Ever go to a bookstore, give one of the employees a totally vague idea of what book you’re in the mood for, and then actually have them find something even better than you imagined? I have! I wanted an anthology, just a mixture of short stories, and the bookshop lady came back with Shards and Ashes, an anthology of dystopian tales! I didn’t even tell her about my creepy love for post-apocalyptic stories! She just magically knew. And best of all, there’s a werewolf story in this collection – Branded by bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. Werewolves AND a post-apocalyptic wasteland. What more could a girl want?
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ike all of the stories in this book, Branded is set in a desolate post-apocalyptic future. The story takes place in a world destroyed by both natural disasters and human stupidity. People discovered that supernatural creatures like werewolves, vampires, and magic users existed and everything went to hell. There was chaos, there were genetic experiments, and in the end, the world fell. Fast-forward years later to our main character, Rayne, a teenager living in a fortress with the rest of the human population… And I will stop there before I ruin the story. Ha!
Branded is a story of survival. About a clever, but hardened, young woman who will do what is necessary to live in a world of horrors and live it her own way.
Branded is one of many stories I fell in love with in this collection. I love me some futuristic doom and gloom stories. But, this is the only werewolf story in Shards and Ashes, so I’d recommend this book to those who, like me, have a disturbing love for post-apocalyptic wastelands. Cue the evil laughter.
– Moonlight
