raven_morgan's review against another edition
5.0
Read as part of the 2013 Hugo packet.
And yeah, kind of holy crap amazing. Suspect it will be one that I reread fairly regularly. Though dammit, I kind of wanted it to be expanded into a novel.
And yeah, kind of holy crap amazing. Suspect it will be one that I reread fairly regularly. Though dammit, I kind of wanted it to be expanded into a novel.
dunguyen's review against another edition
2.0
I didn't really know what to expect from this book but it turned out to be just ok. I felt the introduction a bit clunky and it takes a bit long to advance the plot enough to explain about the gaia theory. The plot seems very simplistic and everything is built up to serve the plot, there's not really any sideplots and although there's no unnecessary characters, the ones that are there seems very one-dimensional. A lot of the actions that happens throughout seems to have no consequence as the author wants to advance to the end and to the plot twist. The entire structure of telling three different timelines also seems like a complete gimmick. I wouldn't recommend this book unless you really did not have anything else to read.
maryrobinette's review against another edition
4.0
After the Fall, During the Fall, Before the Fall is the coming of age story for the human race. Nancy Kress has written a chillingly plausible tale of the end of the world.
I loved this book and at the same time wanted to hide from it. There are a lot of writers who tackle the end of the world, but no one makes it seem as real as Nancy Kress does. She makes no attempt to answer every question, because the few people left standing at the end just don't know. Neither do we. What After the Fall, During the Fall, Before the Fall reminds us is that the human race needs to come of age just as surely as Pete, one of the main characters. This fifteen-year old boy represents us; smart, angry, and lost.
I loved this book and at the same time wanted to hide from it. There are a lot of writers who tackle the end of the world, but no one makes it seem as real as Nancy Kress does. She makes no attempt to answer every question, because the few people left standing at the end just don't know. Neither do we. What After the Fall, During the Fall, Before the Fall reminds us is that the human race needs to come of age just as surely as Pete, one of the main characters. This fifteen-year old boy represents us; smart, angry, and lost.
sonofthe's review against another edition
4.0
Loved this post-apocalyptic story, though it's actually before, during, and after, as you might guess from the title.
lazygal's review against another edition
Reviewed on SLJ's Adult Books 4 Teens blog
futuriana's review against another edition
2.0
The pace is fast and sweeps you along, and since I'm a sucker for post-apocalyptic stories I mostly enjoyed the basic set up of the Survivors and the Grab.
Everything else I found less satisfying. Very few of the details bear much scrutiny, from the nearly magical algorithm to the mysterious forces behind most of the major plot points. And for once I found the male characters to be bare stereotypes; our main one running around with a nearly constant boner (yeah, okay, he's fifteen but why does he react that way to the lingerie mannequin in the store? He has zero context for frilly underthings).
Add in a heavy handed MESSAGE ending (which was telegraphed from the start, and therefore looming annoyingly over the proceedings) and my eyes were rolling.
Possibly a decent outline to a better thought-out novel.
Everything else I found less satisfying. Very few of the details bear much scrutiny, from the nearly magical algorithm to the mysterious forces behind most of the major plot points. And for once I found the male characters to be bare stereotypes; our main one running around with a nearly constant boner (yeah, okay, he's fifteen but why does he react that way to the lingerie mannequin in the store? He has zero context for frilly underthings).
Add in a heavy handed MESSAGE ending (which was telegraphed from the start, and therefore looming annoyingly over the proceedings) and my eyes were rolling.
Possibly a decent outline to a better thought-out novel.
kimu's review against another edition
4.0
A very brief book, almost novella length vs a full length novel. Very interesting construction, storylines woven together in an intriguing way. Compelling read - I finished it in two nights not just because it was short but because I couldn't put it down. Knocking one star off for what felt like a rather hurried-seeming ending, but overall definitely worth reading.
ETA: the subject matter (near future catastrophe) may be disturbing to some. It certainly was frightening to me.
ETA: the subject matter (near future catastrophe) may be disturbing to some. It certainly was frightening to me.
futurememory's review against another edition
2.0
Sigh, I'm somewhat disappointed in this. While I liked the way the apocalypse played out, the entire exercise felt familiar, and the characters were just not compelling enough for me. Pete was pretty insufferable, and Julia's narrative never really came together fully. The writing style didn't work for me as well - at times too clinical, at times attempting to be more casual, but failing. I did like the framework of the story, and the way that it was told, but this novella just didn't hit the right buttons for me.
altruest's review against another edition
4.0
I've had this ebook for probably 6 or 7 years and managed to speed through it in an afternoon during a work day, so it goes. I liked this, a mystery wrapped up in a post-apocalypse. The different viewpoints were interesting and seeing how everything snowballed into the conclusion was satisfying. Definitely glad I finally got through it.
4/5 stars.
4/5 stars.
beccagomezfarrell's review against another edition
5.0
As a writer, I read this book fascinated by how easily Kress manages to build dread with just a few sentences, and with those sentences being nothing more than descriptions of everyday biological functions. That was masterful. I also appreciated the characters - didn't love any of them except, perhaps, MacAllister, but I didn't need to. They were meant to be humanity shown with all its faults and all its endearing...humanity. As a reader, I wanted them to survive because of that.
I appreciated the amount of information given along the way, the language, and the way the reader is trusted to put pieces together on their own. The ending wasn't what I wanted, but it was effective, nonetheless. A page-turner all the way.
I appreciated the amount of information given along the way, the language, and the way the reader is trusted to put pieces together on their own. The ending wasn't what I wanted, but it was effective, nonetheless. A page-turner all the way.