I enjoyed this book immensely. A post-apocalyptic creature-feature vibe throughout, it truly is a wonderful book. I will be first in line for Ashford's next piece.

When the Cicadas Stop Singing is the creature feature I needed in March. It's gory, it's gross, and it's just twisted enough that it kept me coming back page after page until I finished the book. This book follows Cora, a mom trying to survive in a post apocalyptic world full of lizard creature set on wiping the human population off the Earth. (I know what you're thinking, aren't lizard creatures already on Earth - thanks American Horror Story). However, after the death of Cora's son, she is simply just trying to make do with her small existence on a mountain when other survivors arrive. These "guests" bring heart ache, terror, and genuine evil to this grieving mother.

This book is a fast paced novel and sets you immediately in the action. I also found myself grieving with Cora during certain scenes and some scenes might not be the weak of heart. Give this a shot and you won't be disappointed.

When the Cicadas Stop Singing is a whimsical horror tale of lizard men and survival of the most ruthless of what was once humanity. In a post-apocalyptic world of chaos and monsters this world revolves around our MC Cora who has lost her son and is unwilling to leave his grave amidst a ravaged world filled with hatred and monsters it is a woven tail of personal tragedy, inner growth and the ability to forge a new future and a path towards reclaiming her humanity. If that doesn’t work maybe the ability to see that sometimes there are worse things than what one perceives as a monster and perhaps humanity itself can be more cruel and ruthless. Not a terrible read a bit wordy and at moments a bit quirky, hokey, punchy and yet still oddly compelling. And at least we see in Australia even the apocalypse doesn’t make it a safe place to survive in the wilds. A snack fest of inconsistencies and yet the popcorn still has butter on it… And if that makes sense this walk thru the land of insanity is going to be a fun ride. Don’t take it too serious just fall into the abyss and roll with it. Oh and the cover is certainly something it is why I decided to read it after all!

More of a survival-type horror than the apocalyptic horror that I thought it would be, this was still a quick and enjoyable read. The characters seemed a bit one-note, but I did appreciate the way things were wrapped up.

Many thanks to Netgalley and the publisher/author for providing me with an e-copy in exchange for my honest review.

This book was exactly what I wanted it to be! I loved it. I will make sure to check out other books by this author. When I requested this I was just intrigued by the concept of it and I loved how it turned out. This story had a great plot and if you have read this and enjoyed it, This was so much. It was such a great story. I would say give this one a try. I will continue to follow this author. Way to go to this author for not letting me down.

Fast paced, page turning novella. Even though you don't get much backstory this is a really good read.

A fast paced creature feature with a distinct (but certainly not overpowering) Australian flavour. Best described as a novella, this lacks most of the backstory for the characters and situation that you would find in a longer book, but it absolutely works. You only know what you need to, to push the story along, but it's enough to connect with the characters and understand the situation without slowing the momentum. All killer, no filler, in other words.

Cora has been living by herself in the deep woods near the mountains in a ruined Australia after poisonous gases came out of the ground and destroyed most of the population and left the survivors fighting for survival in a land depleted of food and civilization. Cora couldn't take the brutality of the world left behind but when the lizard creatures came who scavenged for food and humans were their first choice she knew she had to leave on her own and take her chances for survival on her own. One day a couple of humans come across her small camp and they are not friendly. All she wants is for them to take what they want and just keep going wherever they were originally headed but it seems they have other plans and wouldn't think twice about killing her if she doesn't learn to keep her mouth shut because Cora is a tenacious, little woman and when she lost her son who was the only precious thing she had in life she refuses to give up what little she has left and will fight to the finish unless the lizard creatures get them first because what else does she have to live for.

This short book was so much more than I expected. The storyline was excellent and captured Cora's personality to a fault. My heart went out to Cora and I just wanted her to not give up and continue to fight for what was hers but I also thought maybe she should move on and make another home somewhere but there was only one important thing holding her back which made her refuse to budge on her principles. The creatures were very frightening but when the people came,
one of them was worse than the monsters, a true psychopath it seemed until I found out there was more to that story which became a true nightmare. Be forwarned this is not a pretty little story since there is unstoppable violence, brutality, some animal torture and plenty of gore etc. Not for the squeamish but it was appropriate for horror readers who don't want a simple, clean cut and dry apopolyptic book. The author Zachary Ashford did a fantastic job of creating a piece of work that contained so much volume of reading material condensed into a short book without all the extra frills of filler words and unnecessary phrases that made this book a great little horror gem. By the end of the story I was near tears which was quite unexpected. I highly recommend this story to all horror readers and I definitely will be reading more books written by this author.

I want to thank the publisher "Horrific Tales Publishing" and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book and any thoughts or opinions expressed at unbiased and mine alone!

I have give this terrific story a rating of 4 1/2 CHILLING AND BRUTAL 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌠 STARS!!

I love a good creature feature book, and I loved the ‘Sole Survivor’ series (a duo of action packed books featuring killer Koalas) but this isn’t your typical creature feature, sure there is Lizard-men that try and kill you at every opportunity, but there is a psychological element that comes with the new antagonist that really elevates the character and the suspense.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves creature features, or psychological thrillers, as this book has found a way to merge these two into one seamless story.

*Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for a honest review.*

In a world where lizard-like creatures hunt for human flesh, Cora hast found refuge in the wilderness, where she mourns her lost son, hunts for food and occasionally has to fight an intruding lizard-man. But one day, a couple intrudes into her territory, and Coras quiet days are over. Not only is Darren a violent man, but he seems on the verge of changing into something even more dangerous. Will Cora be able to defend her place against the human threat? This was a short (though IMHO it could have been even more concentrated) and very action-packed story. While it did not exactly reinvent the wheel, it was an entertaining read to enjoy in-between.

This epic horror novella is a fun read that I found completely captivating. The prose is sharp and well written, the atmosphere is tense, there's humor and frights throughout, and the ending is satisfying. It's a really fun book that I highly recommend. Watch out for lizard men!

WHEN THE CICADAS STOP SINGING is a beautifully lyrical exploration of one version "of the End of the World." Set on a mountain in scenic rural Australia, formerly a bucket list destination for hikers, campers, outdoors adventurers, now it's "home," such as it is, to Cora, who once lived there peaceably with her son until a "lizard" took him. Not an ordinary Earth species, these are monstrous and vicious and delight in the consumption of human prey, arriving after the pervasive poisonous gas. Of course, where there are humans, there is human evil, as Cora encounters.


I recommend this title to any aficionados of Apocalyptic Speculative Fiction.

this was a really unique horror novel, the characters were great and I really enjoyed going on this journey. It was a unique plot and I had a lot of fun reading this.

The action was fast paced and kept your attention but some of the writing in the action seemed a little unclear from time to time. Someone else called it "when the action starts the writing gets confused syndrome" and I do agree. But I was able to untangle the tangled thoughts eventually. I continued reading this one despite the gratuitous use of rated R curse words, when I normally stop because I was interested to see where the story goes. Overall, it was a good read that could use a tiny bit of refining.