Daryl Gregory

When a girl who was addicted to a drug she helped develop dies in a detention facility, Lyda Rose, a scientist and patient at the same facility, receives help from an imaginary, drug-induced doctor to make things right while finding the other survivors of her development team. By the award-winning author of The Devil's Alphabet. 25,000 first printing.

Afterparty

Sarah Sammis

Megan Dent

The basis of this entire book is superbly unique. I have never read a science fiction book centred around a 'smart drug revolution', and I was surprised by the complexity of the plot and the characters, who were mostly very real and well explored. However, my first complaint is that the constant shifting of perspectives (the story is told in a 3rd person narrative, but shifts from the thoughts of the main character to other characters and the antagonists) and constant shfting style of writing provide misscommunications between the author and the reader, causing the whole novel to become quite confusing. I was genuinely unaware of who each of the important characters were until the very end of the book, which is problematic when you think that the story revolves around the characters and their journey through an increasingly atomised society of drug takers and corruptive influences. Although I found the majority of the writing to be of good quality, the colloquilaity of which oddly reminded me of the writing style in 'The Drowning of Arthur Braxton', the changing of the narrative from what can be considered the conventional form, to the 'parables' I thought were completely unnecessary to the advancement of the plot and of the character building and, in fact, simply made the novel all the more confusing. In my opinion, the novel would have benefitted so much more with more focus on world and environment building, as - other than the odd piece of futuristic technology - there was little description of the dystopian, drug-ridden society. One thing I particularly enjoyed is that there is no real focus on Lyda's sexuality - it's a thing that is alluded to at first, it's a thing that exists quite explicitly later and it is simply accepted for what it is. In the present day, some authors profit off of the popularity of the LGBTQ+ movement by making characters gay for the sake of it, and for the extra sales. 'Afterparty' however, makes no mention of any kinds of romantic relationships in the blurb, which I was very happy to discover. Furthermore, I was in no way expecting the final twist of the story, which left me shocked, even though it should of been more obvious to me previously. Overall, I am happy that I picked this book up, as it was an enjoyable read, even if it may have been difficult and confusing at times.

Afterparty

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