You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.07 AVERAGE
4.07 AVERAGE
When the universe really does revolve around you.
Rep: gay MC, genderfluid side character, gay biracial side character, questioning asexual Chinese side character
CWs: plane crash, fire/explosions, child abuse, rape, rape drugs, parental abuse, violence, self harm, racism, paranoia, divorce, transphobia, homophobia and homophobic slurs
Rep: gay MC, genderfluid side character, gay biracial side character, questioning asexual Chinese side character
CWs: plane crash, fire/explosions, child abuse, rape, rape drugs, parental abuse, violence, self harm, racism, paranoia, divorce, transphobia, homophobia and homophobic slurs
I...I think I liked this more than We Are The Ants...damn what a great book
I liked We Are the Ants, but I absolutely loved At the Edge of the Universe. It has such a weird and unique world, in which the universe is shrinking but only Ozzie notices, with some really interesting characters. I love the representation included.
"Do we create reality by interaction and observation, or does it only appear that way because we're incapable of seeing the whole prism?"
The Universe is shrinking, and Oswald Pinkerton, better known as Ozzie, is the only person on Earth aware of this slowly impending disaster. And, honestly, right now it's the least of his problems. His boyfriend, Tommy, has suddenly vanished into thin air, and nobody even remembers him, his parents are divorcing and his stupid older brother is joining army. And to top it of (as if it's not enough already) he is paired with the silent and reclusive classmate, Calvin, for a physics project.
"I'd never been so sad to be so happy."
Shaun David Hutchinson has once again managed to create an amazing and diverse cast of well-developed characters! All of them are incredibly and painfully real. Each of them has their own flows and problems, which they mostly overcame. At the beginning of the story our main character, Ozzie, appeared to be self centered, ignorant and a bit too rude (but I still love him). He was fully engrossed in his own problems and feelings. But as the story kept going and the Universe continued to shrink, his vision kept broadening, until he was looking at the edge of the universe and was forced to realize that he "was just a boy chained in a cave, too stupid to know I'd been staring at shadows in a wall while the real world was happening behind me".
To be completely honest, the first hundred and something pages were quite hard to get through because it felt like I was reading same things over and over again. But as I proceeded forward, all this repetitions actually made perfect sense (well, at least to me), and it completely blew my mind.
The Universe is shrinking, and Oswald Pinkerton, better known as Ozzie, is the only person on Earth aware of this slowly impending disaster. And, honestly, right now it's the least of his problems. His boyfriend, Tommy, has suddenly vanished into thin air, and nobody even remembers him, his parents are divorcing and his stupid older brother is joining army. And to top it of (as if it's not enough already) he is paired with the silent and reclusive classmate, Calvin, for a physics project.
"I'd never been so sad to be so happy."
Shaun David Hutchinson has once again managed to create an amazing and diverse cast of well-developed characters! All of them are incredibly and painfully real. Each of them has their own flows and problems, which they mostly overcame. At the beginning of the story our main character, Ozzie, appeared to be self centered, ignorant and a bit too rude (but I still love him). He was fully engrossed in his own problems and feelings. But as the story kept going and the Universe continued to shrink, his vision kept broadening, until he was looking at the edge of the universe and was forced to realize that he "was just a boy chained in a cave, too stupid to know I'd been staring at shadows in a wall while the real world was happening behind me".
To be completely honest, the first hundred and something pages were quite hard to get through because it felt like I was reading same things over and over again. But as I proceeded forward, all this repetitions actually made perfect sense (well, at least to me), and it completely blew my mind.
You know that feeling when you read a book that's so great you immediately set out on a quest to find another one like it? I read We Are the Ants by the same author and I absolutely loved it; it's actually one of my super-favorites . I picked up At the Edge of the Universe hoping that it would evoke in me a similar emotion, and I wasn't wrong; it absolutely delivered! Much like its predecessor, this is very much a character driven book, with beautifully constructed relationships and great character development. The whole "universe shrinking" gimmick (I use this word with its best connotation) kept me glued to the screen of my Kindle, counting the light-years and astronomical units along with Ozzie, our protagonist. While this is YA, and it sometimes reads as YA with lots of teen angst and internal monologues, that doesn't mean it lacks substance, Quite on the contrary, Shaun David Hutchinson doesn't shy away from heavy themes. Every single character, even the supporting ones, has a down-to-earth, visceral realness about them. The things they go through are at times heart-wrenching, and often there's no magical plot device which brings them back to safety so we, the readers, can be spared the sadness of it all. This is a book that's not afraid of loss, pain and illness; it doesn't show you the world through rose-colored glasses. Definitely worth the read.
Maybe I just didn't get this, but it was an awful long story for what felt, to me, like a lackluster conclusion. There were enjoyable moments but my motivation for finishing was to see how everything would be explained and the explanation was not satisfactory for me.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.
Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.
I received a free e-ARC of this book from Simon and Schuster in exchange for participating in a study with Jellybooks.
I liked this book, but I'm not going to lie, I'm disappointed. [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] is my favorite book of 2016 and one of my favorite books of all time so it's safe to say I probably had way too high of expectations, but this book just kind of fell short for me. This book follows a boy named Ozzie who's boyfriend Tommy disappears, and he's the only one who remembers him. After Tommy disappears, the universe starts shrinking, and no one else notice except for Ozzie. I love that Shaun David Hutchinson novels always contain a sci-fi element in a contemporary novel (like the universe shrinking, or he's being abducted by aliens).
Something that slightly bothers me is that if you switch out a couple of key elements, it's basically the same book as We Are The Ants, but not as good. Henry from WATA is very similar to Ozzie, but instead of aliens abducting him, he thinks the universe is shrinking, but in both scenarios their group of friends and family thinks they are delusional, and we as readers are questioning their sanity as well. Ozzie has an older brother Warren who starts off as a douche but you eventually grow to like him just like Henry's brother Charlie in WATA. Calvin is a boy Ozzie meets in his class and they have to work together on a project and along the way they fall for each other, and Calvin is very troubled and has a dark past, just like Diego from WATA (except Calvin is a much less charming version of Diego.) And lastly, Tommy his boyfriend who disappeared just like Jessie, his boyfriend who died in WATA. You get the idea, it's basically the same book with a few tweaks.
One of the things I really love about this book is the diversity. Our main character Ozzie is obviously gay, then there's his boyfriend Tommy who is black, then there is Ozzie's best friend Lua who is gender fluid (some days a girl, some days a boy), and there's Ozzie's friend Dustin who is Asian. I appreciate that so many different minorities are represented here and I respect the author a lot for this. However, at the same time I didn't really care about that many characters. Tommy is the only character I really, really liked and he's only shown throughout flashbacks in the story. Ozzie was funny and relatable in the beginning, but he got to be kind of repetitive with his uncertainty about Calvin and his relationship drama. However, I did like that Ozzie works in a book store (coolest job ever) and his passion and love for Tommy is really inspiring, I adored the flashback chapters of them so much (they were my favorite part of the story actually). Calvin never really grew on me and I wasn't a huge fan of the way he treated Ozzie at times. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE REFERENCES TO WE ARE THE ANTS. I noticed two different things that connected these book and I fucking squealed when it happened because seriously, that's one of my favorite books and I love those characters SO MUCH. I also love that this book mentions one of my all time favorite movies: Donnie Darko. :)
"It's impossible to let go of the people we love. Pieces of them remain embedded inside of us like shrapnel. Every breath causes those fragments to burrow through our muscles, nearer our hearts. And we think the pain will kill us, but it won't. Eventually, scar tissue forms around those twisted splinters like cocoons. They remain part of us, but slowly hurt less."
Don't get me wrong, this story is very beautiful and it's beautifully-written just as you would expect from Shaun David Hutchinson. I highlighted a million quotes and I love all the discussion that takes place in this book about gender roles and gender politics and I think it's very important, I just didn't personally enjoy this story as much as I was expecting to. This book started off really strong and got weaker and weaker and then by the end I couldn't really stand any of the characters any more, and I absolutely hated the ending. I loved the ending of We Are The Ants, but the ending of this book just did not work for me. It felt like a cop out ending and I hate feeling cheated like that.
Overall, I really wanted to love this book. I wanted this to by my next obsession like We Are The Ants was, but unfortunately this book fell short of my expectations. I still liked it a lot, and I think the concept is very interesting and that it's written very beautifully, I just didn't love it the way I wanted to.
I liked this book, but I'm not going to lie, I'm disappointed. [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] is my favorite book of 2016 and one of my favorite books of all time so it's safe to say I probably had way too high of expectations, but this book just kind of fell short for me. This book follows a boy named Ozzie who's boyfriend Tommy disappears, and he's the only one who remembers him. After Tommy disappears, the universe starts shrinking, and no one else notice except for Ozzie. I love that Shaun David Hutchinson novels always contain a sci-fi element in a contemporary novel (like the universe shrinking, or he's being abducted by aliens).
Something that slightly bothers me is that if you switch out a couple of key elements, it's basically the same book as We Are The Ants, but not as good. Henry from WATA is very similar to Ozzie, but instead of aliens abducting him, he thinks the universe is shrinking, but in both scenarios their group of friends and family thinks they are delusional, and we as readers are questioning their sanity as well. Ozzie has an older brother Warren who starts off as a douche but you eventually grow to like him just like Henry's brother Charlie in WATA. Calvin is a boy Ozzie meets in his class and they have to work together on a project and along the way they fall for each other, and Calvin is very troubled and has a dark past, just like Diego from WATA (except Calvin is a much less charming version of Diego.) And lastly, Tommy his boyfriend who disappeared just like Jessie, his boyfriend who died in WATA. You get the idea, it's basically the same book with a few tweaks.
