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Aftershock
A massive earthquake forces Amy and her estranged half-sister to work together to survive.
Amy is happy it's the last day of school...until a huge earthquake hits. She's surprised that it's Mara, her half-sister, who finally comes for her, since they hardly know each other. There's no word from any of their parents, and their homes have been destroyed. So Amy and Mara set out on a perilous journey from their suburb into the city to search for their parents. As they walk day and night, the scope of the horrific destruction becomes clear. Have their parents survived the disaster?
Amy is happy it's the last day of school...until a huge earthquake hits. She's surprised that it's Mara, her half-sister, who finally comes for her, since they hardly know each other. There's no word from any of their parents, and their homes have been destroyed. So Amy and Mara set out on a perilous journey from their suburb into the city to search for their parents. As they walk day and night, the scope of the horrific destruction becomes clear. Have their parents survived the disaster?
96 pages, Paperback
Published August 15, 2023
2 people are currently reading
11 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 25, 2023
Umm whut? This might be the most underwhelming disaster survival fiction ever. The characters seem to lack common sense and enjoy endangering themselves. Despite the book's premise, nothing in it truly conveyed the gravity of the situation or made me feel emotionally invested. Everything is super abrupt, especially the ending.
November 18, 2024
Oh, this was such a fantastic read, another really great survival story dealing with an earthquake!
July 4, 2023
I received an advance review copy for free from Edelweiss, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Thank you Gabrielle S. Prendergast for the opportunity to read your book. This was a great read. I thought it was intriguing and adventurous. I enjoy reading books with survival elements or dealing with natural disasters. I really liked the characters. Amy and Mara were half-sisters. They have the same dad, but different moms. When this earthquake hit, the story revolved around them trying to survive and find their father, and Mara's mother. I thought their sister relationship was great. I really enjoyed reading about their relationship, and that they will build more of a relationship once they are safe. I wish the story were longer because there could have been more background information about the characters and their relationship, and more world-building. However, it did not stop me from enjoying the book. I did think the ending could have been longer. I hope this will become a series. Overall, a great read.
Thank you Gabrielle S. Prendergast for the opportunity to read your book. This was a great read. I thought it was intriguing and adventurous. I enjoy reading books with survival elements or dealing with natural disasters. I really liked the characters. Amy and Mara were half-sisters. They have the same dad, but different moms. When this earthquake hit, the story revolved around them trying to survive and find their father, and Mara's mother. I thought their sister relationship was great. I really enjoyed reading about their relationship, and that they will build more of a relationship once they are safe. I wish the story were longer because there could have been more background information about the characters and their relationship, and more world-building. However, it did not stop me from enjoying the book. I did think the ending could have been longer. I hope this will become a series. Overall, a great read.
September 17, 2023
It is a quick read with a good storyline. The book itself is very short. The story could have gone a little further, but for a short story, it keeps you interested.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 29, 2023
This is a very short book. It's too bad because I really enjoyed the writing style and the plot.
Perfect book for a YA who is not crazy about reading _ the storyline will keep them entertained.
Perfect book for a YA who is not crazy about reading _ the storyline will keep them entertained.
August 20, 2023
HiLo books are a relatively new phenomenon - I certainly don't remember them being available when I was in school, which is less than twenty years (::recounts, sighs::) a little over twenty years. They're becoming an indispensable part of the fabric of reading, though, with Barrington Stoke in the UK and Orca in the US among the publishers turning out high quality reads.
This particular HiLo concerns an earthquake that hits when our young heroine is in school. Naturally frightened and worried, she's surprised when her estranged half sister comes to collect her instead of her father. Without parents, the two try to navigate the immediate aftermath of the disaster and find a safe place to stay.
Things are a little lighter than many books that tackle this kind of topic - two teenage girls traveling alone are heckled exactly once and they're able to just walk away - but it doesn't shy away from the dark side of this kind of disaster, either. Amy's mother is out of the country when the earthquake hits, so her biggest problem is finding a way home when all planes and travel are stopped; but the girls' father is missing, presumed dead when the section of downtown he works in collapses, and the girls see plenty of other dead people as they travel. However, there is also a focus on how people can help each other; one man is cooking the entire contents of his freezer before it goes bad and passing it out to everyone, another has a working satellite phone and insists people use it, and everywhere the girls go people watch out for them and help them. It's the best and worst of humanity all at once, and a warning that this could happen to any of us at any time.
