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After the End
After the End
After the End
Audiobook8 hours

After the End

Written by Amy Plum

Narrated by Emily Rankin and Graham Hamilton

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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About this audiobook

Michael Grant's Gone series meets M. Night Shyamalan's The Village in this riveting story of one girl's journey to save the very people who have lied to her for her entire life. Amy Plum, international bestselling author of the Die for Me series, delivers a fast-paced adventure perfect for fans of Marie Lu, Veronica Rossi, and Robison Wells.

Juneau grew up fearing the outside world. The elders told her that beyond the borders of their land in the Alaskan wilderness, nuclear war had destroyed everything. But when Juneau returns from a hunting trip one day and discovers her people have been abducted, she sets off to find them. And leaving the boundaries for the very first time, she learns the horrifying truth: World War III never happened. Nothing was destroyed. Everything she'd ever been taught was a lie.

As Juneau comes to terms with an unfathomable deception, she is forced to survive in a completely foreign world, using only the skills and abilities she developed in the wild. But while she's struggling to rescue her friends and family, someone else is after her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about her secret past.

LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarperTeen
Release dateMay 6, 2014
ISBN9780062324177
Author

Amy Plum

Amy Plum is the international bestselling author of the Dreamfall series, the Die for Me series, and the After the End series. She spent her childhood in Birmingham, Alabama, her twenties in Chicago and Paris, and several more years in London, New York, and the Loire Valley. Now she lives in Paris and swears she’ll never move again. You can visit Amy online at www.amyplumbooks.com.

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Reviews for After the End

Rating: 3.6785714285714284 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

168 ratings24 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I quite enjoyed this book, I haven't read a dystopian in a while and this one was a good one. I really liked the main characters and the story kept me engaged the entire time, I cared about what happened to Junneau and Miles. The action was great, got your heart pumping and the non action made me laugh. Great read :)
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This book was pretty good. It’s a lot less predictable than I thought it would be, with an entertaining and often humorous dynamic between the two main characters, Juneau and Miles. Granted, it’s not perfect, but the plot held my attention and it keeps up a good pace for most of the book.

    There are cracks in the foundation of the story here and there: a few inconsistencies, overly convenient scenarios, omitted details that could have given it a more realistic feel, and it gets somewhat repetitive towards the end. It ends with a huge cliffhanger but I was expecting that. I may or may not read the next in the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it. Very creative and has a great story line.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I loved this series. This book was good but honestly I think it could have ended much sooner. It started to get pretty redundant by the third book. More of the same old same old. Still it answered some questions and wrapped up neatly. If you liked the first two you will doubtless enjoy this one. Incidentally I'd give it 3.5 stars if we could give half stars.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Juneau is the heir to the role of shaman in her clan. Whit, the current one, has trained her in the ways of connecting to they call the Yara, a universal force that permeates all things. The adults fled to a remote region beyond Denali in Alaska after what they have told the children was World War III in the early 1980s. She's is out hunting for caribou when she hears the frightening whump of a helicopter. While she's been told that civilization has been destroyed, save for a few of what the elders call brigands, she's heard this scary sound a couple times before and recognizes the threat it poses, so she abandons her kill drives her sled dogs back to her village as fast as she can.When she arrives, all clan members are gone and the dogs have been killed. Whit was supposed to be away on a retreat to a cave, but when she arrives there she realizes no one has been there for months. Her 'reading', a way she sees distant events and connects with other clan members, tells her that both Whit and the rest of her clan have been abducted, but Whit's near the sea while her father and the others are much further away in what appears to be a desert location. This realization is the beginning of her odyssey, one where she intends to find and free her clan. When she reaches the sea, she's stunned by the city and people she finds, forcing her to not only question everything she believes, but adapt quickly while evading pursuers.Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, Miles has been kicked out of his private school for a third major infraction and is working in the mailroom at his father's pharmaceutical firm. He was headed to Yale before getting expelled. When he overhears his father talking about a valuable girl who is on her way to Seattle, he decides to go and find her as a way of redeeming himself. That girl is Juneau.When their paths cross, it's the start of an uneasy alliance that finds them equally frustrated and disbelieving, but the longer they're together, the more Miles realizes Juneau's telling the truth and the stronger their attraction becomes. There's a lot of action, a need for readers to suspend a bit of belief, a neat budding romance and a cliffhanger ending. It was good enough for me to order the sequel immediately.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This YA novel had the potential to be phenomenal. Unfortunately I found it highly predictable and phony. I feel like the book is a mishmash of various novels.

