In the End by Demitria Lunetta

Series: In the After (bk. 2)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: post-apocalyptic, survival, monsters, viruses

Setting: Fort Black Prison, Texas

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense: Amy

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 432 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover/Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “She thought it was the end of the world... But it was only the beginning of the end.

It's been three months since Amy escaped New Hope. Since she's seen Baby, or Kay, or Rice. And she's been surviving on her own, like she did before she was "rescued" and taken to what she thought was a safe haven. Then, in the midst of foraging for supplies, her former fellow Guardian's voice rings out in her earpiece. And in a desperate tone, Kay utters the four words Any had hoped she would never hear:

Dr. Reynolds has Baby.

Now it's a race against time, for Baby is in imminent danger, her life threatened by the malevolent doctor who had helped start the end of the world. In order to save Baby, Amy will have to make her way to Fort Black, a former prison-turned-survivor colony. There she will need to find Ken—Kay's brother—for he holds the key to Baby's survival.

But before she can do any of this, she'll have to endure the darkest places—and people—of the prison. And one small slip-up could not only cost Baby and Amy their lives, but threaten the survival of he people in the After.

Demitria Lunetta has created an utterly compelling conclusion to the story she set forth in In the After. Readers of the Hunger Games trilogy will not be able to pit down this book, which is gripping from beginning to end.”

My Review:  In the End is the sequel-finale to In the After. Amy goes to a prison called Fort Black to find Kay’s twin brother, who’s a doctor, hoping he can help save Baby. Fort Black may be safe from Florae (the monsters created by a disease, similar to zombies, but look like aliens), but inside it has all kinds of threat, such as the previous inmates that decided to stay for their own protection.

Amy has a run in with a convict called Tank, who only stops harassing her when the Warden’s nephew, Jacks, arrives. Jacks was an up-and-coming tattoo artist before the outbreak. He’s a pretty nice and protective guy. He’s different from Rice, who was Amy’s previous love interest. Jacks pretends that he claimed Amy as his own to protect her from sexual harassment from other convicts. She doesn’t like the idea of being a guy’s property, but inside the prison walls they’re not exactly feminists, except maybe Brenna, who’s the only female fighter inside their UFC-like fighting arena.

I thought that this was a pretty good sequel. I didn’t enjoy it as much as the first book. There was more mystery and scary-stuff in the first book. We were lead to believe the Florae were aliens, but that wasn’t the case. This book definitely has a unique setting. I don’t think I’ve ever read a dystopian set in a prison. A military base, a school, a mall, a superstore, but never a prison. It definitely would provide protection from outside threats, especially plant-like zombies with super hearing, but no eye sight.

If you have not read In The After, you shouldn’t have read this review because I spoiled stuff from In The After, but no spoiler for this book. I recommend this duology series to fans of The 5^th Wave, Rot & Ruin, Divergent, Ashfall, The 5th Wave, The Forest of Hands and Teeth, and any other survival/dystopian novel. If you love dystopia and post-apocalyptic books, this is a great series.

Cover Art Review: Interesting use of textures. Feels gritty and creepy.