One of the things I really love about this book is the diversity. Our main character Ozzie is obviously gay, then there's his boyfriend Tommy who is black, then there is Ozzie's best friend Lua who is gender fluid (some days a girl, some days a boy), and there's Ozzie's friend Dustin who is Asian. I appreciate that so many different minorities are represented here and I respect the author a lot for this. However, at the same time I didn't really care about that many characters. Tommy is the only character I really, really liked and he's only shown throughout flashbacks in the story. Ozzie was funny and relatable in the beginning, but he got to be kind of repetitive with his uncertainty about Calvin and his relationship drama. However, I did like that Ozzie works in a book store (coolest job ever) and his passion and love for Tommy is really inspiring, I adored the flashback chapters of them so much (they were my favorite part of the story actually). Calvin never really grew on me and I wasn't a huge fan of the way he treated Ozzie at times. I ABSOLUTELY LOVED THE REFERENCES TO WE ARE THE ANTS. I noticed two different things that connected these book and I fucking squealed when it happened because seriously, that's one of my favorite books and I love those characters SO MUCH. I also love that this book mentions one of my all time favorite movies: Donnie Darko. :)
"It's impossible to let go of the people we love. Pieces of them remain embedded inside of us like shrapnel. Every breath causes those fragments to burrow through our muscles, nearer our hearts. And we think the pain will kill us, but it won't. Eventually, scar tissue forms around those twisted splinters like cocoons. They remain part of us, but slowly hurt less."
Don't get me wrong, this story is very beautiful and it's beautifully-written just as you would expect from Shaun David Hutchinson. I highlighted a million quotes and I love all the discussion that takes place in this book about gender roles and gender politics and I think it's very important, I just didn't personally enjoy this story as much as I was expecting to. This book started off really strong and got weaker and weaker and then by the end I couldn't really stand any of the characters any more, and I absolutely hated the ending. I loved the ending of We Are The Ants, but the ending of this book just did not work for me. It felt like a cop out ending and I hate feeling cheated like that.
Overall, I really wanted to love this book. I wanted this to by my next obsession like We Are The Ants was, but unfortunately this book fell short of my expectations. I still liked it a lot, and I think the concept is very interesting and that it's written very beautifully, I just didn't love it the way I wanted to.
I can't wait to read more of Shaun David Hutchinson's writing because I really liked this book! I thought the concept was neat and I thought that it handled harder topics like self harm and sexual abuse quite well. I think I liked Calvin's character more than Ozzie, but I didn't mind Ozzie's narration. I also enjoyed the representation this book offers in the form of Lua, a genderfluid character who uses both he and she pronouns. Also, even though the term asexual isn't used, I was still about it when Dustin said that he wasn't interested in sex. Overall, I think the story was executed very well, and the character development was pretty quality.
So grateful to this book, which busted me out of a reading rut. I liked the way this was fairly realistic fiction that played out within a framework of magical realism. I also admired the frank addressing of adolescent sexuality and sexual diversity. Good writing, great story.
Hm, so I read this because I /loved/ We Are the Ants, but in reading this, I realized I actually remember shockingly little of We Are the Ants, which I kind of already knew, and is why I dinged my rating down to a 4.5 rather than a 5 a few months ago.
But anyway, as I read this, I kept being reminded of other books, which was the opposite of the way I felt about We Are the Ants. For one, I kept being reminded of We Are the Ants, because it's bizarrely similar, and not just because it takes place in the same universe, but I also kept thinking of All the Bright Places, More Happy than Not, and History is All You Left Me. Which was... sort of frustrating because I kept mixing them up, but whatever.
Let's start with the good:
First off, I liked the message of the book (i.e. - learning to let go), and I loved the representation. It all felt so natural and real, like it was diverse in a real, wonderful way. God, nothing makes a book vibrant like excellent rep and this one nailed it.
Calvin and Ozzie were a really interesting couple to read about. I enjoyed it in a way I don't usually. I wasn't hyper-invested, and therefore note devastated when they just, like, never happened, but it was a fresh take on relationships in contemporary novels and I appreciated it. I especially liked the line Ozzie relays from Tommy about falling in love with the idea of someone before falling in love with them. That rang super true for me. A lot of the commentary on human nature did.
Ozzie was hilarious. He didn't strike me as Different as Henry from SDH's first novel, but he was more sympathetic. A lot of times, in books, authors try really hard to make their protagonists flawed, or they end up exceptionally stupid or obstinate for plot reasons, but Ozzie's choices were all very sympathetic. Things went wrong on their own, sometimes because of Ozzie, but only because he reacting like a normal human being. I really liked him.
