Joint Review: In the After by Demitria Lunetta

by:  Demitria Lunetta
published by:  Harper Teen
publish date:  June 25, 2013

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.

I'm going to take a moment here to point out all the ways that this book is like every other YA dystopian, specifically post-apocalyptic.  16ish female protagonist in a post-apocalyptic world taking responsibility for a younger sibling type character, all other survivors are bad until she is rescued by a government like entity where she instantly trusts some cute guy then (shocker!) finds out the government has some kind of deep dark secret.  Isn't that the plot of almost ALL YA post-ap coming out right now?

In the After follows the same story line.  There were some elements thrown in that I did like though.  I liked the fact that Baby was mute, so Amy and Baby developed a sign language between them.  The presence of the aliens wasn't as clear cut as initially seemed, and that was an interesting turn of events.  It wasn't one that I quite understood, but I can suspend disbelief for the sake of the story.  If this is the genre that you like to read, then I would recommend it, but know that it follows the formula.  I did like it overall, I don't want to take anything away from Demitria Lunetta or her work, but let's shake it up authors!  

Yes!  I am in total agreement with Autumn!  We need to shake things up a bit.  But, at least there wasn't the insta-love or love triangle that I have come to despise in YA.  Having said that, I liked In the After. I thought Amy was one of the stronger post-ap females that I have read about.  I liked how she took responsibility for Baby.  She was smart and wasn't happy with the status quo.  

I liked the twisted reveal at the end.  It answered a lot of questions that I had about what was going on.  The cliffhanger in the end gave me some insight into what may be coming for Amy in the next book.  I'll probably pick up the next one.  I want to see what happens to Amy and the citizens of New Hope.