This book is an ok science fiction romp with cyborgs and well defined characters. I wouldn’t say it’s a fantastic read but it’s not at all bad, I enjoyed it.

So this is a book that has been on my radar but I wasn’t going to pick it up until I saw it being offered for review on YA Bound Blog Tours. The synopsis of After Darkness is really interesting, it gave me a mix of V for Vendetta and Lunar Chronicles with a massive dose of the Hunger Games vibes, I love V for Vendetta and Hunger Games but I feel really meh about the Lunar Chronicles so I am hoping this falls more towards V for Vendetta and Hunger Games than the Lunar Chronicles. So this world features both humans and cyborgs who are forbidden to interact but our protagonist Terra Underwood doesn’t understand this law, which is punishable by death. After Darkness opens with Terra having a dream about a boy with silver hair who she desperately tries to save but fails every time after being chased by a huge crow. I can already tell that the boy is someone she is going to meet later on in the book and might possibly be a love interest as well.


We learn very early on that Terra has a major problem with authority and this stems from the fact that her father is a very important political figure who has little time for his daughter. We haven’t seen anything from her mother as Terra lives with her grandmother making me think that the mother is absent or dead. Terra as a hobby and outlet for her aggression fights in an illegal underground place called the Pits which is located in the Undermarket. She has risen to become the best in her category after being trained by a cyborg named Hooky which may contribute to why Terra doesn’t understand why humans can’t have any contact with cyborgs and why they are segregated from human society. This novel feels very much like the Hunger Games but also have some elements from 1984 with the Big Brother is always watching aspect of this novel. On day in the Pits, Terra is paired up against a young cyborg male named Kalem who is the boy from her nightmares and while she tries to talk to him he seems to vanish whenever she is nearby.

As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, the Pits is raided by the Watchers, this world’s version of Peacekeepers, Terra, Kalem and her two friends, Sasha and Damien are caught up in it. Hooky manages to get Terra out but another cyborg Jimmy is killed and Hooky won’t leave his home, as she flees Terra runs into Kalem and after a few heated words throws her shoe at him reminding me of another scene but he takes in her and agrees to shelter her until the curfew is lifted. He makes her promise that she never speaks of what she sees or hears in his home which is full of cyborgs but she manages to get through his cold exterior a little by making jokes about their last names. That night she has the same nightmare she has been having for years and injuries herself but doesn’t say anything to Kalem about the nightmare. Later he walks her to the train station and she heads home where she is in major trouble with her grandmother but manages to lie about where she was. However, we learn that the cyborg leading Kalem’s family is an ex-government weapon of some sort and she has tasked Kalem with keeping Terra safe at all costs but we don’t know why since humans and cyborgs are forbidden to interact.

As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Terra once again returns to Kalem’s home where she meets some of the other cyborgs but the minute she mentions her dreams she is sent to see their leader, Scarlet. Scarlet isn’t human and isn’t cyborg, she is something called an X-prototype which was created before the rebellion as a weapon, essentially she is immortal and can’t be killed but she knew Terra great-grandfather as they fought alongside one another and it may be the reason she is protecting Terra. However, Terra is the first being, human or cyborg to be able to see the monster that Scarlet carries with her and Scarlet explains she can see it because it saved her life a long time ago and it is also the reason she is blind in one eye. Terra disability isn’t something that bothers her at all in her daily life although she does wish it didn’t hamper her in the Pits. I liked this refreshing take on disability how it isn’t something that defines Terra, it is just a part of who she is and she lives with it and copes with it as any other person would. The pace really slows down, it seems to be trying to build a relationship between Terra and Kalem but I am not feeling any chemistry between them at the moment. The only thing of note that happens is that Terra tries to get back into the Undermarket to find Hooky only to be attacked by Wardens. Hooky is badly injured and they are rescued by Kalem and taken back to the cyborg house for him to be helped. We also get a brief relationship scene between Scarlet and Eric, which was strange as he hits on Terra a few times but it is implied that he is in love with Scarlet, so I don’t really know what is happening right now with the characters and their relationships.

