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A review by ellieanor
Where the World Ends by Geraldine McCaughrean
3.0
2018 CARNEGIE LONGLIST BOOK 13/20
Geraldine McCaughrean has always been a hit and miss author for me. I adored her A Little Lower Than The Angels, and I liked Peter Pan in Scarlet, but I couldn't finish The Middle of Nowhere. This one kind of fell more into the later category, unfortunately, though I was able to finish this. And it did get better as it went on. It just felt a bit dry .
I didn't dislike the writing style. It does have a nice style to it, and I think it can work, but here it kind of made the first half of the story very boring. It meandered down places and took too long over things and I napped. It was the kind of writing that looks nice and sounds nice on the surface but doesn't really do anything to draw you into the story. I liked it. I did. But it didn't do anything for me. And the pacing was really off. The beginning introduces this mystery that I was desperate to know the awswer to - why the boys were left on the island - but then I don't think that there was really enough going on in the rest of the book to interest me, and this just frustrated me. (I spoiled myself okay? It annoyed me that much.) And the story does pick up, but not until like 2/3 of the way through the book, which is a bit too late. The rest of it is just what is going on on this sea stac and quite frankly it was boring. Though I will say I think that the author did an amazing job creating that chilling sense of isolation. It is something that I find very haunting and scary, and the book had a very haunting atmosphere. That was definitely my favourite thing about this book. It was the main thing that stayed with me. And this book was a lot moer adult than I was expecting it to be - not that I disliked that. It just looks like a children's book, and it is DEFINITELY not. Please expect that before going into it.
So yeah, I did like this, but I was a little bored. I think the idea and the fact that it is based on truth is really interesting. The story itself is definitely very different from anything that I have read before. Geraldine McCaughrean's books do tend to be very original. I think that for the atmosphere alone that this book created it, I would put it on the shortlist. But I think the slow moving plot and the frustration about learning the truth is just not for me, due to the fact that I am very impatient. But if you like slower books that haunt you, you will definitely enjoy this.
Geraldine McCaughrean has always been a hit and miss author for me. I adored her A Little Lower Than The Angels, and I liked Peter Pan in Scarlet, but I couldn't finish The Middle of Nowhere. This one kind of fell more into the later category, unfortunately, though I was able to finish this. And it did get better as it went on. It just felt a bit dry .
I didn't dislike the writing style. It does have a nice style to it, and I think it can work, but here it kind of made the first half of the story very boring. It meandered down places and took too long over things and I napped. It was the kind of writing that looks nice and sounds nice on the surface but doesn't really do anything to draw you into the story. I liked it. I did. But it didn't do anything for me. And the pacing was really off. The beginning introduces this mystery that I was desperate to know the awswer to - why the boys were left on the island - but then I don't think that there was really enough going on in the rest of the book to interest me, and this just frustrated me. (I spoiled myself okay? It annoyed me that much.) And the story does pick up, but not until like 2/3 of the way through the book, which is a bit too late. The rest of it is just what is going on on this sea stac and quite frankly it was boring. Though I will say I think that the author did an amazing job creating that chilling sense of isolation. It is something that I find very haunting and scary, and the book had a very haunting atmosphere. That was definitely my favourite thing about this book. It was the main thing that stayed with me. And this book was a lot moer adult than I was expecting it to be - not that I disliked that. It just looks like a children's book, and it is DEFINITELY not. Please expect that before going into it.
So yeah, I did like this, but I was a little bored. I think the idea and the fact that it is based on truth is really interesting. The story itself is definitely very different from anything that I have read before. Geraldine McCaughrean's books do tend to be very original. I think that for the atmosphere alone that this book created it, I would put it on the shortlist. But I think the slow moving plot and the frustration about learning the truth is just not for me, due to the fact that I am very impatient. But if you like slower books that haunt you, you will definitely enjoy this.