SlowReader's Kingdom

World After is the second installment of the Penryn and the End of Days series by Susan Ee. This trilogy reads more like one big book than three separate books. Since I don’t want to spoil anyone I will keep this review short.

The second book in a series always has it hard. They tend to be the weakest book in a series and unfortunately, I have to say Susan Ee could not keep that from happening in her series either. World After is just as fast-paced as the first book of the series but still can’t keep up.

I think my major problem with the second book is that it has hardly any Penryn and Raffe scenes. For the majority of the book they are separated. I love their chemistry and dialogues so much that I missed them too much in this book.

The book also takes a deeper dive into the fantasy world. I have a friend who reads dystopian books if they are not too fantasy-heavy. While reading Angelfall I thought about recommending this book to her. Now that I have read World After I won’t do that. In World After we get introduced to monsters and creatures from hell that pushed the book a lot deeper into the fantasy genre.

A positive surprise for me was the development of Penryn’s mother. The schizophrenic woman suddenly appeared so intelligent and protective over her daughters that I had to change my mind about her. While I did not care for her in the first book she has now become the most interesting side character.

World After is not as well executed as the first book but stays as action-packed.