As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, we get more development on Kalem and Terra’s friendship but I still don’t see them being a couple anywhere in the future. We also get more backstory on Terra, we learn that her mother was killed by Wardens for trying to prevent a cyborg child from being beaten. Her mother was shot and killed, Terra was also shot but she was saved by the monster Scarlet carries around with her and it is the reason why it won’t hurt Terra. However, when she returns home she finds that her grandmother has died and her father briefly returns home and we get to see that he values his work above everything even his daughter. Terra is also visited by Petra another X-Prototype who has captured Sasha and threatens to kill her unless Terra spies on Scarlet and the others for her. She doesn’t tell anyone but when she returns to the house she is sure that Scarlet knows what has happened. Kalem explains that there are 7 X-Prototypes in existence, one for each Capital. Petra and her brother Viktor run Capital One and the whole government. It turns out each X-prototype has an ability, Petra can control crows, Viktor can manipulate the minds of others, so he is responsible for Terra’s dreams and Scarlet can control fire. Terra thinks she will find the answers she wants in No Man’s Land and convinces Kalem to take her there. Scarlet is also leaving to get her brothers and sisters, presumably the other X-type to fight against Petra.

As we cross the halfway mark in the novel, Terra and Kalem escape into No Man’s Land but the terrain is hostile and nothing survives there, the cyborgs survive because they are stronger than humans and the effects on Terra are almost immediate but Kalem knows this place and navigates through it. We get the first kiss scene between Terra and Kalem and I wasn’t interested or invested in it at all so I just ignored it but Terra has been injured and she needs help from a friend Kalem has in No Man’s Land. We also learn from Scarlet that her sister Morgana left the world behind because she was activated meaning she had no free will and killed all of the Freedom Fighters and that she can never be forgiven. Scarlet informs her that one survived and he will forgive her if she returns and that person is Kalem. It seems that Kalem and Terra will be a key part in bringing the government down and I wasn’t really interested in that.

As we approach the ¾ mark in the novel, there are few moments of tension but nothing much is happening. Terra and Kalem continue to navigate No Man’s Land looking for the Destroyer of Worlds, who most including Kalem believe to be a legend but Terra is convinced that she is real and they have to find her in order to bring down the government. The sex scene between Terra and Kalem was unexpected but I did appreciate it, there aren’t many authors willing to include sex scenes where the act itself is clearly stated rather than hidden behind smoke and mirror. However, I did prefer following Scarlet who has brought Morgana back with her but Eric, Camille and some of the other have been out killing Wardens which enrages Scarlet. When Eric tries to calm her down she almost kills him and it seems like the monster feeds off her emotions and if she isn’t in completely control of herself it can take over and make her lash out when she wouldn’t normally do that. She is searching for a way to get rid of it even if it kills her because killing someone would be the end of her.

As we cross into the final section of the novel, I wasn’t hopefully for a good ending, I was just hoping for a satisfying ending and the story didn’t provide that. The ending was the best part by far it was dark, gritty and really ramped up the stakes of this new series. Despite my hit or miss relationship with most of this book the ending redeemed it. I will be reading the Eternal Darkness series to get more integrated with this world and when I have the chance I will definitely be picking up After Darkness II to see what happens to the characters I have come to care for, even if I don’t really care for the romance.

I liked the characters and the setting which were both interesting and entertaining to read. However, I thought a lot of it was fairly repetitive and the main character ended up seeming weak which made me upset.

3.5 stars

This is a nice little techno YA read in a futuristic setting where humans live alongside Cyborgs, but any interaction with between is forbidden. Seven different districts are ranging from the capital of the rich to cities and farmland strictly governed in this world. From what I gather, it is helpful to read the first three books to understand how these districts have developed, but it wasn’t an issue for me at all. I took it as is and the story worked just fine.

The main protagonist, Terra, lives is in the capital city and besides drawing, really enjoys fighting in the Pits, underground, secretly. Lately, she’s been plagued by nightmares and finds herself drawing about these terrible dreams with the recurring theme of a boy in it.

Terra is a tough one. She is half blind and does not shy away from trouble. When she meets the boy from those nightmares, it turns out, he is a Cyborg and a nice one at that! However, there are monsters in the darkness and together, they are thrust into a whirlwind of trouble and a journey across landscapes and personal growth. She finds out about some missing elements of her past, government experiments, and a cyborg rebellion.

Intertwined are their worlds and Terra is about to cross into the forbidden territory of love, secrets, and revenge.

***

This was a nice and easy-going read with an interesting backstory. Everything flowed well and made for a great YA dystopian read. I can definitely see someone jumping into this series and really devouring it. When I signed up for this review, I wasn’t aware that this is book four in the Eternal Darkness series (according to Goodreads), but it was just fine to understand and read as a stand-alone.

