erinarkin20's review against another edition
3.0
2.5 for this one.
Juneau has grown up in the wilderness of Alaska and has always been told that WWIII destroyed the outside world. She has also grown up with the understanding that she will eventually replace the leader of their clan, Whit, due to the fact that she is a strong conjurer.
After coming back from a hunting trip that Whit sent her out on, Juneau finds the camp destroyed and decides she will find them. This decision takes Juneau to the city where she realizes everything she grew up thinking is wrong. There was never a WWIII now she has to navigate a world that she knows nothing about.
Miles always seems to be in trouble and his dad is always having to get him out of it. This time, getting caught cheating on a test creates a larger issue, the Yale Admissions office has decided to put his enrollment on hold and his father is definitely not happy.
Juneau’s and Miles’ paths cross in Miles’ attempts to regain his father’s trust. Strangely enough he thinks going against everything his father has told him is the way to do it. When his dad is away due to a work issue, Miles goes through his office and finds out his dad’s organization is looking for a very specific teenage girl. Guess who that is…
The story uses alternating chapters to give the reader both Juneau’s and Miles’ POV and Plum does a good job of showing how each of them react and interact with the other. Through the different POV’s we follow them both as they try to find out just exactly what is going on.
I honestly had a hard time getting into this story. It is an interesting premise and I thought the story had a lot of potential. The challenge for me was getting into the characters and this is something I absolutely have to have in order to get into a story and for some reason I just couldn't find that connection with this book. With that said, it may actually just be a case of “It’s me, not the book.”
This book definitely has a lot of action and for sure kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. I don’t want to say a lot about what happens, mostly because there are a number of twists and I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone. One thing to note is that there is a major cliffhanger with this book and I always have an issue with that. If you are someone who doesn't really want to wait a year to find out what happened, you may want to hold off on reading until closer to book two’s release. Overall this was just ok for me but if you find the summary interesting, you might like this one.
Juneau has grown up in the wilderness of Alaska and has always been told that WWIII destroyed the outside world. She has also grown up with the understanding that she will eventually replace the leader of their clan, Whit, due to the fact that she is a strong conjurer.
After coming back from a hunting trip that Whit sent her out on, Juneau finds the camp destroyed and decides she will find them. This decision takes Juneau to the city where she realizes everything she grew up thinking is wrong. There was never a WWIII now she has to navigate a world that she knows nothing about.
Miles always seems to be in trouble and his dad is always having to get him out of it. This time, getting caught cheating on a test creates a larger issue, the Yale Admissions office has decided to put his enrollment on hold and his father is definitely not happy.
Juneau’s and Miles’ paths cross in Miles’ attempts to regain his father’s trust. Strangely enough he thinks going against everything his father has told him is the way to do it. When his dad is away due to a work issue, Miles goes through his office and finds out his dad’s organization is looking for a very specific teenage girl. Guess who that is…
The story uses alternating chapters to give the reader both Juneau’s and Miles’ POV and Plum does a good job of showing how each of them react and interact with the other. Through the different POV’s we follow them both as they try to find out just exactly what is going on.
I honestly had a hard time getting into this story. It is an interesting premise and I thought the story had a lot of potential. The challenge for me was getting into the characters and this is something I absolutely have to have in order to get into a story and for some reason I just couldn't find that connection with this book. With that said, it may actually just be a case of “It’s me, not the book.”
This book definitely has a lot of action and for sure kept me turning the pages to see what was going to happen next. I don’t want to say a lot about what happens, mostly because there are a number of twists and I don’t want to ruin the story for anyone. One thing to note is that there is a major cliffhanger with this book and I always have an issue with that. If you are someone who doesn't really want to wait a year to find out what happened, you may want to hold off on reading until closer to book two’s release. Overall this was just ok for me but if you find the summary interesting, you might like this one.
emilyusuallyreading's review against another edition
2.0
What I Liked
The premise of the "false" end of the world was brilliant. It's what intrigued me enough to purchase this book and read it. A cozy community of survivors who live off the land, make it through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, and fight off the brigands who want to steal their prized goods - all of those things fascinated and entertained me. Unfortunately they lasted for about a chapter.
What I Didn't Like
One of my least favorite genres is the "Road Trip" book, mostly because it's been so done. Two different characters endure a long and adventurous road trip and by the end, they realize they have more in common than they ever did before. No. I'm so tired of this. And a book that could have been interesting and entertaining became a long and dreary Road Trip Book.
