Content levels
Trigger warnings
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
Ruby can't look back. Fractured by an unbearable loss, she and the kids who survived the government's attack on Los Angeles travel north to regroup. Only Ruby can keep their highly dangerous prisoner in check. But with Clancy Gray, there's no guarantee you're fully in control, and everything comes with a price. When the Children's League disbands, Ruby rises up as a leader and forms an unlikely allegiance with Liam's brother, Cole, who has a volatile secret of his own. There are still thousands of other Psi kids suffering in government "rehabilitation camps" all over the country. Freeing them--revealing the governments unspeakable abuses in the process--is the mission Ruby has claimed since her own escape from Thurmond, the worst camp in the country. But not everyone is supportive of the plan Ruby and Cole craft to free the camps. As tensions rise, competing ideals threaten the mission to uncover the cause of IANN, the disease that killed most of America's children and left Ruby and others with powers the government will kill to keep contained. With the fate of a generation in their hands, there is no room for error. One wrong move could be the spark that sets the world on fire.
Is In The Afterlight appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
This dystopian YA features teens with superpowers imprisoned in government camps, moderate violence including combat and government abuse, mild romance with kissing, references to loss and trauma, and themes of resistance against authoritarian control.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, mild sexual content, and mild language. Content notes include child harm, government abuse, substance abuse, captivity, and death (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens will be drawn to Ruby's fierce leadership as she fights to free thousands of imprisoned kids with powers and take down a corrupt government.