Customer Reviews
Has a Certain Nostalgia Value. - By: Sybok, 12 Sep 2008 
When this was first published, it was a BIG DEAL! At last, the 'authentic' continuation of the story. However, the reaction to this novel was a very bad one overall. It seems to have been quietly agreed by just about the whole of fandom that we will quietly forget that this book ever happened - and, additionally, nobody has been whipping up campaigns to ever have the mooted follow-up book 'State of Mind' published.
Personally I found it an enjoyable enough read. It drew mein at my tender age when I read it & it retains a certain nostalgic value for me. It was interesting to hear it's take on what really happened to Blake after he left the Liberator & before his devastating reunion with Avon. There is the introduction of new characters & computers,in keeping with the series itself. (We've lost Blake & Jenna? No worries, here's Tarrant & Dayna! Bye Zen & Cally! Hello Slave & Soolin!) This replacement mentality continuesin this book. Perhaps that is where it went wrong. Perhaps it should have really been bold & been a new, almost unrecognisable continuation, taking the series into uncharted waters. Then again it would have been criticised for not being familiar 'Blake's 7'. Sometimes you just can't win. Worth a read, if only as an interesting curio. And make no mistake, this is still a very readable book. If you don't agree that it is 'authentic', at least view it as taking placein an alternative universe, then you may give it a chance.
How did we get here - By: Mr. A. L. Attwood, 09 Jun 2005 
I'm moved to write this to try & clarify a couple of points that related to the writing of Afterlife. The book came about when it became clear that there was not likely to be a 5th series of Blake's at least for another couple of years, because of contractual arguments which by & large had nothing to do with the series, but were happening off stage. Having written The Programme Guide to the series I was asked to write a book which could be turned into four episodes. My instructions were to work with Avon & Vila & to keep within the format - but not to introduce anything that would cause too much confusion if the 5th series were made. As the novel developed I suggested that we could consider doing 2 novels - the second being State of Mind, which would resolve the issuesin Afterlife - which are left hanging reading for the next events. This idea was welcomed, but then those contractual arguments gotin the way.
A lot of hardcore fans didn't like Afterlife - criticising both what I did with the characters, & what happenedin the storyline, but to balance that (and to keep me feeling moderately happy) there was a lot of nice stuff from people who just watched the show but never subscribed to the fanzines etc.
If you enjoyed Afterlife - I'm glad you did. If not - well, sorry. I thought it worked ok, but we all have our own style.