Miles was probably the most unlikable character I've read since Bella Swan. Nothing unique about him, nothing especially pleasant about him, and. The switching back and forth of point of views wasn't interesting to me. Since Miles is such an unlikable character, I dreaded reading his whiny voice when I really wanted to see Juneau experiencing the 21st century for the first time.
The love. I didn't understand the love in this book at all. It seems so contrived, so unrealistic.. I don't get it. I didn't like it. And it made no sense.
So much betrayal in this book for seemingly no reason, and yet Juneau also seems to trust everyone in her life - and everything in her life.
The magic here also didn't quite work. It felt a little bit like throwing a bunch of genres together in a mixing bowl. "Let's take post-apocalyptic. JK let's take pretend post-apocalyptic. But let's make magic exist." Say wha?
Overall, this book has an amazing premise, but it couldn't keep me interested. I had to force my way through.
The premise of the "false" end of the world was brilliant. It's what intrigued me enough to purchase this book and read it. A cozy community of survivors who live off the land, make it through the post-apocalyptic wasteland, and fight off the brigands who want to steal their prized goods - all of those things fascinated and entertained me. Unfortunately they lasted for about a chapter.
What I Didn't Like
One of my least favorite genres is the "Road Trip" book, mostly because it's been so done. Two different characters endure a long and adventurous road trip and by the end, they realize they have more in common than they ever did before. No. I'm so tired of this. And a book that could have been interesting and entertaining became a long and dreary Road Trip Book.
Miles was probably the most unlikable character I've read since Bella Swan. Nothing unique about him, nothing especially pleasant about him, and
Spoiler
as the romantic interest, I just didn't get it at allThe love. I didn't understand the love in this book at all. It seems so contrived, so unrealistic.
Spoiler
Seriously, Miles's entire inner dialogue consists of, "I can't stand this weird hippie girl," and then they are suddenly in deep and serious attraction/crush/love with each other, back to "She's so weird and crazy, I hate her, I'm going to betray her to my dad," and back to "I must protect her at all costs!"So much betrayal in this book for seemingly no reason, and yet Juneau also seems to trust everyone in her life - and everything in her life.
The magic here also didn't quite work. It felt a little bit like throwing a bunch of genres together in a mixing bowl. "Let's take post-apocalyptic. JK let's take pretend post-apocalyptic. But let's make magic exist." Say wha?
Overall, this book has an amazing premise, but it couldn't keep me interested. I had to force my way through.
pinkhydroflask's review against another edition
3.0
RATING: 5.5/10
First of all, I wouldn't say this book was an absolute waste of paper. neither is it out here selling 200million copies any time soon.
The concept of the book was something different. It seemed very post apocalyptic, dystopian, yet somehow set in the same century as we are in now. The fact that the author manage to manipulate the timelines this way made the book really interesting. On one hand, we've got a character who owns a BMW and an iPhone, and on the other hand, we got a character who's been living in isolation, hunting for food and had 0 idea what technology was.
However, the plot did seem very sluggish. Many times it felt as though the author was just going round and round and round in circles, talking about many irrelevant things that did absolutely nothing to further the plot.
Even when things started going haywire, the writing lacked the dynamics it needed to make action scenes more suspenseful. the action scenes seemed very matter-of-fact, like oh hey! btw, this happened! someone got stabbed! but that's all! it seemed as though the more thrilling scenes were downplayed and rushed through, and for me that was really disappointing because I was counting on the author to really provide a contrasting narrative between the more mundane travelling scenes to the fighting/escaping scenes.
What i do think went well in this book was the character development. I do live for a good growth in character, and while it took some time, i'm glad that the author made the secondary character, Miles, more than just a sidekick to Juneau. I enjoyed his character growth and development more than I did Juneau's partly because the author put in the effort into making him more than just a small segment in Juneau's quest.
I borrowed both books from the library, and am quite excited to begin the second book!
First of all, I wouldn't say this book was an absolute waste of paper. neither is it out here selling 200million copies any time soon.
The concept of the book was something different. It seemed very post apocalyptic, dystopian, yet somehow set in the same century as we are in now. The fact that the author manage to manipulate the timelines this way made the book really interesting. On one hand, we've got a character who owns a BMW and an iPhone, and on the other hand, we got a character who's been living in isolation, hunting for food and had 0 idea what technology was.
However, the plot did seem very sluggish. Many times it felt as though the author was just going round and round and round in circles, talking about many irrelevant things that did absolutely nothing to further the plot.
Even when things started going haywire, the writing lacked the dynamics it needed to make action scenes more suspenseful. the action scenes seemed very matter-of-fact, like oh hey! btw, this happened! someone got stabbed! but that's all! it seemed as though the more thrilling scenes were downplayed and rushed through, and for me that was really disappointing because I was counting on the author to really provide a contrasting narrative between the more mundane travelling scenes to the fighting/escaping scenes.
