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jefferz's review against another edition
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
The Last Murder at the End of the World feels like it should’ve been something directly catered to my taste which is a murder mystery investigation wrapped up in a post-apocalyptic, science fiction (borderline dystopian) dressing. This one is hard to talk without giving away crucial spoilers that would heavily affect the reading experience. The novel had all the right elements and pieces to work with and Stuart Turton had a lot of creative and intriguing concepts included. In an alternate universe with some tweaking, this could’ve been a knockout hit. Unfortunately for me, the novel’s science fiction flavor gets a bit out of hand and is frankly a mess. Numerous unexplained apocalyptic elements weaken what should’ve been a well-done murder investigation story.
Set on a protected island where the last survivors of an apocalyptic fog inhabit, the setup for the plot was good. There’s a clear timeline of events dictated by a countdown to extinction that separates each section of the book. The first 40% of the story focused on introducing various villagers on the island, their relationship with three revered scientists, and the dynamics of the island. The book has a long-running metaphor of equating the villagers to an ant colony; each villager has their part to play to keep the group going. Each villager is also connected mentally to an AI named Abi, who gently acts as a guiding conscious, informant of happenings on the island, and general mental support. This entire section hammers home the village culture of not asking questions, doing what you’re told, making personal sacrifices for the greater good, which conflicts with the FMC Emory’s questioning of the status quo. The novel also takes the time to introduce a variety of villagers, shifting to each of their perspectives told via a 3rd person narrative. Turton cleverly has the story conveyed via Abi who describes most of the story in 3rd person, only occasionally switching to 1st person when Abi is directly speaking or conveying their thoughts (I laughed at reviews confused by the shift in pronouns and tense, it ain’t hard to follow folks).
Truthfully, I struggled to get through this section that felt incredibly slow and devoid of interest. Running with the ant metaphor, I felt like I was watching one of those home artificial ant colony kits. You can see the characters playing their roles and Turton tries to humanize them, but like ants they all felt simple-minded, dispensable (opposite of what the novel wants you to feel) and I really didn’t care what happened to them. The plot and perspectives eventually stabilize, choosing to focus on Emory, her daughter Clara, her father Seth, and the three scientists. The story also shifts to other villagers’ perspectives, but they ultimately contribute little to the story. There are chapters told from certain characters such as Hephaestus (the youngest of the three scientists) and Adil (an exiled villager) that I felt actually detracted from the reading experience, as they gave far too much information and took away some of the unknown suspense. I understand that this introductory arc was designed to be extensive to pull its major plot-twist that upends the entire civilization introduced, but it hinders the book’s core enjoyment in two ways. One, for fans of the actual murder mystery, it goes on way too long and derails any interest that was building from the strong start, with the actual murder taking place almost halfway in. Two, for fans of the science fiction apocalyptic genre, it gives the reader a false impression of what the book is about. The back-half of the book is almost entirely investigation based and I’ve seen numerous negative reviews comment on how they liked the first half and got lost in the second half.
I personally fell in the first camp of liking the murder investigation but not the science fiction elements. This may go without saying, but in order to function as “science fiction”, there needs to be some sort of actual science involved with the fiction. I’m baffled that some people classify this as speculative fiction which is science fiction that is grounded, plausible, near-future style. Nothing in this novel is grounded or science-based. Nearly all of the intriguing science fiction elements don’t get an actual explanation, some examples being the origin of the fog, how the insects in the fog kill people, where all of the scientists’ advance technology comes from, how Abi even works in practice, etc. Nearly all these elements are explained as merely existing because it is so. Humans created the technology as a weapon which somehow got out of control and destroyed the world. How do we know it has killed people and threw society into chaos and anarchy? We don’t, we’re told it did and that is that. There’s technology for altering, extracting and wiping memories, yet no explanation on how this works (I would love a nice summary of how a machine can extract memories and put it into a gemstone that someone can then hold and relive the memories imbued in it). There are weaponized flowers, the killer insects in the fog, heavy machinery for drilling and creating waves, life-creating plans, blight-causing chemicals, there’s so much random things going on. And Abi’s AI function and origin is perhaps one of the most baffling and random reveals in the book’s epilogue.The AI is an underground sentient root spread across the entire island? And it’s connected to the villagers how? And how do new villagers spawn from a similar vine with dew? I have so many questions, I don’t even know where to start. Unlike other readers, I could fully follow what was happening and carefully read into all of the science fiction details, but the more I thought about it, the more ludicrous they seemed.