    Needless to say, I won't be reading #2 in the series.

    Yawn.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I'll be honest, After the End was a struggle for me to finish. The beginning held promise, despite the fact that it felt like something had been done before. Juneau was an intriguing character. Brought up in the Alaskan Wilderness, made to believe that she was one of few survivors of the last world war, and able to connect with the "Yara" or the Earth itself to do magic. All of this had the power to sweep me up and carry me through the story. I was like a little child with her hands in the air, waiting to picked up. Sadly, that never happened and I was left disappointed.

    I think the biggest flaw with this story is the dual POV it tries to hold onto. The story shifts between Juneau and Miles, but it doesn't really need to. Juneau's story would hold water on its own. She is the one who has a magical connection to the "Yara", or the Earth. She is the one who is being hunted for reasons unknown. She is the one who has survival skills and who has a remotely interesting story. Miles? Miles is a spoiled boy from the city, with a rich, evil father, who just wants to prove himself. His chapters are terribly boring, and honestly don't add much to the story at all. I feel like this was the main thing that slowed this read down.

    My other issue was just with continuity. Juneau comes from the Alaskan Wilderness and is thrown into a world she didn't believe existed. Suddenly there is money to deal with, cars to drive, McDonalds to eat, and so many other things that are shockingly new. Magically, she adjusts in a matter of pages. The girl who at first shied away from cars on the street, is suddenly able to drive one. Can someone please tell me how she knew what the peddles were? She also somehow can distinguish money, buy clothes in a GAP, and know how to buy a ferry ticket. Is anyone else as confused as I am? I was so frustrated.

    Finally, is the simple fact that this story just doesn't really go anywhere. It's a constant pattern of running and camping. Fleeing and an attempt at back story. I was left so bored by the middle of the book that I no longer wanted to know why Juneau was being chased, I just wanted her to finally find her clan so things could move forward. Add in yet another abrupt ending, masquerading as a cliffhanger, and I was just tired.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    An enjoyable and slightly implausible read about a young girl who was brought up believing that the outside world did not exist and had been destroyed in World War III. She is on the run from various pharmaceutical companies, all the while building up a romance with the teenage son of one of the men hunting her. The use of the Yara was just a bit too convenient in helping her stay one step in front of her hunters.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Would have given it 5 stars, but I couldn't get my head around the Yara.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Amy Plum's Revenants series is among my favorites, which made her one of my favorite authors, so when I visited her website and saw a release of a new book I ordered her new one right away.

    "After the End" isn't what I expected. It's so different from Amy's romantic Paris and melancholy delicate Kate. It's as if Amy herself has changed. If I didn't know any better I would say her personal life is in drastic change. You can feel it through the first chapters. So far shocking. I would say something close to the 2011 movie Hanna. As I'm only in the beginning, I will fill you more in when I read some more.

