Review of Jen Alexander's The Aftermath
Release Date: August 26th, 2014
Synopsis as found on Amazon.com:
Sometimes, I dream that I'm someone else.
A girl with dark hair who doesn't worry about hunger or thirst or running from flesh-eaters.
In her world, those sorts of things don't exist….
Since the spring of 2036, when the world changed forever, Claudia and a small clan of survivors have roamed the streets of a very altered Nashville—polluted and desolate, except for the ever-present threat of cannibals. Together they must undergo punishing tests of endurance and psychological challenge—sometimes with devastating consequences—all just to live another day.
With food and water in dwindling supply, and with danger lurking around every corner, no one can be trusted. And as her world starts to make less and less sense, Claudia begins to realize something terrifying: she is just a pawn in some sort of game, and all of her actions are being controlled from afar by a mysterious gamer. So when she meets a maddening and fascinating outsider named Declan, who claims to be a game moderator, she must decide whether to join him in exchange for protection and access to the border.
If they play the game right, they are each other's best hope for survival—and a life beyond the only world Claudia's ever known: the terrifying live-action game known as The Aftermath.
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Excerpt from The Aftermath:
Missions to free captured Survivors from flesh-eater dens, and the fraying bonds between the members of our clan, are the only remnants of the humanity we'd once known - a time in my life I can't even remember because I had awakened in this world with no recollection of my past. Who was I before all this? Was I carefree and loved, a girl with a family and a real home? Or was I manipulative, like the person I've become, this person who has killed other people time and time again? Even though everything I've done is out of necessity - the need to survive - the longer we live this way, the less human I feel.
Sooner or later, there won't be any humanity left to salvage.
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Claudia Virtue isn't sure who she is anymore. Her thoughts contradict with her feelings, she is no longer in control of her own actions, and she keeps having these dreams about a girl that looks just like her, but is in a completely different world. She is the leader of her clan and she is in charge of making sure they aren't killed by flesh-eaters (Savage Cannibals), as well as making sure they have enough food, water, and supplies by taking them on missions. She is just starting to realize that her weird behavior and the unexplained blackouts that she keeps having are not the result of something she is doing.
From the very beginning, you know something is wrong. It all seems too surreal and there is something sinister going on. When she is knocked out while on a raid with her boyfriend, she wakes up to find that she can finally see what is really happening. Claudia and her friends are living inside of a video game. They are only characters being played by real people in the real world. While her friends are still oblivious, she has become sentient. When her player logs off, she used to black out and only wake back up when her player logged back on... but now, she is able to control herself for that period of time.
Claudia is the result of a glitch in the program. She can't let anyone find out or the game moderators will delete her. All she wants to do is find a way out. So when an attractive dark haired boy offers to help her escape if she can help him find someone, there is only 1 thing to do.
This book is not what I expected when I purchased it... but in so many ways, it is better than I could have ever imagined. So much happens that I didn't see coming that every page kept me on my toes. I enjoyed every second of reading it and now I'm aching for more. The ending is a cliff-hanger that only gives you half of the answers that you were searching for and I need to know what happens next.
I love a book that makes me beg for more and The Aftermath is definitely that book!!
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