I could not get into this book. I really liked the premise and the blurb sounded interesting. However, the style of writing was somewhat confusing and I found myself reading and then re-reading sections, which prevented me becoming immersed in the story.

I did not enjoy this book as much as I thought that I would do, perhaps a wrong person, wrong book type situation.

Although there was a bit of action and a bit of drama, but I just found that this book didn't hold my attention, it was quite forgettable and i was not invested in any of the characters which is a big bummer for me - i need to care about the characters so I can care about the book. The writing was okay, but nothing special.

It was a fine story, but it wasn't my favorite.
I don't know why, but I didn't enjoy this book, we had some action and some suspense, but I just figured this book did not hold my attention, and I didn't feel anything about these characters. I think this was likely just a case of both the wrong person, the wrong book, but for me something else was missing, and I was thrilled that it ended early.

I think this is the worst book I've ever read. The characters were flat, the plot nonexistent, the narration gave me whiplash and the prose was just plain confusing. Then it ends out of nowhere. I don't know what else to say... it was just... bad.

I love dystopian novels and the broken worlds they create. Dead of Night is a fresh take on the 'afterworld' - yet I wish there was more explanation as to how our current civilization fell. There are a limited number of characters that you get to know, but I only grew to like the 2 main people and the doctor. In this new world where anything can happen, I found myself getting hung up on events that shouldn't happen. No spoilers, but, really, you don't risk your life to save someone close to you just to change your mind and save a stranger instead. The storyline was good and kept me engaged, even if I did heckle and argue with the characters.

I was really excited when I first heard about this book! It sounded like an awesome dystopian book! Several factors just didn’t work for me, mainly the lack of character depth and the sporadic plot.

As a note, a copy of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

To be perfectly honest with you guys, it took me months to get into this book. I almost DNF it multiple times and even sat it down for half of the time it took me to read it. It's not that Dead of Night is a bad book by any means, it's just that it wasn't wholly my cup of tea and took me a bit of time to find my own groove within it. While it didn't click with me right away, I will say that by the end of the novel I was much more intrigued by where the series could, and will, head in future installments.

Which is why I'm excited to pick up the second installment in the future. Aftershock has the potential to only get better and grow from Dead of Night onward. Carlyle Labuschagne takes on an almost hypnotic tone as the story goes deeper and I really respect that--it takes a lot to tell a story and it takes a lot to improve upon it with every page.

There was a lot going on in a short amount of time that could have been developed a little more. I had many moments where I liked the world, the premise, the characters, but ached for just a little more in depth explorations on each. Dead of Night had a nasty of habit of dragging on or going too quickly; it became its own worst enemy for a portion of its time.

I found myself quite sympathetic to the leading lady of the novel: I can't imagine living in such a world with no prior memories. It's a dark notion, just not knowing, and that would be one of my biggest fears.

Overall, when Dead of Night picked up, I found myself enjoying it much more than I had at the start. Here's to hoping the sequel improves upon Dead of Nights faults.

This book pulls you in from page one and only lets go on the last page. I found the story original and all consuming and will definitely be picking up more books from this author!

Different but not to my liking. Sounded better then it turned out to be. I didn't like much about it.

