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The Afterblight Chronicles #1
The Culled
He made a stand against the end of the world... The Blight arose from nowhere. It swept across the bickering nations like the End of Times and spared only those with a single fortuitous blood type. Hot-headed religion and territorial savagery rule the cities now. Somewhere amidst the chaos a damaged man receives a signal, and with it the tiniest flicker of hope. The chance to rediscover the humanity he lost, long ago, in the blood and filth and horror of The Cull. An exciting series of high-action post-apocalypse fiction set in a world ruled by crazed gangs and strange cults - 'The Afterblight Chronicles' begins here!
403 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2006
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466 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews
July 28, 2018
In the near future, a virus devastates humanity,killing everyone who has any blood type other than O-Negative. We follow a cut-throat killer as he murders his way through various cults and factions across America.
It's pretty violent and our hero is pretty successfully portrayed as a pyschotic murderer, while somehow remaining partially sympathetic. I did like how good he was at killing. Despite being the strongest guy around,he never felt too over-powered.
The story itself was a little ropey. When we finally learn the main character's motivations (about 200 pages too late IMO), it falls a bit flat. Nate and occasionally Rick were 2 occasional bright sparks, but huge plot contrivences mostly ruin them for me.
Wouldn't really recommend unless you're a big fan of action movies. Even then, I'd say just watch Mad Max instead.
It's pretty violent and our hero is pretty successfully portrayed as a pyschotic murderer, while somehow remaining partially sympathetic. I did like how good he was at killing. Despite being the strongest guy around,he never felt too over-powered.
The story itself was a little ropey. When we finally learn the main character's motivations (about 200 pages too late IMO), it falls a bit flat. Nate and occasionally Rick were 2 occasional bright sparks, but huge plot contrivences mostly ruin them for me.
Wouldn't really recommend unless you're a big fan of action movies. Even then, I'd say just watch Mad Max instead.
April 23, 2025
Read during what will hence forth be known as "The Great Pneumonia of 2015" The Culled by Simon Spurrier is the first novel in the "Afterblight Chronicles". What drew me to this series is that it is written by different authors. I have never read a collaborative series before and this one looks interesting. This is your typical post apocalyptic tome. Cannibals, roving gangs, you know your typical dark future. I found the premise to be interesting a disease that affects only specific blood types and genetic lines. good premises.
I don't know if it was the illness i was experiencing or what but I just found it hard to enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would. I finished it in good time, and I it kept my attention well enough to be interested in finishing it, but I just was not as interested in it as I initially thought I would. I'm on the waiting list for the second book regardless. It appears to carry on the story where this one leaves off but with a different authorKill or Cure by Rebeca Levene. I am still feel compelled to give the series a chance now that I am feeling a little better.
2025 Update: Turns out it was the Pneumonia. I reread this book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I don't know if it was the illness i was experiencing or what but I just found it hard to enjoy this novel as much as I thought I would. I finished it in good time, and I it kept my attention well enough to be interested in finishing it, but I just was not as interested in it as I initially thought I would. I'm on the waiting list for the second book regardless. It appears to carry on the story where this one leaves off but with a different authorKill or Cure by Rebeca Levene. I am still feel compelled to give the series a chance now that I am feeling a little better.
2025 Update: Turns out it was the Pneumonia. I reread this book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Read
September 15, 2011[Yeah, spoilers. Boilerplate, polite version: I promise I don't "spoil" anything about this book that would have bothered me had I known about it in advance of reading this book. That said, I cannot think of anything I have read in my life that would have been spoiled had I known the plot-advancing facts. And this is not, I promise, a brief Cliffs Notes–style detailed summary of the story. Perhaps the only real way to "spoil" a book is to detail any serious flaws in logic, to the extent that you then can't get them out of your head as you read the book. I can't promise that I don't to that -- but neither can anyone else.]
I wanted to read The Serpent Uncoiled, a more recent book by Spurrier, but it had such glowing reviews I decided, rather than going in cold, having never read anything by him previously, to first get a sense of his writing from something else he had written.
This novel is the first book in a "shared universe" series of novels, called the Afterblight Chronicles, each book written by a different author but taking place in the same overarching story. The "blight" of the series' title is a virus that ravaged the planet, killing (just about) everyone who doesn't have a particular blood type. It's post-apocalyptic mayhem, starring a former mercenary with a remarkable ability to be at the wrong place at the right time and to survive the ever-escalating body count. True to its pulp aspirations, it reads only slightly less quickly than it appears to have been written. It's more told than written, uttered as a full-steam streaming monologue by the main character, with occasional italicized asides from other characters.
I don't know that I will read another book in this series, but I might try another of the "shared universe" books. And I'm looking forward to The Serpent Uncoiled.
