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hailandwellread 's review for:
In The Afterlight
by Alexandra Bracken
“It rained the day they brought us to Thurmond.
And it rained the day I walked out."
4 STARS
CW: violence (including gun violence), concentration camps, domestic abuse, invasive medical scenes, loss of a loved one, graphic injury
It’s a bummer to say that I don’t think In the Afterlight is quite as good as Never Fade, but thankfully it’s not by a huge margin. Mostly, the lower rating comes down to the initial pacing. It’s slower than I would have liked in the conclusion to the trilogy during the first half, taking too much time to set up the rebellion we’ve been waiting for the whole series.
That said, the second half delivers, and the final fifty pages never fails to bring tears to my eyes. In some ways, it’s a little corny, the idea of the best of people winning out, but I can’t help being a sucker for endings that insist doing the right thing will bring about the change the world needs.
On top of an ending that hits all the notes I long for in a story, we get a ship I love (THE BANTER! THE SNARK! THE SHEER LEVEL OF COMPETENCE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM!), we get Zu stepping up and taking charge of her story, and we get Ruby finally getting the resolution she’s needed since she was ripped away from her normal, loving life on her tenth birthday. It’s an ending, not something too open and hazy, and it pulls the Black Betty Crew together again, with some new additions that I love.
I will say, though, that there was one element I didn’t love, and while I feel that it’s not unexpected in a book from 2014, that doesn’t make me any happier about the fact that the only queer character we get is the tragic gay who loves the villain who will never love him back. That detail remains deeply disappointing.
And it rained the day I walked out."
4 STARS
CW: violence (including gun violence), concentration camps, domestic abuse, invasive medical scenes, loss of a loved one, graphic injury
It’s a bummer to say that I don’t think In the Afterlight is quite as good as Never Fade, but thankfully it’s not by a huge margin. Mostly, the lower rating comes down to the initial pacing. It’s slower than I would have liked in the conclusion to the trilogy during the first half, taking too much time to set up the rebellion we’ve been waiting for the whole series.
That said, the second half delivers, and the final fifty pages never fails to bring tears to my eyes. In some ways, it’s a little corny, the idea of the best of people winning out, but I can’t help being a sucker for endings that insist doing the right thing will bring about the change the world needs.
On top of an ending that hits all the notes I long for in a story, we get a ship I love (THE BANTER! THE SNARK! THE SHEER LEVEL OF COMPETENCE BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM!), we get Zu stepping up and taking charge of her story, and we get Ruby finally getting the resolution she’s needed since she was ripped away from her normal, loving life on her tenth birthday. It’s an ending, not something too open and hazy, and it pulls the Black Betty Crew together again, with some new additions that I love.
I will say, though, that there was one element I didn’t love, and while I feel that it’s not unexpected in a book from 2014, that doesn’t make me any happier about the fact that the only queer character we get is the tragic gay who loves the villain who will never love him back. That detail remains deeply disappointing.