    If you watched the Joe Wright's movie Hanna 2011, you can imagine the story minus all the killing. I didn't hate the story, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it either.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Fiction: Chapter BookPlum, Amy After the End. Harper Teen, 2015. 352p. Middle-schoolJuneau, a 17 year old girl, lived in a small, isolated clan near Mt. Denali. As one of the community’s main providers, she was away hunting when her clan was taken away. On her return she discovers she is alone and begins a journey to find her clan. She finds that what she has been told her whole life (that they were survivors of War III) is wrong and she has to learn to get along in the modern world while being pursued by those who took her family and friends. She meets up with Miles, an 18 year old boy with problems of his own and together they race across the western U.S. in a frightening attempt to rescue the clan and keep ahead of their pursuers. This fast-paced adventure is told in the first person alternating chapters between Juneau and Mile’s viewpoints. Basic themes are survival and trust.AK: Denali, Anchorage, sled dogsActivity: Ask students if they think a group of people could really live somewhere near Mt. Denali and not discover or be discovered by, the outside world. Why or why not?
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    [After The End] by [Amy Plum] has a deceptive tile because it leads you to think it is an dystopian novel. Although I love those books this was a welcomed surprise. It turned into more of an action/adventure with a little coming of age thrown in for good measure.[Plum] did an excellent job of developing a creative, fearless, intelligent character in Juneau. Although she is naive do to lack of exposure she know how to survive. Her loyalty to family even though they hurt her is endearing. Miles, on the other hand, is a spoiled rotten brat who has had the easy life. He starts out for his own gain but what he really gains is a new insight about life and love.This story has some supernatural aspects but over all is more of an exciting journey of discovery for two young people who have a lot to learn from each other.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Juneau is a curious mix of intelligence and naivete that makes her an interesting and appealing character. How she negotiates the modern world and her interactions with Miles kept me listening. I found Miles to be funny despite the part of "bad guy" that he starts out playing. The contrast between Juneau, who is on a mission to save her people and Miles who is a typical teenage boy who isn't thinking further than himself is a nice one.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I received this book at BEA 2014 and was lucky enough to meet Amy Plum. It took me a few chapters to get into the concept of Alaska and Juneau's adventure, but once I did I was hooked. At first I thought it was just another dystopian, but found it was so much more. I can't wait for the sequel.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This story alternates narrators (Juneau and Miles) every other chapter. Juneau is a young, talented girl from an isolated village in Alaska. She has been trained by her mentor in connecting to the Yara, which is the earth's life force that flows through all living things. When she returns from a hunting trip, she finds her village deserted and evidence that all of her people have been abducted. She decides she has no other option but to find them.Miles is the son of a ruthless and greedy pharmaceutical tycoon. Miles messed up at school and is desperate to win back his father's favour so he decides to help him find the girl that everyone is looking for. Juneau's village knows the secret of slowing down the aging process and Mile's dad wants the formula before anyone else gets it. This is quite an enjoyable read and is definitely not a stand alone. Will be looking for book two.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After the End by Amy Plumb is a crackling good read. A young girl by the name of Juneau has lived with her clan in the Alaskan wilderness ever since the WWIII has poisoned the rest of the world with radiation. They are among the few that have survived. Hiding from any others that may be out there, the Brigands as they are called by the clan, has become a way of life.The clan, a small group of adults and their children survive by living completely off the land. They hunt, they raise food, and they educate the children using an old Encyclopedia Britannica, and a few other books that are only available to a select few. One of the most important things taught to the children of the clan is that they should never step outside the boundaries set for them. They are taught that outside the boundaries was danger. This was taken very seriously by all members of the clan. Or, at least that is what everyone believed. Juneau is one of the special ones. she is seventeen years old, and lives with her father, since her mother died in an accident when Juneau was five years old. She is in fact being groomed to be the clan Sage, a position currently held by Whit, her mentor. It was Juneau's mother who was originally tapped for that position, due to the strength of her connection to the Yara. Yara is what they call the power that courses through the universe and connects all things. Juneau is particularly adept at connecting with and using that power. She is also one of the best hunters in the clan. Early in the story, she is sent out to hunt for the clan. She is sent on her own, as she is capable and also because she enjoys some solitary time. She does indeed find a large caribou, her arrow flies true, and she brings down the huge beast, thanks him for giving his life to her clan and then she manages to load him for the trip back to her village. But long before she was close to home she heard a noise that she had never heard before. The sound made by the blades of a helicopter. She knew all about them, having read through the Encyclopedia Britannica, which she thought of as the EB. She also knew that they meant one thing and one thing only. Danger. When she arrived home to the yurts, Juneau's father and everyone else was gone. It was up to Juneau alone to find, and rescue them. But can she achieve her goal alone? Will she have to? Will she reach her clan in time? But the burning question in her mind is why. Why did someone come and take away everyone she knew? But it soon becomes clear that there are more mysteries here than she first thought. Her journey brings her far more questions than answers.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    2.5 maybe. Maybe. On account of death by boredom. =/

