When word gets out that someone has been sent to find and kill Jack Winters, his old friends Mike and Barry set off in opposite directions around the world to find their friend before his killer can. Teaming up with some new friends, Mike and Barry face off against vengeful exes, militant Parisian teenagers, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a host of creatures from the deepest, darkest reaches of the human mind. The journey isn’t everything it seems, however. As they dig themselves deeper into trouble, Mike and Barry quickly realize that the world may be in for much worse than an apocalypse, and Jack Winters might be the only hope anyone has for survival. Now, if they could only find him…
Ben Mariner is the author of the Apocalypse Wow, Tales of Cubonia, and Hero Chronicles series. He has also written The Many Lives of Zane Montgomery which some people definitely read. When not writing, Ben can be found searching the globe for the lost city of Atlantis or attempting to break the record for most consecutive hours spent doing nothing in particular. He is an avid consumer of useless knowledge, a staunch supporter of not eating vegetables ever, and once threw his underwear on stage at a One Direction concert.
Book 2 lives up to it's name, giving us a wower apocalypse experience. This time around, we're introduced to a couple of new characters, but we're still being shown around by the familiar folks, so it's not at all confusing.
Again, the action is nonstop and the humor is perfect. Subtle when it needs to be and in your face when that proves to be more hilarious. The whole book is filled with nostalgic side trips back in time to parts of the nineties I might not have otherwise remembered.
However... (insert stern face here) I debated giving this one star simply because the next book isn't out yet.
Just kidding! ;p
In all honesty, I'm looking forward to the next installment.
The second book in the Apocalypse Wow series has an absolutely lovely cover! Truly stunning.
Disclaimer: I received this book for free after I designed the cover for free. The decision to review it was mine!
This was my favourite book thus far in the series, and it was for more than just the cover (although that was a part of it)! Ben really can smack you with irreverence, but not in the bad way. The random helps this story helps to keep you questioning what is real and what isn't and that helps to keep you turning the pages. It isn't serious. It doesn't have to be. It can be about the end of the world, and it can be about juice boxes, skeletal Mounties, and mac n' cheese at the same time. It's okay.
He got a bonus star for it being so different than other things.
Oh, and thank you for having more strong female characters in this one! Also, great cover man!
When I started the Apocalypse Wow series, I expected a standard end-of-the-world story with geeky characters, but Ben Mariner is less concerned with the plausibility of his situations than mining them for humor. It’s like when you’re hanging out with friends at 3am and everyone is throwing out crazy book/movie premises, except Ben doesn’t forget them the next day—he crafts entire plots around them. And it’s a blast.
Because I knew what I was getting into with the second book, I enjoyed it even more, right from the start. But then I was surprised again—this time by how much deeper the characterization went. I came to care much more about Barry and Mike, and the relationships they formed with their new companions. This installment isn’t simply more of the same thing, but feels like it’s advancing toward a bigger and more cohesive conclusion, and I can’t wait to read the final chapter!
This series is just fun to read. Mariner was doing 90s nostalgia before everyone knew it was cool, and I love when I see a reference coming ahead of time (I'm looking at you 'nazi with the glasses from Indiana Jones'). I don't usually pay attention to title chapters, but the author also includes suggested listening tracks, which compounded the nostalgia and also gave a hint to what was happening in the chapter. Jack is mostly absent from this book, which gave his friends more of the spotlight, as well as introducing some more characters.
I don't really care for end of book cliffhangers, and this one has kind of a doozy. Lucky for me though, the series is complete and I already have the third book.
I enjoyed this book almost as much as the first in the series. It allowed me to become more in tune with characters other than Jack, and some new characters too. I can't wait to see what happens in book 3 after this crazy ending!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
If you read the first book, you're in for something better. You can expect the same zany antics and pop culture references you got to know in the original. I'm very proud of the story that unfolds in AW2 and I cant wait for everyone to read it!
I was a huge fan of Apocalypse Wow, and I'm an even bigger fan of Apocalypse Wower! You get the same awesome characters (plus a few new ones) and the same 90's pop culture references, with a whole new adventure!! Super fun read!
The book is about the world and what was left of it after the apocalypse. It is the second book in the Apocalypse Wow trilogy. The main character from the previous book (which I haven’t really read) Jack has apparently gone missing and this book details his friends Mike and Barry trying to find him all while dodging a werewolf who is also in search of Jack to kill him. I had never read a book like this before and I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it but surprisingly I did. This book is satirical and very humorous. It also has a bit of action and adventure in it not to mention a lot of pop culture references. It honestly reminded me of movies like Scary Movie, Disaster Movie, and Not Another Teen Movie, it’s just in book form. The author also provided a sound track to the book which I thought was unique and I will probably steal that idea when I write my own book LOL. Overall this was a decent read and I thoroughly enjoyed it despite not reading the first book in the series.
Always entertaining, Mariner has taken a step up in his writing and characterization in book 2. This was so fun to read and very well done. If you remember any pop culture from the 90s and like fantasy, read up!
I fully enjoyed this part two of the Apocalypse Wow series.
The book picks up about a year or so after the ending of the first. We are introduced to the antagonist who is an assassin (both in pre and after the end of the world). He meets up with a German who wants to hire him to kill (you guessed who) Jack Winters (our main hero from the first book who has gone on a quest to find the girl of his dreams at the Lifestream).
Next we meet up with Barry and Mike who are living their lives in Heaven (or at least the Earth bound version). Barry is now an actor performing mainly plays that are being written by coked out William Shakespeare. One day Mike summons him to his office (Mike is now the head of the Guardian Angels).
When Barry arrives he is told that Jack is in danger from this assassin and he is needed to help find him. Mike sends him to go and talk to Jack's father with the aid of an guardian angel named T'challa.
Mike on the other hand teams up with another member of the team named Mara. They end up going to Paris for their own adventure. However, what Mike isn't telling is that he has a woman's voice guiding him in his head (also what his alternative motive is).
Just like the first book the author jumps around with perspective. Each chapter we get a different one (Antagonist, Barry and Mike). At first I didn't really know what to make of seeing this tale from the antagonist's POV, but after a while I started to enjoy seeing things from his perspective.
Mr. Mariner (the author) also once again throws in the movie titles as the chapter name and a song track for the chapter. It was a welcome back aspect of the first that I loved to see.
The 90's (and a few 80's) references are back. This time there was a few that I didn't get (even though I'm the same age as the author) this time around, but when I looked them up, I had to laugh.
I had written in my review of the first book that the reason I gave the book a four star rating instead of a five was because there was misspelling and missing words. Unfortunately, this time around it's the same reason. I know that books will have some problems like this, but it seemed to be at the same rate as the first book. I don't know the reason for it, but it was noticeable this time as well as the first.
Being the second book in the series and trying to continue the story, Mr. Mariner turned the story into "Empire Strikes Back" mode. What I mean is that there was a darker more serious tone to the story. Which is to say not a bad thing. The humor was there and the references helped with that, but it was time for it to be brought up to another level.
I, myself, enjoy conclusions. The first and second books have been so far a wonderful journey. Even so, I'm now ready to read the ending of this story. This second part has only wet my appetite. The meal has been great, now bring on the dessert.