would recommend this for like the 14-30 age group. But the bummer is that it ends with a cliffhanger (technically that would be multiple cliffhangers because it consists of 3 different stories happening at the same time).

Yesterday's Gone is a mini-series of short interconected novellas inspired by the likes of Stephen King's Green Mile series and the old cliffhanger serials of days gone by. Available either in seperate E-book episodes or collected together in one "season", the story is a chilling one that twists and turns for many miles before reaching an impossibly infuriating climax that leaves the reader hungering for more and desperate for answers.....The story is a simple one. A group of people, spread out amongst America, all wake up simultaneously to discover that their loved ones and much of the population have disappeared with no apparent trace. It is as though they are just simply....gone. Each character then sets off in search of other survivors, some of them eventually coming together and forming bonds, desperate to find some kind of answers. But more and more mysteries confound them at every turn.......mass graves are discovered along the highways; strange creatures begin emerging and evolving ~ their infection passed on through the exchange of bodily fluids, often in very messy and disgusting ways; and signals begin getting heard, coming from some kind of Military Outpost on a remote island. And all through this, one question remains....what the frack is going on?This is a great thriller that keeps you gripped at every twist and gasping at every new turn of events. The survivors, both those together and those alone, are a real mixed bag ranging from a murderous serial killer to a guy who may or may not be a former Goverment Agent through to a mother and daughter and a lowly everyman who just wants to find his son. And action? This book is full of action in every chapter! The only thing not forthcoming is any definite answers and, in that way, this book closely follows the style of modern T.V shows such as Lost. In fact, everything about this book is written as if it was a T.V show with chapters referred to as "Episodes" and the collection here referred to as "Season One"!Season Two has just been released in its entirety for less than a Fiver and this Season was priced at a similar price on Kindle last year. I downloaded the first Episode for free and was hooked! This is post-apocalypse end-of-the-world fiction of the ike you have never seen before! It is brilliant, it is frustrating, it is often scary and always keeps you on your toes. Honestly, E-books don't get much better than this and I cannot recommend it enough!Summary: What happens when everyone is just.......gone?