In The After Light

Today's review is on In The After Light by Alexandra Bracken. It is the last book in her The Darkest Minds trilogy. It is 535 pages long and is published by Hyperion. The cover is purple-black with a yellow crescent moon in the center. The intended reader is someone who has read the first two volumes, likes dystopian stories, and teens with powers. There is some language, talk of sex, and lots of violence in this book. The story is told from the first person perspective of the main character Ruby. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the dust jacket- Ruby can't look back. Fractured by unbearable loss, she and the kids who survived the government's attack on Los Angeles travel north to regroup. Only Ruby can keep their highly dangerous prisoner in check. But with Clancy Gray, there's no guarantee you're fully in control, and everything comes with a price.

When the Children's League disbands, Ruby rises up as a leader and forms an unlikely allegiance with Liam's brother, Cole, who has a volatile secret of his won. There are still thousands of other Psi kids suffering in government “rehabilitation camps” all over the country. Freeing them- revealing the government's unspeakable abuses in the process- is the mission Ruby has claimed since her her own escape from Thurmond, the worst camp in the country.
But not everyone is supportive of the plan Ruby and Cole craft to free the camps. As tensions rise, competing ideals threaten the mission to uncover the cause of IAAN, the disease that killed most of America's children and left Ruby and others with powers the government will kill to keep contained. With the fate of a generation in their hands, there is no room for error. One wrong move could be the spark that sets the world on fire.

Review- This was a good ending to a good trilogy. Bracken ties up most of the loose ends. If she wants to come back and write more in this world she can. I hope that she does. Where IAAN comes from was unsurprising to me but I do think that was a good choice. I was really annoyed with Liam in this book. I wanted to be easier on him but I just could not be. I really wanted Ruby to not be with him at the end of the book but I understand that is part of this. One thing that did surprise me was the low death toll. Only one major character dies in this book and only two overall. In this post Hunger Games world, that was nice and unexpected. I still really enjoyed the story. The narration is strong, the writing is solid, and the dialog is believable. I like how Bracken handles Clancy in the end. I think that Ruby did a lot of growing over the course of the trilogy. But if Bracken comes back to this world I would want it to be after about 20 to 40 years. I want to see what the kids who have the powers now are dealing with a parents. I want to know if their children will be like them. If Bracken comes back I will read it and I look forward to reading whatever she puts out next. I also love that the titles make a full sentence- The darkest minds never fade in the after light. I really liked that.

I give this book a Five out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I borrowed this book from my local library.