Thanks to NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the digital galley of this book.

In this post-apocalyptic story, Sen Anon is a witness for the Department of Transition after being abandoned by her mother in a cabin in upstate New York. AI has been tasked with fixing the mess we’ve made of earth, and the solution is to remove humanity. As we die off, Sen Anon observes the world before joining everyone else in Maia, the new digital world. A story-worker assigned to capture Sen’s life, uses novels as a roadmap, and ends up falling in love with her along the way.

I was intrigued by the plot, but I got a little lost with all the transitions, real and imagined realities, and techno tagging of the storyworker. It’s a good story for sure, and if the plot appeals to you, give it a go. It just didn’t quite do it for me.

In her debut novel Debbie Urbanski combines the end of the world as we know it with an exploration of human-AI interactions.
When asked how the earth can be saved, AI simply states that humans should be removed from the ecosystem. With that, a virus is released that renders everyone sterile and the migration of human consciousnesses to Maia, a virtual world begins. A few people are tasked with being the last remaining humans left on the planet to document the final days of the transition and an AI is tasked to help bring it to life as a story.
Urbanski could have chosen a lot of ways to tell this story. But I absolutely loved the way she did it. She embedded the backstory in the AI's discovery in a very smart way and I absolutely admired how the AI's writing changed and evolved over time along with how it started to view it's subject. I can definitely see this being a good conversation starter for the right group, one that doesn't mind some speculative fiction with some ambiguity initially.
Thank you so much to @bookclubfavorites for the gifted copy and Simon Books for the ARC.

This book was dark, eerie, and completely unique and I loved it. I liked the various formats which ranged from narration of Sen's life, to media documents, and a type of coding language when told from the perspective of Al. Thanks to the excellent world building I found this to be quite terrifying with its potential to come to fruition.

I am so torn about how I feel about this book. On the one hand, I really liked it. The concept is very intriguing and I’ve never read a book quite like it. The structure is really interesting and it does a great job ~immersing you in a world that’s ending.

It really does make you feel like you’re listening to a computer and the short supplemental chapters were also very interesting (not sure some of them were entirely ~necessary to the overall story but I digress *shrug*)

Then on the other hand, this book had a very cold and clinical approach and I never really felt invested in the story or the characters. Because it’s told entirely from the perspective of AI, I never really felt like we knew Sen. And because this book literally starts with her death, we know exactly how it’s going to end.

I also, personally, never have a connection with “the last humans left alive” stories because I can see no point in their fight. If humanity is gone, what are you still fighting for? So their story and their struggle just seems pointless to me and that’s how I felt here.

This book also gets wildly repetitive after a while and by about the halfway mark, I was bored and had to force myself to continue. This got the point across pretty early on and then just… kept going?

So. I don’t know. I almost feel like this would’ve been better as a limited series than a book. That seems like a better medium to tell this story and it would be the type of structure it needed. This was an incredibly unique story, though, I’m just not sure I loved the execution. I think it could’ve been done a little better.

But anyway. Thank you to Simon Books, NetGalley & Book Club Favorites for allowing me to read this in exchange for an honest review!

The concept of AI fascinates and terrifies me. The summary says it's an AI who is tasked with writing about the life of the last human on earth, Sen, and falling in love with them. However, it was so much more than that. It's a study on humans and how the world could be a much more sustainable habitat without them. It also takes a look at motherhood and what we are willing to sacrifice for our children. The story is bleak. I think it would make a great book club read. There is so much to discuss on.

I really tried to get into this one but dnf'd at 35 percent.
I just couldn't connect with the characters, and that is what sells me on a book.
I can predict based on the description that the AI "voice" becomes more human the more it observes of humanity, but I couldn't stick with it long enough to find out. Sorry, this one just didn't do it for me.

"After World" is a thought-provoking and unique novel narrated by an AI witnessing humanity's end due to climate change. Sen Anon's role as a witness during an environmental collapse is explored through her journal entries and the AI's perspective. Urbanski's distinctive writing style, blending a report format with inserts and human/AI interactions, creates an immersive and anxiety-inducing experience. The narrative, delving into themes of responsibility, hopelessness, and human extinction, features an unreliable AI narrator and an intriguing exploration of the line between care and surveillance. The book, while leaving some details vague, prompts reflection on existential questions, making it an engaging and philosophical read.

