Name: Shona Tiger's review of After the Flood by Kassandra Montag
Item: After the Flood
Rating: 4
Author: Shona Tiger

Kassandra Montag

A Chicago Tribune Best Book of the Year An inventive and riveting epic saga, After the Flood signals the arrival of an extraordinary new talent. A little more than a century from now, our world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, rising floodwaters have obliterated America’s great coastal cities and then its heartland, leaving nothing but an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious seven-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting dry land only to trade for supplies and information in the few remaining outposts of civilization. For seven years, Myra has grieved the loss of her oldest daughter, Row, who was stolen by her father after a monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska. Then, in a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra suddenly discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment near the Arctic Circle. Throwing aside her usual caution, Myra and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas, hoping against hope that Row will still be there. On their journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship and Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers. A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.

A Novel

After the Flood

Flavia Louise

Shona Tiger

Brutal, and fierce. A wonderfully strong female protagonist. A very good read.

Gisela Ayala 

After the Flood was a remarkable read which showcased a bad ass mother trying to survive and keep her daughter alive in a desperate and unrecognizable world. This world has been flooded and humanity is hanging on by a thread to keep it together. Maybe because I have a things for pirates but this was like a modern day pirate tale set in a world affected by a catastrophic environmental disaster. 

I look up to the main character, Myra so much. She fights tooth and nail to protect her daughter and to search for lost daughter that her husband took away years before. We set sail on an epic adventure and I will say I cried plenty of times. The constant quote in the book always chilled me - "Do the hardest thing." Because in a world where there are no rules and no medicine and no schools and it's a bunch of people pirating off each other or fight disease, sometimes the hardest thing is the only thing you can do. The book is very atmospheric and the plot goes back and forth between the now and Myra thinking back to before the last big flood that finally swept up her home. I was definitely surprised at each chapter and could never guess what was going to happen.

An unforgettable, inventive, and riveting epic saga with the literary force and evocative imagination of Station Eleven, Zone One, and The Road, that signals the arrival of an extraordinary new talent. A little more than a century from now, the world has been utterly transformed. After years of slowly overtaking the continent, starting with the great coastal cities, rising floodwaters have left America an archipelago of mountaintop colonies surrounded by a deep expanse of open water. Civilization as it once was is gone. Bands of pirates roam the waters, in search of goods and women to breed. Some join together to create a new kind of society, while others sail alone, barely surviving. Stubbornly independent Myra and her precocious and feisty eight-year-old daughter, Pearl, fish from their small boat, the Bird, visiting small hamlets and towns on dry land only to trade for supplies and information. Just before Pearl’s birth, when the monstrous deluge overtook their home in Nebraska, Maya’s oldest daughter, Row, was stolen by her father. For eight years Myra has searched for the girl that she knows, in her bones and her heart, still lives. In a violent confrontation with a stranger, Myra discovers that Row was last seen in a far-off encampment of raiders on the coast of what used to be Greenland. Throwing aside her usual caution, she and Pearl embark on a perilous voyage into the icy northern seas to rescue the girl, now thirteen. On the journey, Myra and Pearl join forces with a larger ship, a band of Americans like them. In a desperate act of deceit and manipulation, Myra convinces the crew to sail north. Though she hides her true motivations, Myra finds herself bonding with her fellow seekers, men, women, and children who hope to build a safe haven together in this dangerous new world. But secrets, lust, and betrayals threaten to capsize their dream, and after their fortunes take a shocking—and bloody—turn, Myra can no longer ignore the question of whether saving Row is worth endangering Pearl and her fellow travelers. A compulsively readable novel of dark despair and soaring hope, After the Flood is a magnificent, action-packed, and sometimes frightening odyssey laced with wonder—an affecting and wholly original saga both redemptive and astonishing.

courtney garrison

I have so many mixed emotions about this book. The first half was fantastic, the world building and backstory were so well done I was hooked. But the last two hours of the audiobook left me with a what the fuck was the point mindset.

Myra is a mother of two in a world that is flooded. There is no more internet, power, government, groceries stores, etc. everything is back to medieval days basically but on water. Myra was in Nebraska pregnant with pearl when Jacob took her oldest daughter Row and left. Myra now years later is still searching for Row always on the look through trade ports for her.

