In The After Review

TITLE In The After (In The After #1)
AUTHOR Demitria Lunetta
PUBLICATION June 25th 2013 by Harper Teen
READ May 27 to 30, 2013
SOURCE From the publisher for review

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.

Rebellious, courageous, and tender, this unforgettable duo will have you on the edge of your seat as you tear through the pulse-pounding narrow escapes and horrifying twists of fate in this thrilling debut from author Demitria Lunetta.

It took me quite a bit longer than usual to make it through IN THE AFTER. What started off as an intense look at an alien invasion turned into a dystopian tale that really started to wane at the 50% mark. The drive that kept me reading the novel was Amy and some of the connections that she makes along the way.

Amy was about as kick ass as they come. At no point in this novel did she let her guard down. She was incredibly resourceful and intelligent in the most dire of situations. How she took charge of her fate and made sure that she lived in the After was great and also how she took charge once at New Hope as well. Her characterization is definitely the standout in these pages and I think I would have lost interest early on without her personality on every page. The best thing about the story is that even when there is a hint of a romance, Amy does not let it change her at all and it never becomes the focus of the story. Romance is definitely kept to a minimum here (thank you Demitria Lunetta!!) Along with being strong she is also very mothering. Once she takes in Baby and has a cohort in the After we see a side of her that is much softer and I think that is also something that helped her survive for so long, she gave herself a reason to live.

The world is ugly in this book. The creatures that have taken over are nasty and about as creepy as they come. With their green skin and sharp razor teeth that are too big for their mouths the pictures in my head were scary. I was pretty excited straight off the bat because I felt like I was getting the alien invasion story that I had longed for at the end of Rick Yancey’s THE 5TH WAVE but I just wish this one had the strong pacing that came along with it. We did meet a few interesting twists in the story, most of which were pretty easy to see coming but did still add interesting layers to the novel as a whole.

Once all of the reveals were said and done we get a clear picture of what happened in this world which was perfect to leave me satisfied (thank you again, Lunetta!) There were definitely some missed connections along the way that left me not feeling the emotion that was trying to be conveyed. Some of the people lost in the story really didn’t matter to me so I didn’t have my heart in those scenes as much as I would have liked to but I did enjoy the core group of characters that we meet. Leaving off at what some may see as a cliffhanger, but what I see as just moving on to the next chapter, I am excited to see where the series goes in the next installment. I just hope it comes with a little more depth to the secondary characters and is something I can really throw my heart into.