On the positive side, the murder mystery and investigation are solid. There were lots of good plot twists in the back half of the book and despite having some obvious culprit suspicions, it came together in a surprisingly solid timeline of events for the crime. The clues are good, the back-and-forth suspicion was effective, and the various dystopian elements start to form a picture. It certainly isn’t enough to redeem the first half’s explained mess, but it was the better executed element of the story vs the science fiction. I originally picked up this book as I was already interested in Turton’s earlier mystery novels, The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water, but I decided to try this one first since it was a recent release. From this, I got the impression that Turton is probably a far better mystery writer than a science fiction writer. The acknowledgement section appears to confirm that his works are fundamentally murder mysteries flavored with different genres for style, in this case post-apocalypse.
All in all, this was a bit of a letdown. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a disappointment (I wasn’t invested enough to care that much), but it certainly was not an enjoyable read. The ideas and concepts were there, but the lack of explanations and details give the impression of throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks and creates a picture. I suspect that if you like the characters or the village’s roles/day to day activities, you’ll rate this higher.
Set on a protected island where the last survivors of an apocalyptic fog inhabit, the setup for the plot was good. There’s a clear timeline of events dictated by a countdown to extinction that separates each section of the book. The first 40% of the story focused on introducing various villagers on the island, their relationship with three revered scientists, and the dynamics of the island. The book has a long-running metaphor of equating the villagers to an ant colony; each villager has their part to play to keep the group going. Each villager is also connected mentally to an AI named Abi, who gently acts as a guiding conscious, informant of happenings on the island, and general mental support. This entire section hammers home the village culture of not asking questions, doing what you’re told, making personal sacrifices for the greater good, which conflicts with the FMC Emory’s questioning of the status quo. The novel also takes the time to introduce a variety of villagers, shifting to each of their perspectives told via a 3rd person narrative. Turton cleverly has the story conveyed via Abi who describes most of the story in 3rd person, only occasionally switching to 1st person when Abi is directly speaking or conveying their thoughts (I laughed at reviews confused by the shift in pronouns and tense, it ain’t hard to follow folks).
Truthfully, I struggled to get through this section that felt incredibly slow and devoid of interest. Running with the ant metaphor, I felt like I was watching one of those home artificial ant colony kits. You can see the characters playing their roles and Turton tries to humanize them, but like ants they all felt simple-minded, dispensable (opposite of what the novel wants you to feel) and I really didn’t care what happened to them. The plot and perspectives eventually stabilize, choosing to focus on Emory, her daughter Clara, her father Seth, and the three scientists. The story also shifts to other villagers’ perspectives, but they ultimately contribute little to the story. There are chapters told from certain characters such as Hephaestus (the youngest of the three scientists) and Adil (an exiled villager) that I felt actually detracted from the reading experience, as they gave far too much information and took away some of the unknown suspense. I understand that this introductory arc was designed to be extensive to pull its major plot-twist that upends the entire civilization introduced, but it hinders the book’s core enjoyment in two ways. One, for fans of the actual murder mystery, it goes on way too long and derails any interest that was building from the strong start, with the actual murder taking place almost halfway in. Two, for fans of the science fiction apocalyptic genre, it gives the reader a false impression of what the book is about. The back-half of the book is almost entirely investigation based and I’ve seen numerous negative reviews comment on how they liked the first half and got lost in the second half.
