After The End by Amy Plum: Review

After the End (After the End, #1)Title: After The End
Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: HarperTeen
Buy This Book: Book Depository /Amazon  


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. (Goodreads summary.)

First of all, look at that gorgeous cover, how could you not want to pick up that book and instantly start reading it? My only issue with it is that those two gorgeous dogs are in this book for about five minutes and I feel like the cover lied to me. But, I was especially excited to get started on After the End when I received the eARC. It looked like a really intriguing read and I adored the premise; but this turned out to be very different to what I had been expecting and what the blurb had given away.

Juneau has spent her whole life believing that her clan is surviving in the Alaskan wilderness because her parents and the other adults managed to escape World War III back in the 80's. It is here that she has learnt to use the Yara, which everything is connected to, in order to Conjure and Read. She can think of a person and be able to see them and feel how they are feelings. The last thing Juneau expects is to fund her whole clan missing after a hunting trip. Her hunt to find them leads her to leave their land for the first time in her whole life and it is then that she comes upon a city. Not one wrecked by the devastation of a war, but a fully functioning city with technology that she can't even imagine. It's then that Juneau realises she has been lied to her whole life and she is determined to find out why and what made her clan worth kidnapping.

I was really impressed by just how unique the story felt. When I first read the synopsis, I believed I was about to read a story that would be similar to the movie The Village, thankfully it was nothing like it. I can't remember ever reading a book like this or seeing one similar. The Yara and it's connection to the Earth was such a fascinating part of the story and one I wasn't expecting to find. I honestly wasn't sure where the story was going to go or what was going to happen because it left me with so many questions from the very beginning.

Juneau and Miles, the boy she meets who agrees to help her, both narrate the story and the chapters alternate between them. It's clear from the very beginning that Miles father is after Juneau himself, but we aren't really sure for what purpose exactly. They were both okay characters, but I didn't feel like either character really shone or stood out to me. They were both just there and the romance seemed like it was inevitable but I never felt it. There was very little chemistry between Miles and Juneau throughout this book.

This book was quite hard to get through at times because of how lengthy it felt. It isn't all that long, it just feels like it is. The storyline felt like it was being drawn out in order to turn this into the series, but it doesn't feel like it really needs one. This could have easily been a standalone novel, so I am confused that it's going to be a series. The plot moved along too slowly, if this had been a storyline that concluded in one book then I think it would have worked a lot better. It was a really unique concept, but it felt quite dragged out at times and like it was being forced to be a series and not a story that required multiple books.

3/5 Butterflies

This did have a unique story but it was far too lengthy. It felt like the plot was being forced to fit a series structure, when this actually feels like it could be a one book kind of story. I enjoyed this one but I don't have an urge to continue the series. 




*I received a copy of this novel from the author/publisher/publicist via Edelweiss in exchange for a free and honest review and received no monetary compensation for this review.

20 comments:

  1. Hmmm. I've been interested in this book (mostly due to that cover). It does sound very Village-y which is a movie I actually did like--I know I'm, like, the only one, so I'm disappointed that this didn't live up to its expectations. The characters sound pretty boring and I hate relationships with no chemistry. AND I'm so over series that don't need to be series. I've actually been seeking out standalones as much as possible, and am doing my best to not start new series--especially when the first book is only build-up. Boo. Great review!

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    1. Haha, not the only one, I actually really enjoyed the Village too. I was just happy that this wasn't a copy of it. This was definitely a lot of build up to something, but I have no clue what. The storyline just didn't feel like it required this book to be a series, one book and this could have been done easy. It would have probably made it a much better book too. I hate romances where the characters have 0 chemistry, it's dull.

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  2. My lovely blog co-host was reading this book and saying it was interesting. I've read other books by Amy Plum and back in 2010 I was impressed by her but as I started to grow up I was growing out of her work. I still want to pick this book up and see whether or not Amy's work interests me or not. Hopefully I'll like this book. I'm glad that you enjoyed the book somewhat and I'm sorry the book was tough to get through at times :(
    Paulina @ Tangled In Pages

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    1. Thank you. It was just a little too slow going and it feels like she is forcing it to be a series, but not like the story really requires it. I just felt like it had a really interesting and unique premise but the story should have been condensed into one book.

