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geekwayne's review
4.0
After The End is a collection of 20 short stories about people surviving shortly after a world ending event. There are plagues, bombs, strange medical strains, global warming and much that is unknown or unexplained. These are stories about people hunkering down to wait it out, or travelling to find a haven, or sitting down to watch the world slowly die. All of the world ending scenarios are stories of the possible. I can't recall any story featuring zombies, or other supernatural creatures, which makes this book more thought provoking. We have the means to our destruction, at least the destruction in these stories, already at hand for the most part.
I think dystopian stories have always spoken to me because they deal so much with what makes us human. If all we think we are or own gets stripped away, are we human or animal? There is a little of both in these stories. Whether it's people living in an abandoned amusement park, or travelling in caravans, or alone on a seaside cliff, we see hope and hopelessness. Kindness and savagery in these stories.
There are some amazing writers in this collection and every story is unique and chosen well for this book. My personal favorite is about a group of young survivors who find a library and can't believe the wealth they find on it's shelves.
I think dystopian stories have always spoken to me because they deal so much with what makes us human. If all we think we are or own gets stripped away, are we human or animal? There is a little of both in these stories. Whether it's people living in an abandoned amusement park, or travelling in caravans, or alone on a seaside cliff, we see hope and hopelessness. Kindness and savagery in these stories.
There are some amazing writers in this collection and every story is unique and chosen well for this book. My personal favorite is about a group of young survivors who find a library and can't believe the wealth they find on it's shelves.
lsparrow's review
3.0
I enjoy short fiction especially in the sci fi genre. There were some amazing stories in this collection although none of them really stuck with me which for me is the difference between a good and a great story.
felinity's review
4.0
4.5 stars
This is a great collection of short stories, each of which shows a snatch of life (I'm trying to avoid the word "vignette", which implies scenes rather than full stories) for normal people after The End.
The exact nature of The End varies, from biowarfare to cataclysmic climate change to interference from outside. Sometimes the cause of The End is not discussed, because it just is, and sometimes The End is recent, and sometimes The End was generations ago, and sometimes technology is gone and sometimes it has survived, but always the people portrayed are doing what they think necessary to survive. And survival is sometimes civilized, and sometimes not...
Disclaimer: I received a free copy for honest review through Netgalley.
This is a great collection of short stories, each of which shows a snatch of life (I'm trying to avoid the word "vignette", which implies scenes rather than full stories) for normal people after The End.
The exact nature of The End varies, from biowarfare to cataclysmic climate change to interference from outside. Sometimes the cause of The End is not discussed, because it just is, and sometimes The End is recent, and sometimes The End was generations ago, and sometimes technology is gone and sometimes it has survived, but always the people portrayed are doing what they think necessary to survive. And survival is sometimes civilized, and sometimes not...
Disclaimer: I received a free copy for honest review through Netgalley.
skepticalri's review
4.0
It's been so damn long since I've started this book that I can't remember which stories I liked and which ones I didn't. I'm finally giving up on the last ones.
bert10's review
2.0
It was OK. None of the short stories were amazing and most of them did not make me want to look into reading more from the authors. However I did find a few new authors to try out and it was at times an enjoyable read.
ajuda's review
3.0
I'd give this 3.5 stars if that was an option. A good range of stories, some much better than others. Surprisingly, for an anthology this limited the stories are actually quite varied, which I appreciated. Some, unfortunately, were not as good at world-building in such a small amount of space, so I wasn't as able to get into them. Worth a read though, if you're into apocalyptic fiction.
bitterindigo's review
4.0
Really solid collection, with only one or two that didn't grab me. Favourites: Never, Never, Three Times Never by Simon Morden, Amaryllis by Carrie Vaughn and A Story, With Beans, by Steven Gould. The Brian Evenson story was predictably bleak and creepy (in a positive sense, as odd as that sounds).
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