I just finished reading Afterlife this morning and I really don't know what to say. I have mixed feelings. I really loved this series, it was an interesting take on vampires, which we have seen so much of lately. The world, Bianca's relationship with her parents and the people she met throughout the series, and her growth into a heroine are all examples of what got me to like the series and what attracted me to it to begin with.
I usually judge a book by its ending. In my opinion, the ending is the most important element of a story. What gives you the lasting impression of a book you just read? It's the ending. The feeling of whether you're satisfied or you want more or it just wasn't for you or it was perfect or you flat out hated it, really depends on the ending. Going back to my earlier point, I have mixed feelings about the ending. I liked Bianca's ending, just not Lucas'. Let's leave it as the ending wasn't for me. The book's pacing at the beginning was also very slow.
What I did like is seeing old characters come back. I love a close-knit group of friends and family. I also enjoyed reading about some of the new characters introduced such as Christopher and Skye. This series really didn't have much characters compared to others, and I liked that. It gives us more room to get to know the current characters. Lucas and Bianca's relationship grows a great deal in this book, probably the most out of the entire series. We see just how far they are willing to go to stay together and how much they deserve it.
I really enjoyed this series and I'm a little sad to see it go. Balthazar will be released sometime in 2012, which is a spin-off book of this series from, obviously, Balthazar's point of view. I know many are excited for it, but I'm not as excited as I maybe could have been. Balthazar isn't one my favorite characters.
I rated Afterlife as a three because as I said, the ending just wasn't my kind of ending. I know people had mixed feelings about this: some loved it and some hated it. Despite that, I still enjoyed this series as a whole, and would recommend people to give it a try.
