Book Review: ‘Far Shore,’ Book Three of the After Series by Traci L. Slatton

‘The heart wants what the heart wants” seems like such a redundancy. Yet there is that simple truth to the adage where there often seems to be no real choice in the matter. We can ignore it and yet there will always be that ‘what if?’

In Far Shore, Book Three of the After Series, Traci L. Slatton, takes us further into the devastation of earth and the causes, yet it also creates a sort of yearning. With the damage, the abilities that follow seem strange, yet without them the suffering is even more extreme. Emma is home again and with her family, and yet her heart is not whole. Her friends are far away and she has no idea what is happening to Arthur.

When a small group of friends suddenly appear, only then does she learn of the danger Jeannie faces with her upcoming birth, and worse, that Arthur is a prisoner of their worst enemy. Having unknowingly caused the death of Alexei’s wife, he has been tortured to near death.

She must ride out to use her skills in Jeannie’s upcoming birth, and then she must go to Arthur’s rescue. Her husband Haywood does not see it that way and offers an ultimatum. Still, she has no choice, she must choose the path that can save the world and the man she loves beyond all reasoning.

Are her healing powers strong enough to bring him back from the brink of death? Can she arrive in time to save Jeannie’s unborn child? The outcomes of each of these events will have far-reaching consequences. The results can go either way, reducing the earth to rubble, or driving the mists away for good.

Slatton continues to give us a heart-rending love, one that can tear apart a family. Yet she somehow imbues the situation with all the right reasons, so where the outcome could be tragic, there is somehow a bit of magic. The empathy and pain leap off the pages as you suffer with the characters.

As some of Emma’s past comes to her in dreams, you miss the characters that have moved on. They are like friends and family and the loss creates a somber atmosphere. The horror of the acts perpetrated against Arthur creates anger, making you want to hate Alexei. There is much at stake with all the characters that comes into play with the telling.

The heat and passion that sizzles between Arthur and Emma does not abate even when they are at their wits’ end.

If you enjoy mystery, science fiction, heated romance, adventure and dystopia stories this is a shining example. Book Three of the After Series, you can read stand alone, but even better with the rest of the series. The amazing backdrop and dangerous situations will keep you enthralled and asking for more of these exciting characters.