REVIEW: After the Lights Go Out by Lili Wilkinson

After the Lights Go Out
by Lili Wilkinson

After the Lights Go Out had me hooked from the very first page. Filled with action, suspense and a great set of characters, this is a #LoveOzYA release you won’t want to miss.

Pru’s father is a doomsday prepper. After moving Pru and her sisters to a small mining town, he spends years building and stocking an underground bunker filled with everything their family would need to survive the worst. Ingrained in their minds that family comes first, the girls are brought up doing practice runs to the bunker and essentially being prepared for the worst case scenario at any given time.

When an EMP hits, causing power and communications to go down, Pru and her sisters are separated from their father – and the world. As supplies run low in the town, their survival in this new world is dependent on whether they can keep their bunker a secret, because after all, family comes first…

This book is so brilliantly fantastic. Every single thing about it blew me out of the water. There is never a dull moment, and the book kept me on the edge of my seat with anticipation. So much action is packed into this book, and the plot develops so wonderfully that even when I thought I had it worked out it would continue to shock and surprise me.

After the Lights Go Out also goes to great depths in exploring some heavy themes. This is a coming-of-age story like no other and it doesn’t shy away from disaster, death, illness, and tragedy in general.

One of the best things about this book is its characters. Pru in particular was a phenomenal character and her character growth throughout this novel was written incredibly well. Her strength, determination and resourcefulness are the kind of qualities that should be showcased more in YA characters and her demonstration of questioning the ethical implications of their situation ensured she was endearing and relatable. I loved seeing the arc of her character and would easily read another book featuring her as the central character.

I also loved that Australia is so rich as a setting in this book. Normally when we see stories about a post-apocalyptic world the setting is in a large city where death and destruction are so widespread. I loved that Wilkinson set this book in a small mining town in Australia because it made for such an interesting and different perspective of the situation.

Lili Wilkinson has crafted a magnificent story that I wholeheartedly recommend. This is the perfect book for fans of John Marsden’s Tomorrow When the War Began.

After the Lights Go Out

by Lili Wilkinson

What happens when the lights go off after what might truly be an end-of-the-world event? How do you stay alive? Who do you trust? How much do you have to sacrifice?

Seventeen-year-old Pru Palmer lives with her twin sisters, Grace and Blythe, and their father, Rick, on the outskirts of an isolated mining community. The Palmers are doomsday preppers. They have a bunker filled with non-perishable food and a year's worth of water.

One day while Rick is at the mine, the power goes out. At the Palmers' house, and in the town. All communication is cut. No one knows why.

It doesn't take long for everything to unravel. In town, supplies run out and people get desperate. The sisters decide to keep their bunker a secret. The world is different; the rules are different. Survival is everything, and family comes first.

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About the Contributor

Tanaya Lowden

Tanaya has been a lover of books for as long as she can remember. Now, her book collection is a little out of control, mostly consisting of YA fiction and pretty hardcovers. When she’s not reading, she spends a lot of her time taking photos of books for her bookstagram account, @prettypagesblog. She also has a love of Disneyland, bullet journaling and cats.

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