    Rtc.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    An interesting Young Adult novel well put together with good character development, a nice sense of pace and a fascinating plot. I'm looking forward to the sequel.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I have to fault the description for completely concealing the fact that AFTER THE END has a second protagonist (Miles) and that it it written in dual POV (one chapter from Juneau's POV, then one chapter from Miles' POV). I think most of the problems I had with the book stem from the opening. The whole story hinges on Juneau's desperate quest to find her clan. The problem is that we barely see any of these people prior to their abduction, and therefore don't share Juneau's connection. I couldn't tell you who any of her friends were after a clunky first chapter. Mile's opening is worse, however, since his entire motivation for finding Juneau and traveling with her is so flimsy as to be pointless. On top of that, he's eighteen, but the way he interacts with his father you'd think he was fifteen.So yeah, I had to order my brain to ignore all of that in order to finish the book. The basic story is intriguing. I did like The Village type premise, and watching Juneau acclimate to the modern world was interesting and felt mostly authentic. I also found the mystery and magic of Juneau's clan to be compelling despite the deliberately vague explanations (it looks like the big answers will come in the next book).And yes, there's a romance. No, it's not very good, and yes, it's rushed. Fortunately Juneau and Miles don't decide they love each other within days of meeting, but the total lack of chemistry was disappointing. I did appreciate the switch on normal character roles. In most books, Miles would have been the survivalist leader and Juneau would have been the somewhat prissy naive one. The mixup kept the story from being too predictable.Overall, I liked the premise and some of the intriguing story twists enough to fairly enjoy the book. The beginning is by far the weakest part of the book, and the romance is pretty anemic. But I may still look at the second book when it releases.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    First: Shame on you, cover designer, for luring me in with promises of dogs that are barely in the story, and only for the first few chapters(no worries, no animal death or anything).

    Now that's out of the way, there were quite a few things I liked about this, but the end was bizarre, seemed to come out of nowhere, and ended on a cliffhanger that's quite obviously there so a reader will buy the next book. I'm giving it 3 stars for now. Full review to come.

    Disclaimer: I received a electronic advanced reader's copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Juneau grew up in an insulated Alaskan community. Her people were some of the few who had survived the nuclear war that destroyed most of the United States. They live without electricity, running water, or modern luxuries. She is being groomed to be the next Sage to use her mystical powers to benefit the community. Unfortunately, one day when she was away, her whole village is kidnapped. Juneau leaves her homestead of the first time and discovers that she's been fed lies her entire life. The US is fine and the people thrive without radiation poisoning. Thrown into an unfamiliar world, Juneau has to find and save her village before the kidnappers get to her as well.After the End is a fast paced adventure told in alternating first person narratives. Juneau is strong, self sufficient, and has mystical powers which she can use to see the future, communicate with animals, and use elements, among other things. She grew up in the Alaskan wilderness with no modern technology. Miles is her complete opposite. He's spoiled, a troublemaker, and completely dependent on iPhones, cars, and computers. Both voices are unique to the character. Juneau has an old fashioned cadence to her voice while Miles is more carefree and curses fairly often. I like both of their journeys. Juneau starts to doubt everything after she finds out the huge lie, even her powers. She has to decide how to feel and what parts of her upbringing to accept and what to reject. Her journey is reminiscent of how everyone discovers the outside world and its possibilities after being raised a certain way. Everyone has to figure out how they will live their lives, what religion if any to follow, and what parts of the beliefs of their family to bring with them to the future and what to leave behind. Even though she is so different from us, her journey feels so familiar because everyone goes through this period of doubt and self discovery when growing up. Miles grows as well, though I find him less relateable. He found a purpose when he was adrift in his life. I just found him kind of insufferable at the beginning of the book because he was so spoiled.The plot is twisty and interesting. I didn't always predict where it was going to go. The main problem with the book is the marketing. From the back of the book, it's kind of like The Village and a pseudo-dystopia with a road trip. What they fail to mention anywhere on the back cover is the magic powers. Had I known they were included, I would have passed on this book. Their inclusion acts too much as a Deus Ex Machina when needed and it's too convenient. Then her powers stop working because of the doubt and then they conveniently come back when needed. I think this aspect just muddles the work by giving it an extra genre and a much too convenient way to solve problems or create conflict. The romance aspect was unnecessary and didn't really add much to the story. It just seems obligatory because it's a teen novel. After the End is a fun adventure with twists and turns. The action is nonstop and the cliffhanger at the end is evil. I would continue to read the series.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I’m a huge fan of Ms. Amy Plum’s writing. After falling in love head over heels with her Revenant series, I was afraid and excited at the same time about After The End .
    Before starting the book I told myself “don’t put too much hope in it; it may not be as you expected”, but after I finished reading it I wanted to punish myself for doubting Ms. Amy; I loved all about it: the protagonists, the antagonists, the landscape portrayed, the writing, just everything.

