After The Fall by Edward Ashton
Read by John Pirhalla
Publication Date: February 24, 2026
Summary from Goodreads:
Humans must be silent. Humans must be obedient. Humans must be good.
All his life, John has tried to live by those rules. Most days, it’s not too difficult. A hundred and twenty years after The Fall, and a hundred years after the grays swept in to pick the last dregs of humanity out of the wreckage of a ruined world, John has found himself bonded to Martok Barden nee Black Hand, one of the “good” grays. Sure, Martok is broke, homeless, and borderline manic, but he’s always treated John like an actual person, and sometimes like a friend. It’s a better deal than most humans get.
But when Martok puts John’s bond up as collateral against an abandoned house in the woods that he hopes to turn into a wilderness retreat for wealthy grays, John learns that there are limits to Martok’s friendship. Soon he finds himself caught between an underworld boss who thinks Martok is something that he very much is not, a girl who was raised by feral humans and has nothing but contempt for pets like John, and Martok himself, whose delusions of grandeur seem to be finally catching up with him.
Also, not for nothing, something in the woods has been killing people.
John has sixty days before Martok’s loan comes due to unravel the mystery of how humans wound up holding the wrong end of the domestication stick and find a way to turn Martok’s half-baked plans into profit enough to buy back his life, all while avoiding getting butchered by feral humans or having his head crushed by an angry gray. Easy peasy, right?
ARC provided by Macmillan Audio via Netgalley for an honest review.
Confession:
I really enjoyed this latest stand alone novel by Edward Ashton. His characters are always well rounded and fun to spend time with. His imagined aliens are always different than what you expect as well. I did have a few minor issues with this story, but they certainly didn’t take away from the fun time as a whole.
John Pirhalla, who also narrated the Mickey 7 books, does an excellent job with this one. I just loved his voice for Martok. He manages to convey John’s naivete and intelligence at the same time. He has a great narrative style and I would listen to him narrate any story.
John was a great character and someone you can definitely root for. He is not your typical hero though. While he is smart and clever and knows quite a bit about the Grays, he is also a bit naive about human history and his own world. Most of what he knows he was taught by the Grays, so you can’t really fault him. But he is able to manipulate what he does know to his advantage. His relationship to Martok is sort of a friendship, but it is also more like an employee. He does care about Martok and wants to help him be successful, but some of that want is tied into his needs and comforts as well.
I really didn’t want to like Martok, but I did. He was such a bumbling fool at times, but he seems to genuinely like John. The other Grays we meet show nothing but contempt for John and his fellow bondsmen, so it was refreshing to see Martok actually do kind things for him and for Six, the feral girl who joins them. I also really loved that there was more to Martok that does get revealed towards the end of the story.
The story was a lot of fun. It moved at a pretty quick pace and has some very humorous parts. I enjoyed the way John is able to talk his way out of situations, but often ends up making more trouble for himself and Martok. My main issue was with the world building. I just wanted a tiny bit more of it. I was never really able to picture what a Gray really looked like, beyond their being gray, very tall and strong, and had tough leathery skin. The Fall was also mentioned quite a bit, especially towards the end, but it was never really explained what had happened and how the Grays were able to take over the world. Again not super important to the story, but I just wanted a little more information. I loved the ending of this story though. There is a nice twist that I really enjoyed and I was worried it wasn’t going to be a happy ending, but it was.
If you are a fan of this author’s books, you will certainly enjoy this one. If you have yet to pick up one of his book’s you can’t go wrong with this one. Most of his books are stand alones so you could start with any of them.
Confessions of a Serial Reader 
I really enjoyed The Fourth Consort but wasn’t sure about this one. Your review makes me think that I should enjoy it though so I’ll add it to my ever growing TBR 😃
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