After the End By Amy Plum

Narrated by Emily Rankin and Graham Hamilton

Summary from Goodreads:

She’s searching for answers to her past. They’re hunting her to save their future.
World War III has left the world ravaged by nuclear radiation. A lucky few escaped to the Alaskan wilderness. They’ve survived for the last thirty years by living off the land, being one with nature, and hiding from whoever else might still be out there.
At least, this is what Juneau has been told her entire life.
When Juneau returns from a hunting trip to discover that everyone in her clan has vanished, she sets off to find them. Leaving the boundaries of their land for the very first time, she learns something horrifying: There never was a war. Cities were never destroyed. The world is intact. Everything was a lie.
Now Juneau is adrift in a modern-day world she never knew existed. But while she’s trying to find a way to rescue her friends and family, someone else is looking for her. Someone who knows the extraordinary truth about the secrets of her past.

Until the Beginning by Amy Plum

Narrated by Emily Rankin and Graham Hamilton

Summary from Goodreads:

When Juneau’s clan disappeared, she lost so much more than her friends and family. She soon discovered everything she thought she knew about her life was a lie. Her people’s gifts were actually secret abilities that others wanted, desperately enough to kidnap an entire village.
Juneau and her new companion Miles’s cross-country journey to find her clan has led them to a game preserve in New Mexico. Now Juneau’s people are finally within reach, and she will stop at nothing to save them. But she has a target on her back too, because unbeknownst to her she is the key to unlocking everything. To rescue her people – and herself – Juneau must discover what she, and her abilities, are truly capable of.

Confession:

This is a totally different type of science fiction/dystopian story, especially at the beginning of the first book.  With the alternating chapters between Juneau and Miles’s story, it is a little disconcerting. Juneau is telling us one version of the world and Miles is telling a very different story.  Juneau truly believes that WWIII has happened and that her clan pretty much is all that is left of civilization.  After her clan is taken and she starts to look for them, she finds out the truth.  But Juneau is nothing but resilient and loyal to her family and clan (and dogs).  She shakes off what she has always learned was the truth about the world and learns to adapt.  Miles on the other hand, starts out as a spoiled rich kid, who has never wanted for anything.  There is quite the juxtaposition in the two characters, which causes a lot of confusion and misunderstandings between them when they meet and as they travel together. Eventually Miles comes to understand and even admire Juneau for her strength and flexibility even in the face of impossible odds.  There is a nice mix of magical realism, Juneau has some abilities that almost verge on magical as well as science.  I also enjoyed the corporate greed plot line, and was so glad to see those greedy businessman meet their match in Juneau and her clan.

The audio books were excellent.  Both narrators did a nice job of capturing the characters with their voices.  I always appreciate it when there are two narrators for this type of book. When there are alternating points of view it is very nice to have different voices narrating them.

And finally, the cover art is awesome for both books.  Really capturing the tone and feel of the story and the characters.