enne📚 reviewed After the Fall by Edward Ashton
After the Fall
4 stars
A darkly comedic story about humans being the domesticated pets of large wolf-like Grays that have taken over the world. It's kind of a Planet of the Apes situation, with some Grays treating humans as things and some trying to treat humans as best they can imagine.
The story hook here is that John's owner Martok is perennially skirting poverty (along with John) and has squirrel-esque enthusiasm for shiny new schemes that will surely work this time. He treats John well (as these things go), but his latest scheme puts John's life in the bargain; as John has little leverage or power, he lands himself in increasingly risky situations as he tries to save Martok's financial situation and thus his own life.
After the Fall is written by the same author who wrote Mickey7 if that gives an idea of the dystopian black comedy tone here. Cynical me wishes the ending were a little bit less upbeat, but there's good closure for all the character story threads and enough worldbuilding reveals to satisfy.
