Review: After the End by Amy Plum

Title:  After the End 

Author: Amy Plum 

Publisher: HarperCollins 
Publishing Date:  May 6th 2014  

Pages: 352
Genre:  YA Sci-Fi 

Series:  After The End #1
Source: Audio

  

She’s searching for answers to her past. They’re hunting her to save their future.

World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They've survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.

At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.

When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.

Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she's trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

This book wasn't quite what I expected. There was a slow start and there were times I wasn't so sure I would keep reading but after a bit, half way or so the book did get interesting for me and and I followed through to the end and I am glad I did. It was quite good at the end and I enjoyed it as a whole. I really liked the story more than I did the characters but they character did end up growing on me too. Like I said not what I expected but in the end it was a good read. 

Juneau has grown up believing that the rest of the world didn't exist. It was her little village that survived WWIII and that was that. She lived a very simple life and she and her village survived on basics, hunting, fishing, farming, sewing, and so on. Everyone pitched in and they all worked hard very day. The only difference between the way her village lived now and the old days, the magic that existed inside of them. When her village is attacked and she the only one that was not taken, she embarks on a journey to find the rest of her people and discovers the world is not gone, there was no world, and no one is like her or her people.On top of all that is new she finds out her life is full of betrayals and lies. Even though nothing is as it seems she insists on rescuing those who lied to her, with the help of a boy named Miles, they set out to fight the bad guys.


So I felt I went into this book blind. The summary really doesn't do any good for this book.  I really wasn't expecting a magical element. I didn't mind I just wasn't expecting it. The book was almost a cross between sci fi and fantasy and the fantasy felt old but the sci fi felt modern. Oh and a bit of dystopian too.  I think this book may have a bit of thriller to the story as the main characters are on the run from something unknown, but it didn't really feel like a thriller. It also had a bit of a contemporary feel. The book started off a dystopian with a fantasy feel, went into contemporary, and ended on a sci fi note. That is the way the book read at any rate. I would classify it more of a sci- fi. I think. Its really hard to categorize. I think this may have been the issue with my rough spots. I liked the sci-fi aspect and the fantasy aspect. I didn't like the contemporary feel in the middle. It just didn't fit. So tone of the book and the feel of the book was really hard to get into. 

The characters lacked a bit for me. They did grow after the middle and I liked them for the last part of the book. Well I liked Miles pretty much from the beginning. I liked his attitude and his snark even when his selfishness got in the way. He was a big douche in the begging but he ended up hero of the hour. Juneau was very self involved too. I understood her need to rescue her village and the fear from losing them. I understood her betrayal, I understood her hurt. I did not understand her wallowing and self pity. Grow a pair and do what you got to do or don't. I didn't like the selfless act being followed by whining. Again, she grew and in a way got over it but it took a while. 

What I liked about the book. The story, the actual build up, the back story, the unknown, and the questionable good guys vs bad guys.... .which is which. I liked the suspense. It didn't have much but there was just a bit. I liked the romance too. Believe it or not I think that is what changed the characters and my feels for them. Once they went from hate, to annoyance, to friends, to romance, they were pretty cool. The romance was fast but not really insta love. 

The story really was good and in the end I was so confused... I mean in a good way. I didn't know who to believe or who to trust, or what would happen. It did end on a what happens now, you can't just end it. But in this case it was a good thing. I will want to read the next book when it comes out pretty quickly. I really want to know how it all will end. 

This book had some rough spots for me but I ended up enjoying the read. 

Amy Plum is the author of the International Bestsellers DIE FOR ME (Indie Next List pick, Romance Times top pick, and recipient of a starred review from School Library Journal), UNTIL I DIE, and IF I SHOULD DIE. The books have been translated into eleven foreign languages. The trilogy is accompanied by an eNovella entitled DIE FOR HER.

Amy grew up in Birmingham, Alabama before venturing further afield to Chicago, Paris, London and New York. An art historian by training, she can be found on most days either daydreaming or writing (or both) in a Parisian café. Visit her at http://www.amyplumbooks.com and check outhttp://www.youtube.com/user/revenantc... for videos and extras.

After being raised in Birmingham, Alabama, in a rather restrictive environment, AMY PLUM escaped to Chicago to an even more restrictive environment at a university that expelled people for dancing. (And where she was called to the dean’s office for “wearing too much black”.) After all of that restrictiveness, she was forced to run far far away, specifically to Paris, France, where she only wore black and danced all she wanted.

After five years in Paris, she ventured to London, where she got an M.A. in Medieval Art History, specializing in Early Sienese Painting (1260-1348) mainly because it promised almost no hope of finding a paying job afterward.

Amy managed to find work in the world of art and antiques in New York. But after almost a decade of high-pressure lifestyle in the Big Apple, she swapped her American city for a French village of 1300 inhabitants.

After signing with HarperCollins for the DIE FOR ME series, Amy left her job as an English professor at Tours University to write full-time. She now lives in Paris with her two kids and big red dog Ella.

She is a huge fan of Edward Gorey and Maira Kalman (and collects both of their books/art), as well as David Sedaris, Amadeo Modigliani, and Ira Glass.