Sleepers

Sleepers #1

by Jacqueline Druga

A normal spring morning cascades into a nightmare world for Mera Stevens as 1.8 billion children simultaneously fall ill and then vanish from the face of the earth. Her son, Jeremy, is one of them.

Increased natural disasters, onslaught of disease and other phenomena throws the world into chaos as it balances on the brink of extinction.

With communications down, Mera gathers the courage and strength she needs to trek across a dying country in search of a daughter she desperately hopes is still alive.

While en route to Seattle, Mera is joined by others on a similar mission. Their travels are not easy. Not only do they have to face nature’s roadblocks, they must combat the infected who have become their most deadly obstacle. More than just facing the physical and emotional challenges that test their survival, the group faces a journey that will take them much further than just a search for loved ones in a desolate world.

Genres: Horror, Zombies, Apocalyptic, Science Fiction, Fiction, Post Apocalyptic, Ebooks

226 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 17, 2012

Reviews

[Frank Errington · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would love to give Jacgueline Druga's "Sleepers" 5-Stars. The story was original, well paced, kept my interest and had a very satisfying ending. The problem is self publishing. Not a bad thing in itself, but this book really needed a proofreader. Dozens of instances of grammatical errors, incorrect tense being used, the awful "I couldn't care less" and more. It was so bad, that I nearly gave up, but by that time, I was two-thirds of the way in and really wanted to see where the story was headed. Three stars means I liked it, but not enough to really recommend. Maybe, if the author took it back and had someone proofread the work and make all the needed corrections, it would be a different story, but for now, that's how I feel.

[Angel Grimes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off wonderfully, I spent most of the morning either crying like a baby of trying not to cry like a baby. The complete despair of a mother having lost her child is something I hope never to experience, I can only imagine at the enormity and complete emptiness of it. Apparently the author has pretty much the same view on the subject as I do and captured that loss so deeply and realistically, overshadowing the apocalypse going on around her.

I hoped for them, I cried with them and I desperately wanted her to find her daughter, get her children and Phoenix somewhere safe. Then chapter 27...FREAKING TIME TRAVEL!!!! What the hell? Time travel stories are great and I do love them, but seriously, what the hell was the author thinking by just plonking it in there with no rhyme or reason as an "Oh by the way, I'm from the future and I've got the gospel of your adventure, but...we've changed it now so it serves no purpose other than to bulk the book a bit". Oh I'm so angry and disappointed!

I really did love this book until Chapter 27 and the stupidity of it. It added NOTHING to the story and only served to detract from the actual plot. It ruined a character and completely destroyed the natural progression. And while the ended was beautiful and heart warming, it was ruined by the freaking time travel. Crap. Complete crap! It would only get one star, but I loved the first 26 chapters.

[Danna · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is not what I expected. I liked it at first, the post apocalyptic world with sleepers was familiar and somewhat comforting. Though, once I got further into the book, I realized it had a heavy religious theme going on. Along with the religion being a big part of the story, the storytelling felt very adolescent like, and typos were in good supply.

Once the survivors reached a sanctuary, it became disjointed to me. All of the sudden, the apocalypse wasn't Caused by the Rapture, but was caused by time travelers from 200 years in the future. I am still confused.

The ending was a letdown, as I expected, especially since I had to push myself to even finish. Definitely did not enjoy,

[Kendra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I snagged this book either when it was free or very low priced (although it is still only $2.99 at Amazon as of 5/10/12) and I had no idea what it was about or what to expect. I do not usually read post-apocalyptic fiction and about laughed myself off the couch when I realized that I was reading a zombie story. BUT, as I've done quite a bit since I started downloading ebooks, I kept an open mind.

The book is filled with typos and grammatical errors; even my 7th grader could have done a better job editing the book. But, the story is fast paced and exciting and the author kept me completely engaged. I didn't want to put the book down. Its not a masterpiece but it was definitely entertaining.

I recommend this easy to read, shorter story as a "commercial break" between meatier, more substantial novels. Enjoy!



Kindle version; ebook is lendable

[Nathalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

I made it to 12% but I just couldn't continue reading beyond that point. The plot was mediocre for the most part, but what really annoyed me was how many times the protagonist brought up religion within the first couple of chapters. It just got old and it eventually got to the point where I wanted to scream "Who the hell cares about your religious views?! This is a zombie book, not bible study!" I'm glad that I'm not the only person that had such an issue with it.

