After the Ending

by Lindsey Fairleigh and Lindsey Pogue

[Angie]

It's flu season, but it's no ordinary flu. In After the Ending, billions of people contracted a new strain of H1N1, and simply dropped dead right before Christmas. Zoe and Dani are two of very few survivors. Zoe's brother, Jason, is in the Air Force and told her to head toward the base, while he goes to find Dani who had been sick but was one of the lucky ones. Now, they're all headed toward Colorado, but it's slow going without proper transportation and with "crazies" roaming around trying to kill them.

I quite enjoyed After the Ending. There's something about apocalypses brought on by disease that I can't get enough of. In this case, it's just a horrible flu. Or is it? No one's really sure if this was just a case of the virus evolving or if someone created it and let it out. All they do know is that the survivors are developing abilities or losing their minds. Zoe can sense people's emotions and see their memories, while Dani is telepathic. They also run into people who have manipulative powers and are quite dangerous. I actually really loved Dani's ability, since she's kind of a demented Disney princess, since it also works on animals. She's able to call hoards of critters to her to do her bidding. Bad ass.

After the Ending is kind of slow and repetitive in places. It covers about four months of traveling. Zoe's group managed to get some cars started and siphoned fuel, while Dani and Company are on horse back. Needless to say, it's slow going for both groups. I was a bit annoyed that Dani and Zoe get caught in the same psychotic romance, love triangle kind of thing. There's a hot guy in each of their groups, and of course there's a woman who's been with the group longer who apparently has dibs on them. Then said women go totally crazy and try to kill Dani and Zoe for trying to steal their man. I don't have a problem with this plot thread on its own, but I didn't like how it was a main source of conflict for both main characters. It was like I was reading the same thing twice.

In the end, I enjoyed After the Ending. It ends on a bit of a weird cliffhanger, so I'm curious to see where that goes. But most importantly I want to know more about this virus! It was seeming more and more likely that it was intentional, due to all of the amazing abilities that are cropping up, and I want to know who and why!

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.