After the Revolution

It's been years since I've enjoyed a book as much as the old school sci-fi books I grew up with as a kid. There was something so classic but fresh about this book, I started re-reading it, just to try to understand what exactly it is about this book that I loved so much. Something about the writing reminded me a bit of classic Heinlein. Evans made me care about his characters very quickly, and you can tell he wrote about what he knows: guns, drugs, and religious/political extremism. As someone who grew up in a conservative Christian cult, I really appreciated how he wrote Sasha's character and her experiences in the Heavenly Kingdom. I would have liked Sasha’s character to spend more time in the Heavenly Kingdom to have more time to be sucked in/love bombed before she was struck with the reality of her situation. Having Sasha spend a little more time with the reader in the Heavenly Kingdom would have made her flight that much more compelling. The whole story takes place over the course of a week at most, so I know he didn’t really have the time in the story to get into Sasha’s brainwashing and subsequent disillusionment, but a girl can dream. I loved Sasha, Roland and Manny. Each character had a clear voice in the story and the fast-paced narrative kept me on the edge of my seat. I can’t wait for a sequel! I bought this in book form and listened to it on Audible. Evans narrates the book and while I normally feel like sound effects and music in audiobooks feel contrived and detract from the story, in this case I thought it was perfectly executed. Can’t recommend this enough.

an exciting read from a journalist with experience with extremist groups and war zones, is already on if my favorite reads. I feel obligated to say that Robert Evans wants his books to be available for free and there should be places on the web you can. you can also listen to the audiobook on Spotify and I assume other places you can find Evans' podcasts.