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Humanity Gone #1
After the Plague
A mysterious plague has killed nearly everyone over the age of 19 in America. Those remaining struggle to survive in a country violently tearing itself apart. Children quickly learn what horrors dwell within others... and themselves.
In the first book of the Humanity Gone Saga-watch as innocence shatters and savagery rises.
In the first book of the Humanity Gone Saga-watch as innocence shatters and savagery rises.
280 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 11, 2012
9 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
November 18, 2015
This book kept me very interested. Such a well thought out and well written story about surviva of a group of 4 young kidsl after a plague kills all the adults.
January 7, 2018
Meh
Granted, it's written from a teen's point of view. However, it reads like a something WRITTEN by a kid. No plans for reading the rest of the series.
Granted, it's written from a teen's point of view. However, it reads like a something WRITTEN by a kid. No plans for reading the rest of the series.
November 24, 2013
Hmmmm where to start...
I guess I will start with the basics of the story. A plague kills off all the adults in America. Kids are panicked and chaos rules. Two teens, a brother and sister, decide to drive to a campground to escape the craziness and en route pick up two 10 year old twin girls. They make it to the campground and take shelter in one of the cabins. Another person joins the group and they all spend the winter there. Finally, they decide to leave after hearing over the radio about a UN rescue mission. They get sidetracked by a group of boys running a 'sanctuary' but they do ultimately make it to the meeting place for the UN.
Now the critique...
I'll begin with the writing. First and foremost, this book could use an editor. It started out fine but it almost seemed like the author was getting tired of writing and just wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. It wasn't written badly, it was just very obvious how to improve on it.
The following issues are specific to the story:
Now after all that you may be wondering why I gave it three stars. Normally I would only give it two but this looks like a first book for this author and he's an indie. More thought should have gone into it but I think the first book is a learning experience. Also, by the end of it I wanted to know more and there is always a chance that some of the things I mentioned before could be explained in a more plausible way in the second book. I wouldn't recommend paying a lot for this one but if you can get it for a buck or two on Amazon, it's worth it.
I guess I will start with the basics of the story. A plague kills off all the adults in America. Kids are panicked and chaos rules. Two teens, a brother and sister, decide to drive to a campground to escape the craziness and en route pick up two 10 year old twin girls. They make it to the campground and take shelter in one of the cabins. Another person joins the group and they all spend the winter there. Finally, they decide to leave after hearing over the radio about a UN rescue mission. They get sidetracked by a group of boys running a 'sanctuary' but they do ultimately make it to the meeting place for the UN.
Now the critique...
I'll begin with the writing. First and foremost, this book could use an editor. It started out fine but it almost seemed like the author was getting tired of writing and just wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. It wasn't written badly, it was just very obvious how to improve on it.
The following issues are specific to the story:
Now after all that you may be wondering why I gave it three stars. Normally I would only give it two but this looks like a first book for this author and he's an indie. More thought should have gone into it but I think the first book is a learning experience. Also, by the end of it I wanted to know more and there is always a chance that some of the things I mentioned before could be explained in a more plausible way in the second book. I wouldn't recommend paying a lot for this one but if you can get it for a buck or two on Amazon, it's worth it.
January 13, 2014
Engaging post-apocalyptic fiction...but it is not without problems.
First the good. The characters are interesting and well-rounded. The story moves along at a good pace and pulled me in within a few pages. I found myself rooting for their survival, and I didn't feel any of them acted particularly idiotic to move the plot forward, though they do make bad decisions from time to time, just like normal people do, and these are just young adult in very stressful circumstances. Most everyone over the age of 19 dies of a mysterious plague in this book, which seems suspiciously specific, particularly since there is nothing special about turning 20, but that didn't bother me because in this type of story, something must act as the apocalyptic catalyst and usually isn't important to the plot itself. However, since there is at least one exception to the everyone-over-19 plague, if the authors expand on it in future books, it better be good. As it is, in this book, the explanation is not necessary.
Humanity Gone: After the Plague is written in a shifting first-person, present tense. An unusual choice, and I don't believe I've read first-person present ever before in novel-length fiction. Normally, shifting viewpoint first person drives me batty to the point where I can't read it, but since each chapter is titled with the name of the point-of-view character (ala Game of Thrones), I did not get lost, nor did I mind it. The present tense did feel a little awkward at times, and I wonder how much the feel of the story would've changed had it been written in past tense, as most novels are. It's not a big deal, just a point of curiosity for me.
Now, I did notice a LOT of formatting errors, and this is another instance where I really want to be able to rate half-stars, because 3 stars seems a little harsh. I found them distracting enough that rounding up to 4 stars seems overly generous, though. Now, many readers may not notice the errors, and I don't know if they were caused by the e-book conversion process or if they're the fault of the authors (or whoever they had do the page layout). Having such obvious formatting errors distract me caused me to notice more spelling & syntax errors than I probably would've noticed. No matter how many editing/proofreading passes a manuscript gets, it's virtually impossible to catch all typos, and I'll bet most people won't notice them anyway. The formatting, though, that really bothered me because it made the book look unprofessional.
