A review by bookishbambi
After the Fall by E.C. Myers
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
So, as a book recommendation, I say that this is definitely an enjoyable book for fans of RWBY (specifically those who have, at the very least, watched up to Volume 3 because of spoilers). It follows Team CFVY (Coffee), first introduced in Volume 2, and a mission they are on for Shade Academy out in the Vacuan desert.
In terms of world building, this book does explore new areas and Grimm considering the show itself has only mentioned Vacuo and Shade a few times, it mentions other things about the wider world, but, as I said about the spoilers thing, it’s definitely a book you have to watch RWBY to understand some things.
As for characters, it builds on those introduced but not very developed, CFVY has only made a few appearances on the show itself and as such FNDM was free to sort of guess what their personalities and abilities were. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by some of the things Luna, Shawcross and Myers add to them, given that traits before were based on very little interaction screen time wise. It has representation for the LGBTQ+ community as well as representation of a blind character portrayed in a similar way as Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender, where they’re more comic relief and very capable as a fighter. There were other extra characters, mildly explored in relation to their interactions with the main characters but I didn’t mind since it meant the few major extra characters were easy to remember during larger group scenes or later after some time apart from the main group.
I found the overall story very fun and interesting as a fan of the show, it gives background to characters otherwise barely explored, while also keeping an overarching narrative I’m excited to continue following when this book’s sequel comes out - I’m hoping Team SSSN (Sun) will get similar character and background explorations as CFVY, especially for Sage and Scarlet who have had less screen time and development than CFVY. I won’t go into too much detail here to save spoilers, but it provides a good idea for how the world is away from the main show storyline and explores the importance of the little things CFVY does in comparison to the larger dealings RWBY and JNR have during Volumes 4 and 5.
I think I only really had one issue with the story and that was some of the writing, it’s easy to follow but some sections got a little repetitive with speech tags and using names instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’ which would have read a lot smoother in my opinion. Other than that, i can’t really remember many other issues I had with the story though, like I said in the beginning of this review, I can really only recommend it to people who have watched RWBY - which I’m pretty sure was intended in the first place.
In terms of world building, this book does explore new areas and Grimm considering the show itself has only mentioned Vacuo and Shade a few times, it mentions other things about the wider world, but, as I said about the spoilers thing, it’s definitely a book you have to watch RWBY to understand some things.
As for characters, it builds on those introduced but not very developed, CFVY has only made a few appearances on the show itself and as such FNDM was free to sort of guess what their personalities and abilities were. I have to say I’m pleasantly surprised by some of the things Luna, Shawcross and Myers add to them, given that traits before were based on very little interaction screen time wise. It has representation for the LGBTQ+ community as well as representation of a blind character portrayed in a similar way as Toph from Avatar: The Last Airbender, where they’re more comic relief and very capable as a fighter. There were other extra characters, mildly explored in relation to their interactions with the main characters but I didn’t mind since it meant the few major extra characters were easy to remember during larger group scenes or later after some time apart from the main group.
I found the overall story very fun and interesting as a fan of the show, it gives background to characters otherwise barely explored, while also keeping an overarching narrative I’m excited to continue following when this book’s sequel comes out - I’m hoping Team SSSN (Sun) will get similar character and background explorations as CFVY, especially for Sage and Scarlet who have had less screen time and development than CFVY. I won’t go into too much detail here to save spoilers, but it provides a good idea for how the world is away from the main show storyline and explores the importance of the little things CFVY does in comparison to the larger dealings RWBY and JNR have during Volumes 4 and 5.
I think I only really had one issue with the story and that was some of the writing, it’s easy to follow but some sections got a little repetitive with speech tags and using names instead of ‘he’ or ‘she’ which would have read a lot smoother in my opinion. Other than that, i can’t really remember many other issues I had with the story though, like I said in the beginning of this review, I can really only recommend it to people who have watched RWBY - which I’m pretty sure was intended in the first place.