L

Book Review
Title: Dead of Night (Aftershock #1)
Author: Carlyle Labuschagne
Genre: Sci-Fi/Dystopian/Romance
Rating: DNF
Review: So, all I know about this book is the synopsis: “In a dark and desolated After Earth, love still does exist, but the cost of bearing such a flaw is death. World War III has left Earth in utter turmoil. People’s beliefs are said to be the cause of the worldwide destruction. After the Clearing new laws are set about - to show certitude in anything besides the law is weak and chargeable as mutiny. To be illogical and have faith in religion is illegal, to be limitless is dangerous. And Illness is seen as a defect – all flaws that are inexcusable. But to love is the greatest betrayal of all mankind. It is a fault the world has long forgotten and punishable by death, a fatal risk Aecker and Opel are fully prepared to take - because in love there is freedom. But how far can they push back before it claims their lives and those they care about.” From this it reminds me a little bit of Delirium by Lauren Oliver which I really liked so I eager to jump into Dead of Night.
The opening to Dead of Night was very interesting. We are introduced to a girl being beaten until she is rescued by a stranger. We learn that this girl is a Tracker and a danger to those who oppose the society’s rule, however, the boy who rescued her is called Aecker and she has been stalking him for a while. Despite being told what she is, the girl has no memory about anything before being rescued by Aecker. We learn that Trackers are no better than beasts and are used to hunt down and kill Inborns and Outlaws like Aecker, his brother Dyllian and their cousin Noah. As she can’t leave until the storms clear the girl decides to called herself Opel and while she doesn’t want to believe she is a tracker, it makes sense considering all she has been told and what she feels the urge to do. So far, I was very intrigued by Dead of Night and its characters.
As we approach the ¼ mark in the novel, Opel seems to be growing closer to Aecker developing quite a strong bond between the pair despite not really knowing each other for long. So far, the context has been little, but it seems Dyllian is running the hideout and Aecker is supposed to take over, but he doesn’t want to, and he even suggests leaving with Opel but before anything can be decided their base is attacked. As Opel tries to flee she encounters Noah who tells her the people are there for her and he tries to kill her, but Opel’s instincts save her life but not for long as it is Aecker who comes to her rescue and helps her escape the hideout, but they now have to face the elements. I liked how the story isn’t all told from Opel’s perspective it does change to Aecker’s but not that frequently, it takes 6 chapters before we get the first chapter told from Aecker’s perspective. In a great exposition scene, we learn that Opel is actually the fiancé of the newly elected President and Dyllian turned her over to them but Aecker is determined to get her back and escape once and for all.
As we cross the ¼ mark in the novel, Aecker sets off on his rescue mission with the help of his brother which I wasn’t keen about as Dyllian betrayed him moments before, but we can’t dwell on it as we jump back to Opel’s perspective. In Opel’s perspective we see escape the men who took her only to be cornered again but she attempts to swim to safety without knowing how to swim it seems. So far, the pacing of this novel seems a little off jumping from one key event to another with nothing between them to break the story up. However, learning what Opel is was very exciting and the dodgy pacing doesn’t distract from the action or the story overall.
As we approach the halfway mark in the novel, Aecker and Opel literally can’t catch a break. As they fight for their survival the action seems to clash instead of merge with the rest of the story giving it an odd feel. I also didn’t like how we are halfway through the novel and we have had very little backstory about the world and the characters especially Opel and the only focus the story has is Opel’s relationship with Aecker and the ST trying to get her back for whatever reason.
Despite trying I really couldn’t finish this novel, the writing was poor, the characters were one dimensional and there were so many issues with content and pacing that I just had to give up. DNF at 55%.

Dead of Night was a story so unlike others that I have read before.
I loved that this story had dual POVs. I loved being inside both Opel's and Aecker's heads
Can't wait to read the rest of the series!

I love sci-fi/dystopian fiction, however, I did not love this book.

Most books I can read in a day easily, yet this one really seemed to drag and I actually took 4-5 days to finish it since I kept getting bored. I had a few different issues with this novel. First of all, the beginning was not very well executed. It opens with Aecker saving Opel, a tracker, yet three is apparently some history there but she has lost her memory. I get the idea the author had, it just didn't translate very well in the book. Yet, at a later point when Opel seems to suddenly have her memory back, her personality seems to immediately change and the return of memories seemed too sudden. Her personality seems to jump back and forth to much and I find her character to be rather bland without much to relate to. Aecker is definitely the most likable character in the story, yet there are still many unknowns about his character as well.

The writing itself is okay...not amazing but not terrible either. There are some grammatical mistakes, however, it is not so heavy that it distracted from the story too much.

It was okay for a debut novel, just a little slow and overly descriptive on some parts and lacking details with plot holes in others.

Overall I would probably rate it a 2.5, but will round up to 3. It had some nice plot ideas, they just fell a little flat in the execution of the story line.

