A review by emilyusuallyreading
After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia by Ellen Datlow, Terri Windling
3.0
What I Didn't Like
Honestly, I think any anthology can be difficult to get that into. Short stories make it hard to deeply bond with a character or find oneself deeply wound within a post-apocalyptic world. Each chapter was a brand new premise written by a different author and featuring entirely different characters.
Some short stories weren't that great. Part of it may have been my own personal preference. I don't care for extreme science fiction or alien stories, so I tended to dislike the short stories in this anthology that were about those topics.
"Hw th’Irth Wint Wrong by Hapless Joey @ homeskool.guv" by Gregory Maguire was one of those that I could hardly get through at all. The horrific spelling and grammar made sense, but it was so dense that I could hardly trudge through. "The Great Game at the End of the World" by Matthew Kressel and "Visiting Nelson" by Katherine Langrish were my two other least favorites.
Another thing that bothered me was the content of some of these stories. A few were sexual in nature and contained explicit language. I'm not sure how every short story in this collection could be labeled Young Adult.
What I Did Like
My favorite short stories in the anthology were: "The Segment" by Genevieve Valentine, "Rust With Wings" by Steven Gould, "Reunion" by Susan Beth Pfeffer, "All I Know of Freedom" by Carol Emshwiller, and "After the Cure" by Carrie Ryan.
After finishing a few of these, I longed for the author to go ahead and write an entire novel set in these worlds. There were some real dystopian gems in this anthology.
Overall
I learned quite a bit about the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genres from these excellent writers. Some stories I didn't like at all; others left me breathless and on the edge of my seat.
Honestly, I think any anthology can be difficult to get that into. Short stories make it hard to deeply bond with a character or find oneself deeply wound within a post-apocalyptic world. Each chapter was a brand new premise written by a different author and featuring entirely different characters.
Some short stories weren't that great. Part of it may have been my own personal preference. I don't care for extreme science fiction or alien stories, so I tended to dislike the short stories in this anthology that were about those topics.
"Hw th’Irth Wint Wrong by Hapless Joey @ homeskool.guv" by Gregory Maguire was one of those that I could hardly get through at all. The horrific spelling and grammar made sense, but it was so dense that I could hardly trudge through. "The Great Game at the End of the World" by Matthew Kressel and "Visiting Nelson" by Katherine Langrish were my two other least favorites.
Another thing that bothered me was the content of some of these stories. A few were sexual in nature and contained explicit language. I'm not sure how every short story in this collection could be labeled Young Adult.
What I Did Like
My favorite short stories in the anthology were: "The Segment" by Genevieve Valentine, "Rust With Wings" by Steven Gould, "Reunion" by Susan Beth Pfeffer, "All I Know of Freedom" by Carol Emshwiller, and "After the Cure" by Carrie Ryan.
After finishing a few of these, I longed for the author to go ahead and write an entire novel set in these worlds. There were some real dystopian gems in this anthology.
Overall
I learned quite a bit about the post-apocalyptic and dystopian genres from these excellent writers. Some stories I didn't like at all; others left me breathless and on the edge of my seat.