Life After Death

By: Sister Souljah

Narrated by: Nia Long

Length: 16 hrs and 1 min

Publisher's Summary

Instant Number One New York Times Best Seller

Instant USA Today Best Seller

The long-anticipated sequel to Sister Souljah’s million copy New York Times best seller The Coldest Winter Ever.

Winter Santiaga hit time served. Still stunning, still pretty, still bold, still loves her father more than any man in the world, still got her hustle and high fashion flow. She’s eager to pay back her enemies, rebuild her father’s empire, reset his crown, and ultimately to snatch Midnight back into her life no matter which bitch had him while she was locked up. But Winter is not the only one with revenge on her mind. Simone, Winter’s young business partner and friend, is locked and loaded and Winter is her target. Will she blow Winter’s head off? Can Winter dodge the bullets? Or will at least one bullet blast Winter into another world? Either way Winter is fearless. Hell is the same as any hood and certainly the Brooklyn hood she grew up in. That’s what Winter thinks.

A heartwarming, heart-burning, passionate, sexual, comical, and completely original adventure is about to happen in real time - raw, shocking, soulful, and shameless. True fans won’t let Winter travel alone on this amazing journey.

©2021 Sister Souljah (P)2021 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic Reviews

"Long fully embodies Winter's brash and bold personality - a small thing like death isn't going to keep the Santiaga princess from claiming her rightful place in this world or the next." (AudioFile Magazine)

What was that?

After waiting 20 years for the sequel I am very very disappointed and can’t believe this got published. This was incredibly hard to listen to as well as follow at times. I’m going to need for the author to explain why she went in this direction for such a highly anticipated sequel? This is not what fans have been waiting for. If you are expecting to go down a journey with Winter to see how life turns out for her after she is released from prison and if she still is the girl we love to hate or see if she grows up mentally THIS AIN’T IT!

Terrible. Spoiler alert!!!!!

Nia Long did the best she could do. Her voice is not the Brooklyn born Afro Latina voice I expected to hear but that’s the least of my complaints. This was not a sequel to TCWE. It was giving lovecraft country meets Dante’s inferno. Heavy Islamic view points, heavy anti abortion, several uncomfortable instances of Bestiality...demons and Satan...allah and even an army of aborted children made a cameo in this book. It was all over the place and deeply disturbing. After listening to this I turned on a children’s movie because I needed to watch something peaceful after this assault on my ears.

Boring

Love Nia long but it felt more like I was listening to poetry. It’s reminding me of her onstage in Love Jones. I wonder if a different narrator like Bahni Turpin would have made a difference. Also the story was confusing and all over the place. I’m having a really hard time finishing.

Not the Coldest

If you looking for the Coldest Winter ever 1st book vibe, this won't give it to you. The writing is good you can tell Sister Souljah has evolve however that is not what I wanted to see. I wanted to see Winter hitting the streets, doing ruthless stuff, getting her father girlfriend that kept the money, going to see him, maybe finally getting Midnight.

Any who, Nia Long was decent but the book was long and drawn out. Not worth the credit but supporting black authors she can keep the money but I was so disappointed.

Not what I was expecting

This book is boring I couldn't even finish it! Big time disappointed! Not worth it.

one of the worst sequels

This book is terrible. The only thing I enjoyed was Nia Long's voice. She deserved better! We deserved better! If The author I won't even address her after this mess just wanted money she should have said that. I want my money back for this trash.

Don't buy this

This book is such a disappointment do not waste your money or credits not worth it. I wish I read the reviews before buying it but I was so excited to hear the next part of Winters story after she got out. This isn't it. I have never said I hated a book before but that is exactly how I feel today. A waste of a 10 year wait.

the reader

I don't think the story is bad. but the reader puts no personality to the character. that's what killed it for me

I really wanted to love this

I tried, I really tried but I could barely listen to enough of it in order for me to even be able to leave a review. The narration is terrible, the story is all over the place. I am so confused because in an interview she (Sister Souljah) said something to the effect of "wanting to keep it real and true to the nature of the story" which was one of the reasons behind it taking over 20 years to write the sequel(after Winter served her 15 year sentence). Yet the story she is giving us goes in such a different direction it's mind boggling. I am not knocking her for choosing to go the route she did, but the route just wasn't a good one. I am not saying she should have stuck to the original writing style but in this case for this sequel she should have stuck to the original writing style, especially considering (from what I heard) the characters didn't have a lot of growth in the 15 years they were in prison. The narration is a whole different story, while I love Nia Long - honey this wasn't it. From her sounding as if she is reading a long epic poem to the weird "New York" accent with the occasional bits of slang thrown in. No No No No. Maybe I will eventually be able to finish it, as for now it is sitting in my library. I forgave her for changing the Midnight we knew from "The Coldest Winter Ever" into the Polygamist Ninja in the Midnight series, but I don't think I can forgive her for this. Writing a book is hard, and I commend her but I will not purchase the actual book or any future projects.

Finally...The Wait Is Over

I'm listening again. I wish either Sister Soulja/a Dominican/ or Native New Yorker narrated the story

Beyond disappointed!!

This book is definitely not for me. I couldn't finish it before but I had to go back and try one last time.. Nope no not at all this completely missed the mark.

unbelievably disappointing

I'm not sure what happened to Sis, I can't get past the first 2 chapters

I couldn’t finish the book

I like Nia Long as an actor but I wasn’t feeling this performance at all. I may buy the book and re-review once I’ve read it all.

What was that.

I had come to the book with little expectation as I can't remember what happened in the first book.
The genre was very confusing and as a sequel wasn't needed.

WHAT A RIDE!

Sis took me on a precarious journey.
Both beautiful & ugly at the same time.

I am dismayed

Like many, I have anticipated the release of this book for 20 years. The first book to me, in my formative years, was a cautionary tale, with the beautiful rich Winter, never fully utilizing her talents and falling prey to felonious men. I hoped this book would mean redemption, growth and maturity from Winter. Instead I feel like we were given an otherworldly, Octavia Butler-esque, crude and zealous tale, that beat the reader over the head with religious overtones and antiquated attitudes.

Winter in every aspect is still childish and has had no character development other than praying at the end and slightly pulling back from her conceded ways.

Sister souljah continues to show her distaste for 'regular Black girls' and her obvious colourist/ featurist leanings. It seems that the author, like Winter has failed to move and grow with the times.

Nia tried.

Overall, I listened to this book with a constant feeling of dismay. And the predictable 'all a dream' trope, highly disappointing.

And after listening to the interviews I understand that her point was to admonish the readers of this series and particularly those who actually saw Winter as an aspirational character.