leahrosereads
Written on May 15, 2014
2.5 Stars
After the Parch by Sheldon Greene is a YA dystopian novel that follows the hero, Bran’s travels and his attempts to save his tiny, unobtrusive community, the Glade. Along his travels, he teams up with a couple of eclectic characters, including Ephus, a young boy that Bran brought into the Glade after find him alone in the wilderness; a prostitute-in-training warrior lady, 17 year old June; and a mysterious - Nikanor. During his travel, Bran meets members of Unity America, a shadow government who's attempting to help society in secret.
Recently, I’ve been hesitant about YA dystopian novels, because there are just so many out there now, and it feels like I’m reading the same plot/settings/ideas over and over again. However, I really wanted to try a novel suggested by Bostick Communications, and when I received an e-mail summarizing After the Parch, I decided to request it. Although I had my reservations about another dystopian novel that followed another teenager, I always hope that the next one I read will be the one that breaks the mold. This wasn’t it.
It took me forever to connect with the main character, Bran, and I'm not sure if it was because he's not the smartest MC, or if it was because there wasn't that much meat to the novel. Or it could have been that on Day 3 of his 10 day journey, he meets up with the pretty, young thing June, and seems to just go right into an insta-loveish/lust kind of deal with her. At the same time, the reader is reminded of his girlfriend back in the Glade, Mavis, but since we didn't really meet her, I didn't care all that much about her anyway.
I just felt pretty apathetic to Bran's entire situation while reading this, and I'm sure that's not what I should have felt.