Friday, March 16, 2012

[ARC Review] After the Snow by S. D. Crockett

Published Date: March 27, 2012
Published Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Feiwel and Friends
Source: Raincoast Books
Received Format: ARC
Pages: 304
Category: Young Adult
Age: 12 & +

Synopsis:
Fifteen-year-old Willo was out hunting when the trucks came and took his family away. Left alone in the snow, Willo becomes determined to find and rescue his family, and he knows just who to talk with to learn where they are. He plans to head across the mountains and make Farmer Geraint tell him where his family has gone.

But on the way across the mountain, he finds Mary, a refugee from the city, whose father is lost and who is starving to death. The smart thing to do would be to leave her alone -- he doesn't have enough supplies for two or the time to take care of a girl -- but Willo just can't do it. However, with the world trapped in an ice age, the odds of them surviving on their own are not good. And even if he does manage to keep Mary safe, what about finding his family?


Book Trailer:


Review:


To begin with, I chose this book from the wonderful Raincoast Books because it reminded me of one of my sister's favourite series: the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness. And guess what? The first page seemed like a twin copy of the plot from the Chaos Walking Series. The main character is a guy with a dog. The book is written in slang/weird dialect. The dog talks to him like Patrick Ness' book. But this dog was a formless dog. It never really been described. Its thought just come into Willo's mind. The only time it was described as a real dog was when the family first found it, when it was a broken and mangy.

Format:
The slang and the intentional grammar errors will not sit well with everyone. But without it, the character really don't have a feel to it. With the slang, it seemed like there is something tangible with the characters.
Setting:
The setting reminded me a lot of a scene from the TV mini series Pillars of the Earth, where the family is walking in the frozen forest. At least that is what I thought of it. And as the novel went on, it kind of reminded me of the Relic Master Series by Catherine Fisher. I don't know why it reminded me of it but I just had the same feelings that I had with Catherine's series.
Audience:
It was very disturbing to see that a fourteen year old girl has a baby with a old man but I guess that is the whole point of dystopian. Plus all around the world, stuff like this happen. Very disturbing! There was gory stuff in the novel. And it did feel more of a boy-ish type read (which I love).
Plot:
I started to like the book more and more as I read on. The suspense was amazing. I wasn't breathing because I was scared that I would change that fate of the characters.

The government in the novel was very secretive. The author painted a vivid and imaginary picture of the government and it seemed very dystopian and very interesting. I couldn't wait to learn more about the government. For most of the book, I wish Willo could just hurry into the city and told me more about the government.

I did enjoy how the novel did not focus mainly on romance. In fact I don't think there was 5% of it in the book.

I do like fairly short chapters but the thing is that the story moved too slow. In the beginning,  I felt the magic here and there but it didn't spark me. The reason I read on was that I wanted to see what the government was like. If the author cut the first 40% of the book down to 10%, we got ourselves a good book. I mean the beginning of a book is VERY important. Most people would give up a few chapters in. I say the fun starts on pages 100 and onward. And the thing is that most people give up a book on page 100 or lower. But when you hit part 2, that's when the fun started to party :)
And as part 3 hits, "OH MY GOD! Please readers! Don't give up on this book! There are some great actions, some great secrets, some great unexpected things in this book. I am SOOOO glad that I didn't gave up on this book." Yup that was what I typed frantically on my iPod as notes when I read into part 3.

Final thoughts:
This book is not like the nowadays YA dystopian, it is like 1984 dystopian, but of course for YA. there is no guys fighting for a girl. It is refreshing and kind of bring me back the love I had for 1984.

I HIGHLY recommend this book to lovers of the Chaos Walking Series by Patrick Ness and boy-ish book lovers out there. Just bare with the story a little in the beginning, and when you get to part 2 and 3, you won't regret reading the book.

So since the book wasn't perfect, I am going to give this book a 4 fire babies out of 5.

10 comments:

  1. very cool. gonna look this up for the kindle!

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    1. :D Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by~ :)

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  2. i so want this1
    i loved pure by juliana baggot

    rad review

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  3. I started this one and was really put off by the dialogue. I didn't even think about comparing it the Chaos Walking series, but you're totally right. I am planning to pick it back up in a week or two, esp now that I know that it gets better around pg 100!

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    1. Yeah, I had to adjust to the dialogue. Haha, Patrick Ness is one of my sister's fav author. It totally just popped into my mind with my sister's voice. xD

      I can totally see how people can give up on this book. Hopefully you will enjoy it as much as I did, or perhaps even a little more.

      Thank you so much for visiting! :D

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  4. This sounds really interesting, great review! :)

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  5. Sounds different. I haven't read the Chaaos Walking series but I am totally willing to give this one a go!! Thanks!!

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  6. While I did not enjoy the 2nd or 3rd Chaos Walking, I loved the first and I am really interested in reading this. I love the fact that there's no guy fighting for a girl, it'll definitely be a refreshing read I think.

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  7. Thanks for your review of After the Snow. I have been on the fence for a while about this one. I have heard great things and not so great things as is usual with most books. I also haven't read Chaos Walking so I can't use that as a reference. I think after reading your review, I will have to give it a go. It sounds like something that I might enjoy. So thanks for getting me off the fence! Much appreciated!

    Jaime

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