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Beasts of Prey
Earth has been devastated by a comet.
Just before impact, alien caretakers collected human specimens and placed them in a wildlife preserve on an orbiting starship. A small group led by Sierra Preston and David Williams escaped, only to find the ruins of Earth inhabited by vicious creatures known as gorgers.
The group returned to the alien ship, determined to convince the caretakers to release the remaining human specimens and help them defeat the gorgers.
Unfortunately, the aliens have a different agenda.
The Preservation of Species trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion in Beasts of Prey , a post-apocalyptic science-fiction adventure filled with unforgettable heroes, terrifying monsters, and heart-pounding action.
Just before impact, alien caretakers collected human specimens and placed them in a wildlife preserve on an orbiting starship. A small group led by Sierra Preston and David Williams escaped, only to find the ruins of Earth inhabited by vicious creatures known as gorgers.
The group returned to the alien ship, determined to convince the caretakers to release the remaining human specimens and help them defeat the gorgers.
Unfortunately, the aliens have a different agenda.
The Preservation of Species trilogy comes to a thrilling conclusion in Beasts of Prey , a post-apocalyptic science-fiction adventure filled with unforgettable heroes, terrifying monsters, and heart-pounding action.
454 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 28, 2025
28 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 12, 2025
First, Came…
Stephen King’s THE STAND
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s LUCIFER’S HAMMER
Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END
Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD
Harlan Ellison’s A BOY AND HIS DOG
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s FOOTFALL
David Gerrold’s A MATTER FOR MEN
Robert A. Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY
And now…
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES
By Geoff Jones
A journey for humanity to save itself, from the impending doom of an Extinction-level event: The Ender, a comet hurdling toward earth!
And yet, the ultimate threat is not only from the stars, but from Humanity itself!
In the tradition of Stephen King's THE STAND, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell's.. LUCIFER’S HAMMER, Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END, Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, Harlan Ellison’s A BOY AND HIS DOG, Robert A. Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY, and many other great postapocalyptic/post-humanity adventures…
Comes THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES, a science fiction thriller told in three different books by author Geoff Jones!
A grand adventure told in three parts:
RULE OF EXTINCTION
STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
BEASTS OF PREY
It’s essentially one 1,245-page book, split into three cliffhanger novels.
Jones is wonderfully skilled in the art of juggling multiple characters.
While maintaining a steady and cohesive dramatic narrative!
Each book in the series shows humanity at its best and worst.
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES shows just how complex and grey-filled we are.
No one’s perfect.
No one’s out of the reach of heroism.
No one’s above cruelty.
Yet, despite all of that, as “Humans,” we are still “worthy” of existence!
And just when you think you’ve figured out one of the books’ players and their story—
Jones throws in a narrative monkey wrench, ramping up the tension, to put you right back on the edge of your seat!
Also…
As much as I love Hard Science fiction, I also really appreciate sci-fi that is never fully explained!
The speculative science in Jones’ books is understandable, but still takes on a slightly “magical” flavor in the classic Arthur C. Clarke way, due to its just-out-outside-of-our-reach nature.
Overall…
Given how each book is written, my only recommendation:
Buy all three (RULE OF EXTINCTION, STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, BEASTS OF PREY) now!
Especially as Audible audiobooks, narrated by Stacy Carolan, who brings the myriad of characters to vivid reality with every unabridged hour!
Slip on your headphones or turn up your car speakers, and go on a grand weekend adventure!
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES is a great sci-fi/thriller yawn!
Stephen King’s THE STAND
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s LUCIFER’S HAMMER
Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END
Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD
Harlan Ellison’s A BOY AND HIS DOG
Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle’s FOOTFALL
David Gerrold’s A MATTER FOR MEN
Robert A. Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY
And now…
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES
By Geoff Jones
A journey for humanity to save itself, from the impending doom of an Extinction-level event: The Ender, a comet hurdling toward earth!
And yet, the ultimate threat is not only from the stars, but from Humanity itself!