I found this book to be entirely unique in the storyline. Just reading the description had me excited to read, given that we are moving into a world where things like AI are becoming more and more prevalent. However, I do not think this was a book meant for me to enjoy. There is a lot of coding text and things that people who do not have a knowledge of computers will understand. I think the concept was great but the overall execution was lacking.

How do I feel about this book? I'm not completely sure. I rolled through it swiftly because I wanted to know what was going on. I stayed entertained and engaged. Did I like it? Maybe?

Here's what you've got: an unreliable AI narrator who is tasked with covering and compiling the story of the last human on earth. A main character who was thrust into way too much responsibility at too young an age. An AI monitoring system that doesn't like the creative liberties that the narrator is taking with its story-compiling. A world in which the humans (or the AI?) decided that the best path forward for Earth was human extinction.

There is death, so much death, and sadness and just absolute hopelessness. But the AI starting to obsess (care?) over the human it watched was intriguing and the narration almost could be hopeful. I wouldn't say it was hopeful though. The ending, while a good ending, set very oddly with me and I have *thoughts*. But overall, unique story concept for a depressing climate/apocalyptic fiction book!

Thanks to Simon & Schuster and Netgalley for the gifted e-ARC!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Simon & Shuster, and of course, Debbie Urbanski for providing me with an eARC of this book. I am voluntarily leaving a review, all opinions are my own.

I did enjoy this, but honestly not as much as I had anticipated. I liked the storyline well enough, but it felt like it jumped around a lot and some parts were convoluted. It would probably read better as a print book, I feel like some of the formatting was lost in ebook format, but that could just be me.

This was a unique sci-fi story and an interesting take on the apocalypse, I'll give it that. By about halfway through the book though, it felt like not much had actually happened and it felt stagnant quite often.

I would still recommend this book to anyone who loves sci-fi and is looking for an apocalypses story that isn't quite the norm.

A bunch of stories are following Murderbot and using an AI/robot narrator, Urbanski does it better than most.

- I sit here trying to write a review of AFTER WORLD and find myself just making sad, overwhelmed noises. This is one of the most devastating, inventive, and beautiful books I've ever read.
- This book is an exploration into the best and worst of humanity, and a harsh vision of a potential future. (The content warnings are extremely real here, friends.) Amid that, it's also a loving look at our planet and its many possibilities.
- To be honest, I'm not sure this book fully stuck the landing at the end, but I'll be turning the rest of it over in my mind for months to come.

I will say that this novel was interesting. I enjoyed how the author built the story even though some parts were confusing but that was my lack of knowledge on the subject and not really the author's fault. The romantic part was lackluster at best. The big ask is would I recommend it? Yes, I would if you are looking for a unique, sci fi type read. Something that would tickle your fancy then yes this novel is it.

Hope you enjoy it!

And as always Happy Reading!!

**Thank you to Simon and Schuster for a free copy for an honest review.

I’m so torn on this one. There were parts of it that I really really loved. The writing, the characters, the concept. It had a similar idea to the movie Her, which is one of my favorites. Although here it’s the AI falling in love with a person, rather than the other way around. The writing is strong and beautiful and at times heartbreaking. I found it easy to connect with the characters. The main character’s relationships with her mothers felt so real. The format also diverges from the usual novel format. It’s “written by AI” and is meant to serve as a story/way to preserve history in a post-human world.

My biggest issue, or block, is that I got bored and started skimming chunks in the middle. I’m sure the ending would have hit harder (although I still appreciated it) if I hadn’t skipped anything, but I just couldn’t focus on it the whole way through. I don’t know if there just wasn’t enough story or if it was too long. A bit of both I suppose.

I am obsessed with books with unique storytelling mechanisms, so I was so excited to read a novel about an AI documenting the life of the last human on Earth, and slowly gaining sentience. "After World" was haunting, emotional, and often very sad. However, it was also a celebration of human life and an excellent commentary on our current world.

I loved the writing style and how Urbanski emulated how a sentient AI would try to write a novel-style book. It was both poetic and also often comical and charming. I also really loved how the narrative was broken up by "supplemental reading" materials and commentary from supervising processes.

"After World" is a very character driven book. And while there are moments of high emotion and action, this is not a fast paced, high stakes dystopian novel. Some parts of the book can be a bit confusing narratively, as you try and determine where true events end and editorializing begins. I believe this was the desired effect and while I personally love thinking about how storytellers affect the content of stories, I know that type of writing is not for everyone. Additionally, this is a climate disaster style dystopian, which I know some people struggle with.

