AFTER
SUMMARY
If the melt-down, flood, plague, the third World War, new Ice Age, Rapture, alien invasion, clamp-down, meteor, or something else entirely hit today, what would tomorrow look like? Some of the biggest names in YA and adult literature answer that very question in this short story anthology, each story exploring the lives of teen protagonists raised in catastrophe's wake—whether set in the days after the change, or decades far in the future.
New York Times bestselling authors Gregory Maguire, Garth Nix, Susan Beth Pfeffer, Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, and Jane Yolen are among the many popular and award-winning storytellers lending their talents to this original and spellbinding anthology.
REVIEW
I am not usually
a fan of anthologies. I prefer full sized books. I want my characters flushed
out, full of action, and usually if I’m going to commit to something then I
want it to just be longer in general.
So the real
question the becomes why should you buy this anthology?
The answer is
simple, because of the authors.
Anthologies
offer readers a chance to enter the worlds and writing styles of readers
they’ve never tried before, giving them a sample of the authors works without
feeling the obligation to finish or buy a new book by a new author.
And this
anthology has taken some pretty incredible authors and put them together here. Garth
Nix, N.K. Jemisin, Carrie Ryan, Beth Revis, and Jane Yolen are some of the
biggest names in the field of dystopian YA. There stories are fantastic and
great reads for fans of their work.
My personal
favorite short story in this anthology is Faint Heart by Sarah Rees Brennan. It
didn’t feel like a short story, instead it felt like the first few chapters of
a fantastic new novel. A novel that I really hope she finishes. The premise of
the story is that the world was thrown into chaos for years, and the light that
brought civilization back out of the darkness was the creation of the perfect
woman. Every 25 years all of the single male population is rounded up and
forced to compete against one another in a series of challenges that leaves
only 1 man alive. This winner receives the hand of his perfect queen and the
power to rule over all. This has been going on for years and seems to work relatively well. The cast of
characters includes, a poor thief who hates the queen and everything she stands
for, a career competitor (who has trained all his life to win the queen’s hand)
but doesn’t have the heart to kill others in the maze, and the queen herself,
who doesn’t plan to be bought without her say so. All in all, the characters
were well written, there was plenty of action, and I personally hope she writes
more on this story at a later point in time.
As mentioned
before, reading anthologies offers readers the chance to sample authors you
haven’t heard of, alongside some of your favorite authors. This anthology is
well put together, has a great cast of authors, and is perfect for fans of
dystopian YA.
INFO
Published: October 9, 2012
Price: $16.99
Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/After-Nineteen-Stories-Apocalypse-Dystopia/dp/1423146190/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1348599990&sr=8-5&keywords=after
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