[Review] Dead of Night By Carlyle Labuschagne

Dead of Night
By Carlyle Labuschagne
(Aftershock #1)

Publication date: September 22nd 2015
Genres: Dystopia, Fiction, Romance, Action

In a dark and desolated After Earth, love still does exist, but the cost of bearing such a flaw is death.

World War III has left Earth in utter turmoil. People’s beliefs are said to be the cause of the worldwide destruction. After The Clearing new laws are set about - to show certitude in anything besides the law is weak and chargeable as mutiny. To be illogical and have faith in religion is illegal, to be limitless is dangerous. And Illness is seen as a defect – all flaws that are inexcusable.
But to love is the greatest betrayal of all man kind. It is a fault the world has long forgotten and punishable by death, a fatal risk Aecker and Opel are fully prepared to take - because in love there is freedom. But how far can they push back before it claims their lives and of those they care about?

I received an arc of this book in exchange of an honest review.


I have to say I am quite disappointed at this one. I feel that Dead of Night had a potential of being great if only the story itself wasn't cut so short. When it end all I could think was "That's it?" And I don't know how to put it all in words without spoiling anything. So bear with me.

The book revolves on this couple who are fighting to survive in a world where 'love' is a flaw, as other humane things like disease and any kinds of belief (religion etc). And instead of getting a proper romantic development, like a bad case of insta-love, the protagonists were suddenly extremely attached to each other after merely staring at each other, running, tending each other wounds, more staring, and running. And I mean this as in cannot live without one another kind of thing. I mean, the Hero did mention they met and interacted before the heroine lost her memories, but it was not properly explored, and I thought if we just started a little bit behind where the chapter one starts we could've gotten our proper romantic development. And same goes to the characters development itself. The plot was really fast paced it felt rushed at some point, and it's saying a lot since I usually favor fast paced novels.

Overall, although the book was quite well written and intriguing, I am also well dissatisfied about every other aspect of it. It felt more of a journal of how to NOT survive in a dystopian society/ war kind of book rather than anything else (you'll understand when you read it). And after all those painful hard work we couldn't even get a happy ending. Then again, I had to repeat that this book does have some potential and hey maybe you would enjoy it, but this is just not for me.

Rating
★★☆☆☆