In the After

UPDATE 07/03/2021 - Quick reread before I read book 2!

Well I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I was totally blindsided at one point which, to me, is a reflection of how absorbed I was in this post apocalyptic story. My jaw literally dropped and I actually said out loud "Well. I did not see that coming". I know, I have a way with words.

The first part of the book is filled with a quiet tension...(if you've read the book you will appreciate that little joke). Flesh eating aliens have decimated the population and Amy is in full survival mode. Yes, it's all very convenient that she is rich and lives in a house that is surrounded by an electric fence and her parents had a gun in the house etc. Don't dwell too much on that stuff and just go show more with the flow I say. I like that her survival instincts are quite strong which results in a couple of dark little scenes where she uses the aliens to her advantage. She finds Baby and together they forge a rough but contented existence in this new world. Their connection felt real and I loved them.

The story takes a turn in pace when they are 'rescued". What happens from here is told in two different time lines as Amy tries to make sense of where she is and what their new lives will look like. For this reason the story does slow down as they adjust to having other people in their lives. To me the writer captured Amy's state of confusion incredibly well as she becomes more of an unreliable narrator. I felt a bit lost and didn't know what was happening. This was a good thing because that is exactly how Amy felt. I like it when an author subjects us to this type of immersive experience because as clarity comes for Amy, we share in her discovery.

A totally engaging book and I will definitely be following the series through. show less

(Originally reviewed at thelibraryladies.com.)

This is the kind of book that walks the line between Kate’s preferred genres and mine. There is definitely horror and suspense, but it’s also a post-apocalyptic story, the type which, especially in YA fiction, often falls under the all-encompassing “speculative fiction” category. Either way, it was a nice change from my usual reading, and while I can’t say that it was necessarily a “fun” read, its very lack of “fun” is what lends me to rating it more highly.

This book could easily be split into two separate books. The first is a fairly typical survival story. Strange creatures have invaded the earth and swiftly killed off the majority of the population. Our heroine, Amy, show more survives purely due to lucky circumstances (a fact that is refreshingly not glossed over), but over the course of years, she grows to become an expert at living in this new “After” world. There were several portions of this first part that I really enjoyed.

First is the inclusion of Baby, a toddler that Amy finds and adopts after the first month of devastation. These two’s relationship is key to the plot and it was so refreshingly new. All too often the primary relationships in these types of YA books are romantic. This, a sisterhood/parental relationship between a teenage girl who raises a toddler for several years alone, is completely unique. Further, I was very impressed with the author’s ability to portray Baby so completely. As a small child, it would have been very easy to simply gloss over her as an actual person while instead simply relying on general child attributes as fill-ins.

Second, the use of a substantial time jump is well executed. Through clever positioning of flashbacks, we see Amy’s journey through this new world and the events at each step that directed her ability to survive the many challenges of this new world, from how to survive the creatures themselves to how she evolved her approach to interacting with other survivors. Amy doesn’t just become a badass survivor out of nowhere. We see her mistakes and understand what lessons she had to learn to become who she is in the present day.

The second half of the book is a complete switch to what living in a community built in this post-apocalyptic world would be like. The horror, too, takes a sharp turn away from the monsters-in-the-night to what monsters humans can be. This part, while maybe slower than the first half, was even more horrifying to me. It was a strange reading experience because I was so frustrated, angry, and uncomfortable on Amy and Baby’s behalf throughout it all that I had a hard time enjoying reading it. In this section, you know that something awful is coming and you’re just watching these beloved characters walk towards their doom. (I wish I had read this book before we did our “Walking Dead Read Alikes” list as this would definitely have been included based purely on its similar exploration of the different ways that communities of people find to live in a world where society has fallen away.)

In the later half, there were a few twists that I felt were a bit expected. It’s definitely not a unique set up, but I don’t think that lessens the overall effect. It’s also a bit jarring to suddenly have many other characters introduced halfway through the story, and while I enjoyed many of them, I was sad to see Baby fading into the background a bit. However, I did enjoy most of these characters. I also appreciated the fact that what little romance is introduced in this part of the book is very light and never overpowers both the action/horror of the story or the primary relationship between Baby and Amy.

I also listened to this as an audiobook and I thought the reader did a very good job. Especially in the second half of the book, she made some clever choices with her general reading style that allows listeners to immediately identify flashback sequences from the other portions.

Ultimately, I very much enjoyed this book and will be checking out the final book in the duology. I might need to give myself a break between the two as they are definitely not light reading, but I’ll be getting there soon, I hope. This book does end on a cliffhanger, fo sorts, so for anyone going into it, beware of that. show less

In the After by Demitria Lunetta is a post-apocalyptic tale of survival.

One day Amy is watching TV while her mom is at work and her dad is at the market when the news gets disturbing. Finally focusing, Amy realizes that aliens have landed and they are hungry. In hours most people are dead. Amy survives by not leaving her house and studying the aliens, which she call Them. Thankfully, her mom was security conscience and there is an electric fence around her house that They cannot penetrate. Amy figures out how to avoid being eaten by these creatures who really aren't smart, just lethal. On one foraging trip, Amy finds Baby and takes her home. Baby is a survivor; she can be still and she hears amazingly well. They have each other.

