Review: In The After by Demitria Lunetta

In The After by Demitria Lunetta
Publisher- Harpter Teen
Release-June 25th 2013
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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.

My Thoughts:
"This is how I think of time: the past is Before and the present is the After. Before was reality; the After a nightmare."

It happened on a Saturday. Amy was just watching T.V when it happened. The world was under attack, being eaten alive by alien-zombie like creatures who hunt and devour human flesh. Amy couldn't leave her home for thee weeks. Fourteen-years old and all alone in a world terrorized by monsters. But Amy learns to survive. Learns that these creatures are noise and light sensitive. They move during the day, better to see their prey. So Amy learns how to live in darkness, alone and in a world without sound. But when she stumbles on a little girl no more then three years old, she begins to feel alive again. Baby is her reason and the only thing keeping her sanity. 3 years later they are both rescued and brought to New Hope. A fresh start. A place to begin again, only Amy begins to question the safe haven. Who are the real monsters here? The humans or the aliens....?

I've always loved survival/sc-fi stories. It's both scary and fascinating. I'm drawn to how one would go about living in a world at it's very end. Testing the human emotion, condition and how it effects spirit. Demitria Lunetta does really well with capturing desperation and the strength and weaknesses in humans. Giving up, fighting back, letting go and dare to hope again. In the After is a creepy thrilling post-apocalyptic story filled with monsters and madness that will leave readers on the very edge of their seats.

Funny enough when I think of all the characters in this book only two really seem to jump out. That would be Amy and Baby. They have such a sweet and tender connection. In a crumbling world it's hard to find anything really worth fighting for, specially when everyone you know has died. I liked that these two found each other, despite the age difference. I liked how they found their own way to communicate. It made it feel more personal and even drives the point of what kind of world they've been reduced to. They made the journey captivating till the very end. Rice was another character that I liked, but he had very little screen time that I couldn't quite connect with him the way I wanted to. Something I hope Lunetta changes in the next book.

The creatures are creatively written and pretty freaky my friends. The yellow fangs and droopy green skin. Unmerciful animals who don't bother waiting for their prey to die before being devoured whole. I liked that they move during the day instead of the night. It was refreshingly different compared to other reads.

New Hope, at first glance, is a safe haven to those who survived. A place to start over, to educate and learn how to be apart of a dying world. A place to rise above, a new civilization for when humans reclaim the earth. But once we get further in the establishment, we see that things aren't what they seem. Reality becomes fuzzy and everyone seems like they're tripping over themselves. Guarding a well kept secret, controlling, calculating and very suspicious. I wasn't expecting this kind of environment. I thought it would be more relaxed, a place to learn to live again for Amy and Baby. 

But it's the twist that really made this book for me. I never would have guessed it. I mean, I knew something was up, but I wouldn't have predicted what we got. Lunetta does a really good job concealing the obvious till she's ready to let us in. This really was such an unfair brutal twist of fate.

All in all, I thought this was a cunningly entertaining debut. The writing is consuming, it's characters are heartfelt and the concept, while not entire original, still leaves a lasting impression in the world of apocalyptic reads. 

I'm looking forward to seeing where Lunettta takes us next!

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