In the tradition of Stephen King's THE STAND, Larry Niven and Jerry Pournell's.. LUCIFER’S HAMMER, Arthur C. Clarke’s CHILDHOOD’S END, Cormac McCarthy’s THE ROAD, Harlan Ellison’s A BOY AND HIS DOG, Robert A. Heinlein’s TUNNEL IN THE SKY, and many other great postapocalyptic/post-humanity adventures…
Comes THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES, a science fiction thriller told in three different books by author Geoff Jones!
A grand adventure told in three parts:
RULE OF EXTINCTION
STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE
BEASTS OF PREY
It’s essentially one 1,245-page book, split into three cliffhanger novels.
Jones is wonderfully skilled in the art of juggling multiple characters.
While maintaining a steady and cohesive dramatic narrative!
Each book in the series shows humanity at its best and worst.
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES shows just how complex and grey-filled we are.
No one’s perfect.
No one’s out of the reach of heroism.
No one’s above cruelty.
Yet, despite all of that, as “Humans,” we are still “worthy” of existence!
And just when you think you’ve figured out one of the books’ players and their story—
Jones throws in a narrative monkey wrench, ramping up the tension, to put you right back on the edge of your seat!
Also…
As much as I love Hard Science fiction, I also really appreciate sci-fi that is never fully explained!
The speculative science in Jones’ books is understandable, but still takes on a slightly “magical” flavor in the classic Arthur C. Clarke way, due to its just-out-outside-of-our-reach nature.
Overall…
Given how each book is written, my only recommendation:
Buy all three (RULE OF EXTINCTION, STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE, BEASTS OF PREY) now!
Especially as Audible audiobooks, narrated by Stacy Carolan, who brings the myriad of characters to vivid reality with every unabridged hour!
Slip on your headphones or turn up your car speakers, and go on a grand weekend adventure!
THE PRESERVATION OF SPECIES is a great sci-fi/thriller yawn!
November 7, 2025
An absolutely fantastic end to this trilogy which I have devoured like a gorger attacking organic material.
This was always going to be a difficult third act to write because the ending had to wrap up the series but also hint at a possible future. We had to believe that perhaps one day we could return to this universe and catch up with humanity.
This book did all of that, and I must say the story was thrilling from page one to the end. I cannot encourage people enough to check out this series.
What Geoff has created here is a timeless classic of a trilogy filled with scifi, dinosaurs and a dash of horror.
Excellently done.
This was always going to be a difficult third act to write because the ending had to wrap up the series but also hint at a possible future. We had to believe that perhaps one day we could return to this universe and catch up with humanity.
This book did all of that, and I must say the story was thrilling from page one to the end. I cannot encourage people enough to check out this series.
What Geoff has created here is a timeless classic of a trilogy filled with scifi, dinosaurs and a dash of horror.
Excellently done.
August 11, 2025
Beasts of Prey is the third book in The Preservation of Species series, and the series feels like it ends here, but who knows? I feel like we’ve seen a single weird little corner of a very strange universe, and there may be more to talk about. For now, though, I will call this a satisfying trilogy and look forward to whatever’s next.
As a quick refresher on the plot, the Earth has been hammered by a comet called the Ender. Just before it hit, a bunch of rather slapdash alien pods got dropped on the USA and a collection of people – good, bad and Randall – got on board. The pods took most of the people to cold storage and some of them to a strange alien menagerie where there were also dinosaurs, and a lot of human nature and dinosaur murders occurred. Or human murders and dinosaur nature. It’s all a rich interwoven tapestry.
Bit by bit, the unexpectedly intelligent (to the aliens) humans figured out where they were and that they were on a mostly-automated caretaker ship and a hundred or so years had passed while they were in the pods. Without spoiling too much of the story, they learned more about the aliens and their plans for Earth, and in this book started to make attempts to reclaim their home planet. The damage from the Ender had been enough to stagger Earthbound humanity but not necessarily wipe it out (the gorgers needed something to eat, after all). Full credit for humanity’s doom can be shared equally between the gorgers and that age-old and bitter enemy of humanity, humanity.
Anyway, in this “final” book we get the closure of a lot of story arcs, as well as (thanks to a really clever and endlessly impressive storytelling gimmick) the opening to a lot of arcs as well. By dropping the reader in the middle, then filling out what happens next and then putting in stories from the days leading up to the Ender’s impact, we are constantly forced to reframe our good guys and bad guys (except Randall), rethink our own knee-jerk reactions (except Randall), and God damn it, Reggie’s arc, I swear I was Team Reggie for a while in the middle there but wow.
