ARC Review: After the End (After the End #1) by Amy Plum

After the End

Author: Amy Plum

Series: After the End

Pages: 352

Publisher: Harper Teen

Amazon

Release date: 6^th May 2014

Synopsis. (Goodreads)

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.

Review: 3 out of 5 stars

After the End is a book I have been really eager to read, as a huge fan of Amy Plum's Revenant trilogy I was keen to start on her newest series and despite not being completely wowed by it, I feel it was a promising start to what I think will be a great series.

After the End is a book that took me a while to get into, it started off slowly and I honestly had no idea what was going on but after my initial confusion I soon became invested in the story and the unique characters.

Seventeen year-old Juneau Newhaven is the future Sage of her clan, her role will enable her to protect her people by predicting storms or natural catastrophes, she can conjure healthy crops and source where food can be found, to do this she is able to communicate with the earth or what they call The Yara.

When Juneau’s camp is destroyed and there is no sign of her people she flees her Alaskan home to bustling LA, a place she always believed was a post-apocalyptic wasteland and this is where she is certain she’ll find her mentor and father. What she learns along the way certainly baffled her and she begins to question why she would have been lied to and betrayed her whole life.

Eighteen year-old Miles is a bit of a school trouble maker and after three strikes he is now out of his exclusive academy. Forced to work with his pharmaceutical executive father and out to seek his approval, he goes in search of the girl with the star-burst in her eye who is extremely important to his dad for reasons he isn’t too sure of; what I found far-fetched though was Miles searching for a girl he had absolutely no idea about but he was able to find her quite easily.

The main characters made this book, they were wary of one another initially but they came to form a mutual trust and close bond; there were a few miscommunications but nothing was dragged out and they came to work well together, they were complete opposites but I appreciated their slow to build relationship. I was also really curious to learn more about Juneau and her unique abilities, this aspect was done well.

The plot centres around Juneau finding and saving her people and working through the betrayal she feels from those she once trusted all the while being hunted for potentially knowing of a secret drug for immortality. The premise was intriguing and the small details and vivid imagery really kept the story interesting. Unfortunately though, there were also a few occasions where resolutions came too easily.

Told in alternating POV’s from both Juneau and Miles it gave us great insight into their thoughts and emotions which I always like and each had their own distinct voice, it was done well. After the End is an engrossing read and well-written but it lacked tension and the overall wow factor. I also feel little explanation was given about the drug so I hope more information will be provided in the sequel.

Overall, After the End is an engaging and enjoyable start to series; it’s an exciting mystery with a fascinating cast of characters and a nice blend of romance and intrigue; the book ends on a cliff-hanger so I am definitely eager to read the sequel.

Thank-you to Harper Teen via Edelweiss for the opportunity to read and review After the End.

 

About the author: (Goodreads) 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 athttp://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.

Check out videos and extras from Amy at Revenant Central.