I wanted to read The Serpent Uncoiled, a more recent book by Spurrier, but it had such glowing reviews I decided, rather than going in cold, having never read anything by him previously, to first get a sense of his writing from something else he had written.
This novel is the first book in a "shared universe" series of novels, called the Afterblight Chronicles, each book written by a different author but taking place in the same overarching story. The "blight" of the series' title is a virus that ravaged the planet, killing (just about) everyone who doesn't have a particular blood type. It's post-apocalyptic mayhem, starring a former mercenary with a remarkable ability to be at the wrong place at the right time and to survive the ever-escalating body count. True to its pulp aspirations, it reads only slightly less quickly than it appears to have been written. It's more told than written, uttered as a full-steam streaming monologue by the main character, with occasional italicized asides from other characters.
I don't know that I will read another book in this series, but I might try another of the "shared universe" books. And I'm looking forward to The Serpent Uncoiled.
August 28, 2007
This is a good book, but I found the lead character's ability to survive everything too much. I liked seeing how society had reformed after the devastation of the disease. Although I liked this book, I don't think I'll read any more in the series. There are other end of the world type books that are probably better. I found the changes in perspectives between the characters difficult to follow. The action in the book was outstanding, but not enough to make me rate this book higher.
March 22, 2020
You want rampaging biker gangs? Gun battles? Hand to hand combat? Blood and gore? A relentless killer in pursuit of his mysterious goals? Devastated cities? Action scenes that read like movies? All tied up in a post-apocalyptic world brought down by a virus?
This book is for you.
The nameless protagonist gets a signal after five long years that sets him on a course of action that leaves a bloody wake behind him. Don't think that he gets through it all unscathed. This is not some overpowered superhero. In fact, he's not a hero at all. But he keeps moving ahead against terrible odds because his ultimate goal is... you'll have to read to find out.
I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone. There are too many flashbacks, there are a couple of outcomes that are too close to a deus ex machina, the author needed to do a little more research, and some people might find the native american sections offensive.
But the action scenes were bright, fast, and vivid. When I found out the author had worked on graphic novels, I just nodded, and said ohhh riiight. There were a few tiny moments that felt like a panel from a comic book.
Last, if you like the Mad Max movies, you might like this.
This book is for you.
The nameless protagonist gets a signal after five long years that sets him on a course of action that leaves a bloody wake behind him. Don't think that he gets through it all unscathed. This is not some overpowered superhero. In fact, he's not a hero at all. But he keeps moving ahead against terrible odds because his ultimate goal is... you'll have to read to find out.
I wouldn't recommend this book to everyone. There are too many flashbacks, there are a couple of outcomes that are too close to a deus ex machina, the author needed to do a little more research, and some people might find the native american sections offensive.
But the action scenes were bright, fast, and vivid. When I found out the author had worked on graphic novels, I just nodded, and said ohhh riiight. There were a few tiny moments that felt like a panel from a comic book.
Last, if you like the Mad Max movies, you might like this.
March 10, 2018
Too long, too slow and too many characters for a story were so many people were supposed to be dead.
January 29, 2023
The story and plot were great. The writing, I thought was a little wonky, the way it kept jumping from past to present in three different time periods. He would switch characters in the first person point of view, which i don't mind but, sometimes it wouldn't be obvious until a paragraph or two...With all that being said i probably will continue the series at some point
June 30, 2021
I hate badly researched books. The protagonist flies a 737 from Heathrow to LaGuardia. Two simple searches would have told him that is 1000 miles past its operational range.
July 27, 2023
It was an OK apocalyptic novel. I found it hard to like any of the characters but the narrative was snappy and the story moved quickly. The body count was really high but the again the main characters was a sociopath.
April 1, 2016
I believe this is the book that originates the Afterblight Chronicles. Except I'm not sure it's the beginning of the overall chronology of the books. I could look it up but in my opinion, it doesn't matter in the Chronicles. There's two trilogies. I'd read those in trilogy order but otherwise I've found no problems with skipping around.
This was my 5th ABC read and I'm currently in my 6th as I write this.
The story begins with Nate, a man who has been merely existing since the Cull began 5 years ago. He had been working a desk job inside MI6 as a semi retirement from being an unofficial government assassin and performer of other unofficial dirty ops. He was thoroughly trained to be a soldier, to never give up.
Which serves him in good stead as one day among the many, holed up in the deeper parts of MI6 headquarters, he sees a signal come in. There hasn't been one for years.
And the signal.... ignites him into a mission of his own. One for which he truly will stop at nothing to finish.
The characterization of Nate as more soldier than human is important as there is a lot of violence along the way. He's long since made peace with taking lives and is very skilled in proactive self-defense which from the outside would seem like pure mayhem and murder.
