Thursday, October 09, 2014

Teen/YA Review: In the End

I recently listened to the audio book In the End by Demitria Lunetta, the sequel to In the After, a post-apocalyptic and dystopian novel for teens/YA that I listened to last year. In the End continues the action and suspense of book one, while providing a satisfying conclusion to the story. It’s impossible to describe the sequel without giving away some spoilers of the first book, so if you haven’t read In the After yet, click on that review and skip this one for now.

In the End picks up where In the After left off, with Amy on her own after leaving the community of New Hope in Kansas. She is surviving on her own in Texas and avoiding the monsters known as Floraes, with the help of technology from New Hope, when she finally heads to the notorious Fort Black. In the years before They arrived, the complex was a prison, but now it is a community of survivors. The double walls and guarded towers protect its over-crowded residents from the Floraes, but there are new dangers here in Fort Black. Many of the prisoners opted to stay in the safety of the community when it was opened up to the public, so some of its residents are convicted criminals, even murderers.

It’s a rough place – nothing like the clean, controlled environment at New Hope – but Amy is there to look for Kay’s brother, Ken whom they hope might be able them defeat the more evil elements within New Hope and rescue Amy’s adopted sister, Baby. Jacks, a cowboy in a respected position within the community, befriends Amy, but she’s not sure she can trust him. Already, she has suspicions that this new place has its own secrets and dangers, including Tank, the serial rapist/murderer who seems to have his eye on Amy.

Just like In the After, this novel has non-stop action and plenty of suspense, as Amy hopes to not only survive but save her sister and the rest of the remaining population of New Hope and the Texas prison from dangers inside that might be just as bad (or worse) as the dangers lurking outside among the Floraes. Like that first book, this one also sometimes seems a bit too neat and contrived, but if you suspend disbelief and just go along for the ride, it’s a good story. The audio was well done and held my attention, and I finished it in short time, enjoying the satisfying conclusion of this unique series.

HarperChildren’s Audio

(You can listen to a sample of the audio at the Amazon link below)

 

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