The dystopian genre has been quite popular in the last couple of years, especially when it come to Young Adult books, but truthfully I haven't read many that are outside the YA subgroup. The After Trilogy (or series?) has frankly been a great discovery and I'm a big fan of the concept and the story. As an adult dystopian book, I think it's a nice change from the YA genre books that I'm used to reading, since it does allow for darker and more mature themes. If you thought dystopian books only worked for YA, Traci L. Slatton will prove you wrong.
The post-apocalyptic mists destroy everything in their path, and for those who were lucky to avoid being engulfed by these mists, it either transformed them into ruthless survivors, crazy psychopaths, mindless imbeciles or changed ordinary people into heroes. The main character, Emma, is one of these heroes because the appearance of the mists has given her the ability to heal with the simple touch of her hands. Her story is a complicated one, and her dedication to her family and to those she loves brings out the best in her. She is a true survivor, doing anything and everything she needs to do in order to survive and keep her family and friends out of danger, even risk being held prisoner in order to free her lover, Arthur, from torture at the hands of their nemesis. I really admire what she goes through to save Arthur, and while I don't necessarily agree with her actions, I can understand where she's coming from. Leaving her husband and daughters behind, she embarks on a mad mission to free her lover. I find it a bit shameless to leave a husband behind in order to save another lover, and while she did believe her husband dead in the beginning of this new relationship, she does cause him a lot of pain by bouncing between the both of them.
Arthur is a strong and intelligent man, and I can definitely see why any woman in her right mind might be attracted to him. What began as a business transaction between Arthur and Emma turned into romance and love. Their relationship is a complicated one for sure and even if I'm completely against infidelity, I think they make a great pair and I really hope everything ends up in their favor in the end.
Actually, many survivors find love over the course of the series and I think those stories are important in order to balance out the death and the destruction of this post-apocalyptic world. I love how detailed the secondary characters are and how their romantic relationships are present too. Truthfully, I think the author's character development is phenomenal because she really makes you care about each and everyone of her characters. The camaraderie between the characters also balances out the darker themes of the book, and truthfully, just makes is more interesting to read. The series is really about the human condition so it's also nice to see how different characters deal with the new struggles of this post-apocalyptic world.
This series definitely keeps getting better and better! Mysteries about the Arthur and the origin of the mists continue to be revealed and the mists begin to evolve into something stronger and more organized. I was introduced to this series as a trilogy but I really hope it doesn't end with book 3. Emma and Arthur's story is definitively not over and I can't wait to see how things will unfold. I would absolutely recommend this series to any fan of dystopian books, especially those who want to branch out from YA dystopian series that seem to be dominating the genre lately.
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