    A little summary:
    After World War III, some people managed to survive the disastrous event. Those who survived, 30 years after are now living in a small village; living of the earth, they have a deep connection with the spirits of nature and their powers come from Mother Earth (the Yara).
    One day, when Juneau returned to her village from her hunting trip, she found herself alone; all the villagers were gone. If it wasn’t for a note-warning from her father she would have thought that they had left her behind.
    Decided to find her family and friends, Juneau take a long and dangerous journey. In her journey to find her family, Juneau meets Miles.
    Miles and Juneau’s meeting isn’t a lucky coincidence; he was looking for her to take her to his father, and the Yara has told Juneau that Miles was the key to find her beloved ones.

    Now, Juneau is not alone in her quest, she has Miles; but she can’t truly trust him, he has an ulterior motive and she knows it, the Yara told her so.
    Miles can prove to his father that he deserves to go to Yale, but in order to do that he will have to do some crazy things.

    There are a lot of mistrust and miscommunication; Miles think Juneau is crazy, but how could he not think that? She speaks with a campfire AND a bird. She told him that the Yara, a so superior natural power, guided her to him and told her that he was supposed to help her find her family and friends. Besides, she thinks that there was such a thing as WW III.
    On the other hand, Juneau thinks Miles is stupid!

    As the book progress, we see how their mistrust fades, how they learn to relay on each other, how they start to believe in one another and what’s more important: Who are those who kidnapped her family and why Miles father want Juneau so bad.

    My thoughts:
    As previously stated, I loved After The End . The characters were well elaborated and believable, the romance was slowly introduced and was quite realistic, and the writing was spellbinding.

    I really loved Miles; he was skeptic and struggles to comprehend Juneau’s powers. I totally believe in his skepticism. I loved reading his side of the story, and laugh myself to death when he’s freaking out about Juneau’s weirdness/craziness.
    Although I love the comical side of Miles POV, I also loved how step by step he started to believe and trust Juneau; it was really slow and it just added to the realism of his character and his charm.
    I also liked Juneau; she was brave and a true fighter. What I liked most was that, even though she doesn’t know anything about the “new” world, she is not naïve and knows how to blend in.

    Another think that made me fall in love with AtE, was the romance; it wasn’t cheesy, it began blooming really slowly and it didn’t feel forced. I really liked it because I saw how the friendship became more, I saw each step: the mistrust, the I-almost-believe-it, the friendship and finally the I-think-I-want-him/her.

    Overall, I loved After The End immensely and wouldn’t have changed a thing about it. It has credible characters and the storyline is easy to follow and amusing.