If Cyborgs are your thing in YA novels, you may want to give this one a try!

The book 'after darkness' ends up being a sequel. Which might explain why I didn't continue reading the first time. I tried to read the story once more, and eventually finished it. I wasn't a fan, however. The covers reminded me of the 'shatter me series' and the story itself reminded me of many popular YA Dystopians like 'The Hunger Games'. The story itself didn't feel unique enough to me.
The writing style and fun characters made the story interesting. It's a quick read once you get yourself over the idea of it being a sequel. The setting was also ideal for the genre. I would recommend the story for ages 15+. There were some scenes that might be too much for younger readers.

I will be honest i didn't read this was a sequel and that is my fault. It would explain why I was lost and confused until I googled it. Might give this another go after I've read the first one.

Thank you to the publishers, author and NetGalley for the free copy of this book!

This book definitely kept me hooked until the end! I really wish I had read the previous books, although it isn't totally necessary to understand what is going on. It would have helped with a lot of things I'm still puzzled about.
I enjoyed the forbidden love aspect, and getting to know the characters. I did find Terra to be a bit cliche at times, and certain scenes had me rolling my eyes. All in all though, the story draws you in and keeps you wanting more.
I will definitely be going back and reading the previous series, and awaiting the next book in this series!

I enjoyed this book, wish I had read the others for a little more back story but can be read as a stand alone. it was original and unpredictable. I enjoyed the main character as flawed characters are the best kind. The story was good but as I said I wish I had read the others over all a very entertaining read.

Stars: 3.5/5

I was offered this book for free in exchange for an honest review.

I read most of this book in four days. I know goodreads says its been longer but I read the prologue, did exams, then completed it. Trust me, it wasn't as long as goodreads says it is.

Anyway, let's stars with positives shall we?

I liked the characters and their development. Terra was interesting - definitely a strong female protagonist but and much more mentally strong than i would have been. She has a secret in the book and honestly if I had it I would have blabbed right away, but this girl held her ground, so go her. I'm impressed. The minor characters were also pretty in-depth considering the length of the story and the amount of minor characters there were. I enjoyed this. Also they were all distinct characters! If you read my reviews regularly, you know this is important to me. Too often characters' personalities blend together.

The romance had me captured. There were moments where I could physically feel this attraction in the centre of my chest. It was powerful and amazingly written.

The world was also well developed. I was definitely interested in it and the way it was presented - in a library - was interesting! Great way of introducing the world.

I hate to do this, but the negatives -

It was mainly little things about this story that bothered me. Terra blacked out/ fainted like 6 times. Too much. "Everything went black" is over-written in my opinion and it comes up a lot in this story. Terra gets injured far too much for my liking. It was a bit repetitive - she gets injured, Kalem cares for her. But the chemistry between them is great!

Another little thing, there were minor details I didn't see the point to. Terra's sketching ability? Did not become important. At all. Her third friend... Damien, was it? Did nothing for the point.

Lastly, the book left me with so many questions. And not in a good way. The ending wasn't... a great and capturing cliffhanger. One thing I think could have been answered was the purpose for Terra's nightmares. Her nightmare is literally the prologue and we're left still wondering why she's having it.

WARNINGS: Insinuation of sex (not descriptive), nudity, fist fights, a bit of gore.

I recommend this for lovers of dystopia, 14+.

Thank you to netgalley for sending me a copy of after darkness. When I started to read this it became readily apparent that this was part of a series and not a standalone. I wish netgalley had put book # blank in the title so you know.

I really enjoyed this book, but i will say that the Terra we meet at the beginning does not resemble the Terra we see by the end. Beginning Terra is a confident cage fighter that honestly is a bit scatterbrained and self absorbed. We see glimmers of that later, but mostly it seems to just disappear.
We see very little of her friends, until suddenly Sasha becomes very important. Still have no idea what happens to Damian. We kind of seem to forget he exists. I also dont understand why it was so important to drive home how creepy Eric is the first several times we see him, but later we are supposed to feel a connection to him. Really after the first few times, please stop calling Kallem the boy from her nightmares. We know. Plus it gives the impression that we should be scared of him. I get the first few times, it was supposed to reinforce where she recognized him from. After that, it's redundant and makes him sound like someone she is scared of "the boy from her nightmares grabbed her hand". That doesn't fit with the love she feels for him.
This is the beginning of a series, so it will be interesting to see how it plays out..

