Reviews with content warning for Suicide - Niebieska Księga z Nebo

**Thank you to Net Galley for a copy of this book in return for an honest review**

Dylan, him mum, and baby sister Mona might be the last people in the world after The End. Several years ago, bombs dropped around the world, the power went away, and then came The Cloud. In a beautiful remote area of North Wales, Dylan and his family have survived it all, and now he and his mum are sharing their story.

The Blue Book of Nebo is eerily believable, and Manon Steffan Ros masterfully captures a sense of fear and hope through the eyes of her characters. I found Dylan’s chapters particularly moving – his journey from innocent child to the steady, mature presence of a young person with so much responsibility, really hit me. Despite its short length, there is a real reflective spirit to the book, helped by the use of Rowena, whose narrative gives us a perspective that has lived most of their life in the world before The End and had to adjust their entire world view.

The ending left me dying to know what is next for this family. This book is a brilliantly moving and thoughtful study of growth, grief, and connections – both to people and the world we exist in.

Content Warnings

booksjessreads's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark hopeful mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I read this for the Carnegie Shortlist and felt this was a really good YA read. I really enjoyed Dylan's character and how his innocence of childhood is really played throughout his early chapters in the book. I also got a sense of Dylan growing up throughout his chapters, and how it gradually got more mature as he aged. I also felt Rowenna's chapters were cleverly done, because in the beginning, you deeply felt her dislike of writing and self-confessing to the Blue Book of Nebo, but you sensed how she became more comfortable in writing throughout the book. These were really clever techniques. However, the downside for me, was that at times, it felt like you were reading an adult and a child's book at points, rather than being YA. I felt it was quite disconcerting to flit between them at times, but generally I appreciated the way this story was told.

I also found the subject matter and the story itself to be really interesting, but also really bleak. This is undoubtedly quite a sad and dark book and it was really heavy at times. I think this definitely needs a more mature reader to handle the emotional energy required to get through certain parts, especially towards the end. Generally, I also thought the dystopia to be fairly believable and thought the natural story progression wasn't forced. I also enjoyed the themes of trying to survive the end of the world really interesting, especially things relating to gardening. Furthermore, I enjoyed the setting of the book, being set in a small Welsh village was such a different setting to me, and I also enjoyed how there was Welsh throughout the book. I personally have never read anything from this country and it offered such a fresh perspective. This was also translated by the author from Welsh to English, which made the translation seem really smooth.

Content Warnings