This is a series so it is better if the listener is going on with it in sequence. Only going in sequence will make you able to understand the true theme of the series which the author wants you to understand.
Listening only to End of Summer or A Bright Shore might not help the cause at all. The days of the human population on the planet were numbered when the deadly virus attacked. Within no time the powerful nations fell and then there was no sign of them left on the map of the world.
Only two to three percent of the humans survived the deadly blow and now the virus has finally disappeared perhaps forever. Those who are left alive are not the same humans anymore. They are fighting like barbarians for their dominance and also for the basic necessities of life which are hard to find now when no one is working.
The civilized human race has ended in smoke and what is left of them is nothing more than sheer disappointment. A group of men also survived in Antarctica and it wasn’t aware of what has happened to the human world during the time when they were stuck in that place.
Now on their return, they have found nothing but disappointment because they have come to a zombie land where people have become blood thirsty.
S.M. Anderson has painted the picture of the human world quite dramatically. We can finally feel how it would be like if there were no rules in the world. Jay Snyder will also amaze everyone through his narration which has evolved perfectly for the novel.