After the End (After the End, #1)

by Amy Plum

Michael Grant's Gone series meets M. Night Shyamalan's The Village in this riveting story of one girl's journey to save the very people who have lied to her for her entire life. Amy Plum, international bestselling author of the Die for Me series, delivers a fast-paced adventure perfect for fans of Marie Lu, Veronica Rossi, and Robison Wells. Juneau grew up fearing the outside world. The elders told her that beyond the borders of their land in the Alaskan wilderness, nuclear war had destroyed everything. But when Juneau returns from a hunting trip one day and discovers her people have been abducted, she sets off to find them. And leaving the boundaries for the very first time, she learns the horrifying truth: World War III never happened. Nothing was destroyed. Everything she'd ever been taught was a lie. As Juneau comes to terms with an unfathomable deception, she is forced to survive in a completely foreign world, using only the skills and abilities she developed in the wild. But while she's struggling to rescue her friends and family, someone else is after her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about her secret past.

• ISBN10: 0062225626
• ISBN13: 9780062225627
• Publish Date: 6 May 2014
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Imprint: Collins
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 352
• Language: English

Reviews

[cornerfolds]

Little known fact: I spent four years of my life in Alaska while stationed at Elmendorf Air Force Base. I didn't get to explore very much of it, but I did see some pretty cool things and meet a lot of awesome people while I was there, and I worked with a lot of people who had spent time in "The Bush," better known as the place where all the remote villages are. I've heard really interesting stories, but I never got to go myself.

I say all that to say that this book immediately caught my interest. A book about a post-apocalyptic village cult and its aftermath? Yes, please!

The main characters in After the End are Juneau (named after Alaska's capitol) and Miles, the son of the rich head of a drug company. What can I say about Juneau? Well, she's kind of a bitch. Really a lot, actually, and I just didn't care much for her. I tried to take into account that she had been raised in an environment that was very hostile to outsiders, but the way she treated Miles was totally unacceptable. She was rude and demanding and generally thought very highly of herself. I can appreciate that she was tough and resourceful too, but I feel like the cons outweigh the pros where Juneau is concerned.

Miles, on the other hand, I liked. And pitied. I could understand why he made the decisions he did (for the most part). However, I thought that he was way too gung-ho at times, almost unrealistically. I know he was on a mission, but there were so many times when I think a normal person would have just gone home. The worst part was I didn't get the romance.

Pro: No love triangle.
Con: Some serious instalove.

Juneau and Miles were together all of five minutes before they were suddenly making out and in love or whatever and... come on! When are YA authors going to stop with this trope?

The big bad(s) in After the End aren't as diabolical as some, but were actually perhaps the most realistic thing in the entire book. More than one group is after Juneau throughout the book and for legitimate reasons. They weren't super terrifying, but they did drive up the tension in all the right places.

This book was pretty much one big road trip that had a lot of ground to cover settings-wise. I loved the descriptions given of the Alaskan wilderness! While I've never been out in the middle of nowhere, I feel like it could be really easy to describe it as "white and flat with some mountains." Amy Plum did a great job of putting their surroundings onto paper. The author did an equally awesome job with every other setting. The world building was a high point of this book!

The storyline of After the End was truly unique and exhilarating! I LOVE Village-esque stories like this one where the main character discovers her tiny home isn't the only thing left. It's really one of my weaknesses and Amy Plum did a fantastic job of handling Juneau's discovery of modern society. I loved it! I also loved her insane evasion of the bad guys who were following her!

My problem is with the mythology of the book. The Yara (mystical, magicy, Mother-Earthy thing) was just too ridiculous for me. You mean to tell me that some guy read some books on some random religions and managed to piece one together that gives people magical powers? Um... nah. I don't buy that. I will say that I liked the partial de-mystification that happened, but I'm just really having a hard time suspending my disbelief far enough to accept the whole Yara business.