What i do think went well in this book was the character development. I do live for a good growth in character, and while it took some time, i'm glad that the author made the secondary character, Miles, more than just a sidekick to Juneau. I enjoyed his character growth and development more than I did Juneau's partly because the author put in the effort into making him more than just a small segment in Juneau's quest.
I borrowed both books from the library, and am quite excited to begin the second book!
lorathelibrarian's review against another edition
3.0
I wanted to love this. I thought it would be a fun twist on a dystopian story after reading the plot. But it was definitely more of a sci-fi adventure….which I found slightly disappointing.
After getting over that feeling, I did enjoy reading it. It was kinda fluffy with a lot of stereotypical YA devices and I think that's where the book fell apart for me. On top of all of that there was a humungous cliff-hanger that just leaves the reader feeling like they read an unfinished book. It was like the author wrote a big story and the publisher wanted to make it into 2 books so they randomly picked someplace in the middle to stop the first book. Not good. Now I'm forced to read the sequel because I'm just connected to the story enough to care about what's going on.
After getting over that feeling, I did enjoy reading it. It was kinda fluffy with a lot of stereotypical YA devices and I think that's where the book fell apart for me. On top of all of that there was a humungous cliff-hanger that just leaves the reader feeling like they read an unfinished book. It was like the author wrote a big story and the publisher wanted to make it into 2 books so they randomly picked someplace in the middle to stop the first book. Not good. Now I'm forced to read the sequel because I'm just connected to the story enough to care about what's going on.
raspcha's review against another edition
1.0
Kind of a let down. I will continue reading this series once the second book comes out, but if by then Juneau does not find her clan, I will riot. The romance part takes away a good part of the adventure and risk, in my personal opinion.
mikrokosm0s's review against another edition
3.0
2.5. Great premise but execution could've been better. Characters started off mostly interesting but overall just become meh. After finishing, this book just left me with a giant feel of MEH.
It started off great with the Juneau realizing the rest of the world hasn't been destroyed after WWIII and we learn more about the idea of Yara and Juneau's skills. After a while, it just seemed like Yara became I'm all for the idea of being one with nature and letting it guide you, but what Yara became...MEH sorry no, not happening. Also, I'm not quite sure if Yara is something that is already within them (Juneau&clan) due to their beliefs or something that was "created" since the book was not quite clear on that (yet).
I really enjoyed Miles and Juneau's initial relationship when they first meet and they are both like "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON!?!?" Hilarious and amusing, I even laughed out loud a few times. And then it happens..instalove...barf. Well it's not as strong as instalove but they kiss very unexpectedly and randomly. Once that happens, the chemistry they had was lost and I was left feeling meh about their relationship.
I had some issues with the pacing as well. Considering they were being chased for almost the whole book, I did not feel much urgency at all. I don't think enough information was revealed, so it feels like I spent time reading about absolutely nothing. The book ends at a weird place as well..or not so weird since this seems to be a trend in trilogies. Ugh, pet peeve. I did enjoy reading about Juneau's persistence to find her clan and save them along with her conflicted feelings with what she discovers.
All in all, not a horrible read but could have been a lot better. Enjoyable for the most part, plus it's short so even if it's not your cup of tea it's over in a couple hours :)
It started off great with the Juneau realizing the rest of the world hasn't been destroyed after WWIII and we learn more about the idea of Yara and Juneau's skills. After a while, it just seemed like Yara became
Spoiler
a tool to fix everything. Juneau needs to hide? Yara can alter your appearance or make you invisible!Spoiler
by the AmritI really enjoyed Miles and Juneau's initial relationship when they first meet and they are both like "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PERSON!?!?" Hilarious and amusing, I even laughed out loud a few times. And then it happens..instalove...barf. Well it's not as strong as instalove but they kiss very unexpectedly and randomly. Once that happens, the chemistry they had was lost and I was left feeling meh about their relationship.
I had some issues with the pacing as well. Considering they were being chased for almost the whole book, I did not feel much urgency at all. I don't think enough information was revealed, so it feels like I spent time reading about absolutely nothing. The book ends at a weird place as well..or not so weird since this seems to be a trend in trilogies. Ugh, pet peeve. I did enjoy reading about Juneau's persistence to find her clan and save them along with her conflicted feelings with what she discovers.
All in all, not a horrible read but could have been a lot better. Enjoyable for the most part, plus it's short so even if it's not your cup of tea it's over in a couple hours :)