Of show more course in all post-apocalyptic tales, you have the good and the bad, which can be debated. Amy meets some of the bad elements left over but, mostly, she and Baby are alone. The novel takes a turn about half-way through when we learn about other survivors and how they have lived. It's a tense, thrilling novel. Would you survive? show less

Let me start by saying that I don't usually like alien invasion/zombie infestation books. I could name off several that other people loved and I did not: The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave #1), The Forest of Hands and Teeth, Ashes (Ashes Trilogy #1), and so on. So it came as a great surprise to me that I really liked this book. Maybe it was because I never felt completely hopeless. In all of the others, I lost all hope for the puny humans and knew that however the books were resolved (I never finished the series), it would be completely unrealistic. Okay, I realize there is nothing realistic about any alien invasion/zombie apocalypse book, but somehow In the After made it feel possible.
The book is divided into 2, possibly 3 parts. There is show more explanation of the character's life in The Before (a very short part in the beginning and then told through flashbacks and memories), then there is her survival and finding of Baby in The After, and then comes the part in New Hope. I found all three parts fascinating. Amy is a heroine to root for, she is smart, sassy, loyal and just keeps on ticking no matter the horrors that keep coming at her. I loved Baby and the silent, yet completely dependant and trusting relationship they formed. At times while reading this, I would become very aware of the noise I was making while walking through the house or doing dishes or whatever. How hard would it be to live in complete silence? I found it interesting how the author portrayed that through Amy and Baby's interaction with Amber.
New Hope was intriguing, and I for one didn't see what was coming (although several other reviewers said they did). (view spoiler) This was an exciting, fast, and breathtaking read. I was invested in the characters and cared about what happened to them. I understand this is just a duology, so we should get questions answered and have resolution after just one more book.

Areas of concern:
Very few cuss words.
Attempted rape.
Disgusting and violent alien/zombie creatures.
Evil dictator.

http://read-me-maybe.blogspot.com show less

“After They came, I did not leave my house for three weeks. The broadcasts stopped after the first few days, but they were not helpful anyway. They kept repeating the same things. Aliens had landed, they were not friendly, half of the planet was dead.They were horrifyingly fast, traveling across the globe at an alarming pace. They didn’t destroy buildings or attack our resources, like in so many crappy Hollywood movies. They wanted us. They hungered for us” (9).

A large, unexplained object lands, hosting thousands of hungry, predatory “Them” that rapidly kill, eat, and take over every continent and city. Amy is alone at home when it happens, and barricades herself inside, thanks to her father’s foresight. When all becomes show more quiet, too quiet, Amy ventures outside the safe boundaries of her house to scavenge and find survivors. She ends up rescuing a toddler, whom she calls “Baby,” and they live three years in silence, as “Them” are attracted to noise.

Eventually, Amy and Baby are rescued by an elite, organized force that resides in New Hope, a highly-regulated society of survivors. Amy’s mother is the director and assures her daughter that the confining rules of New Hope are for the betterment of future mankind. When Amy stumbles upon experiments involving the fearsome Them, she begins to realize her mother is not telling her everything.

In The After is a 2015 Lone Star-awarded book, and for good reason – the writing is smoothly-paced, the action has peaks and valleys, and the subject matter of the book is fascinating, albeit in a morbid way. Those in the lower grades, like sixth and seventh, might not be the best audience for this gruesome subject matter and grotesque descriptions of Them eating people: “The creatures pounced, not bothering to kill their prey before feeding. They ripped skin and flash from their victims, who screeched in agony” (14) and “They feed for a long time, eating every bit of their dead, their sharp teeth chewing through skin, muscle, and bone. Their feeding noises sicken me, slurps with the occasional crunch” (68). So, gird your iron stomach and go ahead and read this, but don't say I didn't warn you. show less

Once again, I handicapped myself by not fully absorbing the synopsis. Usually, I read the synopsis carefully when deciding to read a book and then avoid it while actually reading so as not to taint my knowledge. However, I didn't do the first part so well when looking over In the After. I heard something about daytime zombies and was a goner after that. Can you blame me?

Part One of the book was pretty stinkin' good. Amy and Baby live alone in Amy's old house, kept alive by the electric fence that separates them from the creatures outside. Inescapably fast with excellent hearing and a ravenous hunger for meat - any meat - the creatures have decimated Earth's population. Amy and Baby have been on their own for three years and have stayed show more safe by following a few simple rules.

READ THE REST OF THE REVIEW AT: http://shelversanon.blogspot.com/2013/07/review-in-after-by-demitria-lunetta.htm... show less

What's better than aliens? Zombies! And what's better than that? Zombie aliens!

I love post-apocalyptic novels, especially zombie ones. This book has good characterization, great setting descriptions, and a wonderful emotional appeal.

I would like to think that I could be one of the last survivors, but unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) I would probably be one of the first to die. Maybe if I read enough of these novels I can learn some extra survival skills to make it through the first days of the end of the world.