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A review by em_brebs
In the Afterlight by Alexandra Bracken
5.0
Wow. This was just so incredibly satisfying in literally every possible way. I loved it so much. The characters developed but stayed true to their personalities and there were twists and UGH SO GOOD!!!!! The ending is just so satisfying, I don't know any other way to describe it. All of the loose ends were taken together here and came together to create something so beautiful and good and amazing. I can't get over it. And there continue to be these questions about power and corruption and new questions are introduced about who gets to choose about what happens to you (that sounds vague because spoilers, but trust me, it's great.) Overall, this book just wrapped up everything in the first two books unbelievably well while still retaining its own plot.
It's the third in a trilogy so I don't give a little blurb thing, but you should read ALL OF THEM and then the only blurb I'll give is it wraps everything up.
SPOILERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS DISCUSSION!!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, the last line of the book is about the open road, right? And that was Julian's version of the future, an open road after a thunderstorm (and I don't know what the hell all of the stuff that's gone on in these books would be called if not a thunderstorm.) It was JULIAN'S future, he was still with them all no matter what, that beautiful, beautiful boy lived on with them. I cried like nobody's business at that. So freaking good.
Ruby is such a strong character. Sometimes, her strength can be a pain in the ass and totally unnecessary and her independence drives me CRAZY (I'll talk more about that later) but it must be said that she is incredibly strong. She walked out of that freaking camp on her own two legs, despite it all. She learns to own herself, and all of the parts of herself. She learns how to control her powers, and not let them control her. She goes back and (of course, with a lot of help) helps the family that she made there escape. She protects those that she loves with absolutely EVERYTHING that she has in her. Is she a well-rounded character? No. But she's someone you want on your side, no matter what.
That being said, jeez she's not all that great at being in a relationship. That whole communicating thing just doesn't come easily to her and that pissed me off on so many different occasions. She and Liam just needed to talk to each other and trust each other to go out and do what they needed to do. They spent so much time trying to protect each other that they just ended up growing farther and farther apart (and then making out so everything was fine, but really.) I obviously love their relationship, but the fact that they just COULDN'T seem to talk to each other or fully trust each other grated on me and created SO much unnecessary angst (and we had enough necessary angst anyway.)
CLANCY!!! FRIGGIN' CLANCY!!! That whole twist was built up so well. With the sleep-walking that she started doing and the footage missing and… I just thought that the way that was put together was really skillful and I, for one, didn't see it coming. Clancy is just such a horrible person, and I think that all of the realizations that Ruby comes to at the end were just so important to keep her from becoming like him. I hated him, but I also pitied him.
Again, I love the writing in here. It definitely has a quality that seems very real to it that I really appreciate. I don't know what exactly makes that the case, because this book didn't have any scenes that stuck out to me so profoundly as some did in the last book (check out my review.) That being said, the writing continues to feel very raw and exposed in a way that I really appreciate, while still retaining humor and heart.
Also about the writing, the use of swear words has (I feel) upped in each book (in no small part due to Vida's addition to our merry band.) I feel like as the writing got rawer (in response to the content getting rawer) there was this addition of cursing, and I feel like it was done really well. It's hard for me, because oftentimes, I find, in YA lit, it's either all swearing all the time ([b:Looking for Alaska|99561|Looking for Alaska|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394798630s/99561.jpg|919292]) or a lot of kind of juvenile replacements for swearing that just feels kind of fake ([b:Rebel Belle|8475505|Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle, #1)|Rachel Hawkins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371650817s/8475505.jpg|13340323]) and I feel like this book avoided both of those pitfalls and managed to be really realistic (at least, to the amount of swearing that I find in my life as a teenager.) There are characters who swear more and the more tense the situation gets the more swearing etc. That's just a kind of weird thing to make me really happy, but it truly does.
VIDA AND CHUBS!!!!!!!!!! I love them separately, and DEAR GOODNESS I LOVE THEM TOGETHER!!!! That whole conversation with Chubs and contraception and… so good, that made me so happy. Also, just putting this out there, but I totally called them getting together.
And Vida is so strong and such a badass and Chubs cares so deeply and is so amazing and I just love the family that was created here so much.
I love the relationship that slowly but surely developed between Vida and Zu. That they were just helping each other so much in developing strengths in areas that might not have come so easily to them beforehand. It was just SOOOO sweet.
