Reviews tagging 'Grief'

All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown

70 reviews

just_klaudia's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny tense slow-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Homophobia, Death, Death of parent, Animal death, Blood, Grief, and Murder

isakohno's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Murder

Moderate: Grief, Homophobia, Blood, Child death, Racism, and Death of parent

smasson13's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful lighthearted sad tense fast-paced

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

5.0

This book was such a surprise. 

Honestly, I imagined I was done with apocalypse books in a COVID world, but this was peddled to me hard as the queer romance I needed.  

It was so much more than a romance or a post apocalypse book. As a YA novel, some themes were pretty obvious, but over all it was beautifully written and addressed such a difficult topic at a difficult time. 

The main characters are adorable and they cry and it's real! That being said, I found their voices very similar so occasionally would have to look back and see whose chapter I was reading. As well, the side characters are a little under developed. 

The romance doesn't feel forced. Instead it's just sweet moments and a whole lot of feelings. 

Besides the cute queer romance though, this book was really well written as an adventure. While it may have followed some cliché storyline and themes, it never once felt forced or fake. Instead it was riveting. I was always unsure where the story would go next and the tense moments truly got my heart racing. 

So while there may be flaws, it still receives a full 5 stars for me 🌟 What a fantastic novel, told with a gentle handle, for our very fragile world. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, Homophobia, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Violence, and Child death

Moderate: Drug use, Medical content, Murder, and Animal death

Minor: Fire/Fire injury, Suicidal thoughts, Abandonment, Biphobia, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, Religious bigotry, Vomit, Kidnapping, and Stalking

anniereads221's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Medical content, Gun violence, Death, Racism, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Ableism, Injury/Injury detail, Violence, Suicide, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Homophobia, Grief, Death of parent, and Animal death

jenarae's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny reflective sad tense fast-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? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Gun violence, Violence, Murder, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, and Terminal illness

Moderate: Homophobia, Vomit, Body horror, Misogyny, Gore, and Medical content

Minor: Bullying, Religious bigotry, and Hate crime

bookishflower's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense medium-paced

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

5.0

“This cute boy saved my life, gave me food and now stories. All you need indeed.” 

•••

“YES!’ I shout and roll the window down. ‘America! He knows Back to the Future!” 

•••

And just like Back to the Future there is no better opening than the power of love. (See what I did there?! *wink, wink!*) 

This book broke my heart then mended it again (repeat this stage a lot), made me fall back in love with the dystopian genre, and made me laugh out loud the whole time. 

Jamie and Andrew are the sweetest, I immediately fell in love with their characters and the way they support each other. The slow burn, grumpy/quiet and sunshine trope hitting all the marks! This is the dystopian, gay representation that was sorely missing in the height of 2010s with a fresh twist for post-pandemic life. 

Erik J. Brown is one of the few writers who can not only successfully, but expertly incorporate pop culture references into their writing. Nothing felt forced with the added bonus of being hilarious, while not shying away from the realities of what post-apocalyptic life would be like e.g. the ugliness of human nature and capitalism. 

I haven’t seen much hype online around this book since arcs were released (with a very cool marketing strategy too!) which needs to change! (For reference, I bought my copy, this review is completely unaffiliated if there’s any confusion).

 This book is criminally underrated, go read it now! 

P.S. 

(Someone needs to make the ultimate ‘all that’s left in the world’ pop culture guide with all the music, films, tv shows mentioned in the book- everyone needs to have Miss Congeniality and Nina Simone in their lives!)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, Gun violence, Homophobia, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Misogyny

Minor: Animal death, Drug abuse, and Alcohol

book_loser's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, Violence, and Medical trauma

Moderate: Blood

Minor: Death of parent, Death, Animal death, and Child death

aspring's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful medium-paced

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

4.5

this hit a little close to home with the state the world is in. but this book, through all of its angst was interlaced with hope and i adored it. the writing was intoxicating and i could never tell which direction the story was going to go. i feared for all the characters separately and i absolutely fell in love with them all and this piece of writing. a very beautiful book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Animal death, Death, and Child death

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Misogyny and Homophobia

helenfarch's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Wow, the debut YA novel from Erik J. Brown certainly packs a punch.

A super-flu pandemic has swept the world and wiped out most of the population. In this post-pandemic world it is everyone for themselves until an injured Andrew turns up on the doorstep of Jamie's remote cabin.

What follows is a journey of survival, forgiveness, self-discovery and bravery.

As Andrew and Jamie set out on a journey down the east coast of the USA they fight for their lives, find pockets of surprising humanity, stumble across communities re-building, and ultimately, they find a love that makes them both stronger.

It was so interesting to read Author's Note at the end of the book that the author wrote this book before Covid changed the world. As he says, he was "tired of not seeing queer representation in post-apocalyptic stories" so he wrote his own.

Initially I did find the whole global pandemice wipes out most of the population of the world storyline quite anxiety inducing given what we have all gone through over the last few years. 

And whilst that unease never fully left me while I was reading this book, that didn't stop me falling in love with Andrew, Jamie and some of the characters they found along their journey - particularly Henri.

I have to say I particularly liked the ending. Now, this is spoiler-free so I won't say what that ending is, I would be interested to hear what other readers think.

The global pandemic setting of this book may not make it a read for everyone right now, but if that doesn't deter you, this is definitely a recommended read.

Thanks to Hachette Australia and the author for an advance copy of this book to read and review

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Death of parent, and Gun violence

Moderate: Homophobia

tepidgirlsummer's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful 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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Death, Grief, Gun violence, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Blood, Cursing, Homophobia, Medical content, Violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Religious bigotry

Minor: Bullying