[Arely Ayala · Rating 3 out of 5]

It started out pretty good. Good characters and plot for a couple of chapters I was hooked. Then cane the time travel and heavy religious theme. I finished it but i don't want to read the rest of the series

[Alisha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sleepers was going to be a 4 star book for me, since I really loved the first three quarters of the book. Of course there were the usual grammar errors and things like that, all of which can be easily overlooked, since it didn't make it hard to read like some do. Anyways, there was a lot of realistic loss, with all the children in the world dying, including some sad scenes where our main character lost her youngest. Being a mother, it was pretty hard for me to read some of those scenes without crying because I just couldn't imagine going through that. At first it also did a good job of staying within the realm of reality. Mera may not have believed it, but the answer seemed to be God's Rapture, and I really didn't mind the biblical influence, since it was working.

Then comes the weird part, where you find out wasn't God's rapture, but some sort of gene manipulating time travelers, and it started to make less sense. I was very confused by large points of the book at that point, for instance at what point Mera's son Danny is bitten really bad, and is just fine. The people hypothesize that they must already be immune to the virus since they survived the first wave of it. Then later the author decides to just change that, making other people get bit and turn into sleepers, although they had obviously survived the initial outbreak also. Her explanation for that is some are immune and some aren't, but how is that possible? Most the world went to sleep and woke up as a sleeper, so obviously everyone that didn't had so have something special about them. I just thought it made more sense in her storyline the way it was in the beginning.

The ending was also pretty stupid, as I couldn't believe two of the strongest characters would just give up like that. I mean, I sorta got her reasoning, but not really. She had Danny and Pheonix to live for, not to mention friends. I also didn't get why the bunker would have been running out of gas for the helicopters, it just sounds retarded. Everyone knows they keep millions of gallons under those places, and even with running helicopters for months on in endlessly, they would not even start to run out. I believe the helicopter would have least picked them out of their predicament and set them down somewhere a bit safer. Also, the whole plan to get rid of most the sleepers seemed pretty unrealistic. I don't believe the government would risk to rest of the survivors holed up in the various cities just to get rid of the sleepers who will most likely starve in the coming months in the first place. The way they were written, they honestly weren't that powerful or strong, or invincible, and it just didn't seem worth it to destroy the survivors to get rid of them.

[Ebony Irby · Rating 1 out of 5]

SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS

NOT what I expected from Ms Druga! The protagonist sucked, and it took her Way too long to “get with the program!” The whole Rapture aspect was far fetched, but then to find out it was time travel all along? Like WTF??? If I could sum this book up in one word, it would be Stupid!

Jaqueline became my favorite author during the pandemic, and I had such High hopes for this series. Sadly this book fell flat.

[Marty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somebody slap me. I don't like to get into a book and find out it is full of religion, and then to top that off, time travel, Walking Dead, and then Book 2, and Book 3. I'm done here
I have to say was was enjoying the story, but yes the errors in grammer were noticeable. I got about 50 pages to end and called it a day

[Jasmine Banasik · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's not a bad book, but it just felt a little lacking. There's nothing particularly bad about it but there is also nothing particularly great. It feels standard for a zombie story (even if they never say the word zombie). If you like zombies, it is enjoyable enough and the plot moved quickly. A lot of action, although the constant sacrifice scenes especially in the last half take away from the emotional punches.
I thought the time travel aspect wasn't done well enough to feel earned. It felt suddenly introduced and not enough was done for it to make sense within the plot.
I will probably read the next two, because I have a collection of the first three.

[Peter Schmidt · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read. I was a little worried at first when the rapture card seemed to get played but as the story developed it was clear that was just people trying to rationalize something tragic and beyond understanding. There was a nice twist that I never saw coming and which the author saved until about halfway or more in. The one issue I had with this was that it was a time travel twist but there was no consideration of time paradox issues.

In any event, it was a ripping yarn, and I was not sleeper while reading - thankfully there are more in the series as I would really like to see where the story arc goes.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was excited for a zombie apocalypse book but instead was tricked into reading a book centered on religion. I tried to power through it because the plot was still Interesting but then we get to the time traveling Mormons and the paragraph gently suggesting that gay people are bad and then followed it up with phrasing suggesting murdering and child abusers are on the same level? Yeah no thank you.
The writing was poor quality, the formatting of margins in my copy was terrible.

