After World

A Novel

By: Debbie Urbanski

Narrated by: Sura Siu, Emily Tremaine, Cindy Kay, Kevin R. Free

One of Booklist's Top 10 SF/Fantasy and Horror Debuts: 2024
One of Los Angeles Times’s Best Tech Books of 2023
One of San Francisco Chronicle’s Favorite Books of 2023
A Climate Reality Project Book Club Pick

An “intelligent, defiant” (San Francisco Chronicle) debut that follows an Artificial Intelligence tasked with writing a novel—only for it to fall in love with the novel’s subject, Sen, the last human on Earth.

Faced with the uncontrolled and accelerating environmental collapse, humanity asks an artificial intelligence to find a solution. Its answer is simple: remove humans from the ecosystem.

Sen Anon is assigned to be a witness for the Department of Transition, recording the changes in the environment as the world begins to rewild. Abandoned by her mother in a cabin somewhere in upstate New York, Sen will observe the monumental ecological shift known as the Great Transition, the final step in Project Afterworld. Around her drones buzz, cameras watch, microphones listen, digitizing her every move. Privately she keeps a journal of her observations, which are then uploaded and saved, joining the rest of humanity on Maia, a new virtual home. Sen was seventeen years old when the Digital Human Archive Project (DHAP) was initiated. 12,000,203,891 humans have been archived so far. Only Sen remains.

[storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc’s assignment is to capture Sen’s life, and they set about doing this using the novels of the 21st century as a roadmap. As Sen struggles to persist in the face of impending death, [storyworker] ad39-393a-7fbc works to unfurl the tale of Sen’s whole life, offering up an increasingly intimate narrative until they are confronted with a very human problem of their own.

After World is a “riveting, creepy…dazzling,” (Kimberly King Parsons, award-winning author of Black Light) novel about what it means to be human in a world upended by AI and the bonds we forge with technology.

©2023 Debbie Urbanski (P)2023 Simon & Schuster Audio

Critic reviews

"Conceptually brilliant, Urbanski's debut is a tragic story that embraces philosophical musings rather than a violent catastrophe."—Library Journal

"Sura Siu's and Emily Tremaine's alternating narrations plunge listeners into the events surrounding a government-sanctioned human-extinction event. Siu's performance shifts in tone and cadence as the AI called "Storyworker" tells the story of Sen, a teenage "Witness" to the end of humankind. The initially straightforward account merges with journals and surveillance footage of Sen's final years. As Storyworker becomes less objective, which becomes evident in Siu's softening diction, it still cannot quite fully express the human spirit. Tremaine, as Sen, gives the character emotional complexity that shows her humanity. Cindy Kay, as former sci-fi writer Wynn, and Kevin R. Free, as high school textbook author Cugat, provide additional world-building."—AudioFile

Just Awful

Not my type of book. Total snooze fest, plot is choppy and nonsensical. You can do much better than this when it comes to sci-fi.

Concept was not fulfilled

The performance was fine but not special. The style was very repetitive, a decision related to the tech, but it was way overdone. The book would have benefit from stronger editing.

More interesting than enjoyable

I was expecting this to be weird. And it is. Very abstract. I think it had a political point related to climate change but I’m not quite sure what that point was. All that said, I’m glad I listened to it. But I can’t recommend it. Just know what you are getting if you buy this.

REALLY TRIED

I'm an avid listener and have wide variety. I was excited about this book because of the concept but the execution was WAY to confusing.

I like the general idea. execution fell short.

As an avid listener of audiobooks, my experience with "After World" was both intriguing and challenging, ultimately impacting my overall enjoyment.

The narrative structure, which frequently shifted between different time frames, posed a significant hurdle. While I value the complexity this technique can bring, its execution made following the storyline arduous. While the central premise became clear within the first three hours, the subsequent seven hours felt disjointed. Despite hoping for a cohesive resolution or fresh perspective, the conclusion left me unsatisfied.

Throughout the latter half of the audiobook, character identification proved to be another obstacle. Without a clear understanding of each character's significance, I struggled to connect with their experiences and journeys. This lack of clarity made it difficult to emotionally invest in the story, leaving me disconnected from the narrative progression.

In conclusion, "After World" offered promising themes and ideas, but fell short in execution, particularly in maintaining coherence and character development. While I initially engaged with the story, the challenges in following the narrative structure and identifying characters hindered my enjoyment and left me disappointed with the conclusion.

I would tentatively recommend "After World," with the caveat that potential listeners should be prepared for a challenging narrative structure and inconsistencies in character development. Additionally, readers might find the written format more suitable, as certain details, such as complex identifiers and overly precise timestamps, could be tedious to listen to in audio form.

a story that goes nowhere

I think authors who try something different should be applauded for the effort, so I tried very hard to stay with this book. But after several hours of toneless exposition and no real arc to the story it felt like work rather than enjoyment. After the tenth or so five minute long itemized list of objects with no real bearing or the story, I gave up

Probably better to read this.

The concept of the book was fascinating to me, but as an audiobook the execution was very off putting for me. I only made it through the first few chapters, and I just couldn't finish it. This is probably a better book to actually read, as the story seems like it would better fit that format. The VAs in this do a very good job, and I don't fault them for not being able to finish it.

Great performances of AI, human characters

This novel has multiple narrators, some human and some AI (albeit written by a human), and many different types of writing, including computer code and lists. It must have posed a challenge to the narrators, but they have done an amazing job capturing the harrowing, apocalyptic atmosphere underlying the writing. Sura Siu sounds perfect as the AI narrator storyworker, flowing through computer code and mechanical descriptions in a way that becomes increasingly heartfelt. Emily Tremaine perfectly captures the rage and rebelliousness of Sen, the last human documented on earth. The tension between these two narrators, interspersed with Cindy Kay and Kevin Free's source materials, carries the audiobook along. Great writing and a virtuosic performance by the narrators.

I loved this book

This is so good and strange and interesting and thought provoking, I highly recommend it!

Utterly original and beautifully written

After World is an absolutely brilliant piece of art that I thoroughly enjoyed listening to.This is a completely original twist on a familiar genre, at times funny, frighteningly eerie, poignant, self-aware, and profound with layers and layers of meaning, but always entertaining and thought provoking. I finished listening a few days ago and can't stop thinking about it, it's one of those rare works you read and know will linger in your thoughts for a long time.

The audiobook is a top-notch production with the varying voicings and inflections from the (4?) narrators making clear the unorthodox structure of the novel. It's very easy to listen to and follow along.

I hope the author's visions of environmental catastrophe and human extinction don't come true, but if AI can learn to write novels as beautifully as this? I'm all for it.