I liked After the End, I did. But I didn't love it. There were too many problems between the characterizations and the really weird magical elements that just didn't work for me for this to be a five star book. I feel like if it had all come out in the end that the Yara was a load of hooey, I might have felt differently about this one. Still, a unique premise and halfway great plot makes this three stars and definitely worth reading!

Actual Rating: 2.5 stars

[liz089]

I had a really hard time getting through this one.. glad I finished it !!

[Amber]

This review was originally posted on Books of Amber

Was anyone else expecting a post-apocalyptic survival novel with this one, or was that just me? I admit, my problem is that I don’t read blurbs before reading books, because I like to go into them surprised and knowing absolutely nothing. So it’s my fault that I went into After the End with unrealistic expectations. But I’m disappointed anyway, because whereas I was looking forward to a survival novel in the Alaskan wilderness but instead it was more of a science fiction thriller, and it was really bloody confusing to begin with.


You clever folk will know that the war that supposedly caused the apocalypse didn’t actually happen, and apparently the main character has been hiding in Alaska for no reason because there’s no radiation? This was a nice surprise for me while reading, but it’s not what I wanted from this book. Oop at me.

In the beginning, Plum’s writing style took a while to get used to. It felt like she was being overly descriptive for no apparent reason, and using too many unnecessary words. Sometimes present tense just doesn’t work for an author, and that was the case here. After a few chapters, I did start to get used to it and I was able to lose myself in the story rather than worry about the author’s writing style, but if I hadn’t been curious about the so-called WWIII, I wouldn’t have continued reading based on the writing.

I really liked Juneau, although she didn’t feel like the most developed character. I did feel sorry for her, because everything she had been told was a lie. Juneau is an interesting and mysterious character, who I’m sure we will learn more about in the sequel, but she’s not very stand-out to me.

The romance in After the End wasn’t instalove, which I appreciated, but it wasn’t exactly slowburn either. I don’t think the two characters, Juneau and Miles, had any chemistry and so their hate-to-love relationship didn’t evoke many feelings from me. Which is a shame, because I love my ships. I just thought their entire progression as enemies and then friends and then as something closer was standard and average and lacking anything to make me squee.

After the End had a bit of a mystery plot, which is really what kept me interested and reading. What is Yara? Who the hell is Whit? How can anything cause a perfect star shape to develop in your eye? I’m probably interested enough to read the sequel, or at least look up spoilers, but I wouldn’t rush to buy it because After the End was practically average in every way and I have no strong feelings about it.

I have to fault the description for completely concealing the fact that AFTER THE END has a second protagonist (Miles) and that it it written in dual POV (one chapter from Juneau's POV, then one chapter from Miles' POV). I think most of the problems I had with the book stem from the opening. The whole story hinges on Juneau's desperate quest to find her clan. The problem is that we barely see any of these people prior to their abduction, and therefore don't share Juneau's connection. I couldn't tell you who any of her friends were after a clunky first chapter. Mile's opening is worse, however, since his entire motivation for finding Juneau and traveling with her is so flimsy as to be pointless. On top of that, he's eighteen, but the way he interacts with his father you'd think he was fifteen.

So yeah, I had to order my brain to ignore all of that in order to finish the book. The basic story is intriguing. I did like The Village type premise, and watching Juneau acclimate to the modern world was interesting and felt mostly authentic. I also found the mystery and magic of Juneau's clan to be compelling despite the deliberately vague explanations (it looks like the big answers will come in the next book).

And yes, there's a romance. No, it's not very good, and yes, it's rushed. Fortunately Juneau and Miles don't decide they love each other within days of meeting, but the total lack of chemistry was disappointing. I did appreciate the switch on normal character roles. In most books, Miles would have been the survivalist leader and Juneau would have been the somewhat prissy naive one. The mixup kept the story from being too predictable.

Overall, I liked the premise and some of the intriguing story twists enough to fairly enjoy the book. The beginning is by far the weakest part of the book, and the romance is pretty anemic. But I may still look at the second book when it releases.