We get some highly satisfying conclusions to Kevin’s storyline (fuck Kevin), Randall’s (Jesus fucking Christ fuck fucking Randall), and a whole buffet of great moral questions as the remains of the human race attempt to rebuild. Then Tyrell figures out there might be survivors down on Earth hidden in a deep, secure underground compound full of resources, and … let me tell you my friends, you think you know. You think, “I’ve read Wool. I’ve seen my share of Fallout content. I think I’m pretty familiar with the shit that happens in post-apocalyptic bunker scenarios, thank you very much.”
You might even treat yourself to a smug, knowing little smile as the characters just amble on in there. You think you know but you don’t.
Anyway, it’s fine. You know what you’re doing, just go ahead. Nothing bad happens. Why would Geoff Jones put something awful in his story? Sure, sure; thematic and narrative consistency. Why else though?
Yikes.
Sex-o-meter
There’s, let’s say a certain amount of sexes. Some people, I feel compelled to say after three of these books, need to actually see their spouse’s body and keep it in their fucking pants until they do (it, that is, not their spouse’s body … although maybe keeping that in their pants as well would be a good reminder for them, I don’t know). Sierra and Tyrell have a near-zero-gee alien-Zoom-call fuck, and Randall continues to be gross and rapey as only Randall can. There are C.H.U.D.s in the story and they’re not known for their social delicacy (that’s not a cannibalism joke … or is it?), so they do give Randall a run for his money. Frank, the fucked-up cocaine bro we are additionally blessed with in this book, is also rapey (but not as rapey as the dudes he was human trafficking for … he still doesn’t come out of it looking good though). All in all, this is as sexually charged as one would expect or reasonably want a post-apocalyptic alien invasion story to be. Three and a half manky C.H.U.D.-boners out of a possible five and a half. What can I say, the half is important.
Gore-o-meter
As always, we have plenty of gore to enjoy. The arc of Stewart the Homophobe was very therapeutic. I bet he did a lot of “just asking questions” and his closing defence was “why won’t anyone debate me?”. The healing goo introduced in this book does somewhat lower the stakes but not too much. I remain uncertain as to whether I approve of the death fake-out, but Jones has got me so many times by now I would feel as if he didn’t like me anymore if he didn’t do a death fake-out. The gore-o-meter gave this five gobbets out of a possible five, but then I put the meter into some alien goo and it came out at three and a half. Let’s call it four, there’s plenty of gore in this. It’s a Geoff Jones book.
WTF-o-meter
Well, we learn more about the gorgers and their life cycle and every new piece of information just makes the whole thing more confusing. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was making notes as I read, wondering if there was some reason criminals couldn’t just be torpored, and it seemed as though they did solve that issue at some point. Zap-implants can be removed or put back in, and act as birth control as well as a handy way to get Voight out of everyone’s faces. Feels like a human rights headache that would turn into a full-blown migraine by the next book, and definitely by the next generation. Can they make more? Does everyone get one? Is it voluntary until they become a Voight? This all raises a lot of questions but none of them are necessarily “WTF”. Also, with as much biomass devoured as the Earth seemed to have had done to it, would the atmosphere still be breathable? Could it sustain (human) life, let alone dinosaur … you know what? It doesn’t matter. Evidently it could, and this whole gorger thing has been going on for a while. It was actually confirmed at some point that this was how the dinosaurs died out, right? The logistics of ten billion gorgers being picked up like kids from a soccer camp is another big question mark, but not one I feel really detracted from my enjoyment. Aliens are weird. This book gets a The Cage out of a possible Lost on the WTF-o-meter.
My Final Verdict
I loved it! The preservation of species that the series is named for is also a bit of a mystery, since I suppose any number of species represented in the series could be struggling to survive and preserve themselves, but all in all this was good alien megaengineering and apocalyptic human grossness at its paradoxical finest. Heartily recommend this whole trilogy. Five stars!