This is fast paced and exciting and kids will definitely want to keep reading to find out how things end up.
This particular HiLo concerns an earthquake that hits when our young heroine is in school. Naturally frightened and worried, she's surprised when her estranged half sister comes to collect her instead of her father. Without parents, the two try to navigate the immediate aftermath of the disaster and find a safe place to stay.
Things are a little lighter than many books that tackle this kind of topic - two teenage girls traveling alone are heckled exactly once and they're able to just walk away - but it doesn't shy away from the dark side of this kind of disaster, either. Amy's mother is out of the country when the earthquake hits, so her biggest problem is finding a way home when all planes and travel are stopped; but the girls' father is missing, presumed dead when the section of downtown he works in collapses, and the girls see plenty of other dead people as they travel. However, there is also a focus on how people can help each other; one man is cooking the entire contents of his freezer before it goes bad and passing it out to everyone, another has a working satellite phone and insists people use it, and everywhere the girls go people watch out for them and help them. It's the best and worst of humanity all at once, and a warning that this could happen to any of us at any time.
This is fast paced and exciting and kids will definitely want to keep reading to find out how things end up.
May 19, 2023
Knowing little about Orca Books, I didn't know they were a Canadian equivalent to Barrington Stoke, printing in just the same way to negate as many issues with dyslexia and reading issues as possible. That is of course commendable; the results on these pages not so much. It starts very dramatically with a girl witnessing part of her school cave in with a bad earthquake. At the end of the day stuck there waiting for parental company to leave school who turns up but her older step-sister, the girl she barely knows from her father's relationship prior to her. With no contact from any of their combined parents they get to a home, where there's a perfectly good community and safety and shelter, only to ignore all that, and take the lengthy, arduous trek into Vancouver to find the father who of course if he is alive will be coming back the other way.
Unable to question that stupid idea the book becomes a short novella of survival fiction, what with camps peopled by grumbling people, but many others willing and able to give aid. It's about how the girls conjoin into a non-nuclear family, as a schoolchild living with two mothers, Sikh helpers and charitable foreigners prove the whole world is inordinately woke. It has an immediacy and a drive, and a suitable portrayal of bonding, but a narrative where the girls are supposed to think such idiotic things and get themselves into so much trouble cannot be considered that utterly sensible a purchase.
Unable to question that stupid idea the book becomes a short novella of survival fiction, what with camps peopled by grumbling people, but many others willing and able to give aid. It's about how the girls conjoin into a non-nuclear family, as a schoolchild living with two mothers, Sikh helpers and charitable foreigners prove the whole world is inordinately woke. It has an immediacy and a drive, and a suitable portrayal of bonding, but a narrative where the girls are supposed to think such idiotic things and get themselves into so much trouble cannot be considered that utterly sensible a purchase.
July 28, 2025
Rating: 2.60 stars
First off, I will say this book was meant to be a children’s book (Or older children’s book).
Overall, it was an okay book. The plot was the best part. The writing of it was not very good; there were a few mistakes (Missing commas, etc), choppy sentence structure, and punctuation that made the text feel disjointed. It also was a very short book that could be read in one sitting; it was 80 pages long, with bigger text. But again, it was meant to be a children’s book.
I would recommend this to all older kids looking for a good book. Not to adults or teens.
First off, I will say this book was meant to be a children’s book (Or older children’s book).
Overall, it was an okay book. The plot was the best part. The writing of it was not very good; there were a few mistakes (Missing commas, etc), choppy sentence structure, and punctuation that made the text feel disjointed. It also was a very short book that could be read in one sitting; it was 80 pages long, with bigger text. But again, it was meant to be a children’s book.
I would recommend this to all older kids looking for a good book. Not to adults or teens.
March 24, 2024
Quick easy read the main character sounded more like 11 then she did 15 to me and left off on a cliff hanger never found out about their dad our if Amy’s mom comes to grab her..the town goes through an earthquake and they are just trying to survive
May 25, 2025
These Orca books are not literary masterpieces, but they really helped pass the time while I was sick.
September 23, 2025
Really liked it up to a point. The ending leaves you going wth just happened. But then again it’s only 82 pages. I say read it if you want.
November 5, 2023
Ended far too abruptly without closure. I had expected more.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews