Review-The Aftermath by Jen Alexander-4*

Title: The Aftermath
Series: Aftermath #1
Author: Jen Alexander
Genre: YA Dystopian

Rating: * * * *

Publishers: Harlequin Teen

(Aug 26, 2014)

Paperback: 288 pages

ISBN: 978-0373211326

FTC Disclosure: Net Galley

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 cannibal Hoarders. 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.

Aftermath

1. The Aftermath (2014)

   2.   ??                                     

Though I’m a lover of YA Dystopian fiction, I’ve never been much of a gamer, so I thought that a lot of this book would be over my head. Surprising, it wasn’t and I really loved the idea of the RPG being played by real people (though they don't realize it) that was controlled by richer real people. The one thought that kept circling in my mind was what if the gamer was grounded by their parents for awhile, would their game character die without food and water? I gotta admit, this aspect of it really freaked me out.

I enjoyed the pace of the book and while it wasn’t overly action driven there was a nice balance between the action in the game and the downtime of the characters. In the beginning, I thought that the characters were a bit flat but once realizing that they were just movable pieces in a game, it made sense for them to be pretty emotionless.  You quickly realize that Claudia is the exception to this and then it reaches a whole other level of intensity. I’m looking forward to the next book in this series cause when you say “cliffhanger”, boy does the author leave you with a doozy of one.