Reviews with content warning for Murder - The Last Murder at the End of the World

Appreciated the air of this book and the many mysteries and twists to be found throughout (which I thought were rather artfully executed all in all). I will admit that the narrative took a little while to truly grip me, and the ending with the overall solution to the village's problem seemed a bit abrupt, but it was still an interesting story about what kinds of morals people would develop after an apocalyptic situation (ie seeing the worst of what humanity could potentially offer) and what it even means to be human in the first place (can you truly be a human if you were only made to serve a purpose and nothing else?). I'm now looking forward to potentially reading more books by this author.

Content Warnings

yvo_about_books's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

4.5

Finished reading: July 20th 2024

“The secrets on this island have teeth, and they don't like being dragged into the light.”

It kind of has become a tradition to buddy read Stuart Turton's books with Nicki, so of course we ended up doing the same with his newest title The Last Murder At The End Of The World. One of the things I love about his writing is just how completely different and unique each of his books is, and you never know what genre or story you are going to get. It's true that I don't exactly read a lot of dystopian stories, but I'm game for just about anything as long as Stuart Turton writes it. And I have to say that it turned out to be yet another very successful buddy read! The Last Murder At The End Of The World uses a multiple POV structure and there are a LOT of different characters to keep apart. A list of names is provided in the beginning, which definitely helped... But it still slowed down the pace a little in the beginning, especially since most are not the easiest names to remember. The dystopian world itself is intriguing, and I loved how you only slowly started to learn more about what was REALLY going on. This isn't just a murder mystery or a race against the clock, as it also shows you both sides of humanity and gives you plenty of puzzles to tackle along the way. The story started out slower than expected and this is not my favorite Stuart Turton, but especially the second half was brilliant. It was fun going back and forth with Nicki talking about and processing yet another shocking reveal... And of course there was also the obligatory baking involved. I'm keeping this review short as it's hard to properly talk about the plot without spoiling certain things... The Last Murder At The End Of The World is one of those books where it's best to go in blind. I can say that I never did guess the full truth about it all though! It's without doubt a very satisfying read, and I will already be looking forward to his next book (supposedly a more contemporary thriller; can't wait!).

Content Warnings

aseel_reads's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.75

this was super easy to read and i was hooked very quickly from the start. i pretty much had no real thoughts as to who could be the killer, we weren't given enough information to try and solve it ourselves. it was pretty obvious who it wasn't but the reason relatively well-developed and logical.

Content Warnings

jstilts's review

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective relaxing 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? Yes

5.0

Hugely compelling page-turner!

A murder mystery set in a small near-utopian agraian village of less than 200 people plus three scientists and an AI that speaks in their minds - the last remnants of our society.

Everyone's memory of the night of an unprecedented murder has been wiped, and the murder is causing the deadly fog to roll in - unless the murder is solved in a few short days the AI won't be able to put the barriers back up to save the island.

Luckily, one of the villagers has never found their place in their rural life due to an uncontrollable urge to ask awkward questions, and she will do anything to save her family and village - making her the perfect detective in a world that has always spurned her skills.

It's a brilliant setting for an enthralling book that keeps up the pace, but still has time to build characters with depth and feeling, places you can picture in your mind and a society worth saving - everything a reader needs to make them desperate to keep turning pages to see if this beautiful world and it's people will survive.

Honestly, despite some of the hardships and controls and secrets that keep this island from being a full Eden of leisure, it's a place I'd love to be. I'd happily read prequels of this book where nothing happens but experiencing their lives!

Touching, mysterious, packed with twists and exciting revelations, heartfelt relationships (and a few egoists) - and a whodunnit to boot complete with map! - I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time. Highly recommend!

One thing of note - as the AI can read everyone's thoughts, the book is basically narrated by the AI. That may sound a little kooky, but the book flows perfectly normally, it's just that occasionally the book refers to itself and talks directly to the reader - an endearing and perfectly charming touch!

Content Warnings

mmccombs's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

4.0

This was such an ambitious novel… maybe too ambitious! It was like the tv series Severance meets a whodunnit meets sci fi dystopia, and if that sounds like a lot of different things at once it’s because it was. In many ways I think this ambitiousness was incredibly engaging, it read very confidently so I was hooked from the start. There are so many moving pieces so I raced through it in order to put them all together. Emory was a fun character to follow, curious and empathetic and kind of a pain in the ass to everyone around her.
On the other hand, there were SO many moving pieces. Like too many. Also, the whole premise being an omnipresent entity asking some random person to solve a crime was kind of funny, so there were a few plot holes that came out of the concept just kind of being ridiculous. I personally did not enjoy the ending, the solve of the whodunnit was kind of disappointing and it felt like all of the air was let out of the book once we got the reveal.
On the whole though, this was so fun to read and I had a great time the whole way through. Kind of silly, kind of a lot, but very unique and bold and captivating nonetheless!

Content Warnings

beepbeep101's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.25

Content Warnings

lahars_little_library's review

Go to review page

slow-paced

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

2.0

The concept was great but I found this book to be exceptionally hard to follow. The point of view kept changing without prompting so I often had to reread paragraphs to understand who was present and was speaking. The AI (Abi) narrated some but not all of the book with limited distinction between when she (it) was speaking. She would come out of nowhere and just insert into the scene interrupting the flow. The mystery itself was well formed and had many red herrings and jumbled clues with high stakes. I just wish I enjoyed reading it more.

Content Warnings

victoriastarkid's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

Overall an interesting read. Sometimes there feels like too much going on that doesn’t necessarily all tie together at the end, but the story was really interesting. The characters weren’t super lovable, but the villain was really well written. Not as good as The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle in my opinion, but still a good read.

Content Warnings

More...