It's an exceptional author who can move you with the beauty of the emotions they evoke. It's more obvious when it's joy, hope or love. But just as beaIt's an exceptional author who can move you with the beauty of the emotions they evoke. It's more obvious when it's joy, hope or love. But just as beautiful, in their own way, are the wrenching feelings Sophie Littlefield elicits in her dystopian Aftertime trilogy. In this second installment, we see grief, despair, and hopelessness. It's heartbreaking, but you can't look away. You don't want to look away. You keep reading, refusing to relinquish the hope that after the darkness will come the dawn; after the misery, we'll be rewarded with some kind of triumph.
Cass has created a makeshift home and family in the trading center known as the Box. She has reunited with her daughter Ruthie and she has allowed herself to fall in love with Smoke. But the fragile happiness she has found is short-lived. When Smoke gets word that the Rebuilders have killed many of the refugees in the place where he once lived, he goes on a vengeance mission; one likely to lead to his death. And he doesn't even say goodbye. Cass decides to leave the Box with its founder, Dor, as he goes in search of his daughter Sammi, who was taken by the raiding Rebuilders.
Cass is devastated by Smoke's abandonment. She blames herself for allowing him access to her heart. She acts out, trying to harden herself. She makes reckless choices that you can see like a train wreck a mile away. And maybe that will alienate some readers. To me, it just made me see her as more broken. She is trying to rebuild the wall around herself that Smoke had penetrated, and somehow manages to drag Dor into her warped decisions in the process. The book follows Cass, Dor and Ruthie as they infiltrate the Rebuilder camp and learn more about the group's nefarious plans.
I suppose from this review, you'd never know this book is about a post-apocalyptic world, overrun by zombies. That's because, to me, that's just a backdrop to watch the lives of these characters unfold. To watch Cass break and rebuild. To watch Ruthie heal and grow. To watch Dor unwittingly shed his cloak of solitude and allow Cass in. And, of course, to see the human condition when people are stripped of the trappings of modern life... from the screwed-up ideals of the Rebuilders to the bandits who accost unwary travelers to the heartbroken mother who refuses to accept the fact that her son is dying. It's absolutely mesmerizing. And hauntingly beautiful. Even more powerful than its predecessor. 5 stars.
Sophie Littlefield gives the Apocalypse a new twist in the world she has created in Aftertime. The big event didn't come with bombs or nuclear weaponsSophie Littlefield gives the Apocalypse a new twist in the world she has created in Aftertime. The big event didn't come with bombs or nuclear weapons. A biological agent destroyed most of the food supply on Earth, creating wide-spread famine. In a last-ditch effort to feed the people, the government dispersed seeds for a special plant that would serve everyone's nutritional needs. Seeds for a second plant got mixed in... but it was flawed and turned anyone who ate it into zombies, called Beaters. As with traditional zombie mythology, they hunger for human flesh --and as they feed, they turn their victims into zombies too.
Cass was attacked, but unlike anyone else, she recovered. When she came to her senses, she was miles away from the camp where she was living --and she was separated from her young daughter. The book follows her quest to reunite with little Ruthie. On her way, she meets up with Smoke, who becomes a love interest of sorts. There are two main roadblocks to a relationship. One, Cass's fear that her saliva will infect him. And two, her warped past of promiscuity and addiction.
Littlefield's world is stark and bleak. It shows us a myriad of ways people could react to a cataclysmic event and few of them are pretty. And if that doesn't give you the heavy feel of a boulder on your chest, getting inside Cass's head will certainly do it. She is a woman filled equally with purpose and self-loathing. It takes a long time to get to the bottom of the self-destructive nature of her old life, but when we get the answers, they are exactly what you'd expect. What you might NOT expect, is her refusal to give up on Ruthie. And let me tell you, it's a long and winding road to find her.
The story builds and builds to a huge crescendo, to end rather abruptly. But I can forgive that, knowing the sequel, Rebirth, is coming this summer. I can only hope it will feature Cass & Smoke. (His was a great character, and we barely scratched the surface.)
This was a really good book, which was constantly posing new questions as it answered old ones. And it's a great study of humanity's greatest strengths and weaknesses all at once. 4 1/2 stars.
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