Genre: YA Science Fiction Apocalyptic
Publisher: eBooks
Published: 2016
Reviewer Rating: 
Book Review by David L. felts
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Post, by Brenda Cooper, follows the adventures of Sage, a teenage girl raised in the isolated confines of the Oregon Botanical Gardens after the collapse of society due to disease and natural disasters. Tiring of her isolation and inspired by the sight of the occasional plane flying overhead, she decides to leave the compound and head for Portland.
Along the way, she teams up with another teenager by the name of Monday, a dark and brooding traveler who’s unpleasant experiences have left a permanent mark on her psych. Together, they arrive in Portland and rapidly get caught up in social strife between the force of Storm, the self-proclaimed ruler of Portland, and Kevin, who leads a resistance tired of Storm’s dictatorial behavior.
Circumstances rapidly spin out of control as Sage and Monday find themselves stuck in the middle of a rapidly escalating war between the two factions.
So that’s the plot in a nutshell. Two inexperienced and oblivious teens refuse to listen to the advice of those who are older and wiser and set out to make their mark. Although it’s worth noting that Monday is more a forced participant than a volunteer.
From my perspective (that of being a father who has already navigated the teen years of a young woman) Sage seems to be a pretty accurate representation of that species. To wit, she is self-centered and immature, with no real depth of emotion because she doesn’t yet understand the concept of consequences. Monday is a little better; she has suffered some undesirable consequences and this makes her less naive.
Realistic characters? I suppose. But not really all the fun to read about.
I should mention that the book is written in first person from Sage’s point of view. So her idiocy and naivety are delivered full force into your brain. Handsome boys with flashing eyes, worries about getting kissed, self-occupation to the point of narcissism… all the teenage characteristics are there.
I’m afraid I don’t get a real sense of the shape the world is in as well. Cellphones? Internet? How destroyed is everything? Why are so many people in Portland? Listen, I know it’s fiction, but I’d like to feel it’s real, at least for the time I’m reading the story.
Apocalyptic fiction is one of my favorites, but this one, for me, failed to deliver. I do think it would appeal to a younger crowd, who’s ideas of what’s important match up more closely with Sage’s.
There’s some violence though, and lots of rapey people around, so that disqualified for too young a group, Maybe 14 -17? Any older than that and I think Sage will fail to appeal.
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