As & When by Alex Andre

Aileen has been running the “underground” element of Locksville for a while. And while it may not seem like an important job, without her influence chaos would take over and no one would be safe. By keeping things controlled, there is essentially peace. And even those in charge of the city on the more lawful/legal/political side of things recognize that without her and her group controlling the less than legal elements of the population, things would get very bad, very quickly. So when Aileen disappears without explanation (a highly unusual thing), it is up to her second in command, Bo, to find out what has happened to her and to arrange for whatever is needed to bring her home.

This was the second book in a post-apocalyptic/dystopian series called the E Apocrypha. While this book focuses mainly on a different part of the world from the previous book, it does include many of the characters we met in that novel. In this story, we learn quite a bit about Aileen and how she came to be in charge of the underground element of Locksville, as well as why she was kidnapped. Her adventures, as well as those of Bo, the one seeking to find and rescue her, make for a very interesting and entertaining story.

I received and read a review copy of this book and I greatly enjoyed it. I especially enjoyed the references to characters from the first book in the series and learning what happened to them after the conclusion of their story. And while I do believe that readers could probably read this book even without having read the previous one, I think that they will enjoy it much more if they have read the first book. (Without the information from that story, readers may miss some of the reasons why the referenced characters from the first book are still important to know about in this one.)

I believe that anyone who enjoys post-apocalyptic and/or dystopian novels will enjoy this book a great deal. I found the mix of characters who see the usefulness of mechanical equipment and those who feel that such were the cause of the catastrophe that essentially reset the world to a pre-industrial society interesting. And the complexities of those who marvel over what was lost and historical compared to those who seemed to feel that everyone was better off without them also enhances the story. In my opinion, this is a story that is well worth reading, and I am looking forward to reading the third book in this series.

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