Still, if you're not bothered by that and you want some entertaining post-apocalyptic fiction, then you certainly could do worse. I was in the mood for a story of that nature, and this did not disappoint. I'm definitely going to add book 2 to my reading list.
First the good. The characters are interesting and well-rounded. The story moves along at a good pace and pulled me in within a few pages. I found myself rooting for their survival, and I didn't feel any of them acted particularly idiotic to move the plot forward, though they do make bad decisions from time to time, just like normal people do, and these are just young adult in very stressful circumstances. Most everyone over the age of 19 dies of a mysterious plague in this book, which seems suspiciously specific, particularly since there is nothing special about turning 20, but that didn't bother me because in this type of story, something must act as the apocalyptic catalyst and usually isn't important to the plot itself. However, since there is at least one exception to the everyone-over-19 plague, if the authors expand on it in future books, it better be good. As it is, in this book, the explanation is not necessary.
Humanity Gone: After the Plague is written in a shifting first-person, present tense. An unusual choice, and I don't believe I've read first-person present ever before in novel-length fiction. Normally, shifting viewpoint first person drives me batty to the point where I can't read it, but since each chapter is titled with the name of the point-of-view character (ala Game of Thrones), I did not get lost, nor did I mind it. The present tense did feel a little awkward at times, and I wonder how much the feel of the story would've changed had it been written in past tense, as most novels are. It's not a big deal, just a point of curiosity for me.
Now, I did notice a LOT of formatting errors, and this is another instance where I really want to be able to rate half-stars, because 3 stars seems a little harsh. I found them distracting enough that rounding up to 4 stars seems overly generous, though. Now, many readers may not notice the errors, and I don't know if they were caused by the e-book conversion process or if they're the fault of the authors (or whoever they had do the page layout). Having such obvious formatting errors distract me caused me to notice more spelling & syntax errors than I probably would've noticed. No matter how many editing/proofreading passes a manuscript gets, it's virtually impossible to catch all typos, and I'll bet most people won't notice them anyway. The formatting, though, that really bothered me because it made the book look unprofessional.
Still, if you're not bothered by that and you want some entertaining post-apocalyptic fiction, then you certainly could do worse. I was in the mood for a story of that nature, and this did not disappoint. I'm definitely going to add book 2 to my reading list.
July 18, 2013
After the Plague is a pretty interesting book. It takes the standard apocalyptic theme and makes it only kids that are surviving. Set in the city, there are a lot of adventures to be had. This book is not just a "Children of the Corn" in an urban environment, it is a completely different beast with a lot of heart and misguided trust and the real struggle to survive...with a little "Children of the Corn" mixed in all around our main characters.
The writing was really well done and kept me entertained throughout and had the "one more chapter" pull that is becoming harder to find. Overall it was a really good read and I would recommend to anyone that is into adventure tales or anything on the apocalypse side of things. I am highly anticipating part 2!
The writing was really well done and kept me entertained throughout and had the "one more chapter" pull that is becoming harder to find. Overall it was a really good read and I would recommend to anyone that is into adventure tales or anything on the apocalypse side of things. I am highly anticipating part 2!
January 18, 2014
i loved this book in all respects except it needed a proofreader. The sloppy missimg words, incorrect tenses, misplaced punctuation and more interrupted the natural flow while reading.
Story is great, characters believable. A glimpse of what might occur if all adults died of a plague and only very young adults and all children are unaffected, left to fend for themselves and find various ways to survive, from loving cooperation to brutal genecide, slavery and slaughter.
A gripping novel, first of the series. I just bought the next two
books in the series :D Time to read some more.
.
Story is great, characters believable. A glimpse of what might occur if all adults died of a plague and only very young adults and all children are unaffected, left to fend for themselves and find various ways to survive, from loving cooperation to brutal genecide, slavery and slaughter.
A gripping novel, first of the series. I just bought the next two
books in the series :D Time to read some more.
.
November 5, 2015
Lord of the flies plague style!
Easy to see much of this scenario and look at people in this age group and just how ill equipped with even the basic survival skills. Many kids have never really been camping and truly roughing it for even a few days. I think it is an important experience for anyone to have because you don't unlearn things! It never hurts to have knowledge and hopefully you never have to use it.
Easy to see much of this scenario and look at people in this age group and just how ill equipped with even the basic survival skills. Many kids have never really been camping and truly roughing it for even a few days. I think it is an important experience for anyone to have because you don't unlearn things! It never hurts to have knowledge and hopefully you never have to use it.
January 11, 2015
Surprisingly good. Beginning as a typical dystopian story where only adults over 19 become ill and die from an unknown disease, it holds attention tight enough. As quickly as it started, it ended. On to Book 2.
December 11, 2013
Real page Turner
I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more.I could not put it down.
love books like this one.
I really enjoyed this book and hope to read more.I could not put it down.
love books like this one.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews