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Reviewed by:
  • After the End by Amy Plum
  • April Spisak
Plum, Amy. After the End. HarperTeen/HarperCollins, 2014. 322p Trade ed. ISBN 978-0-06-222560-3 $17.99 E-book ed. ISBN 978-0-06-222562-7 $9.99 Ad Gr. 8-10.

In this movie-ready plot, Juneau has been raised to believe that World War III killed most of humanity and left the rest ravaged, diseased, and dying, save for her and her small village safely sheltered up in Alaska. Actually, the world is going about as normal, a fact that stuns Juneau when she leaves the safety of her village, seeking to find her comrades after they are kidnapped. Her superhuman abilities (which she has been led to believe are caused by a deep connection to the land) lead her to Miles, a clueless boy who starts out trying to capture her to hand over to his father but ultimately, through budding love and a nascent sense of social justice, decides to help her find her clan. The book’s tendency to play Juneau’s disconnect with the modern world for cheap humor or shock value detracts from the much more visceral fear of a teen who is suddenly left completely alone, a terrifying concept that, even if Juneau is as preternaturally staunch and heroic as she is written, deserves more weight than it gets. Nevertheless, readers may be intrigued enough by Juneau’s quest to want to know whether she will find her clan, whether their supernatural abilities can be exploited by the bad guys, and what will happen between her and Miles in the next outing.

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