[LIBBY Hardel · Rating 5 out of 5]

So excellent. A totally different apocalyptic story I did not see coming. I cannot wait to read book two! Jacquiline Druga is an excellent author, she thinks things out thoroughly and makes intelligent decisions with her story telling. It's all you can ask of any writer. She never takes her readers down stupid paths, she always makes sure the story makes sense. I get very attached to her characters quickly. I cannot wait to continue this series!

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall not a terrible read. As other reviews mentioned the twist was strange. But still I pushed through and finished the book. I became invested enough in the characters to start the second and will probably continue with the series. Mainly because I really hate leaving a series unfinished. It was a good way to kill some time and a different take on an apocalyptic scenario.

[Kelly Cross · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intense

I get so caught up in most of the books written by Ms. Druga that it is a total surprise when I get to the last page. I keep looking for more. This was like that. I kept wanting more. I am not saying that it didn't end. I am saying that I didn't want it to. It was so good!!!

[Bobby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Above Average

I found this one to be fascinating and a true cliff hanger but disappointed in someone showing up from the future. Somehow that took me on a wrong turn. The tale became a bit disjointed but fortunately got back on track by the end.

[TheReadingKnitter/ Kasey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole twist with Randy is why I gave this 3 stars instead of 4. I was sucked into this book and thought it was good but then I didn’t really care for the twist with Randy. Going to read the second book and see if I can get sucked into it.

[Hazel Graves · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading this. The drive for the surviving characters to live and thrive to make the best out of impossible circumstances. Each character that you read shows you a different layer of survival.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow

What an interesting story. Very good writing with strong characters. I was surprised by how invested I got in the characters survival & how sad with every death.

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love Jacqueline Druga's apocalyptic stories.

[Kelley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book could have used a little more editing polish, but it was an excellent story.

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really enjoyed all 8 books of this series . enjoyed the story and characters . ignored the editing issues . fewer than some of her other books

[S. Nash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh boy. If you’re a parent and you’re planning to read this book, grab a hanky because you’re going to need it. Just look at the synopsis--1.8 billion children, gone. Mera Stevens’ son is one of them. The first few chapters are absolutely heart-wrenching.

Mera is certain that God caused the deaths of the children and the terrible storms and natural disasters that followed. She and her husband bury their son’s ashes. They make plans to drive cross-country to pick up their daughter, who is in college in the Pacific Northwest. When their middle son arrives from his military academy on foot and frantic, the full horror of the virus and the events of the previous 24 hours is unleashed.

From this point, the novel is a straightforward zombie survival plot. They run to safety, find shelter and supplies, and meet other survivors along the way. Of course, every shelter is unsafe, they are overrun by “sleepers” and have to move on, harried and tired and wounded. Mera pursues her goals with a single-minded zeal that doesn’t live up to her physical capabilities. Her love for her kids and her will to find her daughter and keep her son safe is her driving force. She relies on the people around her to do what needs to be done, because banding together and cooperating is the key to survival for everyone.

The strength of the characters carry this book. Halfway through the novel, I was ready to backhand Mera Stevens. The character is an alcoholic who doesn’t listen to people, fixates on unimportant things in the middle of a crisis, and will not let anything go. She’s irritating, sometimes irrational, and absolutely certain that her way is the right way. When an author takes a character and makes you want to slap some sense into her, it’s a good thing. Mera is flawed, challenging, and is by far the best character to show us this story from her point of view. By the end of the novel, I was cheering for her. Alex, who is not your typical survivalist, is another favorite.

Things get a little weird when time-travel is introduced. One of the themes of the novel involves faith in Christianity, and the rapture as described in Revelations. For Mera and her son, these events are clearly the work of God. When they become aware that the events are man-made, and the writings of a modern-day survivor have become the doctrines of the future, we hit an interesting paradox. No one wonders if the doctrines of the modern day are survivor’s tales from a different time-travel experiment from 2,000 years ago.

This is the second edition of this book, released by Permuted Press. Based on older comments of the first edition, it’s clear the second edition has been edited for spelling and grammar. Most of the things that caught my editorial eye were colloquialisms in the character’s voice (perfectly appropriate) and some ebook font-spacing issues that are a product of the medium itself. Unfortunately, “Kindle typos” are common enough that I have an acceptable threshold for them. I didn't have any problem with the few I ran across.

I recommend Sleepers to zombie and end-of-the-world fiction fans who love to connect with strong, well-rounded characters in a tried-and-true survival situation. Sleepers is the first in a series. The cliffhanger ending is the perfect hook for the second book.

we received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect the opinion of the book or the content of the review. www.bookie-monster.com

[Janis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Currently on book 6!

[Holly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sleepers is a zombie book, but one that is super emotional and really strange and unique in it's telling. I really wasn't expecting half of what happened in the book, and when I was finished I just sat back and had to say, "what the heck did I just read?"

Sleepers tells a tale of a world that is going through the apocalypse basically, though throughout the book it's commonly referred to as the rapture. All the kids under fourteen grow sick and die within in the first day, and soon some adults are falling asleep, and basically turn into zombies. Some people are immune to this, however, and because of this you follow the story of a woman and a rag-tag team on the search for her daughter.

This book is pretty emotional. Even though some of the situations I can't relate to, you really feel for the characters and what they are going through. Most of the characters are pretty well-thought out, and very few of them are undeveloped throughout the story. There were a few characters I just didn't care for, and unfortunately, Mera (the main character) was one of them. It seemed like most everything evolved around her and what she wanted to do. I understand some of it because it was in first person, but it still didn't make sense that so many people would want to just join her in her quest and do basically everything she wanted to, to some extent.

The first 75% of the book was really good. Even going forward, it was still original, but the author seemed to throw something completely unrelated out of left field and it was really... Weird. Time travelers from the future, and upon the journey they found a baby that was supposedly the key to the antidote to fix everything? But all the other babies died and somehow he made it through, and was supposed to play some huge key part in the future. Then with the time traveler who had a book stating the future and they were following it quite a bit, changing it here and there to fit their needs basically? Everything around this part just made no sense to me. It could have been explained a little better I think, and if more than a quarter of the book would have been spent with the characters knowing that, it would have been better.

It was pretty okay. Not sure if I would continue the series, and it did end on a cliffhanger, which annoyed me to no end. (The day authors find a way to finish a book in a series without stopping on a cliffhanger will be the happiest day of my life.) Characters were good for the most part, plot was good up until the weirdness, and the editing was lacking, but like the rest of this book, was just okay.

[Dana Burkey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can't decide just to rate this book. So, here are the pros and cons that made me settle on 3:

PRO:
-There was a lot of emotional moments that made the reader invested.
-A few twists here and there were nice and unexpected and that kept me reading.
-It was not all happy happy and easy going, making it more predictable and a good read.

CON:
-Some of the characters felt really basic. Like,I did not get to know them until they were gone or any idea I had about them was blown.
-The major "plot twist" at the end felt kind of lame....Like it was only half thought through. There was not enough description for the reader and the characters in it to really get on board.
-The ending was lame....unless there is enough book that picks up where this one leaves off.
-The ending was NOT BELIEVABLE. I just felt like it was kind of annoying to have these characters making the choices that they did. It was like they knew certain things, but just went ahead any ways and then were shocked by what happened.....
-The whole addition of revelations felt really annoying. As a Christian I have read revelations a lot, and even read the whole Left Behind series when I was younger. But, the way everything was presented in this book was annoying. It did not feel all that genuine, and would have for are been better without it all! Sure, thinking about God in the mist of the craziness, but for people who are basically atheist to know the book of revelations so well off the top of their heads was just unrealistic and got in the way of the plot very often when it felt forces.


All in all it was not terrible, but there was a lot that I could not get on board with. There were some grammar issues as well, and since I am not good with grammar it takes quite a bit for me to notice it. But, it was there so that was a factor in the rating too. I got the book for free, but there are other books that are similar that I liked more.