Dystopian books are a huge favorite of mine.
Dead of Night was a story so unlike others that I have read before. When I heard about this book, I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. Even the cover of the book pulled me in. Major cover love. So when I had the chance to read and review it, I was excited beyond belief. I loved that this story had dual POVs. I loved being inside both Opel's and Aecker's heads.
This was a really great dystopian. The world was built really well. As well as the characters. It has a really different take from the typical dystopian.

I have to say I am quite disappointed at this one. I feel that Dead of Night had a potential of being great if only the story itself wasn't cut so short. When it end all I could think was "That's it?" And I don't know how to put it all in words without spoiling anything. So bear with me.

The book revolves on this couple who are fighting to survive in a world where 'love' is a flaw, as other humane things like disease and any kinds of belief (religion etc). And instead of getting a proper romantic development, like a bad case of insta-love, the protagonists were suddenly extremely attached to each other after merely staring at each other, running, tending each other wounds, more staring, and running. And I mean this as in cannot live without one another kind of thing. I mean, the Hero did mention they met and interacted before the heroine lost her memories, but it was not properly explored, and I thought if we just started a little bit behind where the chapter one starts we could've gotten our proper romantic development. And same goes to the characters development itself. The plot was really fast paced it felt rushed at some point, and it's saying a lot since I usually favor fast paced novels.

Overall, although the book was quite well written and intriguing, I am also well dissatisfied about every other aspect of it. It felt more of a journal of how to NOT survive in a dystopian society/ war kind of book rather than anything else (you'll understand when you read it). And after all those painful hard work we couldn't even get a happy ending. Then again, I had to repeat that this book does have some potential and hey maybe you would enjoy it, but this is just not for me.

Overall this book was alright. The plot was interesting, and I loved the cover. My only complaint is that I felt like the book was rushed. It seemed to me that the book was maybe hurried in the end in order to make a deadline. The writing itself was good but as I said felt hurried. I constantly had to re-read certain parts bc I thought maybe I had missed something but i hadn't.... I really did love the characters though! They were well written and had great dialogue. The world building was well done too! 3.5 stars from me.

Great read. Well written with a great plot and characters. I was engrossed from start to finish. This is not your typical romance or dystopian story. I loved that there is Opal's POV and Aecker's POV. You can understand the characters a bit more when it's like that. I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book from Netgalley.

This was an interesting concept. It's crazy to think of how the world would be without any love at all. Overall I think this was a strong book, with an interesting premise.

I am a little on the fence with this book. I wanted to love it but I felt I missing something in this book sometimes. I think I needed a little more backstory with some parts of the book. I wanted this book to grab me and hold me and tell me the story but I felt let down. I didn't connect with this book as I had hoped I would. *This book was given to me for free at my request by NetGalley and I provided this voluntary review.*

In the after world, love still exists but the cost of showing love means death.

World War III has devastated the earth. People's beliefs are said to be the cause. After The Clearing, new laws are set. All flaws are inexcusable. But love is the greatest flaw. But it is a risk Aecker and Opel are willing to take. But how far can they go before it takes their lives?

This was a really great dystopian. The world was built really well. As well as the characters. It has a really different take from the typical dystopian. Giant props for the author having amazing writing skills!

I bounced between 2.5 and 3 stars for this book but ultimately went with the lower rating because I needed more from this book. There were a lot of good ideas behind it but they could have been executed better. I kept thinking that I had accidentally skipped the first book and was somehow reading the sequel. I actually double and triple checked that this was the first book in the series. The author immediately throws the reader into the thick of things which would be fine if there was more explanations about things. The world building was just okay for me. I wanted to be able to understand who the warring parties were and more about the technology of the time. The environment itself is never explained either and seemed as if it should have been discarded and added to a different story. There were some kind of dust storms and acid rain but the reader is never told why those things were taking place.
There is never any kind of background given to any of the characters which is probably why I had no idea why they were doing the things that they were doing. All I know about Aecker is that his parents are dead and that the people around him see him as a nerd who is not as manly as the other men.