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  3. This one sounds really cool, so it's too bad the plot dragged for you.

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  4. Interesting... I think I will give this one a try, because I do love the concept of being lied to, but I think I'll also stop it if the story doesn't hook me from the start because the slow plot doesn't sound very appealing at all. I actually prefer series to standalones, but I also expect every book I read to have lots of important plot. Thanks for the review!

    -P.E. @ The Sirenic Codex

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    1. I love series too, and I much prefer them to standalone books because if I fall in love with a character and world then I want more of them. But this just felt like there wasn't enough going on in the story to justify it being a series. This could easily have been done within one book, it probably would have made it more enjoyable too. I'll be interested to hear what your thoughts are on it :)

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  5. That is a pretty epic book cover. The concept sounds interesting, but I'm concerned about how slow you said it was. I hate reading books that drag on. Great review!

    -Kimi at Geeky Chiquitas

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    1. It felt like it dragged far too much because she was stretching the story into a series, and not that the storyline needed to be a series. I won't be continuing but it was an okay start to a series.

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  6. Great review. I am very excited to read this book, I love her other series. The cover sure is gorgeous. Seems like a very interesting book. I think I need to give it a go for sure soon.

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    1. It's such a pretty cover. I'd love to hear what you think of it after you read it. This one just dragged too much for me and didn't have enough going on for it to justify this being a series and not a standalone.

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  7. This sounds unique! I love the sound of the blurb, but it's a shame that this felt drawn out to you, I wish there were more YA standalones, not everything has to span 3 books!

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    1. I know! This definitely felt like a story that could easily be told in one book, it just felt drawn out for no reason. There didn't seem to be enough to this story to justify more than one book.

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  8. Thanks so much for this review! I would like to go and read this. What an intriguing and unique tale. I can't wait to check it out for myself.

    Though I agree that it aggravates me when stories are stretched unnecessarily to increase profits rather than just for the sake of telling an enchanting stories three times over. Though sometimes a book has so much content in it that I'm like, 'This should have been split up'. Oh weeeell :3

    Agreed, that cover is phenomenal. It very much reminds me of the new Game Of Thrones re-release covers that came out last week that are STUNNING, simply, STUNNING. If I hadn't read them years and years ago, I'd buy them now just for those covers =D Also they really set the scene which helps for fantasy books, especially when you know the locations being represented.
    I'll leave the link HERE if you wanna take a look at those!

    Looking forward to your next review =D

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    1. Thanks! I know what you mean, I love series but only when it's a story that justifies it being more than one book. For me, this book just didn't feel like it had enough going on in it for it to be one part of a series. It felt like she took one story/book and then split it to make a series and then made chapters ten times longer than they needed to be. It was an okay start to a series, but it didn't make me want to pick up the sequel and see what happens next.

      I saw those in WHSmiths recently and couldn't decide if I liked them or not. I go back and forth lol

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    2. Ahh, I get you. I loved the book Half Bad (Sally Green) but I'm not even sure if I want to read the next one, I feel as if the first one wrapped the story up by itself.

      Ahhhh, I get youuu!! I get attached to things so I am still pulled towards the old covers just for nostalgia. If my sis didn't have them already though, I'd def. get the new ones. Anywhoo, take care!

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    3. Thanks! The new covers have begun to grow on me! Do you write your own blog? I couldn't figure out if the link took me to your blog or not lol

      I've got Half Bad, I'm hoping to read that soon. Not sure what I'll make of it but I am excited.

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  9. I've really been looking forward to this one so I'm disappointed you didn't love it. I do like that you thought it was unique, that's hard to do these days. But no chemistry? And it felt long because the story was drawn out? That's not good. I'll still be reading this, but I've lowered my expectations. Thanks for the honest review! ~Pam

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    1. I can't wait to see what you make of it! I enjoyed it but it didn't make me want to read on, which is never a good sign with the first book in a series. Yup, for me there was like 0% chemistry between these too; I wasn't feeling it AT ALL.

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