Review Detail

I got an ARC of this from The Regulator Bookshop.

I... just... GAH! I'm currently sick and am having trouble talking, which means I can't blab on and on about this to my family. Being an ARC, I can type of any spoilers. If you have read After the End, let me know and we will squeal together! I loved Amy Plum's Revenants series, and generally, second books/series don't live up to the first, but oh, this one did! I was a little confused at the beginning, but quickly caught on to the plot! I honestly didn't see where so much of the story was going!

The story is told in dual POV, switching between the male protagonist Miles and the female protagonist Juneau. It's always interesting to see a character who has lived a secluded life suddenly thrust into our world, and it's done beautifully. I love Juneau's character and can really relate to her. One day, she's living her life, and the next she finds out that her entire life has been a lie. That's not easy on a girl. There was definite romance in this book, but it was not insta-love, more like a slow building flame, which I really appreciated.

In many ways, Miles is the sole opposite of Juneau. While she can survive in the wild and is kick butt to the max, Miles is a city boy from Los Angeles whose goal in the story is to please his über rich father. That said, Miles is an interesting character. I really liked seeing in his head, and feel that the story would have been wholly incomplete without it. While Juneau goes from unaware to aware in the story, I feel like Miles goes through much larger of a transformation. You might even go as far as to say that he was turning his life around.

So, I hate cliffhangers in any circumstance, but when the first book ends in a cliffhanger and you get it two months before release, it's really REALLY REALLY REALLY bad. I don't hate cliffhangers in that they're a bad story device, in fact, they're awesome for the book and I write them a bunch, but as a reader, I want to know everything NOW NOW NOW! You really won't see where over half of this book is going, I promise you. I took me a little while to really get into the story, but I read all but the first few chapters this afternoon. The book was definitely a five star read, and I'm dying for book two!