Reviews

After World by Debbie Urbanski

its_beans's review against another edition

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

0.25

This read was so painful. 

mvmcginley's review

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

1.75

lifepluspreston's review against another edition

4.0

After World by Debbie Urbanski--I was expecting a fairly typical YA dystopian novel with this. The concept is simple--humanity has become largely involuntarily sterilized by a malicious (or benevolent) AI, and world governments are collaborating to create Departments of Transition to rid the world of humanity, moving everyone to a virtual cloud so that the earth can exist in peace. However, the story is told experimentally, through the lens of a different AI system assigned to craft narratives about the human experience. As the AI writes more and more about the last human on earth, it starts inserting itself into the story more and more. The result is a beautiful book, similar to World War Z in some respects such as the variety of first- and second- hand sources used to "craft" the narrative, but entirely its own thing as well. Thumbs up.

pearl_arow's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

5.0

jhoffer's review against another edition

challenging dark sad

sparksbooks's review against another edition

dark inspiring sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.0

okevamae's review

5.0

After World is a climate disaster story and a postapocalyptic story – though the climate disaster is not what destroyed society and killed off humanity, at least not directly. It’s really about what happens when a superintelligent AI decides that the only way to save the Earth is to get rid of humans, and what happens when a different AI tasked with documenting the life of the last human on Earth starts to care about its subject.

This is a pretty bleak story, but a fascinating one, with an unreliable narrator – the Storyworker AI is reconstructing Sen’s life after her death and often inserts things it couldn’t know just be observing, like the characters’ internal thoughts. It also at times changes the details of the story from what happened to what it wishes had happened, because this is as close as it can come to shielding Sen from unpleasantness. It’s also, as a computer program, forbidden from knowing certain things. It’s a fascinating perspective, though it makes figuring out the real story pretty tricky. There are excerpts from other books and artifacts both before and after the apocalypse that shed light on what exactly happened. You’ve really got to read between the lines on this one, and honestly, I’m not at all sure that my understanding of what went on is the correct one, as I was sometimes confused, particularly at the end. But the story that I did glean from it was compelling and very interestingly constructed.

CW: suicide, sexual assault (implied)

Representation: mention of lesbian characters and relationship, possible asexual character

I received an advance copy of this ebook from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

eaglespoon1982's review against another edition

challenging dark informative sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

This is fascinating, informative, and creatively written. And depressing. Maybe I should give it 4. It is, I think, meant to be unclear in some ways, but sometimes I did wish for more clarity about some of the goings-on. It is worth reading. 

gracegetsbooks's review against another edition

challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

I loved the unique format of this book and the many allusions and quotes to other great poems and stories. It was beautiful and sad and made me want to live. 

yourcomicbookfantasy's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective sad tense

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0