As a quick refresher on the plot, the Earth has been hammered by a comet called the Ender. Just before it hit, a bunch of rather slapdash alien pods got dropped on the USA and a collection of people – good, bad and Randall – got on board. The pods took most of the people to cold storage and some of them to a strange alien menagerie where there were also dinosaurs, and a lot of human nature and dinosaur murders occurred. Or human murders and dinosaur nature. It’s all a rich interwoven tapestry.
Bit by bit, the unexpectedly intelligent (to the aliens) humans figured out where they were and that they were on a mostly-automated caretaker ship and a hundred or so years had passed while they were in the pods. Without spoiling too much of the story, they learned more about the aliens and their plans for Earth, and in this book started to make attempts to reclaim their home planet. The damage from the Ender had been enough to stagger Earthbound humanity but not necessarily wipe it out (the gorgers needed something to eat, after all). Full credit for humanity’s doom can be shared equally between the gorgers and that age-old and bitter enemy of humanity, humanity.
Anyway, in this “final” book we get the closure of a lot of story arcs, as well as (thanks to a really clever and endlessly impressive storytelling gimmick) the opening to a lot of arcs as well. By dropping the reader in the middle, then filling out what happens next and then putting in stories from the days leading up to the Ender’s impact, we are constantly forced to reframe our good guys and bad guys (except Randall), rethink our own knee-jerk reactions (except Randall), and God damn it, Reggie’s arc, I swear I was Team Reggie for a while in the middle there but wow.
We get some highly satisfying conclusions to Kevin’s storyline (fuck Kevin), Randall’s (Jesus fucking Christ fuck fucking Randall), and a whole buffet of great moral questions as the remains of the human race attempt to rebuild. Then Tyrell figures out there might be survivors down on Earth hidden in a deep, secure underground compound full of resources, and … let me tell you my friends, you think you know. You think, “I’ve read Wool. I’ve seen my share of Fallout content. I think I’m pretty familiar with the shit that happens in post-apocalyptic bunker scenarios, thank you very much.”
You might even treat yourself to a smug, knowing little smile as the characters just amble on in there. You think you know but you don’t.
Anyway, it’s fine. You know what you’re doing, just go ahead. Nothing bad happens. Why would Geoff Jones put something awful in his story? Sure, sure; thematic and narrative consistency. Why else though?
Yikes.
Sex-o-meter
There’s, let’s say a certain amount of sexes. Some people, I feel compelled to say after three of these books, need to actually see their spouse’s body and keep it in their fucking pants until they do (it, that is, not their spouse’s body … although maybe keeping that in their pants as well would be a good reminder for them, I don’t know). Sierra and Tyrell have a near-zero-gee alien-Zoom-call fuck, and Randall continues to be gross and rapey as only Randall can. There are C.H.U.D.s in the story and they’re not known for their social delicacy (that’s not a cannibalism joke … or is it?), so they do give Randall a run for his money. Frank, the fucked-up cocaine bro we are additionally blessed with in this book, is also rapey (but not as rapey as the dudes he was human trafficking for … he still doesn’t come out of it looking good though). All in all, this is as sexually charged as one would expect or reasonably want a post-apocalyptic alien invasion story to be. Three and a half manky C.H.U.D.-boners out of a possible five and a half. What can I say, the half is important.
Gore-o-meter
As always, we have plenty of gore to enjoy. The arc of Stewart the Homophobe was very therapeutic. I bet he did a lot of “just asking questions” and his closing defence was “why won’t anyone debate me?”. The healing goo introduced in this book does somewhat lower the stakes but not too much. I remain uncertain as to whether I approve of the death fake-out, but Jones has got me so many times by now I would feel as if he didn’t like me anymore if he didn’t do a death fake-out. The gore-o-meter gave this five gobbets out of a possible five, but then I put the meter into some alien goo and it came out at three and a half. Let’s call it four, there’s plenty of gore in this. It’s a Geoff Jones book.
