BLURB----THE APOCALYPSE: A chimera devastates the human population. Technology fails and infrastructure crumbles. Civilization collapses. AFTER: A generation apart, two women and the men who love them make incredible sacrifices to survive, and to destroy a brutal system of sexual slavery in a world where men outnumber women ten-to-one. After two years roaming the devastated South alone, eighteen-year-old Eva is captured and held prisoner by the few surviving soldiers at a military base, who haven't seen a woman since The Dying. In Eva, Major Smith sees only the future of the human race, and he'll exceed all moral boundaries to ensure she gives birth to the next generation. But Eva and John--the man she is paired with--are determined to fight for freedom and a better future. Two decades later, on the other side of the country, a Resistance woman is captured and brutally punished for subverting the Sex Laws. When she flees to the Resistance, Nix must decide if the man who helped her escape can be trusted, or if he's a spy using her to infiltrate the counter-slavery movement. As Nix makes her way east, her story twines with Eva's in a way neither woman could have imagined.
I love Varian Krylov.
In After we have two separate stories which do not run concurrently in time but are connected. The basic plot line follows a post apocalyptic world where woman are scarce and sexual slavery is abundant. First we have Eva who is a strong but sweet sort of martyr. Her story is a tale of making it all work in a very selfless way. The secondary characters are all great to all have depth and you can empathize with many of them.
The second part is about Nix, she is much stronger than Eva emotionally and is very much in self preservation mode.
Both woman are admirable in their intentions.
This book is not light reading. At all. It's also an absolutely fascinating character study, and as with all Varian Krylov they are very long, very dark, and very heavy on sex. If you aren't put off then I strongly recommend this read.
