Review : After the End by Amy Plum

Summary (from Goodreads)

Title : After the End (After the End #1)
Author : Amy Plum 
Publication Date : May 6th 2014
Publisher : HarperTeen
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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.

Personal Thoughts

After the End is a book that everyone should go into without reading the blurb because it will take you by surprise and consequently, your reading experience will be much more entertaining. That's what I did and having not loved Amy Plum's Revenent series, I was very much surprised by how much I ended up enjoying this title.

The book is told in the dual POV of Juneau and Miles. While I did have issues with Miles' POV because of his personality, the dual POV in this book was essential to see the two sides of the story. Juneau was by far my favorite of the two characters. She is someone who is easy to sympathize with. She finds out out of nowhere that her entire life has been a big lie and has to proceed to find her kidnapped clan. Juneau's calmness and maturity when it came to the obstacles that she was facing made her a likeable character, in my opinion. She refused to panic and did what she had to find her loved ones. I also really felt for her. I can't imagine what I would do if I was told that my entire life had been a joke, but Juneau handled everything with a level-head. My reason for not enjoying Miles initially was his motive. I got where he was coming from, but that didn't mean I  didn't want to lash out at him every time he even thought of betraying Juneau. It did, however, like that the author had the two main characters mistrust each other for a very long time. Not only was it a refreshing feat in a YA book, but it was also realistic. As a result, the romance was very slow to develop and not a prevalent element.

The plot is where I think the book needed a little work in. In all honesty, After the End felt for the most part like a long introduction. The world building was definitely up to par. We learn a lot about Juneau's life with her tribe in Alaska and a little about the mindset of the leader. I also really liked the inclusion of the supernatural element, the Yara, in the book. It was fascinating and by the end of the book, I was still itching to know more. The actual story, however, is just one long car chase with Juneau and Miles trying to escape people who are looking for them. I know this can be a turn off for many readers, but I found myself being thoroughly entertained throughout. I enjoyed the thrill of the chase. It helped that Amy Plum's writing was engrossing and had me hooked throughout. All I wanted to do was to keep reading on and on,so you can imagine the intense disappointment and frustration I felt when the book ended out of nowhere on an awful cliffhanger that made me want to scream.

Ultimately, I thought After the End was a captivating book with a memorable heroine, an intriguing world and an engrossing writing style. I'm curious to see where the series is headed to.

Rating 

Cover : 4/5
Plot : 4/5
Characters : 4/5
Writing : 4/5

Thank you to Harper Teen and Edelweiss for the e-ARC of After the End.