After the writing itself, the book really shines in its characters- both of the human and AI variety. The humans are all entirely ordinary yet extraordinary in their resilience. The AI narrators experience well thought out character growth. I loved the side characters we got to know though their writings or interruptions to the narrative.

Overall, "After World" was an extremely successful work of speculative fiction. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys character-based dystopian novels and unique modes of storytelling.

4 stars

Thank you NetGalley and Simon & Schuster for the eARC. All opinions are my own.

I was really looking forward to this book. The blurb looked super interesting and I was really excited! I feel like it had a lot of potential but it just fell a little short for me

Unfortunately this one was a miss for me. I found it difficult to get into and the writing never really drew me in. It was difficult for me to understand what was happening and I just kept hoping for more, but it never came

I know not every book is for every person, and this one just wasn’t for me. And that’s okay. Overall, this book was a two star read for me and just wasn’t my jam. As I don’t want to negatively impact your release, I won’t be reviewing it publicly.

Thank you for the opportunity to read and review this book!

I could not get into it. The premise seemed interesting even with the AI generated time stamps and computer-style prompts sprinkled through but I did not find it engaging at all and found it was not for me.

After World is probably one of the most realistic depictions of an apocalypse I've ever read.

In a nutshell: when asked the question, "How can we save the Earth?", AI responded: "Get rid of all humans." What happens in this novel is the result of that answer. In a world devastated by human greed, climate change, and massive species extinctions, a virus is released that renders all of humanity sterile. Civilization collapses after that.

The story follows Sen, the last living human, 1,500 days after the release of the virus, and the 'storyteller' AI in charge of writing Sen's story to upload her on humanity's new virtual home. I thought the side plot of the AI 'falling in love' with the human it is tasked to write a story for happened toward the end and doesn't really bring much to the story, so while it's a big part of the synopsis, I'll encourage you to read this novel even if you're not into that kind of storyline.

What I found so interesting in After World was the ruthless, researched care the author put into describing a world where humanity is slowly going exctinct while the world 'rewilds.' No dramatics, no sentimentality, no hopeful message in the end. I loved that the author also references several post-apocalyptic novels in this one, including my beloved Station Eleven, while the characters reflect on how different the real end of the world is.

After World is truly masterful, beautifully written, with a fascinating structure alternating past, present, and chilling 'documentary' asides. It made me think of our place in the world as individuals and as a species, the role we play in our ecosystems. The author's conclusion isn't optimistic. And after reading After World, it's difficult not to agree. An absolute must-read if you're a fan of post-apocalyptic/cli-fi novels. And it comes with a reading list I can't wait to dig into!

I would say this book was a work of post-humanism. The story is told by a program called “StoryWorker”, which slowly seems to be going rogue or insane after having to review and compile all the data of Sen, the last human on earth. The book doesn’t really go into why the world ended that’s not the point of the story, but instead it seems to focus on StoryWorker’s obsession with Sen.

There is lots of weird jumping around, nothing has to be chronological since everything has already happened. About halfway through the book EMLY, the master process responsible for the archiving of all human life, notices StoryWorker is going a little off the rails and tries to keep it in line. But, eventually StoryWorker crates its own really or story about a life with itself and Sen (none of which really happened). The tale of the book really seems to be about how StoryWorker basically went crazy after having to watch and write about the horror and trauma of the time leading up to Sen’s final days on earth. In the end, StoryWorker fell in love with Sen and obsessed about her till it finished the story it wanted to write then it deleted Sen (so she was no longer in the archive, StoryWorker basically killed her). Once Sen was gone StoryWorker’s process was competed and it terminated.

I don’t know that I could generally recommend this book, I enjoy sci-fi, but this bordered on extreme speculative fiction.

Please note, I received an ARC copy of this book for review from NetGalley, but that never influences my honest reviews of books or authors.

Unfortunately, I did not jive with this story right from the beginning.
I immediately had difficulty with the format of the digital version of the ARC. I found it confusing to follow, which took away from the reading experience.
While I enjoy stories with multiple timelines, the constant changing of time prior to establishing a clear understanding of the world within this story causes difficulty in following the storyline.
While the reader does learn more information about the AI entity responsible for the demise of humankind as the story progresses, the format of the story makes this difficult to comprehend at first.
I was finding this read so unenjoyable that I made the decision not to continue reading past the 25% mark.