Destroyer of Worlds

Bewilderness #3

by Jonathan Maberry, Shayna Small (Narrator)

Listening time 4 hours 24 minutes

The Gateway is open, sending destructive chaos waves throughout the infinite parallel Earths. Thousands of worlds have already been torn apart, and if the Prime Earth - our Earth - falls, then all of reality will be destroyed.

Abby Corman and a dwindling group of survivors are racing to shut down the threshold, but everywhere they turn they encounter alien hunters, unimaginable monsters, and a deadly threat from within.

From New York Times best seller Jonathan Maberry, the exciting conclusion of Bewilderness asks: How far would you go to save the world if it meant losing the world you know?

Genres: Science Fiction, Audiobook, Fiction, Adult, Fantasy, Action

Audible Audio

Published February 4, 2021

About the author

JONATHAN MABERRY is a NYTimes bestselling author, #1 Audible bestseller, 5-time Bram Stoker Award-winner, 4-time Scribe Award winner, Inkpot Award winner, comic book writer, and producer. He is the author of more than 50 novels, 190 short stories, 16 short story collections, 30 graphic novels, 14 nonfiction books, and has edited 26 anthologies. His vampire apocalypse book series, V-WARS, was a Netflix original series starring Ian Somerhalder. His 2009-10 run as writer on the Black Panther comic formed a large chunk of the recent blockbuster film, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. His bestselling YA zombie series, Rot & Ruin is in development for film at Alcon Entertainment; and John Wick director, Chad Stahelski, is developing Jonathan’s Joe Ledger Thrillers for TV. Jonathan writes in multiple genres including suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, epic fantasy, and action; and he writes for adults, teens and middle grade. His works include The Pine Deep Trilogy, The Kagen the Damned Trilogy, NecroTek, Ink, Glimpse, the Rot & Ruin series, the Dead of Night series, The Wolfman, X-Files Origins: Devil’s Advocate, The Sleepers War (with Weston Ochse), Mars One, and many others. He is the editor of high-profile anthologies including Weird Tales: 100 Years of Weird, The X-Files, Aliens: Bug Hunt, Out of Tune, Don’t Turn out the Lights: A Tribute to Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, Baker Street Irregulars, Nights of the Living Dead, Shadows & Verse, and others. His comics include Marvel Zombies Return, The Punisher: Naked Kills, Wolverine: Ghosts, Godzilla vs Cthulhu: Death May Die, Bad Blood and many others. Jonathan has written in many popular licensed worlds, including Hellboy, True Blood, The Wolfman, John Carter of Mars, Sherlock Holmes, C.H.U.D., Diablo IV, Deadlands, World of Warcraft, Planet of the Apes, Aliens, Predator, Karl Kolchak, and many others. He the president of the International Association of Media Tie-in Writers, and the editor of Weird Tales Magazine. He lives in San Diego, California. Find him online at www.jonathanmaberry.com

Reviews

[* A Reader Obsessed * · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

A nebulous conclusion at best - some things are resolved but some details are left dangling.

Again, this is when science goes wrong, parallel worlds collide, and one woman fights against all sorts of complications and roadblocks to set the universe right.

Ensue plenty of gruesome horror and people dying left and right. Our heroine has some serious grit and mega smarts, and the bad guy (or should I say woman) still needs a proper comeuppance. Should Maberry continue this saga, I would willingly partake to get some more closure.

~only available as an audio on audible.com and possible free to most subscribers~

[Anima Miejska · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you do not plan to listen to all three parts, don't start with the first one. The story makes sense and brings fun only when read/listened to in full. Otherwise, an entertaining story.

[James Morpurgo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun trilogy of short audiobook listens that was easy to follow and good for car journeys or commutes to work. The concept had plenty of scope but sadly events mainly stayed centered in a skyscraper building, which is a shame given the access to infinite parallel dimensions with strange creatures, technology or dinosaurs.

I am interested in checking out Maberry with some longer written fiction but perhaps this was not the best entry point to see his range or best work.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this story too but not the ending that was left open. Will there be a part 4 or is it left to the reader's imagination to finish out what happens???? This was action packed with good vs evil. I liked how the relationship between some of the characters changed. So many monsters, so many casualties. I enjoyed the series.

[Soo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Notes:

3.5 Stars

Good continuance from the last book and okay finale. The ending did leave it open to more books, but it was a good way to wrap up the current story arc.

[Udy Kumra · Rating 5 out of 5]

2/24/23: 5 stars. Stunning conclusion and sets up a sequel really well—ending was awesome. Amazing sci-fi horror. I cannot believe how many characters died

[Steph · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ugh. So, as I mentioned in my thoughts about book 2 (Bewilderness Part Two: What Rough Beast), I was hoping this book was the finale. We've struggled through these - surprising since we're both big Maberry fans - and were ready to put this bitch to bed. Buuuut, with an ending like that, there's definitely more story to tell. Question is - rather questions are - will he continue the story and, if so, will we bother reading them?

(2.5 stars; listened to audiobook with hubby)

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great ending to a really fun audio series.

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is the conclusion of a three part audible original telling the story of what happens when scientists working to open a Threshold into other dimensions have events occur that cause everything to go VERY wrong. The first two parts were extremely action packed and full of intense drama.

We have a VERY bad scientist who is so bad that it is almost comical - she really is awful. Then we have our protagonist who is trying to figure out a way to fix things, shut them off or at least minimize the amount of damage. And we also have Abby's boyfriend David, who enters from the outside and is trying to get to Abby to rescue her while fighting everything from creatures to crazy people.

