Review: Great Addition to the Swarm Trilogy
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 2, 2012
Afterlife isn't a very long book... especially compared to the books that I've been reading lately. Regardless of the length, Megg Jensen packs an awful lot of emotion, mystery and intrigue into her second installment of The Swarm Trilogy.I probably should have picked up Sleepers, the first book in the trilogy, before I dove into Afterlife. It didn't take me long to get up to speed, but it would have helped me to get into the story a lot faster. Since I'm an avid re-reader, you don't have to take that statement as sage advice. It was just my personal perspective. That is also mainly because it's been a little while since I read Sleepers and Afterlife pretty much takes up where that book left off. Right in the middle of the action.Lianne and Bryden are together and trying to find Mags and return her son. What they find is much more than they bargained for. It doesn't take long to get caught up in the whirlwind. There is a wealth of mystery and some startling new revelations that Lianne has to deal with. Not to mention the emotional roller coaster. If I had one complaint about this whole story it would be the back and forth aspect of Lianne's emotions. Given the circumstances, it was acceptable. (Just a warning to those of you who can not tolerate a love triangle - you may cringe just a little.)  I'm not sure how an adult could handle the events that had taken place so far in Lianne's life, much less a teen. She had a lot to come to terms with along with the fact that it seemed that not one person had ever been honest with her - ever.And yes, did I mention that there were tears? I knew that Megg Jensen was capable of breaking my heart, but wow... I'll leave it at that. She has the capability to fix this reader's broken heart in The Sundering, which is the last book in the trilogy.Afterlife introduces several new characters and re-visits old ones. Some of them turn up in totally unexpected places. Totally unexpected. Enough said. I don't want to give anything away, in fact, I promised myself and others that I wouldn't. The revelations are just that good. I would love to take part in a discussion with anyone who has read this book and The Cloud Profit Trilogy though. If you haven't read the books in The Cloud Profit Trilogy (Anathema, Oubliette and Severed) you really should. You can read The Swarm Trilogy by itself, but trust me, you will get a lot more out of it if you read The Cloud Profit Trilogy first and treat yourself to The Initiate while you're at it. You can thank me later. ;)