Book Review: In the After by Demitria Lunetta

They hear the most silent of footsteps.
They are faster than anything you've ever seen.

And They won't stop chasing you...until you are dead.

Amy is watching TV when it happens, when the world is attacked by Them. These vile creatures are rapidly devouring mankind. Most of the population is overtaken, but Amy manages to escape—and even rescue “Baby,” a toddler left behind in the chaos. Marooned in Amy’s house, the girls do everything they can to survive—and avoid Them at all costs.

After years of hiding, they are miraculously rescued and taken to New Hope, a colony of survivors living in a former government research compound. While at first the colony seems like a dream with plenty of food, safety, and shelter, New Hope slowly reveals that it is far from ideal. And Amy soon realizes that unless things change, she’ll lose Baby—and much more.

“This is how I think of time: the past is Before, and the present is the After. Before was reality; the After, a nightmare.”

In the After is an enjoyable and exciting read but it does nothing new in the dystopian genre which is its biggest problem. I thought the storyline was good, it was full of action and excitement but it was nothing I haven’t read before. The general themes are the same, dystopian future, corrupt governments and forced pregnancies.

The writing was good but simple, there was no flowery prose, instead there were a lot of action scenes. Lunetta is really good at writing big, tension filled action sequences. The first third of the book was a story of survival which I enjoyed but when they got to New Hope (a safe community) it jumps four months into the future with flash backs to the exact point where we left off. This didn’t really work for me, I think it should have been told as one continuous story or had the flashbacks from the beginning.

Another small issue with this book was characters; they lack personality and are a bit one dimensional. Amy got on my nerves at first but she grew on me as the book went on she was strong but not much else. I really liked her when she was with Baby that was when her personality really came to life.

What I really liked about this book was its lack of romance, there was just a hint of a possible relationship and a tiny kiss which was fine by me. It was nice to have a strong female character that wasn’t swooning over a guy every five minutes.

In the After is a decent dystopian tale and if you still have an interest in the genre then you should check it out.

3 stars

Published June 25th 2013 by Harper Teen.  A free copy was provided for review.  Image courtesy of Goodreads.

Review by Kate Phillips

Let us know what you think in the comments.