#Review - After the End by Amy Plum

After the End (After the End #1)
By Amy Plum
Release Date: May 6th 2014
Publisher: HarperCollins
Hardcover, 322 pages
Goodreads
My Rating - ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯


Description

"I have no idea what is truth and what is fiction. I'm all I've got now. I can't trust anyone."

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.

My Review

 The first thing I would like say about this book is that it was not a dystopian story like I originally believed it to be. The aspect of Juneau living in a remote location due to her people being the only survivors of WWW3, was what pulled me in. This experience was short lived. In reality it was a journey that involved Juneau searching for her father. Who along with every single person in her clan were somehow mysteriously taken from her settlement.

 Nevertheless, I still was able to enjoy the plot. The special abilities that she possessed from tapping into the Yara (a mysterious magical force) was intriguing. I'm still unclear as to what exactly the Yara is, which is an enormous part of Juneau's way of life. I'm interested in finding out more about it and hoping the author will elaborate more in the next book.

 What I enjoyed most about this novel was the characters. I liked Juneau. She was strong, determined and incredibly brave. Miles' personality was the complete opposite of Juneau. Whereas she was a hard worker, he was more of a spoiled, mischief making, rich boy, and in spite of all that I still liked him. Also, I quite enjoyed the humor that he brought to the story.

 Unfortunately, there were part's of this story that didn't make  much sense to me. For example, in hopes of impressing his father, Miles thought it would be a fantastic idea to take it upon himself to pretty much kidnap a teenage girl and bring her back to his father for questions relating to pharmaceuticals. There was also the fact that Miles didn't seem to find anything wrong with her father hunting down a young girl to begin with...strange eh?

 In closing, I would like to add that while I didn't think that this book was perfect, I found moments of it extremely entertaining. It was fast paced with interesting main characters, and I flew through this story rather quickly.

I give this a 4 out of 5 stars.