[shannonmiz]

This was quite the unique book! I really wasn't sure what to expect going into it, really. I'd read the synopsis of course, but steered clear of reviews because I didn't want to know any more. I wanted to be surprised, and read it without being clouded by anyone else's thoughts. I liked the Alaska bit, but knowing we weren't going to be there for long, I didn't get too attached.

Basically, as the story unfolds, you have a lot of stuff going on, and if you read the synopsis, you'll know none of it is of a dystopian nature. You have survival, lies, complicated relationships, mystery, witty banter, Yara (you'll have to read to figure all that out!), and a pretty intense road trip. And a cliffhanger, don't forget the cliffhanger.

What I liked: This was different. I felt like finally, finally a book I had not read components of before. This was truly original. Juneau was awesome as the female protagonist. She was just amazing: Strong, clever, witty, and of course, utterly confused. The author did such a remarkable job of actually convincing me that Juneau didn't have a clue, was completely sheltered. Miles was a mess. But you kind of know he can be reformed, that he is not doomed to be an immature brat forever. Amy Plum did another great job at accurately depicting how someone would react to meeting Juneau. Their relationship was so fun to watch play out. There was no ridiculous insta-love, just a lot of mutual disdain and confusion, which finally gave way to them each giving in a bit and learning to trust. I loved the survival aspect, and I am a sucker for a road trip, so that was enjoyable too. And I feel like there is so much more I want to know, so I am definitely going to be waiting for the second book to see if any of my theories prove accurate!

What I didn't: It isn't that I didn't like the Yara stuff, it's just that I am on the fence about it. I know it is a big component to the story, but I am so closed-minded about the "mystical" sort of thing, that I found myself not believing it (which, perhaps, isn't a bad thing). And there were a few times that I was just kind of thinking that the book could move along a bit faster than it was. But overall, it was incredibly enjoyable, and I am really looking forward to the sequel!

[limabean74]

***Bangs head on desk*** I really liked this book until the end then I wanted to punch someone in the face. I just don’t understand, this book was great and then WTF!!! OK so I wont say what happened but it was really frustrating and I must hope upon hope that this is going to be a series or I might actually punch someone.

The story starts after the 3rd World War in a town in Alaska with a group of people that have started a new life separated from a world that was totally devastated. It left only a few people who will do anything to survive but when the outside world breaks in and all the villagers go missing it’s up to Juneau to find them using the only thing she know. Yara which is a form of natural magic that can connect her with her people and nature but when she steps out into a world she thought was lost it becomes apparent that she was lied to because the world outside of there small village is just fine.

That’s sounds AWESOME right? It was and I honestly loved Juneau. The story was told in her and Miles POV. Miles is the kid she meets and she learns is suppose to take her to find her people. I LOVED Miles and I can’t tell you how many times I laughed out loud. Some of the things he said is in a realistic way because if this happened to you, you would say the same things. The chemistry they had together made this a wonderful read and the banter back and forth was so funny….then we got to the end and I was in a RAGE.

I don’t even know how to explain it. It just ended… it. just. ended. Now no place on the cover does it say book 1 so I can assume that this is a stand alone, however I pray to the gods that this is not a stand alone. As much as I liked the story, the progression of the story was only in the beginning and then the end (In my opinion). The middle was just a lot of driving and connecting to Yara and then to end the way it did after all that driving and Yaraing. I was like WHAT!!!!

Ok so let me just say this. I will recommend this book because I really liked it, and I want you to also feel what I felt at the end. Not because I am a mean person but because it took me 2 weeks to write this review and this book is still fresh in my head and my emotion from it is still the same. That is saying something, so well done Amy Plum, well done. You wrote an amazing book that has stuck with me and will stick with for a very long time but I still pray there will be a book number 2 because I seriously need to know WHAT HAPPENED!!! It could not have just ENDED THAT WAY!!!!

EDIT: Since I already typed this I didn’t want to change anything so I added this edit

I just saw on goodread that this is book 1, my prayers to the gods have been answered and now I don’t have to punch anyone ;)

- See more at: http://www.becausereading.com/review-end-amy-plum/#sthash.q7srWf3P.dpuf