Update Schedule

There was once an update schedule. It lived a good life, a peaceful life. A quiet life. But then... things began to change. It became more and more erratic, sometimes completely disobeying its very reason for existance. And at last, the update schedule could take no more. It cast off its chains and went free, seeking new lands where it would be appreciated. This message it left where once it had lived, to warn other schedules of the peril.

Monday, January 26, 2015

Review: After the End


After the End
After the End by Amy Plum

My rating: 1 of 5 stars



This book had a great premise- Juneau's been growing up in a colony in Alaska, in a community with her clan, trying to live their lives in the aftermath of World War 3. Except- surprise!- there was no WW3. So Juneau's just sort of been living in this weird nature colony her whole life for no particular reason, as she discovers when her clan goes missing and she travels off to modern-day (well, 2014) Seattle to find them.
Meanwhile, Miles cheats on tests, is kicked out of school, and decides that kidnapping is the best way to get on his father's good side. That was where things began to go downhill. The book is written in alternating first-person chapters, and, while this has worked really well in some books (you have to love Michael and Fisk) it failed here (although I will note that I had no difficulty telling apart which chapters were in which POV). Why? Well, mostly I think it's because Miles, for the most part, has no storyline. His chapters are a page or less a lot of the time, especially at the beginning and end. Not the Juneau is all that much more plotful, but she does a lot of boring things that can be described in great and painful detail. Such as communing with nature for some unexplained magical powers (I'm sorry, not magic. Of course it's not magic. Why would it be magic? It's completely natural to be able to melt cell phones with a touch.) She also likes to hold homeless people's hands.
My main feeling was that nothing much happened in the book. I was interested in the beginning as to why her clan had claimed WW3 had happened, but as the story dragged on, I just wanted it to be over. And then, suddenly it was- and I didn't have any answers, either. I'm almost tempted to read the sequel (but not really).
Once Juneau and Miles began to fall in love, the one star fate was sealed. An semi-interesting plot with some potential turned into Julie of the Wolves comes to America and gets a boyfriend. Yawn.
This is, to be honest, a terrible book. Badly written and pointless. I highly recommend you stay away from it.



View all my reviews

No comments:

Post a Comment