“A history written in ashes, in bones. Before the blast, they say there’d been sermons about fire, about the end of the world. The fire itself gave the last sermon; after that there were no more.” 

Oh man. Where do I even start?

*Deep breath*

Okay.

This novel had one of the best beginnings that immediately drew me and grabbed me, literally shoved me and I was immersed into the story. It had me from the first few sentences, despite the feeling of having info thrown from every angle, it was well done. Now, I will try to explain the premise as simply as I can, because, if you knew me personally, you’d know im so bad at explaining things. But here goes:

The novel is set in a post-apocalyptic world which was destroyed by a catastrophe known as the Fire Sermon (also referred to as The Before) (hence, the title) which killed over thousands of people. In the aftermath, which is referred to as The After, a strange thing happens, where every woman giving birth, will have a set of twins. Therefore; only twins are born in this new world. The set of twins, is a major key in this story, because one is always perfect, known as the Alpha twin, while the other, the Omega, will have a deformity. The twins are always separated at birth, until the Council and parents figure out which one is the Alpha and which one is the Omega, and when they finally do, they are forced to live apart in separate lives. The Alphas are higher up in the “food chain”, living luxurious lives, having the opportunity to live at home, go to school and so on, while the Omegas live in poverty, separated from the Alphas, usually harassed by them, have fewer rights and are seen as poison and contaminations. Except in very few rare cases, like the one we meet here, the deformity isn’t visible.

“What chance, then, for me, contending with the visions at the same time as the unrelenting walls of my cell? In a year or two, I thought, that might be me, counting out my footsteps as if the neatness of numbers could impose some order on a broken mind.” 

Our main characters, Cassandra and Zach grew up together. And by together, I mean they were never separated, therefore they were subject to rumors. People never knew which one was the Omega and which one the Alpha, so it left the whole town and council in jeopardy, even their parents. The Alphas accepted none of them into their groups, and the Omegas feared they would be among an Alpha, and so they grew up alone. Zach became bitter and spiteful to his sister when he learnt about her abilities as a Seer, which means she’s the Omega. He wanted her out as soon as possible because he wanted a life of his own; he wanted acceptance, he wanted friends, he wanted love, and he could only achieve that if his sister would admit her status and deformity.

The relationship and difficulties and problems that developed between the siblings is what made me love this novel so much. It was thrilling and original and my curiosity was all the way up to the roof. And to make it even better, dear reader, the novel starts with our main character Cass telling the story from a somber prison cell. And it was Zach who put her there. Oh yeah. Intrigued yet? She tells the story of how everything ensued, starting from early childhood years, and merging into present time as the story catches up to the current one. Cass dreams about escaping and running away to an island which appears in all of her dreams, an island that is the only safe zone for Omegas, a place free from ruling Alphas, where Omegas can live in peace.. but not really, as the bond between every twin goes further than anything else. Anything that happens to one of the twins, like injuries or harm, it happens to the other as well. Meaning, if one dies, so does the other. They are enemies who cannot beat each other, because they will kill themselves as well.I

“When did we become grateful for such small mercies?”

The novel had such a nice plot, but the authors storytelling was disappointing. Her writing in the first quarter of the novel was eloquent and extremely beautiful, however, the rest.. She spent so much time on making the start of the novel intriguing that it seemed like the rest of the story was just very bland, flat, and lacked the attention that was given to the early parts of the book. Even Cass didn’t seem to have much character development, but I hope that continues in the next book.

The ending was too solid as well. She wrapped up so many things and gave so much closure that means going into the next novel we wouldnt have many questions unanswered, which results in less anticipation. Which is why cliffhangers are so occurring in series and trilogies! Theres a reason for it people! Some parts of the story were too long as well and could easily have been narrowed down.

“You think you’re being self-effacing, or modest, but you’re not. You’re protecting him.” 

Despite the lots of negative things I had to say about this book, I still do truly believe it has potential. The author herself has created an awesome story, and I believe she will be able to save everything in the second book, especially character development and writing. I will still pick up the next book, which I, cross my fingers, hope will be way better than the first, otherwise I will give up on this series.