“Life After Death” by Sister Soulja

General Opinion: I... I just... I just did not enjoy this book.

Before I dig into the beans and cornbread of this novel, I want to start by saying, I’m extremely disappointed in this being the “sequel” that we were given for The Coldest Winter Ever, and Winter Santiaga’s story. As a stand-alone book, this particular one wouldn’t have been exactly HORRIBLE, but this is not what we wanted. Most readers like myself have been waiting for YEARS to see what happened with Winter, and to be given this, was a major upset. I saw a post from Sister Soulja on Instagram, where she encouraged readers to be open-minded when reading this; I think a reader, especially an intelligent one, can be open-minded, and still just not like what was written.

Again, the storyline wasn’t awful, in fact, there were a few good points, but there’s a time and place for every story- and this wasn’t it. Not for Winter’s story. It just seemed like a huge push into the religious/after-life viewpoint, and NOT WHAT WE WANTED. Or needed. And I truly believe the author knows that...

Now, from a marketing aspect, I think it was a genius move. Hear me out: you have millions of readers, including myself, who have been waiting for years for this sequel to come out. Even used the same image from the first book, just turned it grayscale. So the sales and numbers were out of this world, I’m sure. Fans WAITING to read and see what happens... Only to encounter THIS story. I am just truly bummed out. But as with the last book of the”Midnight” series, a lot of questions just went unanswered and left everyone puzzled, disappointed, and frustrated. (And please don’t think I’m just blowing smoke, and assuming that most people hated the book; I did intense research and spoke to a ton of people personally, who just were not in awe of this one.)

I really wish this book had gone a different route and was as captivating as The Coldest Winter Ever was. But... here we are.

If you’re still a tad bit curious, and want to check it out for yourself to form your own opinion- please do. And PLEASE let me know your personal thoughts.

Now, for the deep dive into some specifics of the book. Let’s get into it!

(****Below contains spoilers, for those who plan on reading the novel.****)

Okay, so here I’m just touching on a few key things that I felt needed to be highlighted on, and just really bothered me, personally, about the novel.

1. Extremely redundant and a lot of over-explaining: This is what I like to call “fluffing.” I did it OFTEN in my high school AP classes, as well as my college writing classes. It’s pretty much when you use a ton of extra words, and explain and describe things various ways, various times- to fill up space. I typically used it when it was a certain page requirement; if my paper needed to be 10 pages, and all I had in me, of good writing and research, was 8 or 9, the “fluff” is what made up that last page or two. For this novel, it was noticeable repetition, and bordering on annoying.

2. Extreme pushing of religion/after-life: We get it! But every book doesn’t need to shove the author’s personal religious believes in our face, chapter, after chapter, after chapter. It’s boring, and condescending. Especially when we’re looking for what should have been an african-american/urban novel. Touch on it briefly- if you must, but as I’ve stated earlier: there’s a time and place for everything. We don’t need to be forced into it, in EVERY novel. Especially with the “chants” and religious phrases. Makes it awkward to read, when it isn’t what you expected.

3. Ready to give-up by chapter 7: by the time I got to this point in the book, I was well over it. But I literally forced myself to push through it- JUST so I could give a full and complete review. And sadly, I think a part of me, was still hoping and wishing for it to get better, and become the story that myself and others really wanted. I never got that... I read a variety of books- and outside of some that I’ve HAD to read for school, I think I’ve maybe only felt forced to read one other book... in my life. And I’ve read hundreds, maybe even thousands of books, over the course of my life span.

4. The scenes of beastiality: When I say this was the absolute WORST thing about the book, I cannot stress that enough. It was completely unnecessary and extremely hard to read. I’m not sure why Sister Soulja felt compelled to even include this, but it was super weird, odd, and disturbing on many levels. I’ll spare potential readers of the details, but once I read those parts I had completely checked out, and was ready to launch the book across the room. The only reason I didn’t was because my dog was sitting nearby and would have destroyed it, thinking it was a toy.

5. In sum- it was boring: As a whole, and I’ll leave the review here, after this one- the book was a dud. It wasn’t that good of a read, and is easily forgettable. Not one of her best pieces, in any capacity. Hate to say it, but the point of these reviews is for me to give an honest option. The book was a boring read, and with certainty, I would not read it again- nor recommend it.

-Nina Michelle