Reviews

The Never-Ending End of the World by Ann Christy

kailey_luminouslibro's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

Coco is left all alone in New York City at the end of the world. All around her, people are trapped in their own individual loops of time, endlessly repeating the same tasks that they were doing when the end of the world began. Coco scavenges for food while trying to avoid the "loopers", knowing from sad experience that if she disturbs their time loop they will die. After years of solitude, Coco begins to wonder if there might be others like her out in the world, people free from time loops. She charts a way to navigate the spaces between time loops and decides to leave New York.

This book broke my brain! And broke my heart too. I was hooked from the very first page, and it was a wild rollercoaster of emotions right up to the last page.

The characters feel so real and intense that it tugs at your heartstrings. They go through some terrible ordeals, but it is interspersed with joy and laughter as well. I loved Coco's character! She is so fierce and sensitive and tough and caring and generous. It was fascinating seeing how she interacted with the world around her, rising to meet each challenge and growing and changing. The book spans about 38 years, so we get to see her grow into a completely different person from the scared little girl who found herself alone surrounded by time loops.

I was really interested to see how the world-building kept growing. We start out with a very small view of the world; just one person. Then the world keeps expanding and getting bigger with more and more mysteries and problems and new characters. The science fiction part of the time loops really kept me wondering and guessing.

The writing was so brilliant at giving us the big picture of the whole world ending, but also taking time to notice the little details of these people's lives, like their dirty socks or how good a cool glass of water tastes on a hot day. The stakes feel even bigger, because we stop to appreciate all the little human things that make life worth living. The end of the world is somehow even more epic when you have a quiet moment to be grateful for each breath.

I really loved that a lot of deep themes are explored in this book. The characters have to make some very tough decisions at times. They suffer and sacrifice and have terrible regrets, but that just makes them cling tightly to their families. It makes them kinder and wiser. This book is so full of hope and love! The characters ponder some deep questions as they face the end of the world, discovering what it is that makes life truly precious.

Before reading the book, I asked the marketing team if there was a lot of profanity in the book. They said it was only a little, so I accepted the book for review. It was not a little. It was a lot. (I guess those descriptors are relative. What is a lot for one person is a little for someone else.) For me, it was a lot. But by that point, I was so hooked on the story, I just HAD to keep reading, despite my discomfort at all the bad words. If it were not for that, this would easily have been a five-star book.

There are four side characters who are gay/lesbian, but they are barely mentioned. They only have a couple of paragraphs in the entire book. The lesbian couple mentions wanting to adopt a child, and a few chapters later we learn that they have adopted.

The narrative structure was unlike anything I have ever seen. It was told in four big sections alternating between two different characters, Coco and Forrest. And within their sections we get first-person excerpts from their diaries, and then chapters with a third-person narrator focusing on that character's experiences. So the narration not only kept jumping between character POVS, but also between first and third person. The diary parts were usually in past tense, and the third-person chapters were in present tense. Just wow. The style was jumping around a lot. And yet, it felt cohesive and intentional and very well done. I don't know how the author managed to tell a coherent story with all of that back and forth, but they pulled it off! Head hopping is one of my pet peeves, and I don't care for present tense, but I appreciated that it was well-organized and everything was consistent within that system.

This is definitely one of those books where you keep thinking about it for days or even weeks after you have finished reading. I keep thinking about particular scenes and bits of meaningful dialogue. I actually had a dream about it last night, because my head is just so completely immersed in this story!

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review. All the opinions stated here are my own true thoughts, and are not influenced by anyone.

bookgeek25's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious relaxing tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

I enjoyed this book so much. It hit all points for me, what I was looking for. I was looking for a book that was paced quickly but not slugging thru the chapters. The time I spent reading for the characters, I felt connected with the world they were living in and what they had to survive with. I took a few points off due to lack of character descriptions for the characters but I chalked that up to wanting the audience to imagine the characters as what they wanted to see. 

oofuss's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

fertilepress's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

thegeekybibliophile's review against another edition

5.0

Review to come.

megs2kool's review against another edition

adventurous challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

sveareads's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

4.5 stars - I really liked this book.

Many Thanks to NetGalley and Campfire Publishing for an eARC of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review!

World & Concept:
It has an interesting dystopian concept, which we (the readers) keep learning about alongside the characters. 
Something unknown has happened before the beginning of the book and now we find ourselves in a world where everyone (except a few) is somehow stuck in a loop of whatever they were doing on the day everything "stopped". Loops can be from seconds to hours. If you disturb one of the looped people or animals they react aggressive and attack you. 
For me, this idea was new and very interesting to explore.

Characters:
The characters felt realistic and relatable, which had me very invested in their stories.
The found family was nice and there being an incredibly cute cat was a big plus! 

Emotions:
This book had me sobbing at so many occasions! It was an immediate 4+ stars read.
I was also hooked from the very first page, since we get directly thrown into action.

Audiobook:
The audiobook was very nice as well. Since the book switches between the characters Coco and Forest, the audiobook also switches between a male (Ari Fliakos) and female (Thérèse Plummer) narrator.

Critic:
The only thing I didn't like was the way time jumps were handled from time to time. They did make it easier to cover more ground without getting into the "1000 pages region" but they also tend to take the reader out of the story, since most chapters ended on a little cliffhanger and then we just jumped to a point in time that's half a year later (and maybe get told what happened in between). 

All in all, I really liked the book and especially the fact that the book made me ask some philosophical questions about my own life and my daily routines (yes, I can pretty much bring philosophy into anything).

cliffrcarlson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

thenightstandbook's review

adventurous emotional slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

z523's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

4.0