A review by readsforlove
Izzy at the End of the World by K.A. Reynolds

5.0

I'm so pumped to talk about this book! Izzy at the End of the World has my whole heart. Our heroes are two lil’ neurodivergent, anxiety ridden, disabled middle schoolers doing their best to survive the apocalypse. They go on to brave the horrors of the alien goop monsters invading earth to find their families and save the world. 

Talk about an empowering story. Seeing these kids in the full light of their disabilities and neurodivergencies and still rising to fight and facing their fears made me tear up multiple times. All the supernatural elements were so fun, too, and emotionally impactful. 

Also, as an ace reader, I was soooo relieved when the main character spelled out the fact that she was getting a crush on the boy she's traveling with. I was able to just shrug off the allo-typical expectation that they were probably going to be romantically involved and see that yes, they were, and they were freaking cute. It’s always confusing to me when I think characters are friends and then they kiss at the end because “clearly” their feelings were “deeper” *cue all the cringey faces* So knowing that the author was planning this to be a romantic relationship in nature allowed me to prepare for it, instead of expecting them to be friends and then hit with a surprise kiss at the end. I do realize that’s a personal thing, but it was kind of startling to realize how relieved I felt when the nature of her feelings were spelled out for me. Just another reason to love this book!

Go read it and be empowered.