Review of Afterwar

Afterwar by Lilith Saintcrow

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think I found out about Lilith Saintcrow via Twitter. (They say "twitter does not sell books." They are wrong.) In any event, after perusing her website, I decided Afterwar was a good entry point into her writing. This proved to be correct.

The novel is divided roughly into fifths. The first fifth is the tail end of the Second American Civil War, and opens with Lara Nelson, a prisoner / sex slave in a "re-edukation" camp. America has fallen under a neo-Nazi / white supremacist / Christian Nationalist dictatorship. (The KKK gave everything a 'K'.) Lara was a Raider (Partisan) fighting against the dictatorship. When she gets liberated, she joins up with a group of raiders. The war comes to an abrupt end, but Lara's group is tasked with hunting down fleeing war criminals. This proves to be at least as harrowing and dangerous as war.

And "harrowing" is a good word for the entire novel. Its gritty, stressful and grim. Hope is a precious commodity, although there is some of that. People who have not been under a rock will find the politics of the war painfully familiar. Having said all of that, I found the work enjoyable and will be looking for more of her works.



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