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.

The Uprising by Lisa M. Stasse

Series: The Forsaken (bk. 2)

Genera: Dystopia Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, islands, resistance to government, fascism, love

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 375 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $16.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description: “In this dystopian sequel to The Forsaken, Alenna has survived the brutality of life on the wheel—and now she’s going back for more.

Alenna escaped. It was expected that she would die on the wheel, the island where would-be criminals are sent as directed by the UNA—the totalitarian supercountry that was once the United States, Mexico, and Canada. But Alenna and her boyfriend, Liam, made it to safety. Except safety, they will soon learn, is relative.

In order to bring down the UNA, they must first gain control of the wheel. If the mission succeeds, the wheel will become a base of revolution. But between betrayals, a new Monk leading a more organized army of Drones, and the discovery of a previously unknown contingent, Alenna, Liam, and their allies might be in over their heads. One thing Alenna knows for sure: There will be a reckoning. And not everyone she loves will make it out alive.”

My Review: This was a good sequel and addition to a cool dystopian series. I love the setting(s). The island especially. As I’ve said before in my review of The Forsaken, it’s kind of like Catching Fire, Lord of The Flies, The Maze Runner and Lost. But in this book,  it’s starts out in Australia, and goes on to Antarctica and then back to the wheel. The wheel, also know as Prison Island Alpha, is located somewhere in the south Pacific between Hawaii and Australia. It’s shaped like a jagged circle, and has different sectors, named after colors. It’s about 35 miles across. The blue sector is where the villagers were located. The gray sector is where machinery and building are located.

The narration is awesome. I love Alenna’s perspective. She reminds me of Tris from Divergent, or even Katniss. It’s 1^st person, present tense which makes the story a lot more intense and exciting. I also like Liam. He’s does remind me of Four/Tobias, or maybe Alex from Delirium. He cares so much about Alenna that he almost stays behind when he’s asked to help rescue his father, but Alenna insists he goes. He’s a warrior with a good heart, even though he has trust issues when it comes to the drones/former drones.

Cass is a former drone, and now no longer drugged.  She seems very nice and smart, and similar to Gadya. Gadya is still on the wheel. She was my favorite side character in the first book, and I was waiting for her to make a come back. She’s so funny and sarcastic. Wish we could have a novella or story from her POV. We also get to meet a new group that aren’t drones or villagers, but call themselves travelers. The made me this of the Tree People in Defiance by C.J. Redwine. Also, David is on the wheel still, and Alenna and Liam think that he betrayed them. He lost their trust for something he did.

The only issues I had with this book was that it took me a week to read, but that was because I was so busy. But sometimes taking your time with a book is a good thing. Rushing through a story makes you miss thing. I wish there was more romance also. The ending was awesome. Alenna is very brave for what she did. They all made a lot of hard choices in hopes saving the kids frozen in the archives and taking the island back. Can’t wait to see how this turn out in book three.

I recommend this series to fan of The Hunger Games series, Lord of The Flies, The Maze Runner, Divergent, the Glitch series by Heather Anastasui, and Shatter Me, and TV shows like Lost.

Cover Art Review: Love this cover! The typography in amazing, and the color scheme. I love the image and the vector connected lines. 

The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse

Series: The Forsaken trilogy (bk. 1)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: Survival, islands, resistance to government, fascism, prisons

Length: 375 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $16.99

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Summary/ product description: “As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.
The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.”

My Rating: êêêê

My Review: This book turned out to be better than expected. I’ve seen some bad reviews, and I was starting to think I was going to be disappointed. The Forsaken is kind of like Catching Fire, Lord of The Flies, and The Maze Runner put together, with a little bit of Lost. And also reminds me is Witch & Wizard, Harka reminds me of the One Who Is The One.

This story is very much a survival story. There’s not much romance, but there is a lot of friendship. And there are lots of trust issues between the village people. They think David’s a spy, Alenna was sure he wasn’t. There the Monk, who the drones worship. The Wheel is a totally crazy island either somewhere in the Caribbean, or maybe Hawaii.

There’s a lot of mystery about the island’s true intentions and why they were sent there. There’s a place called the Gray Zone, and they find some pecular things there. The Wheel is a very dangerous place, and bad surprises lurk everywhere. If you’re looking for a thrilling survival story/mystery/dystopian, then check out the Forsaken.

Cover Art Review: Somebody called this a “dust cover.” It is pretty interesting. Looks like it was done in charcoal. Makes me think of a math or science text book from the 70s or 80s. Does anyone else get the retro-text book vibe? Or record album cover. It also reminds me on the covers from The Chemical Garden Trilogy. All the connections and stuff. I’m not sure what design era it’s mimicking. Art Deco is geometric, but in the late 60s, and 70s there was a lot of art like this.

~Haley G