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The Venge
It was a worldwide war that lasted only seconds. Nuclear warheads illuminated the sky like dying stars. Billions vanished in an instant. Mighty cities were reduced to ashes. Civilians became survivors. But six months after the bombs fell, something else arrived, something shockingly terrifying. Most people caught in the blast zones were vaporized. However, some weren’t killed. Some clawed their way through the fallout, mutated by the radiation into something the Venge. The Venge were horrific beasts with scorched skin, blood the color of orange, pus-filled wounds, and razor-sharp, jagged teeth. Bursting at the seams with pure rage, the eyes of these demented and murderous monsters resembled sandpaper, and the smell they emitted was incredibly foul. Some roamed like twisted beacons in the dark, while others hunted in packs like rabid wolves. For James Carney, survival was a daily war, scavenging scraps of food and clean water with his brother and son, always listening for the Venge and always ready to run. It wasn’t much of a life, and James knew it. But if there was still a future out there, still hope—someone had to fight for it. Could that someone be him?
437 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 21, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 16, 2026
The End of Days is upon Earth in the form of nuclear missiles fired at all major cities across the world. Those that survive the initial blast and the radiation poisoning are left in a desolate landscape fighting to survive. While starvation and fighting for dwindling resources is to be expected, what humanity never predicted was the emergence of mutated human species, both horrifying and thirsting for blood. This new species is nick-named “the Venge.”
James, his son Dillon and brother Robbie have been struggling to survive on their own. Actively avoiding encounters with the Venge, they’ve hid in the shadows as their food and water supplies shrink away. Days away from starving, they meet up with another group hunkered down in a local high school. Pooling their resources together, James has the epiphany that together, the surviving humans can take out the Venge and gain back control. What he doesn’t count on is that perhaps the Venge also have a similar plan. Who will win the war on Earth?
The Venge by Timothy Dustin is a fast-paced, gory power struggle between humans and the monster-like Venge. The author does not hold back the punches and not a single character is safe in this book. Don’t get attached to anyone. The themes of this book remind me of The Last of Us so if you’re a fan of that game series (or the tv show) I think you’ll enjoy this book. I will say that I wished we would have gotten more of a backstory of why the bombs were dropped and maybe a little bit more background on some of the side characters so that when they did die, I felt something about their deaths. The writing isn’t super deep or flowery. It’s straight to the point with the action scenes just sort of listed out, which is not my favorite writing style. I wanted more depth to the story and the characters. I found myself not liking James’ character. He was cocky and made stupid mistakes that costs people their lives. This book had potential but it fell flat for me and I found myself forcing myself to finish.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.
James, his son Dillon and brother Robbie have been struggling to survive on their own. Actively avoiding encounters with the Venge, they’ve hid in the shadows as their food and water supplies shrink away. Days away from starving, they meet up with another group hunkered down in a local high school. Pooling their resources together, James has the epiphany that together, the surviving humans can take out the Venge and gain back control. What he doesn’t count on is that perhaps the Venge also have a similar plan. Who will win the war on Earth?
The Venge by Timothy Dustin is a fast-paced, gory power struggle between humans and the monster-like Venge. The author does not hold back the punches and not a single character is safe in this book. Don’t get attached to anyone. The themes of this book remind me of The Last of Us so if you’re a fan of that game series (or the tv show) I think you’ll enjoy this book. I will say that I wished we would have gotten more of a backstory of why the bombs were dropped and maybe a little bit more background on some of the side characters so that when they did die, I felt something about their deaths. The writing isn’t super deep or flowery. It’s straight to the point with the action scenes just sort of listed out, which is not my favorite writing style. I wanted more depth to the story and the characters. I found myself not liking James’ character. He was cocky and made stupid mistakes that costs people their lives. This book had potential but it fell flat for me and I found myself forcing myself to finish.
Thank you NetGalley for allowing me to read and review this book.
June 9, 2026
Wow where to start lets start with a quick summary and then my thoughts.
Follow along a path with James, Robbie and Dillion as they naviagate their new world filled with horrible creatures and certain death at every turn. How many will survive the onslaught of constant battles between what they call the "Venge" but they are actually humans who got a ton of radiation from missiles that were striking the united states. The world as they knew it gone, left behind are the ones willing to fight, and those willing to run. How far will this trio go, to try and fight back against the monsters that are eating them alive.
This was a very well written book, the plot was easy to follow, the ending threw me for a huge loop and i'm still slightly aggrivated about the whole situation. however thats part of the story! It was a very great read, just my opinion it made me mad, i'm sure the author knows exactly what he did. Ill save the suspense for the reader! No spoilers here!
Follow along a path with James, Robbie and Dillion as they naviagate their new world filled with horrible creatures and certain death at every turn. How many will survive the onslaught of constant battles between what they call the "Venge" but they are actually humans who got a ton of radiation from missiles that were striking the united states. The world as they knew it gone, left behind are the ones willing to fight, and those willing to run. How far will this trio go, to try and fight back against the monsters that are eating them alive.
This was a very well written book, the plot was easy to follow, the ending threw me for a huge loop and i'm still slightly aggrivated about the whole situation. however thats part of the story! It was a very great read, just my opinion it made me mad, i'm sure the author knows exactly what he did. Ill save the suspense for the reader! No spoilers here!
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews