A review by siena_j_p
The Never-Ending End of the World by Ann Christy

adventurous mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

This is such a clever premise for a book. It’s entirely different from any dystopian/apocalypse story I’ve ever seen, and it manages to be surprisingly horrifying in a way that lets it compete with any zombie apocalypse. That being said, the execution was a bit odd. There wasn’t as much tension as it felt like the story warranted? The stakes were clearly high, and a fascinating sort of political intrigue gets laid out across the book, but the actual tension was missing for me for a lot of the book. In the scenes where it worked, it really worked, but so many crucial moments got told in the form of a diary entry that a lot of the tension and drama got lost. Also, the story spanned a really long time. Which is fine because it gave it a very unique structure and, I think, allowed a story of parenthood and what we owe the world to be told that would be really challenging to tell if it didn’t span a lifetime. Unfortunately, it also meant that a lot of relationships sort of got pushed to the side because they got told, not shown. For instance, it felt like Coco and Jorge’s relationship just sort of got thrown in as an aside by Coco, but never really played out. And none of the side characters were really distinct in any way or given any page time. So this was a perfectly decent book with a really cool premise, but I think the structure needed to be tightened up a little.