The story was very good and I recommend it except to those who don't like heavy aggressive violence on the part of the protagonists.
By contrast, the other four books I've read so far, the protagonists were not previously soldiers by nature.
A final note: the book ends at a good point but it's quite clear the story isn't over. Unless a different author took on this particular storyline, Spurrier hasn't written the followup book yet.
This was my 5th ABC read and I'm currently in my 6th as I write this.
The story begins with Nate, a man who has been merely existing since the Cull began 5 years ago. He had been working a desk job inside MI6 as a semi retirement from being an unofficial government assassin and performer of other unofficial dirty ops. He was thoroughly trained to be a soldier, to never give up.
Which serves him in good stead as one day among the many, holed up in the deeper parts of MI6 headquarters, he sees a signal come in. There hasn't been one for years.
And the signal.... ignites him into a mission of his own. One for which he truly will stop at nothing to finish.
The characterization of Nate as more soldier than human is important as there is a lot of violence along the way. He's long since made peace with taking lives and is very skilled in proactive self-defense which from the outside would seem like pure mayhem and murder.
The story was very good and I recommend it except to those who don't like heavy aggressive violence on the part of the protagonists.
By contrast, the other four books I've read so far, the protagonists were not previously soldiers by nature.
A final note: the book ends at a good point but it's quite clear the story isn't over. Unless a different author took on this particular storyline, Spurrier hasn't written the followup book yet.
April 24, 2014
So what would happen if a virus wiped out ninety percent of the world, and the main character fighting his way across a post apocalyptic Mad-Max style wasteland of America is actually a British Secret Agent who could have been James Bond's co-worker? Not the older Bond either, but the new, violent, gritty, killer Bond. One of the few books that successfully combines genres as well as it does, and the only book that I've ever read that combines these two genres in particular.
He's looking for something. Constantly moving from London to New York to the midwest, but the reader is in suspense and has no idea what it is he's looking for until the very end of the book. Talk about suspenseful cliff hangers!
I'm thoroughly impressed by this book. It was free on the Nook, so I"m sure that it's probably free on the other eReaders as well. It was also good enough that I'm considering paying for others in the series which doesn't happen that often. The fight scenes from this book are like something right out of a Jason Bourne movie.
He's looking for something. Constantly moving from London to New York to the midwest, but the reader is in suspense and has no idea what it is he's looking for until the very end of the book. Talk about suspenseful cliff hangers!
I'm thoroughly impressed by this book. It was free on the Nook, so I"m sure that it's probably free on the other eReaders as well. It was also good enough that I'm considering paying for others in the series which doesn't happen that often. The fight scenes from this book are like something right out of a Jason Bourne movie.
August 3, 2015
I did not have much luck with the last two Abaddon series that I tried - the Pax Britannia and Age of God openers were both trite with mediocre writing. With "The Culled," the Afterblight series shows more promise. I'm not saying this is the greatest book ever, but the pacing is fast and the writing is surprisingly intelligent. It has the feel of a decent popcorn action movie, which is all I ask from my pulp fiction. I will continue with this series for now.
Two peeves: First, early in the book, Spurrier refers to a an M16 assault rifle as a "semi-automatic," even after explaining that it fired in three-round bursts. It's hard to take he author of an action book seriously when he gets such an obvious and basic detail wrong. Second, Spurrier repeatedly cites a world-wide death-toll of 59 billion people. 59 billion?! By all measures, this novel takes place in a near contemporary time, when the world's population is seven billion or so. The planet would be destroyed before it could hold 65.5 billion people. What am I missing/misunderstanding, Mr. Spurrier?
Two peeves: First, early in the book, Spurrier refers to a an M16 assault rifle as a "semi-automatic," even after explaining that it fired in three-round bursts. It's hard to take he author of an action book seriously when he gets such an obvious and basic detail wrong. Second, Spurrier repeatedly cites a world-wide death-toll of 59 billion people. 59 billion?! By all measures, this novel takes place in a near contemporary time, when the world's population is seven billion or so. The planet would be destroyed before it could hold 65.5 billion people. What am I missing/misunderstanding, Mr. Spurrier?
March 26, 2014
The Culled by Simon Spurrier – Wow... I’m so torn on this one. All in all I loved it. I like the classic tough-guy books where the main character is this soldier of fortune that has that extra little something, and this guy, the Brit most definitely has it. So on one hand you have this guy, and I’ve just fallen for him with all his many scars. Then you have Rick or Hiawatha, this is where it gets a little hippy-dippy. I like Rick, when he’s in his right mind, but when Hiawatha takes over I zoned out a bit. That’s all you get though... You have to read this to find out the ending, and what an ending too! *be warned there is graphic violence, mature language and an amazing amount of awesomeness.