    Disclaimer: I received After The End through Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. These are my own words and have not been affected by the author or any third party.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Review courtesy of Dark Faerie TalesQuick & Dirty: After the End by Amy Plum explores the journey of Juneau as she struggles to trust and keep her faith while on a quest to save her family. This is an exciting novel with an original plotline.Opening Sentence: I crouch low to the ground, pressing my back to the ancient spruce tree, and raise my crossbow in one hand.The Review:Juneau is hunting one day when she hears the planes coming. In her clan, after World War 3, her people have been one with the Yara, living in solitude — but when Juneau arrives back she finds her clan has been kidnapped. The Yara is nature, and Juneau has an extreme connection with it, and with that and some tools she sets out on an adventure to set them free. But all is not as it seems. For one, World War 3 never happened . . . Juneau struggles to understand what she was told was true and what wasn’t, as she and her new companion Miles set off.Miles is a down-to-earth guy. When a crazy girl who claims to have magical earth powers asks him for help, he does it because his father has been looking for her, and he may be able to get on his good side again if he brings her to him. I liked Miles — he is funny, has an easy to read point of view, and it’s fun to watch as he slowly begins to trust Juneau. Their romance is cute and doesn’t move too fast, so you can see connections starting to form as their relationship deepens.Most of the time this wasn’t a hard novel to understand. But a few times, with all the different characters claiming different theories, I got confused. And just make sure if you read this you read the top of the new chapters so you don’t accidentally think Miles needs his hair cut to a boylike fashion, as I did once. It took me a page or so before it sank in that I was a dunce and reading from the wrong perspective. As with all the books from multiple POVs, you can never be too careful when seeing which character you’re reading as!The whole “Yara” was a cool concept. I liked the idea of having a connection with the earth. It isn’t too fantasy-ish to be cheesy, rather it has a certain degree of realisticness, so altogether enjoyable.After the End has mystery, romance, and betrayal lurking on every page! It is easy to drop into the world of Juneau and slip into her personality. I would recommend this book to anyone who was a fan of Wings by Apprilyne Pike. Although I wouldn’t classify this as dystopian, since really it’s in the modern world, I would still say fans of that genre would enjoy themselves too. This is a quick read with a horribly evil cliffhanger at the end. It’s actually a quite shocking one too. Anyway, check out this book as soon as it comes out!Notable Scene:Nothing happens. My heart seizes with despair. I am no longer connected to the Yara. I feel naked. Powerless.The sound of screeching tires comes from the highway. I turn to see an army-green Jeep with three passengers swerve across the highway from the left lane in order to catch the exit to the gas station.I take a split second to access my strength against theirs. I have no doubt they are armed. It’s three against one, and I have only my crossbow and a knife. The odds are against me.I drop Poe, scoop up my pack from where I had set it in the ground next to the car, and leaping over the gas station’s cement barrier, run at full speed into the pitch-black night.FTC Advisory: HarperCollins provided me with a copy of After the End. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    After the End13601681Author: Amy PlumRelease Date: May 6, 2014Publisher: Harper Children’sSource: Edelweiss DRCGenre(s): YA Science FictionReview Spoilers: HighI am so glad I didn’t read anything about this book before I started it because if I had I think I would have ruined the surprise that comes early on. And reading this book with just as little knowledge about what’s coming next as Juneau has going in really adds to the effect of the story. Unfortunately, to review this book properly I have to spoil it for you guys so if you are going to avoid the description on the back – which I highly recommend – and go into this book blind then maybe don’t read this review.But if you want to play it fast and loose and ruin a great experience then fine. Read on!You’re sure?Okay.So, After the End was a surprisingly great read and not what I was expecting at all. I figured, hey, After the End? That sounds like some YA dystopian book and I like those. I like YA dystopias. Cool. Let’s give it a shot. And, honestly, that’s sort of how it starts out. Juneau lives with her clan in the wilds of Alaska where they too refuge after WWIII made most of the world uninhabitable way back in the early 1980s. She and all her friends – the other children born in the community to the survivors – are named after the fallen Alaskan cities in an attempt to remember their past. For survivors of the last world war, they are a surprisingly healthy and robust people. This is because of their connection to the Yara – a magical, mystical force that connects them to the rest of the natural world. Juneau is particularly connected to the Yara and she’s in the process of training to be her clan’s next mystical leader when tragedy strikes. While out hunting a deer that the Yara guided her to she realizes something is wrong and returns home to find everyone has been taken.Juneau goes in search of them but her search leads her to discover that everything she has ever believed was a lie. The world was not destroyed. There never was a third world war. But the danger her people are in is very real and so she sets off in our modern world searching for the people she loves. Joining her on this venture is Miles, a selfish and privileged young man whose only interested in taking her back to his father whose been searching for Juneau and her people for some unknown reason.It’s a fantastic set up for a story.I liked how practical Juneau was while also still being lost in a world she doesn’t quite understand. And I also really liked Miles as a person because, you know, I could understand him. Most of the time we’re supposed to relate to the main characters but Miles is more like those of us reading this book. He’s from out time. He thinks Juneau is crazy. He has his flaws. He wants to prove himself to his father. He’s got family drama. Miles is a normal – if kind of douchey – guy. The novel is told from the point of view of each character in alternating chapters and while Juneau’s were more exciting Miles’s chapters were more along the lines of what I would have been doing in that situation.The romance between the two was a bit forced but beyond that? I was totally into this story. And the cliffhanger ending? Ugh, I was so damn frustrated. I can’t believe I have to wait to find out what’s going to happen because it is NOT a good cliffhanger. Let’s just say you’re going to be worried like crazy for a good like… year. Or more. It depends on when the second book comes out. But yeah. Expect to throw your book across the room when you finish.Ugh, I just need to know!Final Thoughts: After the end puts a very refreshing spin on the present YA dystopia fad. I was pretty surprised and very pleased. Juneau is a good main character and Miles puts a touch of reality on a book that mixes survivalist communities and mysticism together in a crazy, modern setting. It’s good. The mysticism bit and the whole Yara thing you might think distracts from the story but it really doesn’t at all. It’s a solid YA book… it just ends on a super frustrating cliffhanger. So if you don’t like cliffhangers maybe hold off until the whole series is out.