The rest of the characters were good. SDH is still really good at giving each individual character purpose, even though I think he did a little better in We Are the Ants. But I adored Lua, and Calvin, and Renny (oh my god, his and Ozzie's relationship killed me), and jesus, and Mrs. Ross. They all felt alive, and even when some of the more minor characters didn't feel as necessary, I really enjoyed them and how they affected Ozzie.
And then there's SDH's writing style, which is pretty good. Nothing incredibly standout, but it's snappy and it never feels like it's dragging you down too much. There were a couple paragraphs I slogged through, and some repetition in the prose I could've done without, but overall, I really enjoyed it.
So the less good stuff:
This may be a personal thing, but holy shit, the sci-fi/contemporary element did not work for me here. I loved it in WatA. The sci-fi in that one was so intricately woven in without detracting, but this... no. It totally distracted me in the later parts of the book. I know I wasn't supposed to understand most of it, and maybe there was symbolism there that I missed, but I didn't get it. And as the story progressed, my suspension of disbelief started to come undone. Even if I'm over-focusing on it, the fact that it pulled me out of Ozzie's journey and the message isn't something I can ignore. The sci-fi might not have been supposed to make sense, but at times, SDH tried to explain it, only to give up and then stop bothering all together later, and I could maybe have forgiven it if not for the ending.
Then some of the plot lines just... got to be too much. I felt like there were a thousand things going on, and they didn't come back together and felt a little sloppy in areas. That might have been because I was too focused on the weird sci-fi elements, but some stuff didn't really work for me. I think SDH just took on a little too much with the subplots, and this cast felt a lot bigger and harder to manage than his last one.
Overall:
I enjoyed this book, but I'm rounding down to a 3-star rating because the sci-fi parts of it really freaking bugged, yall. Really bugged.
But anyway, as I read this, I kept being reminded of other books, which was the opposite of the way I felt about We Are the Ants. For one, I kept being reminded of We Are the Ants, because it's bizarrely similar, and not just because it takes place in the same universe, but I also kept thinking of All the Bright Places, More Happy than Not, and History is All You Left Me. Which was... sort of frustrating because I kept mixing them up, but whatever.
Let's start with the good:
First off, I liked the message of the book (i.e. - learning to let go), and I loved the representation. It all felt so natural and real, like it was diverse in a real, wonderful way. God, nothing makes a book vibrant like excellent rep and this one nailed it.
Calvin and Ozzie were a really interesting couple to read about. I enjoyed it in a way I don't usually. I wasn't hyper-invested,
Ozzie was hilarious. He didn't strike me as Different as Henry from SDH's first novel, but he was more sympathetic. A lot of times, in books, authors try really hard to make their protagonists flawed, or they end up exceptionally stupid or obstinate for plot reasons, but Ozzie's choices were all very sympathetic. Things went wrong on their own, sometimes because of Ozzie, but only because he reacting like a normal human being. I really liked him.
The rest of the characters were good. SDH is still really good at giving each individual character purpose, even though I think he did a little better in We Are the Ants. But I adored Lua, and Calvin, and Renny (oh my god, his and Ozzie's relationship killed me), and jesus, and Mrs. Ross. They all felt alive, and even when some of the more minor characters didn't feel as necessary, I really enjoyed them and how they affected Ozzie.
And then there's SDH's writing style, which is pretty good. Nothing incredibly standout, but it's snappy and it never feels like it's dragging you down too much. There were a couple paragraphs I slogged through, and some repetition in the prose I could've done without, but overall, I really enjoyed it.
So the less good stuff:
This may be a personal thing, but holy shit, the sci-fi/contemporary element did not work for me here. I loved it in WatA. The sci-fi in that one was so intricately woven in without detracting, but this... no. It totally distracted me in the later parts of the book. I know I wasn't supposed to understand most of it, and maybe there was symbolism there that I missed, but I didn't get it. And as the story progressed, my suspension of disbelief started to come undone. Even if I'm over-focusing on it, the fact that it pulled me out of Ozzie's journey and the message isn't something I can ignore. The sci-fi might not have been supposed to make sense, but at times, SDH tried to explain it, only to give up and then stop bothering all together later, and I could maybe have forgiven it if not for the ending.
Then some of the plot lines just... got to be too much. I felt like there were a thousand things going on, and they didn't come back together and felt a little sloppy in areas. That might have been because I was too focused on the weird sci-fi elements, but some stuff didn't really work for me. I think SDH just took on a little too much with the subplots, and this cast felt a lot bigger and harder to manage than his last one.
Overall:
I enjoyed this book, but I'm rounding down to a 3-star rating because the sci-fi parts of it really freaking bugged, yall. Really bugged.