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.

Rebel by Amy Tintera

Series: Reboot Duology (bk. 2)

Genera(s): Dystopian Sci-fi/Romance

Subjects: soldiers, zombies, death, love, action, adventure, survival

Setting: Texas

POV/Tense: 1st person POV, past tense rotating between Wren and Callum

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 340 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover and now in Paperback

List Price: $17.99/$9.99

Publisher: HarperTeen

Summary/ product description: “Wren Connolly thought she'd left her human side behind when she dies five years ago and came back 178 minutes later as a Reboot. With her new abilities of strength, speed, and healing—along with a lack of emotions—Wren 178 became the perfect soldier for HARC (Human Advancement and Repopulation Corporation). Then Callum 22 came along and changed everything.

Now that they've both escaped, they're ready to start a new life in peace on the Reboot reservation. But Micah 163, the Reboot running the reservation, has darker plans in mind: to wipe out the humans. All of them. Micah has been building a Reboot army for years and is now ready to launch his attack on the cities. Callum wants to stick around and protect the humans. Wren wants nothing more than to leave all the fighting behind them.

With Micah on one side, HARC on the other, and Wren and Callum at odds in the middle, there's only one option left...

It's time for Reboots to become rebels.”

My Review:  Rebel is the sequel-finale to Reboot. It’s full of awesome and told from not just Wren’s perspective, but Callum’s too. I should of not waited a year to read this, and am so happy to have read it now, but sad because there is no 3^rd book. Wren, Callum, Addie and the Reboots from the Austin HARC facility arrive at the Reboot Reservation. It’s ran by a Reboot named Micah. Micah seems like a great guy at first, but it turns out he hates humans and want revenge.

Callum wants to protect the humans in the cities and rescue the Reboot. Wren agrees with him, but she feel like she doesn’t care about the humans and she’d rather just take Callum and run off to some other state. The Reboots at the reservation are amazed with Wren because her 178 is the highest number they’ve ever seen (higher number of minutes dead before rebooting. This means she’s stronger and faster at healing.)

I loved Callum’s POV. Why couldn’t the first book have his perspective too? He’s such a great guy. There’s a bit of a gender role reversal thing going on in this book. Usually female are more emotional and sensitive (supposedly) but Wren’s the tough one who shows no emotion (except when Callum makes her feel something) and Callum’s the charming one who’s full of humor and emotion. Callum is Mr. Optimistic and makes the best of every situation and finds solutions. Wren’s scarred–literally–and was sort of brainwashed by HARC, but falling in love with Callum is changing her perspective of a lot of things. I just love the romance of this book. This has got to be one of my favorite YA couples. Alson, another character I enjoyed was Addie. She’s so hilarious. She’s funnier than Callum even. There’s so much banter between Wren, Callum and Addie. I love it. Then we meet Wren’s old trainer, Riley. He’s a pretty cool guy and knows about Wren’s past with HARC.

This finale brings everything to a memorable close. There’s action and romance and sci-fi stuff. It’s such a great book and I wish there was a third book though it’s unnecessary. I’d call it Return and it would have a black cover with a green barcode over the title and maybe horizontal lines this time. I hope there’s a novella from Addie’s POV someday soon. I recommend this series to everyone who read dystopian book. In case you didn’t know, this is sort of a zombie book, but more like iZombie meets the 5^th Wave. With a romance as great as Fortris (Divergent). Wrenallum? Calwren? Anyways, it’s a great series!

Cover Art Review: The clock like cover is interesting and cool. Minimal, simple.

Sweet by Emmy Laybourne

Series: Sweet (bk. 1)

Genera(s): Thriller/Horror/Sci-fi

Subjects: cruises, ocean, celebrities, drugs, survival

Setting: Luxury Cruise Liner in the ocean

POV/Tense: 1^st person POV, present tense rotating between Laurel and Tom.

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 272 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: Macmillan: Feiwel & Friends

Summary/ product description: “*People would kill to be thin.*

Solu’s luxurious celebrity-filled “Cruise to Lose” is billed as “the biggest cruise since the Titanic,” and if the new diet sweetener works as promised—dropping five percent of a person’s body weight in just days—it really could be the answer to the world’s obesity problem. But Laurel is starting to regret accepting her friend Viv’s invitation. She’s already completely embarrassed herself in front of celebrity host, Tom Forelli (otherwise known as the hottest guy ever!) and she’s too seasick to even try the sweetener. And that’s before Viv and all the other passengers start acting really strange.

*But will they die for it, too?*

Tom Forelli knows that he should be grateful for this job and the opportunity to shed his childhood “Baby Tom-Tom” image. His publicists have even set up a ‘romance’ with a sexy reality star. But as things on the ship start to get a bit wild, he finds himself drawn to a different girl. And when his celebrity hosting gig turns into an expose on the shocking side effects of Solu, it’s Laurel that he’s determined to save.

Emmy Laybourne, author of the Monument 14 trilogy, takes readers on a dream vacation that goes first comically, then tragically, then horrifyingly, wrong.”

My Review:  Sweet was unexpectedly entertaining and thrilling. Originally I thought it was just realistic fiction, but it does contain some sci-fi elements. It’s set on a cruise ship, which is cool. There are celebrities and wealthy people on this ship. Most are there to try Solu, a sweetner that supposed to help you lose weigh.

The main characters Laurel and Tom do not try Solu. Laurel’s rich friend Vivika (who brought Laurel) did try it and becomes obsessed. Tom was part of a reality show as a kid and used to be fat, but has a meal plan and work out to stay thin. He’s being filmed during the cruise, updating people on what’s happening before Solu launches. Solu it not what is seems. People using it seem to be losing weigh too fast and all they want it more. They’ve become addicted and would do anything for more.

I really enjoyed the pop culture references and celebrity stuff I think it’s kind of fun. I like that the main characters are not obsessed with thin-ness. Tom has his routine. Laurel doesn’t care about loosing weight. She thinks having curves is more normal than being stick-thin. A lot of this book has meaningful stuff about being obsessed with being overweight. A lot of our culture has taught us than being skinny is better when we should just focus on encouraging healthy eating and exercising rather than hate on fat people.

The last 100 pages of this book are crazy full of action and horror. This cruise gets scary. The addicted people go crazy. They’re like zombies that want Solu. I’m not spoiling anything. I think it’s important to know that this is sci-fi and not contemporary. I hope it will make more people interested in reading it. It kind of reminded me of the TV show The Strain for some reason. How the addicts are described later on. Really it’s about a nightmare kind of cruise. Enjoy!

Cover Art Review: Creepy looking just by being upside down and using dim colors. That blood on the title is even suggestive.