Showing posts with label Demitria Lunetta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Demitria Lunetta. Show all posts

August 24, 2014

Review: In the End by Demitria Lunetta


Title: In the End (In the After #2)
Author: Demitria Lunetta 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Release date: June 24th 2014
Source: Edelweiss
Format: eARC

Rating: 3/5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository

You can read my review of In the After - here
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.

In the End is the second and final book of this duology (I thought it was a trilogy) and although the development of it was good although a bit slow, I feel that the ending was open ended and with some loose ends.

Amy escaped New Hope with Kay´s help and was left near another settlement of known survivors - Fort Black, but Amy didn´t go there to seek refuge, so she has lived the past few months alone, that is until Kay communicates with her ​​and gives her the news that Baby has been captured by Dr. Reynolds and her life is in danger; so she has to go to Fort Black and request the help of Kay's brother - Ken, whom is a scientist and could help her get Baby. Once in Fort Black she discovers that this used to be a prison and many of its  residents were prisoners there and life is not easy there, much less a girl without protection.

I liked the character of Amy in the previous book, because she was cautious, intelligent and stealthy something necessary to live in a post-apocalyptic world, but in this book she was too reckless, impetuous and she exposed herself to great danger in her eagerness to get as soon as possible with Baby (her adopted sister), meanwhile the post-apocalyptic world brings out the worst in people, imagine arriving to live to Fort Black which used to be a prison, where there aren´t many rules and most residents are male. There she meets Jacks a nice guy, her offers to help her and saves her more than once.

Overall, the plot was okay, the main character drove me mad for all the dangerous situations to which she exposed herself, but the plot has plenty of action, some suspense, intrigue and had me doubting the intentions of some of the characters, there is some romance, but I felt a bit slow at times. It has an open ending that was somewhat abrupt.

June 21, 2013

In the After by Demitria Lunetta

Title: In the After (In the After #1)
Author: Demitria Lunetta 
Publisher: Harper Teen
Release date: June 25th 2013
Source: Edelweiss
Format: egalley

Rating: 4 / 5

Buy onAmazon | B&N | BookDepository
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.

Rebellious, courageous, and tender, this unforgettable duo will have you on the edge of your seat as you tear through the pulse-pounding narrow escapes and horrifying twists of fate in this thrilling debut from author Demitria Lunetta.

I have read several dystopian books and so far all of them have been about a society created many years after the apocalypse; so what attracted me about this book was that the protagonist has to live the apocalypse, the end of the world as she knows it and has survive it, and she lives in a post-apocalyptic world for several years, to later be rescued and go to the dystopian society where everything is perfect in appearance, everyone follows the rules and those who do not suffer the consequences.

In the After is divided into three parts, the first being the apocalypse and post-apocalypse. And the second part and third takes place in New Hope, the dystopian world where everything is perfect and safe. The book is told from Amy´s POV, she´s 17 years old and thanks to the paranoia of her mother and the eco-friendly of her father, she has a safe place to live with Baby a girl of 6 or 7 years old. And through her memories we get to see what happened three years before when They (aka Aliens) invade the earth and kill most of the population.

The second part takes place when Amy and Baby are rescued and taken to New Hope, there the story takes an interesting twist and we can see the dependence/closeness that Amy has to Baby and how they fit into the new world of the after. In this part of the book the narrative annoyed me a bit at the beginning because in the end of the first part and the beginning of the second part is not linear, but the second part begins 4 months later and we only got to see what happened during that time, through memories, but once I got used to this narrative I really liked it but I was desperate to know what had happened with Amy.

I really liked the interaction between Amy and Baby because they have lived together almost since the Aliens arrived and at that time they had 14 years old and 3 or 4 years old respectively, so they are completely dependent on each other and have a very strong bond that unites them.

Overall I really liked this book, the first part of the book is pretty intense and stressful because of the aliens that look like zombies, the second and third part of the story has a bit of action, a nearly romance (because really almost nothing happens) and the plot has a very interesting twist. I recommend this book for fans of  apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/dystopian books with a little of science fiction.

Thanks to Harper Teen for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Book trailer