WTF-o-meter
Well, we learn more about the gorgers and their life cycle and every new piece of information just makes the whole thing more confusing. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. I was making notes as I read, wondering if there was some reason criminals couldn’t just be torpored, and it seemed as though they did solve that issue at some point. Zap-implants can be removed or put back in, and act as birth control as well as a handy way to get Voight out of everyone’s faces. Feels like a human rights headache that would turn into a full-blown migraine by the next book, and definitely by the next generation. Can they make more? Does everyone get one? Is it voluntary until they become a Voight? This all raises a lot of questions but none of them are necessarily “WTF”. Also, with as much biomass devoured as the Earth seemed to have had done to it, would the atmosphere still be breathable? Could it sustain (human) life, let alone dinosaur … you know what? It doesn’t matter. Evidently it could, and this whole gorger thing has been going on for a while. It was actually confirmed at some point that this was how the dinosaurs died out, right? The logistics of ten billion gorgers being picked up like kids from a soccer camp is another big question mark, but not one I feel really detracted from my enjoyment. Aliens are weird. This book gets a The Cage out of a possible Lost on the WTF-o-meter.
My Final Verdict
I loved it! The preservation of species that the series is named for is also a bit of a mystery, since I suppose any number of species represented in the series could be struggling to survive and preserve themselves, but all in all this was good alien megaengineering and apocalyptic human grossness at its paradoxical finest. Heartily recommend this whole trilogy. Five stars!
July 13, 2025
3 stars, Metaphorosis reviews
Summary
Having survived a devastating comet courtesy of mysterious aliens, and having broken out of their zoo-like habitats, a handful of humans face a barren Earth overrun by billions of giant, horrific, spider-like creatures that eat anything organic.
Review
While still a reasonably solid entry in the series, I found Beasts of Prey something of a disappointment. There are some nice twists, but also some sizable flaws, a sometimes simplistic approach, and a blase attitude toward animal cruelty.
On the macro scale, the story wraps up the series in a broadly satisfactory way. It ties up all the loose threads, it takes (often) logical steps, and it reveals some mysteries. It’s satisfying in a way that some series aren’t. To get to that conclusion, though, it often takes steps that don’t (to me) make much sense.
Without getting into spoilers, the tough survivors choose possibly the least logical of the options available to them, with an insistence that simply didn’t make sense to me. Jones does provide some argumentation for it, but it did come across more as ‘this is needed for the plot’ than ‘this is what real people would do’. Because, to his credit, Jones does sometimes explore an option before discarding it, I kept expecting that to happen here as well. Instead, the characters double down on the most dangerous, least practical option over and over, even when clearly better options were available.
Once they have decided to try to establish a long-term society, they make somewhat half-hearted stabs at how to do so. In particular, a recurring theme in the book is whether humans can exist without harming themselves and others. The solutions they choose don’t seem very likely to achieve their objectives. Admittedly, I’m possibly more critical because this is what I did for a living, but I’d have liked to see a little more thought put into resolving one of the book’s key themes.
A disregard for animals is clearly widespread across fiction, as it is in society as a whole. But Jones here makes it clear that non-domesticated animals are valuable chiefly for their utility to humans. Need to cause animals horrible pain for dubious benefit? Go to it. Jones papers this over a bit by having those animals somehow win out, but it seemed inconsistent with what we’d learned before, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
The series overall is a fast-paced, often logical, light adventure. This conclusion leans into the pace and adventure, and away from logic and depth. It works, but it’s a somewhat disappointing end.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
Summary
Having survived a devastating comet courtesy of mysterious aliens, and having broken out of their zoo-like habitats, a handful of humans face a barren Earth overrun by billions of giant, horrific, spider-like creatures that eat anything organic.
Review
While still a reasonably solid entry in the series, I found Beasts of Prey something of a disappointment. There are some nice twists, but also some sizable flaws, a sometimes simplistic approach, and a blase attitude toward animal cruelty.
On the macro scale, the story wraps up the series in a broadly satisfactory way. It ties up all the loose threads, it takes (often) logical steps, and it reveals some mysteries. It’s satisfying in a way that some series aren’t. To get to that conclusion, though, it often takes steps that don’t (to me) make much sense.
Without getting into spoilers, the tough survivors choose possibly the least logical of the options available to them, with an insistence that simply didn’t make sense to me. Jones does provide some argumentation for it, but it did come across more as ‘this is needed for the plot’ than ‘this is what real people would do’. Because, to his credit, Jones does sometimes explore an option before discarding it, I kept expecting that to happen here as well. Instead, the characters double down on the most dangerous, least practical option over and over, even when clearly better options were available.