When she meets Daniel she sees her opportunity to get to the valley and get Row back. Myra doesn’t know how to navigate, but Daniel does. The two and pearl set off to the valley with people they meet along the way on a long journey to find Row.

I absolutely loved the world in this book and the journey with Myra, Pearl and Daniel. One of my biggest peeves was that if constantly felt as though Myra put pearl second to Row. You constantly see Myra have flashbacks to her parents and not feeling like she was enough and I felt that she was doing the same to pearl. Pearl would never be good enough in her eyes even though Myra always said she was.

I’ll be honest the ending left me wondering why I started in the first place. I don’t wanna give away spoilers or anything like that. The ending just fell flat and left me honestly kinda pissed. While I liked this book I didn’t love it the second half crushed what was to be a 4.5 to 5 star read. If you do pick it up I hope you love it. If you have read it what are your thoughts?

Triggers - mentions of rape, death, dehydration, kidnapping, eyes gouged out, murder, robbery, death of children, death of a parent, drowning, suicide, snakes

Kerri McDonald

“But I knew that was the kind of hope that betrays. The kind of hope that’s an illusion, that shackles you to your desire. I needed hope built on real possibilities.”

This is a story that explores a lot of tough topics. The entire world has been reduced to a series of archipelagos after a massive flood covers almost all the land. In this new world centered around water, Myra is surviving with her daughter, Pearl, by fishing and trading for goods. Then, one day, Myra discovers that her eldest daughter, Row, has been spotted in an northern colony called The Valley. Row was taken from Myra by her husband right before the worst of the flooding occurred and Myra had lost hope of ever finding her. Now, she embarks on a perilous journey with Pearl to try and get Row back.

I picked this book up solely because of a Booktuber’s recommendation (shout out to Jesse @ Bowties and Books!) and honestly wasn’t sure how well it would sit with me. I didn’t know if the writing style would work for me, if the interesting premise would be executed well, or if I would end up connecting with the characters. Thankfully, I loved this book! I need to say that right up front before I ramble on. This book was incredible!

No book deserves the blurb term “gripping” more than After the Flood. I was hooked from sentence one, page one and I did not escape this book’s gravity until the last word. It has been awhile since I have been so invested in a character’s journey and the reasons behind it. This is a book that has layers and all of them make you think about something uncomfortable. It’s a story about love. It’s a story about hope. And it’s a story about constantly having to make decisions when there is never a truly right decision to make. Every decision is hard and terrible and causes pain and it’s so interesting to watch Myra struggle with them.

Another aspect that helped this book be so fast-paced was the writing and the tone. It was so urgent that you can’t help but tear through the pages to find out what happens next! Which makes sense in a post-apocalyptic world where you’re constantly fighting to survive. The author really manages to convey the constant struggle that Myra and Pearl deal with daily. The plot is excellently paced. Not once did I feel like there was a lag or like things were moving too quickly. It was also incredibly moving. There were several heart-wrenching moments that had me tearing up. There were moments where I had to scan ahead to make sure Myra and Pearl were okay because I was scared for them!

And then there’s the characters. Have you ever read a book where you both identified with and wanted to strangle the main character the entire time?

That was my experience with Myra in After the Flood. I both understood the choices she made and wanted to slap her across the face for those same decisions. Which honestly made her feel incredibly real. I distinctly remember reading about something she had done and her internal thought process behind it, thinking “Well, aren’t you just a callous b*tch…”, and thinking immediately after that “But would I have done anything differently?” Myra is so nuanced and has such depth that I connected with her instantly. And, thankfully, the other characters are equally fleshed out. They aren’t just caricatures of whatever part they are supposed to play, they feel real and it makes reading about they’re trials that much more compelling.

Final thoughts: After the Flood is a fast-paced and thought-provoking journey that grabs you from page one and does not let go. It’s a book about tough decisions and love and, ultimately, hope. It’s rich with an incredible cast of nuanced characters. If you like a book about a quest where people have to make terrible choices, about mother/child relationships, about love in a world that is falling apart… you’re gonna like this one.

