Still feeling dystopian after reading Alex London's Proxy, I dived into Demitria Lunetta's Into the After. Good solid read and probably suitable for younger readers. While there are hints of romance and violence there's nothing overtly graphic on the page so readers can get the idea without being overwhelmed with details. This is another post-apocalyptic survival story, but unlike, say, Proxy, this is a book where society has been pretty much destroyed by mutant-freak-zombie creatures. In that vein it's somewhat reminiscent of the Dustlands series by Moira Young. It's more of a "survival" story than a "critiquing society" story, although there is a society - New Hope - in this book which is more (or less) than it seems. And there is a sequence in "The Ward" playing with memory drugs so that the heroine (Amy) has trouble remembering what has happened to her - somewhat reminiscent of The Program by Suzanne Young, but not as graphic.
One really cool writing technique in this book is the way Lunetta plays with verb tenses. Sure, verb tenses don't sound all that exciting in the abstract, but she uses them to great effect to move back and forth between the present, the future, and the past, which allows her to create a greater sense of mystery as to what's gone on with Amy than if Lunetta simply told the story chronologically. So she starts in the present for Part I, and then Parts II and III play around with future and past, having jumped several months forward in time from Part I.
While this book is billed as Book 1 in a series, and the ending certainly leaves plenty of issues open to explore, it also works as a stand-alone book with the heroine's journey nicely rounded off at the end, so readers won't be left hanging. While the book may be off-putting because the hardcover at least is pretty bulky, it's an engaging read that you can get through in a day or two - younger readers will take a little longer, but it's not challenging in terms of dense prose. So don't be put off by length. An entertaining, thought-provoking dystopian read.
One really cool writing technique in this book is the way Lunetta plays with verb tenses. Sure, verb tenses don't sound all that exciting in the abstract, but she uses them to great effect to move back and forth between the present, the future, and the past, which allows her to create a greater sense of mystery as to what's gone on with Amy than if Lunetta simply told the story chronologically. So she starts in the present for Part I, and then Parts II and III play around with future and past, having jumped several months forward in time from Part I.
While this book is billed as Book 1 in a series, and the ending certainly leaves plenty of issues open to explore, it also works as a stand-alone book with the heroine's journey nicely rounded off at the end, so readers won't be left hanging. While the book may be off-putting because the hardcover at least is pretty bulky, it's an engaging read that you can get through in a day or two - younger readers will take a little longer, but it's not challenging in terms of dense prose. So don't be put off by length. An entertaining, thought-provoking dystopian read.
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