AND WHEN ZU TALKED OUT LOUD AND AHH I LOVED THIS WHOLE BOOK SO, SO, SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!
Nico was really interesting to me. He betrayed them, kind of, but also he was so in love with Clancy and did his best to try to help Clancy become a better person and help them all out… and he's just kind of on the fringes of the group and he's been hurt so badly and… I don't know, he was just very interesting to me and I wish that there had been a little bit more detail about his life and what happens to him etc.
Liam and his rules when they made out in the closet just UGH, MADE ME SO HAPPY!!! Also, I know that I'm like the only person who fangirls over guys (and people in general, obviously, but it tends to be exemplified YA lit through guys) who are, like, super clear about a base of enthusiastic consent and saying and communicating if you're not feeling it or whatever and that he included that just made me so happy.
Personal YA pet peeve that happened in this book as well as other ones (for example, [b:City of Heavenly Fire|8755785|City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6)|Cassandra Clare|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389748702s/8755785.jpg|13629068]) where there are like, making out scenes that go… far enough in a reasonable amount of detail and then the second that it's the big sex scene it's like "and then he kissed me and then he was inside me the end." That's just annoying to me.
Was I the only one who felt like some of the "our bodies we get to decide what happens to them" thing was basically a pro-choice political statement? I mean, I love that, of course, but it just stood out to me.
Also, I thought that whole progression of events (especially Chubs just coming into his own there, love) was really great. And them fighting for the right to control what happens to them and learning to love the parts of themselves that are so important to them. LOVE!!!
Ruby getting connected to her family again. Grams was amazing and her descriptions of everyone were spot on and fabulous. And Ruby restored the memories to her family, that was amazing and then they were together again.
And when she went back to her cabin and she was with her family there again and the story and restoring all of the memories to Sam…
I love that the ending (as far as the romance part of it) was both a melding of what the dream was in book one, just two normal people meeting and falling in love in a normal life, and also was very much Liam and Ruby. Like, they still have their powers and they still have everything that they've learned thus far about themselves and each other, but also they have to apply that to driving to meet each other and curfews and… it's just really great. It was their dream meeting with their reality and I think that they're going figure it out famously.
Let's end on the fact that I will be picking up any and everything that Ms. Bracken writes from now until eternity.
FFFFFFFFIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brilliant, brilliant ending to a trilogy I've truly loved: 96%
It's the third in a trilogy so I don't give a little blurb thing, but you should read ALL OF THEM and then the only blurb I'll give is it wraps everything up.
SPOILERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS DISCUSSION!!!!!!!!!!!!
First of all, the last line of the book is about the open road, right? And that was Julian's version of the future, an open road after a thunderstorm (and I don't know what the hell all of the stuff that's gone on in these books would be called if not a thunderstorm.) It was JULIAN'S future, he was still with them all no matter what, that beautiful, beautiful boy lived on with them. I cried like nobody's business at that. So freaking good.
Ruby is such a strong character. Sometimes, her strength can be a pain in the ass and totally unnecessary and her independence drives me CRAZY (I'll talk more about that later) but it must be said that she is incredibly strong. She walked out of that freaking camp on her own two legs, despite it all. She learns to own herself, and all of the parts of herself. She learns how to control her powers, and not let them control her. She goes back and (of course, with a lot of help) helps the family that she made there escape. She protects those that she loves with absolutely EVERYTHING that she has in her. Is she a well-rounded character? No. But she's someone you want on your side, no matter what.
That being said, jeez she's not all that great at being in a relationship. That whole communicating thing just doesn't come easily to her and that pissed me off on so many different occasions. She and Liam just needed to talk to each other and trust each other to go out and do what they needed to do. They spent so much time trying to protect each other that they just ended up growing farther and farther apart (and then making out so everything was fine, but really.) I obviously love their relationship, but the fact that they just COULDN'T seem to talk to each other or fully trust each other grated on me and created SO much unnecessary angst (and we had enough necessary angst anyway.)
CLANCY!!! FRIGGIN' CLANCY!!! That whole twist was built up so well. With the sleep-walking that she started doing and the footage missing and… I just thought that the way that was put together was really skillful and I, for one, didn't see it coming. Clancy is just such a horrible person, and I think that all of the realizations that Ruby comes to at the end were just so important to keep her from becoming like him. I hated him, but I also pitied him.