Jessica Nottingham

Being the first book that I’ve picked up in about two weeks, After The Flood had a pretty high bar set for it. I’ve been so busy with school work that reading for pleasure has fallen by the wayside. I made time for this book though, and I’m glad that I did. It’s been a while since I really dove into dystopian world, and it felt pretty good. This book is a little rough around the edges, but I had a good time reading my way through it.

Let’s start with the good. The first few chapters of this book are pure enjoyment. I was captivated by this new world, covered in water, where people fought to survive on what little land was left. The fact that Myra’s grandfather built a boat in their attic fascinated me. This is why I love books like this, because they make my imagination work overtime. It’s both terrifying and enjoyable to think about how I would do in a situation like this. As it stands, Myra was doing a pretty amazing job.

Which is why it pained me to eventually start to feel nothing but annoyance to Myra. I tried valiantly to remember that this post-apocalyptic world was rough, and would whittle people down over time. The problem was that Myra was just selfish, plain and simple. I can forgive selfishness for means of survival. I can forgive it if eventually the character learns from it. Myra just felt so self-absorbed, even after she began to feel like she had found a “family”. I couldn’t forgive her for that. In fact, none of the characters really ever felt like people I could love. It’s tough to root for character surivial when you don’t feel connected.

My other issue was that there are portions of this book that feel like they dragged. The story would pick up when the crew of the Sedna reached land, or narrowly missed being killed, and then it would be right back to day to day life on the new sea. The concept of a woman who, despite anything standing in her way, would fight to look for her daughter was amazing. The execution of that concept didn’t quite pan out. I wanted more action, and honestly more real connection.

So, long story short, this book and I parted ways with a three star rating. The story was good. Solid even. Myra’s quest to find her daughter will resonate with a lot of parents out there, who would also do anything for their children. This just wasn’t quite my cup of tea.

Renee Blankenship

Thank you William Morrow books and TLC Book Tours for my free copy in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

"The sun set as the chicken grilled, and I swore I could smell lilacs drifting toward us from land. - But it was just land- being close to land stirring my memories. Smelling fresh cut grass or in-season flowers. Expecting the mail at noon. All these memories like a phantom limb. Maybe that was the real reason Pearl and I stayed on the water." p. 74

Ive always loved reading post-apocalyptic novels, there is something about them that really intrigues me. The "what-ifs" that result from my reading and ultimately the conversations I have with my husband about the realities of those stories and what we would do, etc.

After the Flood by Kassandra Montag follows Myra and her young daughter Pearl seven years after the devastating floods finally washed over the world as we know it now. Losing her first daughter during the same time, Myra and Pearl have lived their lives on their boat, Bird, stopping on the small plots of land remaining only when low on supplies or to trade.

Instantly, this world caught my attention. To live life following such a terrible disaster and also to have your entire existence upended, I simply couldn't imagine. There were times while reading Montag's descriptions of life after the flood that I felt almost claustrophobic. So little space on such a wide and open sea. So little land left on such a large Earth. Its hard to wrap your mind around!

These thoughts crept along in the background as I was reading, following Myra's story as she tries to make her way to a northern valley where she learns her daughter is living. There is so much happening in this story. It felt extremely fast paced without losing any of the emotionally charged moments or feelings carrying Myra through her journey. I found myself underlining a lot of passages, ones that struck me as a mother especially. This part, the strength and courage Myra shows as a mother, is for me what was at the heart of this story. I couldn't help but empathize with and feel fear alongside her at various points of the story.

If you enjoy post apocalyptic stories, stories about motherhood, courage and perseverance and a fast paced story line I highly recommend After the Flood. I will be thinking about this story for a long time and have placed it high on my shelf, alongside other favorites such as Station Eleven and The Road.

carissa r

Emily Perkovich

Alli Sweeney

Tara Harder

Shay Henrion

Kathy Rodger 

Katelyn Rush

riley dawson

✨Tyler ✨

Emma Graves

Jade DeArmond

"An unforgettable, inventive, and riveting epic saga, After the flood signals the arrival of a game-changing and necessary new voice in fiction"--

Flavia Louise &
After the Flood by Kassandra Montag

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