Review: Impact Winter by Travis Beacham

Impact Winter by Travis Beacham: originally published by Audible Originals in 2022

Impact Winter is less of an audiobook and more of an audio performance, and what a performance it delivers! This was the first full-cast production I’d listened to, and I have to say, wow, what a cool experience!

Written by Travis Beacham, known for his writing credits on Pacific Rim and Clash of the Titans, Impact Winter really feels like watching a movie with your eyes closed – the story is carried by its dialogue, with a cast of voice actors that do a brilliant job of bringing the characters to life. Additional sound effects complete the experience, immersing the listener in an eerie soundscape, coupled with the sounds of the world and the creatures that the characters interact with.

Funnily enough, Impact Winter is set in, well, an impact winter. For those unfamiliar with the term, it’s a period of prolonged cold and dark weather, not unlike a nuclear winter, the difference being that it’s caused by a meteor impact instead of by an atomic explosion. Set seven years into this seemingly endless winter, the world is now a cold and dark landscape, just an echo of what it once was, creating a unique post-apocalyptic setting, at least in my experience.

The antagonists of the story are the vampires, no longer restricted to the shadows of the day thanks to the perpetual gloom, they now roam far and wide. Personally, I really loved this element of the story and the implication that they’ve been there all along, limited to being the subject of myth and legend, but now, in the aftermath of the apocalypse, they are, in fact, very real!

In the other corner, our protagonists are a group of humans, riding out the long night, doing their best not to become a vampire’s meal, awaiting the return of the sun. In a constantly dark world, humans are at a disadvantage, and the meteor impact most likely damaged or destroyed the tools and technologies that might’ve given humanity an effective counter against the vampires.

As a result, the humans are always in survival mode, bunkering down, and living life by a set of rules that keep them alive, given the constant threats lurking in the darkness! The game changes, however, when one character is turned, and the vampire way of life turns out to be more complicated than humanity could’ve imagined. Old allegiances are broken, and new ones forged, fighting for and against the persistent darkness.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story, the world and the characters that inhabit it. My only complaint is that our peek behind of the curtain of the vampire’s lore was too short! There’s a richness to the world building that I really hope gets explored further in a sequel.

If you like audio performances, and vampires, and post-apocalyptic worlds, Impact Winter is well worth checking out, and I would highly recommend it!

Background image by Casey Horner on Unsplash