Once they have decided to try to establish a long-term society, they make somewhat half-hearted stabs at how to do so. In particular, a recurring theme in the book is whether humans can exist without harming themselves and others. The solutions they choose don’t seem very likely to achieve their objectives. Admittedly, I’m possibly more critical because this is what I did for a living, but I’d have liked to see a little more thought put into resolving one of the book’s key themes.
A disregard for animals is clearly widespread across fiction, as it is in society as a whole. But Jones here makes it clear that non-domesticated animals are valuable chiefly for their utility to humans. Need to cause animals horrible pain for dubious benefit? Go to it. Jones papers this over a bit by having those animals somehow win out, but it seemed inconsistent with what we’d learned before, and it left a bad taste in my mouth.
The series overall is a fast-paced, often logical, light adventure. This conclusion leans into the pace and adventure, and away from logic and depth. It works, but it’s a somewhat disappointing end.
I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review.
July 27, 2025
I read an ARC in return for an honest review. This is the 3rd book in The Preservation of a Species series, so don't forget to read those first!
Beast of Prey was the perfect finale to an already gripping trilogy. Geoff Jones truly stuck the landing with this one. I’ve been invested in these characters since book one, and this final installment pulled everything together in a way that felt both satisfying and earned.
There’s so much I loved about this book. The action was nonstop, with wild scenarios that constantly kept me on my toes. And the emotional moments hit hard. Some scenes were heartbreaking, really digging into the trauma and resilience of the characters, while others had just the right touch of humor or hope to balance things out. Jones has a knack for making characters you truly care about (or hate, in some instances).
I still don’t know what’s worse—the terrifying Gorgers or... Randall (and others like him). That question stuck with me through so much of the story, and it speaks to how layered this world is. One of the things Geoff does so well is showing the spectrum of humanity: the villains, the heroes, and all the complicated people in between.
The use of multiple perspectives continued to be a major strength. It gave the story depth and clarity, answering questions I didn’t even know I had until they were laid out in front of me. Watching the characters come together to fight for humanity, Earth, and the future of their species was powerful and emotional. I was cheering for them the whole way.
If you’ve read the first two books, you will not be disappointed with this conclusion. It’s full of high stakes, well-drawn characters, incredible worldbuilding, and a great balance of tension and payoff. I’m sad it’s over, but so happy with how it ended.
Beast of Prey was the perfect finale to an already gripping trilogy. Geoff Jones truly stuck the landing with this one. I’ve been invested in these characters since book one, and this final installment pulled everything together in a way that felt both satisfying and earned.
There’s so much I loved about this book. The action was nonstop, with wild scenarios that constantly kept me on my toes. And the emotional moments hit hard. Some scenes were heartbreaking, really digging into the trauma and resilience of the characters, while others had just the right touch of humor or hope to balance things out. Jones has a knack for making characters you truly care about (or hate, in some instances).
I still don’t know what’s worse—the terrifying Gorgers or... Randall (and others like him). That question stuck with me through so much of the story, and it speaks to how layered this world is. One of the things Geoff does so well is showing the spectrum of humanity: the villains, the heroes, and all the complicated people in between.
The use of multiple perspectives continued to be a major strength. It gave the story depth and clarity, answering questions I didn’t even know I had until they were laid out in front of me. Watching the characters come together to fight for humanity, Earth, and the future of their species was powerful and emotional. I was cheering for them the whole way.
If you’ve read the first two books, you will not be disappointed with this conclusion. It’s full of high stakes, well-drawn characters, incredible worldbuilding, and a great balance of tension and payoff. I’m sad it’s over, but so happy with how it ended.
July 13, 2025
Beasts of Prey is all about the long game — if enough humans can manage to survive!
Note: I read an ARC in return for an honest review. Don’t read this book until after you’ve read Rule of Extinction and Struggle for Existence; it’s a continuation of the same story.
David, Sierra, Priya, Cameron, and others are back. The gorgers are the dominant species on Earth. Randall remains a threat.
