Thursday, April 24, 2014

Review: After the End by Amy Plum

Thursday, April 24, 2014 with 9 comments

Title: After The End
Author: Amy Plum
Series: After the End #1
Publisher: HarperTeen
Publication Date: May 6th, 2014
Source: received from publisher via Edelweiss
Purchase: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

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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.

When I first heard about After the End, I just had to have it! Alaska!! Heck yes! When I was young I used to fantasize about living there. It’s so beautiful and the idea of seeing Northern Lights on the regular. Very cool. I’m old enough now to know that I would freeze my tushy off if I lived there, so the appeal has dropped drastically.

While this book does start out in Alaska, it does not stay there. Bummer, but I still found it interesting and different. I’m not sure what I really expected going into this. From the description I expected it to be more of a cult situation. She’s shut off from the world, told that there was this huge war and everything has been destroyed. Only to find out that she’s been lied to her whole life. That’s crazy and I was anxious to see how she was going to react to this news. And how she was going to integrate herself into the modern world and find her people.

That was the best part of the story for me, the beginning, but then it kind of turns paranormal. Had I known that going into After the End, I think I would have enjoyed it better. I picked up cupcake thinking it was Chocolate, only to find out it was Vanilla. Expectations ruin everything!


The hints of Paranormal aren’t crazy or anything, there are no vampires or werewolves jumping out at you, it's more of a spiritual “One with Nature” thing, but the story basically revolves around all that.

Juneau, I never really connected with her. She’s likable enough, but she’s so weird all of the time, that I spent most of my time trying to understand her. The story is told in alternate point of views with Miles. This is a boy she meets up with on her Journey and I didn’t really like him all that much either. He was a bit of a peen.

I know this makes it sound like I hated After The End, but I didn’t. It was good, it just wasn’t what I wanted it to be. I will probably read the next one, because I’m curious to see where it’s all going to go. This is my first Amy Plum book and it wont be my last. I might have to try her Revenants series sometime.



About the author:

Amy PlumAmy 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.

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.

Find Amy:

Website | TwitterFacebookGoodreads

9 comments:

  1. Seems like a really interesting plot! I know what you mean, though, about going into a book thinking you're getting something different. It throws everything off.

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    1. It was!! It definitely wasn't a bad book, and I think going into the second and knowing what to expect, I'll like that one more. At least I'm hoping! lol. :)P

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  2. Bahaha...you referred to a character as a "peen"! Also, the MC's name is Juneau and it's set in Alaska? WTF? That's about as lame as you can get. I have this, but I moved it down the pile awhile ago. I just don't think it's for me. I read her Revenants series, and I really liked it in the beginning, but that was back when I first got into this reviewing business and liked pretty much everything I read. Not so much these days. Glad it hooked you enough to read the next book, though!

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    1. Juneau always reminds me of The Descent film. Different spelling though at least I think it was.

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    2. Ya know, I was tempted to change that before I sent it off to Harper, but then decided... nah!!! Peen was perfect. lol.

      yeah the name was kinda funny. I saw a few other people who thought that was lame as well.

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    3. Well, I mean, it's the CAPITAL of Alaska...so, the setting is Alaska and her name is a city in Alaska...yeah, LAME. :P

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  3. Wow this clarifies the story for me haha I will read it now even if it might be different, at least I know what to expect. I always like these kind of lines and where the paranormal element involves more the spirit than anything tangible. It sounds a lot like The 5th Wave but then different :)

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  4. I hate when my expectations affect my experience. Thanks for the heads up about the paranormal aspects - I was definitely thinking it was more cultish in nature too.

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  5. The cover is amazing. I thought it would turn out to be more dystopian than paranormal.

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