Again, I love the writing in here. It definitely has a quality that seems very real to it that I really appreciate. I don't know what exactly makes that the case, because this book didn't have any scenes that stuck out to me so profoundly as some did in the last book (check out my review.) That being said, the writing continues to feel very raw and exposed in a way that I really appreciate, while still retaining humor and heart.
Also about the writing, the use of swear words has (I feel) upped in each book (in no small part due to Vida's addition to our merry band.) I feel like as the writing got rawer (in response to the content getting rawer) there was this addition of cursing, and I feel like it was done really well. It's hard for me, because oftentimes, I find, in YA lit, it's either all swearing all the time ([b:Looking for Alaska|99561|Looking for Alaska|John Green|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1394798630s/99561.jpg|919292]) or a lot of kind of juvenile replacements for swearing that just feels kind of fake ([b:Rebel Belle|8475505|Rebel Belle (Rebel Belle, #1)|Rachel Hawkins|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1371650817s/8475505.jpg|13340323]) and I feel like this book avoided both of those pitfalls and managed to be really realistic (at least, to the amount of swearing that I find in my life as a teenager.) There are characters who swear more and the more tense the situation gets the more swearing etc. That's just a kind of weird thing to make me really happy, but it truly does.
VIDA AND CHUBS!!!!!!!!!! I love them separately, and DEAR GOODNESS I LOVE THEM TOGETHER!!!! That whole conversation with Chubs and contraception and… so good, that made me so happy. Also, just putting this out there, but I totally called them getting together.
And Vida is so strong and such a badass and Chubs cares so deeply and is so amazing and I just love the family that was created here so much.
I love the relationship that slowly but surely developed between Vida and Zu. That they were just helping each other so much in developing strengths in areas that might not have come so easily to them beforehand. It was just SOOOO sweet.
AND WHEN ZU TALKED OUT LOUD AND AHH I LOVED THIS WHOLE BOOK SO, SO, SOOOO MUCH!!!!!!!
Nico was really interesting to me. He betrayed them, kind of, but also he was so in love with Clancy and did his best to try to help Clancy become a better person and help them all out… and he's just kind of on the fringes of the group and he's been hurt so badly and… I don't know, he was just very interesting to me and I wish that there had been a little bit more detail about his life and what happens to him etc.
Liam and his rules when they made out in the closet just UGH, MADE ME SO HAPPY!!! Also, I know that I'm like the only person who fangirls over guys (and people in general, obviously, but it tends to be exemplified YA lit through guys) who are, like, super clear about a base of enthusiastic consent and saying and communicating if you're not feeling it or whatever and that he included that just made me so happy.
Personal YA pet peeve that happened in this book as well as other ones (for example, [b:City of Heavenly Fire|8755785|City of Heavenly Fire (The Mortal Instruments, #6)|Cassandra Clare|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1389748702s/8755785.jpg|13629068]) where there are like, making out scenes that go… far enough in a reasonable amount of detail and then the second that it's the big sex scene it's like "and then he kissed me and then he was inside me the end." That's just annoying to me.
Was I the only one who felt like some of the "our bodies we get to decide what happens to them" thing was basically a pro-choice political statement? I mean, I love that, of course, but it just stood out to me.
Also, I thought that whole progression of events (especially Chubs just coming into his own there, love) was really great. And them fighting for the right to control what happens to them and learning to love the parts of themselves that are so important to them. LOVE!!!
Ruby getting connected to her family again. Grams was amazing and her descriptions of everyone were spot on and fabulous. And Ruby restored the memories to her family, that was amazing and then they were together again.
And when she went back to her cabin and she was with her family there again and the story and restoring all of the memories to Sam…
I love that the ending (as far as the romance part of it) was both a melding of what the dream was in book one, just two normal people meeting and falling in love in a normal life, and also was very much Liam and Ruby. Like, they still have their powers and they still have everything that they've learned thus far about themselves and each other, but also they have to apply that to driving to meet each other and curfews and… it's just really great. It was their dream meeting with their reality and I think that they're going figure it out famously.
Let's end on the fact that I will be picking up any and everything that Ms. Bracken writes from now until eternity.
FFFFFFFFIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Brilliant, brilliant ending to a trilogy I've truly loved: 96%