Did anyone or any species on Earth survive the Ender? A bit of darkness provides some context. Our heroes face intense challenges and more life-threatening situations. The future of humanity is at stake. What does it mean to be human? What aspirations are worth fighting for? More mysteries are revealed, and more surprises unfold. Suspenseful action is a given.
I am reminded of a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship Of The Ring. When Frodo says, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” Gandalf responds, “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Our heroes decide how to respond to multiple threats. While following their progress, we come to know many beasts of prey.
What a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy! I highly recommend The Preservation of Species!
Note: I read an ARC in return for an honest review. Don’t read this book until after you’ve read Rule of Extinction and Struggle for Existence; it’s a continuation of the same story.
David, Sierra, Priya, Cameron, and others are back. The gorgers are the dominant species on Earth. Randall remains a threat.
Did anyone or any species on Earth survive the Ender? A bit of darkness provides some context. Our heroes face intense challenges and more life-threatening situations. The future of humanity is at stake. What does it mean to be human? What aspirations are worth fighting for? More mysteries are revealed, and more surprises unfold. Suspenseful action is a given.
I am reminded of a quote from J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship Of The Ring. When Frodo says, “I wish it need not have happened in my time,” Gandalf responds, “So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” Our heroes decide how to respond to multiple threats. While following their progress, we come to know many beasts of prey.
What a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy! I highly recommend The Preservation of Species!
July 30, 2025
“Beasts of Prey” is book 3 of the Preservation of Species” series. While a sequel, this review was done as a standalone.
Overall, I really enjoyed this tale. It’s a sci-fi story with heart. There’s parts of this book that get very post-apocalyptic - think Fallout, Last of Us or The Walking Dead. I found it to also be the darkest of the trilogy- which may not be for all readers. But underneath it all is a thread of a found family and an unrelenting hope for better. The author does an amazing job in finding a fine line between realism and optimism with each represented in characters and how they react to their situation. There’s several main characters including David and his children Kim and Barry. David often presents as more reactionary and with questionable decision-making. Not great characteristics, but the love between him and his children is unmistakable. Find the full blog review at heatherlbarksdale.com
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
Overall, I really enjoyed this tale. It’s a sci-fi story with heart. There’s parts of this book that get very post-apocalyptic - think Fallout, Last of Us or The Walking Dead. I found it to also be the darkest of the trilogy- which may not be for all readers. But underneath it all is a thread of a found family and an unrelenting hope for better. The author does an amazing job in finding a fine line between realism and optimism with each represented in characters and how they react to their situation. There’s several main characters including David and his children Kim and Barry. David often presents as more reactionary and with questionable decision-making. Not great characteristics, but the love between him and his children is unmistakable. Find the full blog review at heatherlbarksdale.com
I received a copy of this story in exchange of a fair and honest review.
July 11, 2025
WOW. If you love character-driven, fast- paced action and adventure stories with a touch of mystery, make this series your next read! The author has such a knack blending different elements together with detail that I could visualize myself "watching" the story as I devoured every page. Every event and detail was nicely wrapped up in the conclusion. No questions went unanswered, and for me that is the trait of a terrific storyteller! I can't wait to read the next story from one of my new favorite authors.
November 4, 2025
The worst of the series
It was like someone else wrote this.
There was way more foul language , even from the kids. Just was not necessary.
The first 2 books were really fascinating and I looked forward to this one. But overall, a disappointment.
Drives me crazy when a series goes on and on. Three books is the perfect number in a series.
I'm glad it ended, just not on how it was written.
It was like someone else wrote this.
There was way more foul language , even from the kids. Just was not necessary.
The first 2 books were really fascinating and I looked forward to this one. But overall, a disappointment.
Drives me crazy when a series goes on and on. Three books is the perfect number in a series.
I'm glad it ended, just not on how it was written.
December 5, 2025
Glad I stuck this series out. Although it started off excruciatingly slow, it picked up speed once the main characters figured out what was going on.
If you want space, aliens, dinosaurs, romance, apocalyptic vibes but also WTF is going on, I highly recommend this series.
If you want space, aliens, dinosaurs, romance, apocalyptic vibes but also WTF is going on, I highly recommend this series.
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