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A review by booksthatburn
The Afterward by E.K. Johnston
adventurous
funny
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In THE AFTERWARD, the heroes have to live somehow when the big quest is done: A thief too well-recognized to pull off a heist and a knight who must marry as the price of her armor. Told in alternating sections between Before and After, THE AFTERWARD shows how if the journey changes you until you can never really go home again, you had best make something new with those you love.
I love the way the Before sections don't try too hard to convey the precise details of the quest from a year ago. It shows glimpses to provide context for the After sections, but it's much more loosely connected and feels like it covers much more time than the more focused After section. In the After, Kalanthe and Olsa are trying to figure out what happens after they became big damn heroes at seventeen but still have to live the rest of their lives. The heart of the story is each of them figuring out whether the romance they had on the road can be part of their future. The two parts of the book are really well balanced and I loved the overall effect.
This book has a quest, but it is not, fundamentally, a book about a quest. It's about two young women who were in love and probably still are, taking the time to do things on their own for a while. I love the setting, I love the characters, I just had so much fun reading this that I didn't want it to be over.
The rest of this review briefly discusses some medical conditions portrayed in the book and contains minor spoilers.
As someone who had a traumatic brain injury, I appreciated the representation here. Thankfully I'm more recovered than the character living with a magically induced TBI in the After section, but the modified hood she wears and the way she frankly discusses the way she's living with her particular TBI were really cathartic to read.
There is a character with an aneurism, who knows he has one and dies from it during the story. His exit is plot-convenient, but he also existed in the first place to help resolve some problems for one of the main characters. He gets what, for him, is explicitly the best possible ending, but I don't know if this portrayal might be distressing for people who know that they share his medical condition.
I love the way the Before sections don't try too hard to convey the precise details of the quest from a year ago. It shows glimpses to provide context for the After sections, but it's much more loosely connected and feels like it covers much more time than the more focused After section. In the After, Kalanthe and Olsa are trying to figure out what happens after they became big damn heroes at seventeen but still have to live the rest of their lives. The heart of the story is each of them figuring out whether the romance they had on the road can be part of their future. The two parts of the book are really well balanced and I loved the overall effect.
This book has a quest, but it is not, fundamentally, a book about a quest. It's about two young women who were in love and probably still are, taking the time to do things on their own for a while. I love the setting, I love the characters, I just had so much fun reading this that I didn't want it to be over.
The rest of this review briefly discusses some medical conditions portrayed in the book and contains minor spoilers.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Confinement, Medical content, Blood, Gore, Violence, Death of parent, and Death
CW for aneurism, traumatic brain injury.