Review: In the After by Demitria Lunetta

In the After by Demitria Lunetta

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

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.

This book is probably one of my favorite YA reads of the year. This was a shocker since it wasn’t heavy on the romance and that’s usually one of my favorite aspects of a book. I loved the main character and her transformation from whiney teen girl to dystopian survivor bad *ss.

We are introduced to Amy, three years after an apocalypse that includes the wiping out of most of humanity due to mindless creatures that hunt and devour humans. Amy is alone in her secured home, but is forced to sneak out into the night to gather supplies for survival. I loved the first half of the book that includes Amy finding a young girl named Baby that has also survived.

Amy’s relationship with Baby was touching. In many ways, they are each other’s salvation in a hopeless world. Amy is naturally maternal and I loved how they learned to communicate by their own version of ASL (they can’t speak because the creatures are attracted to noise).

The second half was completely different than the first, but still interesting. As Amy interacts with more survivors, I had to question who was worse: the creatures or the humans? There’s a hint of a romance, but it doesn’t develop into much. It worked though because it may have been annoying if Amy was getting all swoony when everyone is dying around her.

The creatures were freaking scary! The author’s descriptions of how they looked and how they killed their victims had me cringing. Any book that gives me nightmares like this one did definitely deserves five stars. I thought I was getting over the dystopian genre, but I really enjoyed In the After and look forward to the sequel.

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of this novel for review!

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