Mar 10, 2014

After the End by Amy Plum

Title: After the End
Author: Amy Plum
Publisher: HarperTeen
Format: eBook
Publication Date: May 6, 2014
Overall: 3.5 out of 5 stars

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.

After the End was a fascinating read. I really enjoyed Juneau’s discovery of the world around her. I thought it was very interesting how she has to completely rely on her own instincts. She has a great belief in something spiritual called the Yara.

The Yara guides all of her decisions and allows her to see if her intuition is correct. I actually liked how well it was woven into the storyline, especially in regards to Miles. Miles was an interesting character because he wasn’t bad per se, but he definitely was untrustworthy. I liked that Juneau never fully trusted him, but because of the Yara she knew that she needed him.

This book had mystery the whole way through, and it was absolutely wonderful. Of course, from the beginning we knew that Juneau had been lied too, but why? This is something that isn’t fully answered in this book, but only because there were more important concerns. Miles’s father is after Juneau and it’s why Miles has such a hard choice to make in regards to Juneau.

I thought this book was incredibly well-written. There were bits that I enjoyed like the Yara being so seamlessly put into the story, but I did feel that it was also used as a crutch to explain things easily. The ending was also to big of a cliffhanger, I didn’t like how it just ended with it being so weird. It just didn’t seem like it was possible even with everything that was stated about the Yara.

I would give this book 3.5 stars because of this. Overall, I did really enjoy it and I am looking forward to the next book in the series. I think that it has great potential, and the ability to outshine this first one!