I personally fell in the first camp of liking the murder investigation but not the science fiction elements. This may go without saying, but in order to function as “science fiction”, there needs to be some sort of actual science involved with the fiction. I’m baffled that some people classify this as speculative fiction which is science fiction that is grounded, plausible, near-future style. Nothing in this novel is grounded or science-based. Nearly all of the intriguing science fiction elements don’t get an actual explanation, some examples being the origin of the fog, how the insects in the fog kill people, where all of the scientists’ advance technology comes from, how Abi even works in practice, etc. Nearly all these elements are explained as merely existing because it is so. Humans created the technology as a weapon which somehow got out of control and destroyed the world. How do we know it has killed people and threw society into chaos and anarchy? We don’t, we’re told it did and that is that. There’s technology for altering, extracting and wiping memories, yet no explanation on how this works (I would love a nice summary of how a machine can extract memories and put it into a gemstone that someone can then hold and relive the memories imbued in it). There are weaponized flowers, the killer insects in the fog, heavy machinery for drilling and creating waves, life-creating plans, blight-causing chemicals, there’s so much random things going on. And Abi’s AI function and origin is perhaps one of the most baffling and random reveals in the book’s epilogue.
On the positive side, the murder mystery and investigation are solid. There were lots of good plot twists in the back half of the book and despite having some obvious culprit suspicions, it came together in a surprisingly solid timeline of events for the crime. The clues are good, the back-and-forth suspicion was effective, and the various dystopian elements start to form a picture. It certainly isn’t enough to redeem the first half’s explained mess, but it was the better executed element of the story vs the science fiction. I originally picked up this book as I was already interested in Turton’s earlier mystery novels, The 7 ½ Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and The Devil and the Dark Water, but I decided to try this one first since it was a recent release. From this, I got the impression that Turton is probably a far better mystery writer than a science fiction writer. The acknowledgement section appears to confirm that his works are fundamentally murder mysteries flavored with different genres for style, in this case post-apocalypse.
All in all, this was a bit of a letdown. I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a disappointment (I wasn’t invested enough to care that much), but it certainly was not an enjoyable read. The ideas and concepts were there, but the lack of explanations and details give the impression of throwing stuff at a wall to see what sticks and creates a picture. I suspect that if you like the characters or the village’s roles/day to day activities, you’ll rate this higher.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence
Minor: Xenophobia
pewterwolf's review against another edition
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
I will be honest with you. I didn’t know what I was going to get with this. I just liked the cover and the blurb on the book, but I had such a good time with this.
It’s such a strange beast. It’s sci-if post-apocalyptic novel with a murder mystery at its heart. And I devoured this! I had such a blast with this, much more than I thought I would as the last few reads have been very middle of the road for me.
Because this is a mix of genres, you do have to give a tad more leeway over some of the far-fetched moments and elements, though there were several times that I did go “that seems like a stretch”. Plus, there are so many names thrown at the reader that you need a moment to go “are you important to the story?”
But this was unputdownable with the murder and the wider issues this book tackled (AI, generics, the environment, etc) and the audiobook is narrated by Adjoa Andoh makes this feel much richer. I really liked this as it was twisty, fun, unputdownable read, but I completely understand that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea reading for a crime thriller. I must say I’m intrigued to try out this author’s previous works.
It’s such a strange beast. It’s sci-if post-apocalyptic novel with a murder mystery at its heart. And I devoured this! I had such a blast with this, much more than I thought I would as the last few reads have been very middle of the road for me.
Because this is a mix of genres, you do have to give a tad more leeway over some of the far-fetched moments and elements, though there were several times that I did go “that seems like a stretch”. Plus, there are so many names thrown at the reader that you need a moment to go “are you important to the story?”
But this was unputdownable with the murder and the wider issues this book tackled (AI, generics, the environment, etc) and the audiobook is narrated by Adjoa Andoh makes this feel much richer. I really liked this as it was twisty, fun, unputdownable read, but I completely understand that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea reading for a crime thriller. I must say I’m intrigued to try out this author’s previous works.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Gaslighting
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Kidnapping, Fire/Fire injury, and Pandemic/Epidemic
philosopher_kj's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
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
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Suicide, Violence, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Animal death, Confinement, and Xenophobia
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