December 8, 2011
Abaddon can be relied upon to produce good pulp fiction, but this particular entry is not, alas, one of their best. It's lively and likable, but is more slam-bang adventure and action than a realistic evocation of what living in a post-pandemic world might be like. The other Abbadons I've read seem to be written by clever people who rather enjoy a bit of literary slumming; this one, by contrast, has a whiff of condescension about it, as if the writer is cynically dishing out the Mad Max/action movie stuff without being very enthusiastic. Nevertheless, Spurrier does a professional job, even if his heart isn't in it.
March 14, 2012
I found the book to be good.
I was not entirely a fan of the writing, but it conveyed the action that I really enjoyed. The writing didn't have the polish I usually like, but maybe the lack of polish added to the atmosphere of the book.
It was gritty and enjoyable ride. Not tied to reality, but in the wasteland, who wants too much realism.
Overall a great read and keep you going from the start.
I was not entirely a fan of the writing, but it conveyed the action that I really enjoyed. The writing didn't have the polish I usually like, but maybe the lack of polish added to the atmosphere of the book.
It was gritty and enjoyable ride. Not tied to reality, but in the wasteland, who wants too much realism.
Overall a great read and keep you going from the start.
May 31, 2014
This is an interesting entry in the Afterblight series. It has a number of interesting twists, and it is very fast paced. I enjoyed the School Is Out Forever trilogy (another Afterblight offering) more then this.However,there is a lot of vital Afterblight info offered in this book, so that really makes it a must read. If you're going to get into the Afterblight Universe, then this is the book you should read first.
September 9, 2014
Really couldn't get into this.
The start was very confusing. Flashbacks, within flashbacks. Flashbacks that flash forward. Little or no explanation about what was going on and a lead character that was just... well too much.
Yet, it's the first part of a long series of books, but felt more like something in the middle, where everything had already been explained.
Still won't put me off trying book two, as that's written by someone else.
The start was very confusing. Flashbacks, within flashbacks. Flashbacks that flash forward. Little or no explanation about what was going on and a lead character that was just... well too much.
Yet, it's the first part of a long series of books, but felt more like something in the middle, where everything had already been explained.
Still won't put me off trying book two, as that's written by someone else.
August 26, 2014
This is getting a 2 because of all the constituencies in the book from the first book and this one. Plus the fact that the author has no ideal of geography. Is it so hard to look at a map if you don't know about the area you are writing about? Two days to go from Miami to Vegas? Yes 37 hours on today's roads. Five years without maintenance? Think the trip would take just a little longer.
November 6, 2008
A fun read, first in the series from English publisher Abaddon's "Afterblight Chronicles". I can't remember if they explain what the blight was or why it came, but this is a fantastic adventure with lots of action. Plenty of swearing and ridiculous scenarios, but a lot of fun.
November 11, 2012
Absolutely loved this one. The plot never slows down, from the beginning it's one mean mother fucker of a post apocalyptic novel. Proving that you don't have to write the millionth zombie novel to tell a good after-the-end style story.
December 4, 2013
Fun, fast-paced and brutal. The Culled is an action tale set against the backdrop of the apocalypse. The narrator is amoral and likable, the world is vivid and bloody. I will definitely read more books in the Afterblight Chronicles series.
October 13, 2016
Action, adventure and violence.
A fast paced, high octane thriller, tinged with fantasy, and so hard boiled it could crack concrete paving slabs. A fine read, with lots of dark twists.
A fast paced, high octane thriller, tinged with fantasy, and so hard boiled it could crack concrete paving slabs. A fine read, with lots of dark twists.
October 21, 2007
Mental, fast paced post apocalyptic actioner.
Very good at what it does, and what it does is violence!
Very good at what it does, and what it does is violence!
February 20, 2011
Post world wipe, crazy cults, and Mad Max invincibles? So awesome.
July 11, 2012
Good fast read, better than average plot.
October 30, 2012
Don't waste your time with this book - I only read about 20 pages and could not get rid of it fast enough. What a load of rubbish!
January 21, 2013
Enjoyed this one - will continue reading the series.
July 20, 2014
I had trouble getting into this book, but I'm glad I did. The action picks up and rockets right along. It's not a serious book or anything, but like an action movie, it's fun and entertaining.
April 6, 2015
Fast and fun. Most dystopian apocalypse fiction I've read have protagonists who are in most ways unprepared for the new awful reality. This book is different, and that makes it kind of refreshing.
April 18, 2015
great book, good action, crazy story. it just draws you in, wanting so badly to find out what it is all about
Displaying 1 - 30 of 34 reviews