After Life

3.5 stars/5 stars
The author provided me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.

The Skinny:

Kaemen, a wolfhound in the nation of Gaescea, is spirited with a difficult task; he and his fellow wolfhounds must protect their land from a mysterious threat. Mecas, the Gaescea seer, has predicted that a horrible darkness is coming. Commander Dagoran, Kaemen, and Breoch set forth, gathering an army that they hope will defeat whatever is to come. But little is as it seems, and the trio abruptly awakens in the Land of the Dead, also known as Tuonel. Desperate with the desire to find out how they came to be in Tuonel, Kaemen and his allies must work together to try to not only unravel the puzzle their lives have become, but to also save Gaescea from afar.

The Review:

The good:

*The melding of horror and fantasy was what I found most captivating. I can’t recall reading a book that had quite the same fusion of genres that this story contained. This combination made the story seem very unique and fresh. Many novels unfortunately end up relying on tropes and stock characters to move the story along, but I can say that this wasn’t the case with After Life.

*Many of the characters were interesting, albeit a little flat. One of the more captivating characters was Skotein, the villain. His background story lent him an intriguing air, and gave a darker and more psychotic feel to his actions. Being an unstable character, it was hard to determine what he was going to do next. I would have liked to been privy to even more of Skotein’s thoughts and actions, and to have learned even more about his past.

*The landscape/world of Tuonel cannot go without mention. Imagine a world where you are so hungry, and so parched, that you virtually lose your mind trying to obtain food and drink. Envision a place where the wildlife that you believe will sustain you is full of dust. Think of a place where the stream that should provide you with water instead accosts your ears with a scraping sound as ash meanders its way where the water should be. How creepy, upsetting, and dark is that? How COOL is that?

Also, the faceless people? Friggin creepy as all get out.

*The main reveal in this book was a biggie. I can honestly say that I was not expecting it in the slightest, which was both good and bad. Because this is the ‘good’ section of my review, I will tell you why this reveal was pretty sweet. First, like I said, I had no clue it was coming. Second, it made total sense when I really thought about it (although it took me a bit to come to this conclusion). Third, it was pretty spooky and badass, which I like.

The meh:

*The middle of this story was just okay. There was far too much marching and being hungry, and not enough fuckery and intrigue. While the ending more than made up for it, I felt that the middle dragged.

*The major reveal was a little out of left field. It made sense after it was discussed in full, yet when it was initially disclosed, it felt very sudden. I ended up liking and appreciating the twist, but it did take some time.

*The ‘good’ characters were a little stagnant. Several of these characters met with gruesome deaths, yet I wasn’t overly moved. When you aren’t moved by a major death then something needs a little tweaking. I feel that two of the characters in particular would have benefited from a little more depth and focus (Breoch and Dagoran). I felt as if I was a smidgen away from truly caring about them. Perhaps further background information would have elevated these characters to a higher level of importance for me.

Overall:

While the pacing of After Life was a little off and some of the characters were a tad too shallow, I liked reading this novel. There were several times that I questioned whether I was really enjoying myself, yet I kept returning to read on (quite eagerly, in fact). I feel that a large part of this can be attributed to the unique premise of the story, because it kept me guessing to the very end.

While After Life could have done with some tightening up, I feel that overall it was a well written read. I will be looking forward to reading further works by this author.