Book Review - After The Ending

 

Co-authors and friends Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh have written an apocalyptic tale of what happens to two buddies, Zoe and Dani, when they survive a plague. Zoe and Dani live on different coasts of the U.S., but once the plague hits, the survivors (about 10% of the population) travel to Colorado to reside in what’s assumed to be a safe place. Dani makes this journey with Zoe’s brother, Jason, who is a military guy that Dani had a crush on while growing up. Zoe is teamed with her ex-boyfriend and a fairly new friend, Sarah. Everybody encounters a whole host of problems while on their journey, and for the most part they don’t know what’s become of their friends and family. But Zoe and Dani send regular emails as they travel to reach each other. Every other chapter is told from one of their perspectives, and the emails they send are also included.

This is a clever idea for a novel, and I was intrigued from the beginning. Twenty years ago I read Stephen King’s The Stand, and ever since then I’ve enjoyed a good mass-plague tale. This is definitely very different from The Stand however, although both works include super-natural elements. After the Ending is quite obviously written for a female audience. Zoe and Dani are as worried about their crushes and their relationships as they are about survival, and they’re both very introspective. They focus on figuring out their feelings even as the world is falling apart. That’s not a criticism – I’d probably do the same thing.

This is a lively book with lots of dialogue and description, and it’s the first in the series.

This review is part of a blog tour put on by Orangeberry. To read an Orangeberry interview with authors Lindsey Pogue and Lindsey Fairleigh, click here.

Amazon link - click here