Thank you Amazon Publishing and Netgalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

The year is 2160 and Cyborgs and Humans live together in 7 different districts. The law forbids them to be together. So when Terra starts having nightmare about a silver eyed boy she finds it hard to believe its him when she runs into him. Soon they find themselves hard to stay away from each other.

When I first started reading this I did not know it was a sequel. Either way I heard this can be read even if you havent read the first one which I haven't. This book will be great for fans of futuristic love story with a little bit of trouble.

I definitely enjoyed this a great deal more than “Eternal Darkness.” I’m wondering (like an awful middle-aged-reader-cliché) if that’s in part because Johns has developed as a writer over the last four years and several books? I will certainly be giving the author more of my time and my money with any of her future publications.

The pace of “After Darkness” briskly sweeps you along the narrative. Whilst it is very apparent that there’s a deeper pre-story to the cyborgs, this isn’t a distraction but instead makes the world richer. There’s just enough detail in the physical description of the cyborgs to make them both plausible and slightly eerie. As their backstories develop, they become the most compelling characters in the book.

Fortunately, whilst the relationship between Terra and Kalem grows through the book it doesn’t come to define Terra. I like that a great deal.

After Darkness is set in the year 2160. Humans and cyborgs live in the same world but are banned from communicating with one another. The story follows our protagonist Tella who upon having strange dreams about a cyborg boy notices him after one of her secret fights. Here the story takes an interesting turn and our story begins.

At first it reminded me of The Hunger Games, having the different nations and their different jobs and social statuses. I didn’t think there was anything necessarily unique about the world, however, I still enjoyed the story. I loved learning about the history of the world - it was disturbing yet fascinating.

The characters stood out for me, especially Terra and Kalem. Their personalities felt so real and they fitted together perfectly. I also loved Scarlett, and I enjoyed finding out more about her. The X prototypes were interesting and such an unique spin.

The plot started off slow, and it took me awhile to get into it, but as I read more, I became excited and I couldn’t guess what would happen next. Overall, an interesting read, well written, and I’d love to read more from this author.

This one is truly for fans of the Eternal Darkness series. The juvenile writing read like the first draft of fan fiction. The lackluster story and characters were cliched, predictable and did little to add to the Eternal Darkness universe. Charging through at a breakneck pace means there is no emotional connection to the characters and you spend a lot of time rolling your eyes at their shenanigans instead of joining them on their journey. For example, the heroine lives in a militarized surveillance state and is super ace at dodging surveillance bots and guards but clueless that her inept friends were able to tail her to the super-secret-place. And seriously, NO teenage boys room smells like rain, earth and vanilla, even if they are a cyborg. Just ... No.

Recommended for fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent.

Thank you to Netgalley and Amazon Publishing for the ARC.

Name: After Darkness
Author: J.F.Johns
Age: +15
Genre: Sci-fi, Fantasy, Supernatural, Dystopian, Future
Review:
This story is set in a futuristic dystopian world, where humans and cyborgs coexists. It is strictly prohibited for humans and cyborgs to interact with each other. The protagonist, Terra, is a deeply troubled girl. She is obsessed with her nightmares about a silver eyed boy, whom she is unable to save everytime. Unable to stop this nightmares, she finds solace in going into the pit, where she meets the silver eyed boy from her nightmares. The story is fast paced, but somehow repetitive. The romance between Terra and Karem is warm yet feels alot like cliche.
It has a Hunger Games/ Divergent feels. This book is worth a read if you are a fan of YA Sci-fi or Fantasy novels.

The concept of this book was very interesting to me. Humans and cyborgs living in a world together, but they are not allowed to interact with one another. The only problem is, this is a sequel to a previous trilogy by this author. You don’t have to read that series to understand this one, but it is probably best that you do. I did not read the other trilogy prior to reading this, and I think it would have made it a little easier to get into this book. Secondly, as much as I like the cover art, it really reminds me of the shatter me series. All in all, it was a very interesting idea, but I wouldn’t say it was one of my favorites.

After Darkness is the sequel to J.F. Johns's Eternal Darkness Trilogy, and while it can be read separately from the first series, I feel like it would be better to start with that one, for a better understanding of some of the characters and situations that unfold in this new story. Nonetheless, After Darkness was captivating. The action was fast-paced and the protagonists interesting enough to keep me invested until the end.

