After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia by Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia is a collection of 19 young adult dystopian short stories. There are a lot of ways the world could end, and a lot of ways to lead up to that. 19 authors had their own way of thinking about it, and wrote these stories about what it would be like.

I feel like not all of them are actually dystopian, or rather, not explained that way. In some of them, it is not clear at all what the dilemma is. For example, in You Won’t Feel a Thing by Garth Nix, it is explained that a boy has a toothache and then turns into a ferret, however there was no reasoning behind how it happened, or its effect. Some of the short stories were harder reading levels than others. There were a couple that I had to skip as they were so hard for me to understand, while at the same time there were some that were very easy. For example, in Visiting Nelson by Katherine Langrish, I had no idea what was going on.

At the same time, there were four stories I really liked. One of them is Rust With Wings by Steven Gould. There are these bugs that eat and destroy metal, and it causes a lot of problems for the people who have metal fillings on their teeth, or artificial limbs, as well as cars, keys, phones, belts, and other things of that nature. It had a clear beginning, middle and end, and I could understand the problem and the solution. I also liked The Great Game at the End of the World by Matthew Kressel. Honestly, it kind of scared me a bit, but I liked the variety of conflicts and how they were developed. 

I think it was worth reading, but be prepared that if you read it, expect there to be some ones you like and some ones you don't.

Title: After: Nineteen Stories of Apocalypse and Dystopia

Author: Ellen Datlow and Terri Windling

Publisher: Hyperion Book CH

Pages: 384

Series: No

Rating: 3 Stars

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