One thing that was funny was that The Becoming was mentioned at the end of the book, and that was a similar one that I liked better and also got for free. In fact, some times when I was reading this book it reminded me of a less thought out version of The Becoming.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I cannot even begin to list all the things wrong with this book. At least 3/4th of the way through the author drops the end of the world by God thing. This is a blessing and improves the book immensely. End of the world caused by a virus brought by people for the future is a little out there but would have been just fine as a plot vehicle if the author had only started there instead of throwing it in at the last moment. The number one most annoying thing about this book is the main heroine. For the entire book I wanted to slap and/or strangle her. If I had to survive the zombie apocalypse only to have to travel cross country with her one or both of us would end up dead by my hand. As icing on the bad book cake, when you have plowed your way through bad plots, dropped plot lines (the opening chapter/scene never actually happens anywhere), horrible grammar and spelling (would it kill her to get at least a proofreader) and annoying characters you hope the Sleepers kill, the ending leaves you hanging. I would forgive the hanging ending because apparently this is going to be a trilogy but the ending just doesn't fit or make sense. I felt like I had read the book for nothing. I had made an effort to read the book whenever I got the chance just to find out how it ended and get some answers and was so disappointed. Why did all the children dry up and die? Why did people become Sleepers? I knew it wasn't the Rapture as all the characters seems to insist for the first 2/3rds of the book. I mean really! I got the feeling the author read a bad Rapture Wiki page and rammed it into the plot wherever she could. I knew it was a man-made virus from the beginning. It is always a man-made virus. The book just ENDS. The ending is nothing that is the only way I can describe it. It ruined what little I did like about the book. Thank god it was free. Never Never pay for this book.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this novel far more than I expected to. Perhaps what endears me to this story is its blatant disregard for genres. Zombie horror and apocalyptic sci-fi are common bedfellows, but Jaqueline Druga’s Sleepers also dabbles in Christian fiction, family drama, and more traditional sci-fi elements, though these are introduced later on in the book. Despite claiming one of the most inept narrator-protagonists I’ve come across so far, the ideas behind this story make it a fairly enjoyable read.

So, what’s wrong with the novel, then? As I said, many of the ideas behind the novel are good ones. What suffers is characterization and pacing. It is difficult to describe the protagonist, Mera, any way other than useless. She is forever making terrible decisions that endanger herself and others, to the point that not one but four different characters die defending her. At some point, one must ask why anyone would risk themselves on Mera’s behalf given her track record. They certainly aren’t blind to her foibles. Her opinions are often dismissed out of hand, and even her teenaged son takes every opportunity to admonish her. Frustratingly, Mera seems to accept the group’s derision most of the time but goes right on putting herself in harm’s way. It is possible that Druga intended to create an antihero or everyman in Mera: a bumbling average Jane who doesn’t magically become a heroine when faced with adversity. Unfortunately, she takes it too far. Mera’s one redeeming act is the discovery of a newborn child who miraculously survives within the womb of a Sleeper, and she manages to get herself knocked out in the process.

Read the full Review at ASP Reviews.

[Rosann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Story line was actually good, despite the authors total mistake of bringing the future into the storyline...uughhhhh ( wish you really hadnt have done that).

I really liked ( at the start) of the story the "tie-in" you had with the Bible. That this was not the apocalypse or chemical war... but,,,,,,,,,,, the " Rapture".
When I read that .. I was thinking " okkkkk..nice, nice. First time reading a book that has a zombie fallout with Biblical ties in it.

Even with the baby was found...it was good, even though we all pretty much can figure how the story is going to play out there... baby born after virus breakout soooooooooooo baby is the cure ! Even his name was good ... Phoenix. All the kids die in the book ( at the beginning) and turn into ashes, and here is baby born and raised out of ashes.... friend of mine said should have named him Lazarus...lol.

And here comes Randy from the future ( we dont find that part out till near the end of book) for me, book just kinda went downhill from there... I just didnt like the " We are from the future, and we are here to correct our mistakes and bring mankind back again"

Ending was good though....... actually made me tear up :-)

Good book and really worth taking time to read .... even with the part of "we are from the future" stuck in the plot. :P

~~R

P.S.
Despite the futuristic storyline... I gave it 5 stars :-D

[Ann237 · Rating 5 out of 5]

She has done it again! JD has caught my attention with sleepers, I hated when I had to put it down. Imagine one day every child under 12 gets sick,at the same time! Unable to get help because everybody is trying to head to the same medical facilities. All you can do is pray, and when that fails not only does every child die, they turn to dust leaving their hair and clothes behind! Then people fall asleep, waking up far different than who they were when they feel asleep. Is it Gods rapture? Some think so, others don't. Follow 3 survivors that started out to rescue a college age daughter. That then grew into a small group of survivors that one would say is a bit eccentric, all going along to help...you will hate some, to just go a bit further in the journey with them, and find feelings changing, as things develop. Is everyone as they seem? Do they rescue the college girl? Is it Gods doing? Do they all survive? Well no spoilers here, but I will tell you this, you will not fall a sleep reading this! And you will be surprised to find what is going on. If you think it's just the same old zombie type story, wake up, because you are dreaming!!!