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A review by giulay
The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
2.0
"We do the best we can with the knowledge we’re given and hope we don’t fuck it all up too badly."
TW: suicide, depression, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, bullying.
Unpopular Opinion Time 🐸☕️
Actual rating: 2.5 ⭐️
I am torn.
1. This book was both underwhelming and overwhelming.
2. It was both unique and repetitive
3. It was both predictable and unpredictable
4. It was both over the top and realistic
Basically, I don’t know how to rate this book. (of course you see the rating so, in the end I did know how to rate this damn book but follow my stream of consciousness, okay?)
This book was so clearly [a:Shaun David Hutchinson|3130410|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387295428p2/3130410.jpg] it wasn’t even funny.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean that, if you’ve read [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] or [b:At the Edge of the Universe|28763240|At the Edge of the Universe|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463790854s/28763240.jpg|48954372], you know that he has a very specific, very unique voice.
You know that he mixes up science and literature in a way that nobody else does - and nobody else is able to do; he’s the Master™️ in that department and he’d better fucking know it.
And yet, this book was so much his style it felt like a carbon copy of his previous works.
I know, it’s paradoxical, right? I love his writing style, the way he tells the story, how he beautifully mixes science, humanity and space. And yet, I’m dragging this book specifically because it was too much his writing style, because it was too much his way of story-telling; I’m dragging it because it was too much centered around his typical topics.
Now, do you understand why I’m torn?
I loved this book but I was also underwhelmed by it.
It was something spectacularly new but it was also something that I’ve already read.
It felt too similar to his other works while being a complete unique and never-told-before story.
More specifically, I think the main problem - if we can call it that - is that the plot is kinda always the same throughout his works. It’s his comfort zone and it’s the zone in which he thrives and blossoms but, after a while (i.e. three books), this zone is just too well-known.
In fact, Elena Mendoza, too, has make a choice wether or not to save the world; she too has to decide if the world is worth saving, if humanity is worth saving. Sounds familiar? Well, yes: it’s the same premise of [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] 😅
I don’t mean that I didn’t like the plot (I seriously enjoyed it since…you know…I enjoyed We are the Ants) or that I don’t think that wondering about humanity and what is worth living (or dying) for are not thought-provoking problems but I just thought it was a copy-paste of that book and everything’s starting to become repetitive.
This book is splendid in its own ways but it was also painfully similar to his other novels :/
To be more precise, I thought that the characters and the representation in this book were incredible. Different religious beliefs, sexualities, races, mental illnesses were smoothly depicted, introduced and addressed in this book and I liked it 👌🏻
The characters and their dynamics were messy and human and REAL.
I adored how important family was to Elena. And I also particularly appreciated the fact that the family was a relevant topic in the book. So many YA have non-existent, invisible families so to give all the attention to the main character’s actions… Well, this book did not inscribe itself in that trope and I really liked that.
Another thing I utterly loved was the magnificent friendship between Elena and Fadil. Theirs was a pure and strong friendship: they fought, they argued, they trusted each other and communicated. Theirs was a strong and real depiction of friendships. It was glorious.
On the other hand, though, I hated the love interest.
To me she sounded very much like a manic pixie dream (or should I say nightmare) girl. I understood her struggles and her doubts but that didn’t excused her shitty behaviour towards Elena. She was mean and sometimes I felt she acted like a bully and…I was not a fan of it. She was over the top and kind of a bitch, honestly.
So I was not really rooting for them to end up together and I personally think this book would have been just as strong without the romance.
So, to conclude.
Do I love Shaun David Hutchinson and his writing style with every fiber of my being and will I read each and every single one of his future works? Hell to the yes.
Am I slightly disappointed in this book and am I hoping that he’s gonna change things up a bit in his next novel? Also yes. Because I really wanna see what else he’s able to write apart from “re-tellings” of [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034]. Gimme something new, dude. There’s a fat chance I’ll love it.
"The moment we forget that even the evil among us are still human is the moment we forget that even the most human among us are capable of evil."
TW: suicide, depression, alcohol abuse, physical abuse, bullying.
Unpopular Opinion Time 🐸☕️
Actual rating: 2.5 ⭐️
I am torn.
1. This book was both underwhelming and overwhelming.
2. It was both unique and repetitive
3. It was both predictable and unpredictable
4. It was both over the top and realistic
Basically, I don’t know how to rate this book. (
This book was so clearly [a:Shaun David Hutchinson|3130410|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1387295428p2/3130410.jpg] it wasn’t even funny.
And what do I mean by that?
I mean that, if you’ve read [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] or [b:At the Edge of the Universe|28763240|At the Edge of the Universe|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1463790854s/28763240.jpg|48954372], you know that he has a very specific, very unique voice.
You know that he mixes up science and literature in a way that nobody else does - and nobody else is able to do; he’s the Master™️ in that department and he’d better fucking know it.
And yet, this book was so much his style it felt like a carbon copy of his previous works.
I know, it’s paradoxical, right? I love his writing style, the way he tells the story, how he beautifully mixes science, humanity and space. And yet, I’m dragging this book specifically because it was too much his writing style, because it was too much his way of story-telling; I’m dragging it because it was too much centered around his typical topics.
Now, do you understand why I’m torn?
I loved this book but I was also underwhelmed by it.
It was something spectacularly new but it was also something that I’ve already read.
It felt too similar to his other works while being a complete unique and never-told-before story.
More specifically, I think the main problem - if we can call it that - is that the plot is kinda always the same throughout his works. It’s his comfort zone and it’s the zone in which he thrives and blossoms but, after a while (i.e. three books), this zone is just too well-known.
In fact, Elena Mendoza, too, has make a choice wether or not to save the world; she too has to decide if the world is worth saving, if humanity is worth saving. Sounds familiar? Well, yes: it’s the same premise of [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034] 😅
I don’t mean that I didn’t like the plot (I seriously enjoyed it since…you know…I enjoyed We are the Ants) or that I don’t think that wondering about humanity and what is worth living (or dying) for are not thought-provoking problems but I just thought it was a copy-paste of that book and everything’s starting to become repetitive.
This book is splendid in its own ways but it was also painfully similar to his other novels :/
To be more precise, I thought that the characters and the representation in this book were incredible. Different religious beliefs, sexualities, races, mental illnesses were smoothly depicted, introduced and addressed in this book and I liked it 👌🏻
The characters and their dynamics were messy and human and REAL.
I adored how important family was to Elena. And I also particularly appreciated the fact that the family was a relevant topic in the book. So many YA have non-existent, invisible families so to give all the attention to the main character’s actions… Well, this book did not inscribe itself in that trope and I really liked that.
Another thing I utterly loved was the magnificent friendship between Elena and Fadil. Theirs was a pure and strong friendship: they fought, they argued, they trusted each other and communicated. Theirs was a strong and real depiction of friendships. It was glorious.
On the other hand, though, I hated the love interest.
To me she sounded very much like a manic pixie dream (or should I say nightmare) girl. I understood her struggles and her doubts but that didn’t excused her shitty behaviour towards Elena. She was mean and sometimes I felt she acted like a bully and…I was not a fan of it. She was over the top and kind of a bitch, honestly.
So I was not really rooting for them to end up together and I personally think this book would have been just as strong without the romance.
So, to conclude.
Do I love Shaun David Hutchinson and his writing style with every fiber of my being and will I read each and every single one of his future works? Hell to the yes.
Am I slightly disappointed in this book and am I hoping that he’s gonna change things up a bit in his next novel? Also yes. Because I really wanna see what else he’s able to write apart from “re-tellings” of [b:We Are the Ants|23677341|We Are the Ants|Shaun David Hutchinson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1425574151s/23677341.jpg|43285034]. Gimme something new, dude. There’s a fat chance I’ll love it.
"The moment we forget that even the evil among us are still human is the moment we forget that even the most human among us are capable of evil."