The plot is set in a dystopian world where humans and cyborgs cohabitate but not without strict rules being enforced. Interaction between them is prohibited unless the government gives approval. Here enters Terra, a deeply troubled girl, whose anger and volatile temperament seem to always get her into trouble. She keeps having nightmares about a boy with silver eyes, who she needs to save but can never get to him in time. Terra is obsessed with these nightmares, she doesn't understand why she keeps having them, and when she discovers that the boy really exists and she meets him, her world is turned upside down. She needs answers and he might be the only one who can help her.

I liked the world-building and the backstory of how the Nation came to be. The depiction of the seven capitals gave major Hunger Games vibes, but there are sufficient elements to make it a unique story. The romance between Terra and Kalum was sweet and heartwarming. I loved his protective nature. He kept walls around his heart but Terra managed to tare them down one by one with her effervescent personality. She was a strong-headed heroine, a badass who never backed down from a fight and although she made some poor decisions her heart was always in the right place. I could understand her behavior, she lost her mother in a tragic event and her father was not very present in her life because of his job, so she used sarcasm and underground fights as a defense mechanism. Also, the secondary characters were fascinating. Scarlett and Camille were kickass and Eric and Malcolm so swoon-worthy.

The writing style was easy to follow, with some repetitions that could have been avoided, but overall very enjoyable. This book ended in a cliffhanger and I'm looking forward to reading the next installments in the series.

*Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for this eARC. I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.

This book was so infuriating. It had such a solid story and characters to be great, but was let down by the odd writing and terrible plot point more than halfway through the book. I truly thought I would be giving this book a better review and rating. I mean I was really flying through the first half with interest. So sad that that's not the case.

In the beginning, the plot seemed a bit like Hunger Games, which I liked. I liked the characters, Terra and Kalem, who seemed to have a good tense chemistry that could be built upon. There was a vein of darkness throughout the story that was quite intriguing and for some reason had me seeing this book's scenes like an anime in my mind. The world building and history was nice and steady and even when there was an info dump, it was placed somewhere that made sense and was done in a natural enough way.

Terra, as a character, is very real. She is both hard to love and hard to hate . She just is what she is and doesnt care what people think. I like that. She's not a hero or a villain.

Now on to the problems. J.F. Johns repetition problem. At first, I looked at it as a passing issue or perhaps just a stylistic choice, but it only got worse and worse as the book progressed. She uses weird descriptors and nicknames for her characters which at first seem totally normal for an intro (i.e. Hair like night, his eyes like silver. Metal. The boy from her nightmares.) and then repeats it every damn time the character is in a scene. Its as if she wrote the book chapter by chapter in no particular order and forgot that she had already intoduced each character every single time before. And it's like that until the very end of her book, the entire way through. We dont need to hear the same descriptor or nickname everytime. Their name will suffice, thank you. If this had been the only problem, i could have seen past it. But it got worse.

About 60% of the way through, the Destroyer of Worlds idea is introduced and it is just a terrible sequence of plot. It is so badly written, introduced, explained. None of it is believable. And honestly I was stunned that it was left in the book. How did it not get edited? Extremely unbelievable, juvenile, and not well thought out. Everthing up to this point had such promise, but from here on, it just went downhill. Bad writing seemed to take over. It was literally as if another author had taken over. And all that was left from before was the terrible repetition problem. The writing was cheesy, characters lacked appeal and depth, nothing was explained well, and events seemed almost sporadic and unnecessary at times.

I mean, this is a super solid story that I can see being picked up for maybe a show or anime, but the technical writing and overall execution was quite problematic at best for an actual book. I dont know if I could continue with this series. So sad I have to say that. Such a pity.

After Darkness is the first thing I have read by J.F Johns. After finishing this I then discovered that it is a sequel to the trilogy Eternal Darkness which I have not read but you can read this one and understand everything without having read the previous series.

I liked the idea of this story, Humans and Cyborgs living together but are prohibited from communicating with one another.

I liked how fast paced the book was, I was able to fly through this easily. I liked the main characters, they had good chemistry and I'm glad that despite the rules they live by they were able to overcome and trust in what they felt.

The only thing I didn't really enjoy was when the main character has a sudden idea from a gut feeling and then she went off to do something really dangerous without any real evidence or discussion.

Oh and one more thing that slightly irritated me was the reference to 'the boy of her nightmares' I just think it was used way to many times.

I like the books cover, although I was reading the Shatter Me series at the same time and found it the covers to be a little too similar!

Overall I did enjoy the book, and I'm interested to see what book 2 might bring.
Thanks to Netgallery for an ARC in exchange for my review.