Review: Beyond the Night

Reviewed by Jen
 

It’s 50 years in the future. And Earth has undergone a near-apocalypse.  Humanity’s numbers have dwindled –and there are killer zombies. OK, maybe not exactly zombies, but close enough; they’re called gangas.  And there are also sort-of immortal people called Strangers.  Thrust into this strange new world are five men from the past.  They were exploring an Arizona cave when the “Change” happened. And they went into some kind of stasis for five decades, waking only about 6 months before our story begins.  Now, they’re trying to find some kind of civilization and answers about what happened to the world.

One of the five men is Elliot. He is a doctor. And ever since the cave-thing, now he has some medical superpowers, where he can scan people like an MRI or something and heal them with his touch. Only problem is that he takes the illness onto himself or passes it on to the next person he touches.  Anyway, on their travels, the men run into a group of teens at the mercy of some gangas and they attempt to rescue them. But a mysterious woman also comes to their aid.  That woman is Jade. She has a tortured history that includes years of imprisonment and brutality at the hands of the Strangers.  Now she is part of the Resistance, fighting the mysterious immortals, that may or may not be to blame for Earth’s near destruction.

Of course, Elliot and Jade are our star-crossed lovers. It takes awhile for them to get over their skittishness and seal the deal.  Their romance was ok. I’m not sure why, but it didn’t hit the mark entirely for me.  Frankly, I was more interested in what was happening with side-character Quent and a mysterious archer woman.  I’m sure they’ll get their own book down the line.

The premise of the story is interesting and unique.  But I felt like we spent a lot of time with pop culture references back to “our time” and angst from our cave-guys that didn’t completely resonate for me.  I liked it enough that I’ll check out the next installment.  Maybe once we’re past the set-up,  I’ll be able to make a deeper connection to the characters. 3 1/2 stars.