17393021Title: Hereafter

Author: Kate Brian

Publisher: Disney Hyperion

Publication Date: October 2013

Genre: Young Adult Fiction/Fantasy

Series or Stand Alone: Series, Book Two

Synopsis can be found here.
I received a copy of this book free of charge from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Review:

If you haven’t read Shadowlands, book one in this trilogy, then stop reading now. Spoilers from Book One ahead!

You’re back?

Awesome.

So, Hereafter picks up where Shadowlands leaves off. Rory is trapped on this vacation island with her father, sister and a bunch of Lifers. These Lifers stay on the island, forever, shuttling the dead to their next destination. Just as she is learning the ropes, something bad starts happening. And I mean like really bad. Like souls going to the wrong final destination place bad. And Rory is one of the few people who believes this is actually happening. Because things like this don’t just happen in their world. They can’t die. And the gold coin always sends the soul to the correct place. Until now. Now, there are insects, dead animals. Now, everything is haywire. And some people are blaming Rory.

I enjoyed Shadowlands and thought I might like Hereafter. But I don’t think it is the book for me. Perhaps it’s because Rory is better in small doses? Or Hereafter maybe just suffers from sequel syndrome.

Rory is impossibly annoying, constantly arguing with everyone and whining. Yes, she’s compassionate but if I had her shuttling me around to my next destination, I would probably slap her first and tell her to grow up. Tristan is mysterious, and of course he’s going to be one of her love interests. But he becomes more of a stubborn obstacle in this book with very little motivation. Sad to say, their attraction and romance was unbelievable to me. I kept thinking, at both of them, why do you think this person? They act like they’re Romeo and Juliet, having been kept apart for so long, when really it’s only been like 24 hours and no one is keeping them apart, except their own stupidity.

There’s also not a lot going on at the home front. While her father and sister played such a huge part in Book One, and I believe that also grounded Rory and made her a more likeable character, they both are just passing characters in this second book. It’s more focused on the current Lifers on the island and the suspicious activities that are occurring.

The plot moves fast and I really liked the interspersed chapters of the person who was at fault. The voice was creepy, taunting and added a sense of danger and edge to the book. These chapters were my favorite part, and propelled the story forward giving it a much needed boost.

So there I am, reading, reading, reading… And all of a sudden.. The ending happens. And you’re like What?!

Yeah, so I’ll be reading book three to find out what the fudge just happened!!

Hereafter is good for people who want the story to continue, especially after Shadowlands‘s cliff hanger ending. I’m hoping that book three will tie everything up together.

Rating 6