In the End by Demitria Lunetta

Amy has been on her own for three months since escaping the ward and leaving New Hope. In that time she's had no contact with Baby, Rice, or any of the others, but her hope has been that her absence will keep them safe. She was wrong. Kay risks contact long enough to let Amy know that Dr. Reynolds has taken a special interest in Baby since her escape. Kay has a plan, though. She sends Amy to Fort Black where her brother, Ken, is a researcher. If Amy can find Ken and earn his trust, he may be able to help save Baby. But when Amy arrives, Fort Black is nothing like she'd imagined. Inside is a war zone with survivors fighting daily just to get by and the mysterious Ken is nowhere to be found. Amy is more than capable of taking care of herself but she'll have to rely on the help of an insider if she's going to have any hope of saving her sister.

I really, really loved Lunetta's debut, In the After. It was one of my favorite books last year. I didn't actually love it's follow up, though. It's a shame really but I felt like most of what I enjoyed so much in the first outing was missing in In the End.

I think the environment is to blame. Fort Black is the polar opposite of New Hope in a lot of ways and Lunetta does a great job illustrating that. Much of the story is focused on Amy's search for the researcher, though, and it started to become somewhat wearying.

I wanted more of the Floraes, I wanted more of the science and the vaccine attempts, I wanted more of the action at New Hope as well. I really don't want to give anything away so I'll limit myself to saying I felt the best parts of the book went by much too quickly. The balance felt off, as though too much time was spent carefully building the setting while the actual story fell to the wayside.

In the End is an ok finish to what started out so fabulously in In the After but I wish it had lived up to my overall expectations and let us go out with a bang!

Rating: 3/5