After the Fall by Edward Ashton

 

I didn’t know anything about Edward Ashton until last year when I got an email from NetGalley telling me I was auto-approved for a bunch of books by authors I had never heard of.  I decided to say “what the heck!” and I ended up really liking The Fourth Consort by Edward Ashton. So I was looking forward to this new book by him and I appreciated getting an eARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 

I didn’t enjoy this one as much as The Fourth Consort. After the Fall is set on Earth a few generations after an alien invasion. Humans are kept as pets, basically, by aliens that have wiped out most of the independent humans on the planet. The book is told from the perspective of a human pet who was adopted like a shelter dog by one of the aliens who then sets out to open up a bed and breakfast for other aliens. The tone of this book feels really weird. Sometimes it touches on the horrors of humans being conquered and enslaved, and other times it’s wacky hijinks. The plot hinges on some coincidences that I didn’t buy. Overall, this book was a bit of a letdown.