The plot of this story is very interesting. There is always something that keeps our attention as many of the characters in the story are on different floors of the skyscraper at the same time and therefore each group is experiencing different creatures and different events. Then, because opening a Threshold into another world isn't enough, the Threshold begins rapidly shifting and cycling and one dimension becomes ten and ten becomes hundreds. Then thousands of other dimensions.

Now, we have the other two parties who join the chaos. Abby's "other" self, the Warrior and her hellhounds and the "other" amalgamation of Sloane (the really AWFUL bad guy/girl) and her group that call themselves the Sisters of Mercy.

Things basically come to a head in this installment. It was, by far, the longest of the three parts, yet it kept my interest the entire time. The ending culminates in a very dramatic fight scene and then at the very end.....something happens that completely leaves open the possibility of a continuation.

Will this story be continued? I have no idea. But it would be fun if it did.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well this last part of the series managed to keep up the action but it wasn't quite as much fun as the first two. There ended up being less in the way of reality warping creatures and effects and more human good guys vs bad guys action.
Overall I did really enjoy this series and felt it was just the right kind of silly sci fi action for a drive across two very boring states. Honestly thought it could have been tightened up and presented as a single story instead of broken into 3 episodes. I didn't see a benefit to doing that as the last two make no sense without the first one and vice versa. oh well.
Brainless fun and worth the few hours it takes to listen to the whole thing. It wont change anyone's world but might take you out of it for a little while and that is the point.

[Scott · Rating 2 out of 5]

So, this is not good. I love Maberry's other stuff, but this is a big miss. Good story idea, but cartoon characters, and surprisingly bad writing. It's like the book was finished, then some grad student was assigned to go in and randomly add 500 adjectives and adverbs with a thesaurus in hand. Just awful. And Maberry cannot write female characters. AT ALL. Really terrible. Just cliché stick figures. And the woman they chose to do the audio book is BAD. The lead character is named Abby, and her boyfriend says/moans "Abbeh" 300 times in 11 hours. So bad. A real wasted opportunity, with a good original story idea.

[Bryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very engrossing, action-packed, with a stellar collision of plot, characters, tension, and craft. All three of the Bewilderness books should really just be one book as this one really does enhance the first two which are not that strong for a number of reasons. I thoroughly enjoyed this one and I'm confident there will be more in the series to continue the overtly episodic design And bring the finale to a somewhat predictable conclusion. It's all about their journey though, and as usual this fantastic author brings it.

[Shawn Deal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy these three stories that make up a the full novel. I’ve always enjoyed Jonathon Maberry the Pine Deep series being my favorite, I would say this comes in right after. A strong tale with so much packed into it, it was hard not to enjoy something in this novel. There’s a lot that could possibly be explored in this novel and a lot of directions the story could have gone. I enjoyed it completely.

[Karsyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Approx 150 pages

This was my least favorite and really the trilogy could / should have been a duet instead. This one dragged on WAY too much. I nearly counted how many times Abby said "I didn't do it" but didn't elaborate until half way, or more, through this one. A lot of needless stuff could have been taken out and it would have been better. It was a good wrap up on it I suppose but meh. Didn't love it. 2.5 stars.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

This may or may no the the last installment of this series. It hit an apparent climax, but then there was a heck of a cliffhanger. The author isn't shy about adding to the body count, either. Lots of fun. Lots of surprises. Don't listen to this if you haven't listened to the first three yet. Take them in order.

[Dante · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was slightly disappointed that this left on a cliff hanger. Loads of drama in this one, some situations that came up felt convoluted and repetitive. The narrator was great just like in the first two stories. The almost extra hour of story was maybe not needed since it didn’t complete the series. I wish there was more character brother sooner

[D.K. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm on the fence about this rating: 3.5 or 4. Overall, it's a solid story, but something was lacking. It might be, because this, in a way, is an origin story, but I won't go into that since I don't want to spoil anything.

I would recommend it to readers of the genre. Book 3 had great pacing, plenty of action, and a good conclusion.

[Graeme O'Brien · Rating 4 out of 5]

A strong finish to this three-part audio drama. Plot and characterisations are strong, however the trilogy as a whole might have flowed better as one complete, full-length drama. Sequel possibilities are endless.

[Daniela · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is probably the shorter but longer book I’ve ever read… if that makes sense?
The story is still fast paced and action packed but it just didn’t hold my attention. I feel all of this could have been a shorter story, the 3rd book just didn’t add much.

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ending!

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved all three! They would make a great movie.

[Julie Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fitting conclusion to an entertaining trio of books. I enjoyed this series and would love it if it was continued in the future.

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

More questions than answers.
Is there book 4?

[Andreas Acevedo Dunlop Strom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yep, the final part is great too. I especially love the ending... I could read a LOT more of this.

[Stephanie Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the story. I don’t mind the narrator. My only real issue is all the way through I felt that I’ve read this before.

[Evan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice little series on the Audible plus platform. It was a little predictable at points, but the ending wasn't too bad. Reminded me a lot of the TV show Fringe.

[Hazi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story and what the hell?! Do we get more? Is this continued elsewhere?

[Crystal · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This was a great trilogy. I listened to it on audible. It was a great listen from beginning to end.

[Jason Bradley · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a very satisfying ending. And the action and tension stayed strong throughout.

[Brian Layman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed better than second book