A review by womanwill
This Is the Way the World Ends by Jen Wilde

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75

Wow, this book was a ride! I didn't realize it was a thriller/science fiction-y until I started reading it. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the free e-ARC.

Set mostly at an elite private school's fundraiser and private gala, Waverly and her friends stumble upon murder and a high-level power scheme after a dystopian event. 

In this short and fast-paced novel, you'll find an amazing cast of characters and tropes:
 - Waverly- our MC - a lesbian scholarship student with Autism
- MS & chronic pain rep in Waverly's mom & how disability impacts their family and income earning abilities 
- Pari- Waverly's bad ass mized South Asian best friend who is bisexual and has EDS & chronic; she also often uses a cane & has quite the collection
- sapphic longing
- dark academia meets tech dystopian science fiction
- found family 
- lots of death and murder 
- mannequins
- a horror maze

My favorite thing about this book was the disability and queer rep. At its core is a queer and disabled centric core friend group/found family & love for blood family. Though the characters did face some discrimination and comments from the able bodied and minded and cisheternormative side characters. So CW for that. 

I found the story to be a bit unbelievable at times and a bit uneven in plotting. But I think it's aimed for a relatively young YA age, and overall, I thought some of the twists on dark academia were quite fun.
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