“All I know that is real, true, is that the world wasn’t always like this. It used to be green.”

Genre: Dystopian Fiction

Pages: 300

Published: 13th May, 2018.

Rate: 3.5 ⭐⭐⭐

Goodreads Synopsis
They tell me the country looked different back then.
They talk of open borders and flowing rivers.
hey say the world was green.
But drought swept across the globe and the United States of the past disappeared under a burning sky.
Enora Byrnes lives in the aftermath, a barren world where water has become the global currency. In a life dominated by duty to family and community, Enora is offered a role within an entity that controls everything from water credits to borders. But it becomes clear that not all is as it seems. From the wasted confines of her small town to the bowels of a hidden city, Enora will uncover buried secrets that hide an unthinkable reality.
As truth reveals the brutal face of what she has become, she must ask herself: how far will she go to retain her humanity?

Note: Its day 10 of the ultimate blogtour and I want to say a huge thank you to Dave aka The_WriteReads for organizing the blogtour and to Kristin Ward for providing the book. All thoughts and opinions are honest and my own. You can check the rest of the stops below.

My Take

I feel like this is a book we should all read because its too close to what we are experiencing in the world right now. We meet Enora, a 17 year old, who lives in a world where water is the most important resource and how this affects her and the people around her. Having to live under strict rules and regulations, I loved how morality and privilege are brought out in the book and how some of the characters struggle with both.The characters are quite relatable and they act their age, so that’s a plus. One of my favourite things was the symbol and getting to find out what it meant. That, oddly enough, made me really happy. The world building is amazing and the description is so vivid you’d think you’re there yourself.

What I didn’t like: The people’s mannerisms, especially the kids in high school, didn’t match the world they lived in. I also had to rewind to pick up a train of thought I had lost because so much was happening. The book is slow paced, which I didn’t mind, but I felt the ending was too rushed and didn’t match the pace of the book.

“It’s hard to look toward the uncertain future.”

I did enjoy After The Green Withered and would recommend if you love dystopian books and/or Sci-Fi.

Author Interview with Kristin Ward

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself. Who is Kristin Ward?

I’m a nerdy, scifi loving, sometimes-awesome unicorn raising three boys (*plus my husband, so let’s just call it four boys) in Connecticut while chasing my dream of authorship. I’ve been writing since middle school, though it took a good thirty years before I truly got serious about crafting my first novel.

When I’m not busy tending to family, our animal menagerie, work, or the often avoided laundry, you can find me pursuing my other interests. Obviously, I carve out as much time as possible to write – this is assuming I can park myself in my writing chair without a barrage of interruptions! I enjoy knitting, badly, and being outside. I love to go on moderate hikes when the weather is nice. Being a total movie nut, spending an evening with my boys watching everything from Marvel movies to The Princess Bride is a frequent pastime.

2. What prompted the idea of After The Green Withered?

I was inspired to write After the Green Withered and the sequel, Burden of Truth, while completing research for a graduate course I wrote in environmental education. My course included concepts regarding earth’s history and, within this, I learned a great deal about the impact humans have had on the planet. As I studied and composed the course, an idea began to germinate.

What if there was a global drought due to the impact humans have had on the planet? What if water became the global currency?

That seedling idea sat with me for a year or so as I finished my course writing and began to teach a few graduate courses. Eventually, I began to write the story but it took a whopping five years to get it from draft to publish! The final push actually came about after I read an article about Cape Town’s water crisis. At the time of the article, it was predicted that Cape Town’s water supply would run dry in April of 2018, not tens of years in the future. Reading this, I knew the story I wanted to tell was incredibly relevant so I buckled down and finished the first book.

3. Do you relate to any of your characters? If so, which ones and why? or why not?

I relate a great deal to Enora. She is a strong character whose sense of purpose and perception of the rights and wrongs of her society lead her on a journey she never expected to experience. You see her wrestle with startling realities she unearths and, in the sequel, grow as a young woman in ways she could never have predicted. I see parts of myself in her ability to make tough decisions and see beyond the surface of events to the root cause. As someone who enjoys research and the whole learning process, Enora and I share some foundational character traits, though our personalities are quite different.

4. When it comes to writing, where do you get your inspiration from?

Aside from my wonderful, 7th grade English teacher who inspired me many, many years ago, I gain much of my inspiration from reading. There are so many wonderful voices out there, spinning stories that introduce me to characters and places I grow to love. I can’t help being motivated by the creativity in others. Someday, I hope my work serves as an inspiration. In fact, my ultimate goal is to have written someone’s favorite book.

My interest and love of the dystopian genre began when I read The Giver. The world Lois Lowry created had a lot of elements that are reflective of a society under intense control where our very nature as human beings is suppressed. The book reached so many emotional levels. I really enjoyed The Handmaid’s Tale which I reread recently as I had every intention of watching the miniseries. I have yet to watch it but it’s on my list. I also enjoyed The Hunger Games books and feel that Suzanne Collins touched on some powerful societal issues.

5. Where can we find you?

I love interacting with readers and am very active on social media! You can find me on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Goodreads, and my website. I welcome you to connect with me!

Instagram:
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Twitter:
YA_Author

Facebook:
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My website:
writingandmythreesons.com

Goodreads:
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