Reviews tagging 'Death'

At The End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp

11 reviews

muckl3t83's review against another edition

dark sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This book is pretty boring. Not much happens. The plague is basically a worse form of covid and most of the book takes place in the same location with the same characters sitting around doing nothing except getting sick and slowly running out of food. There’s no good reason given why a bunch of kids were abandoned when there is still a working government, internet, electricity, & phones. 

The characters were ok. I didn’t hate them. I liked the chapters that followed the non-verbal character the most. That was an actually interesting angle and I would have preferred the whole book to focus more on that character and her challenges. 

---

Content Warnings

Minor: Ableism, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Murder, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

rxanne5's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

3.0

Many people love this book, however, as much as I hate to say it, I didnt enjoy it so much.

It is very beautifully written and I do believe it's likeable. It was just a bit too 'less' for me. A lot happened in one location and that is something just not for me. 

I did shed some tears at the end. This book also put me in a slump. But, I did finish it, and I do love other books by this author. 

This was simply not for me, but I see many people connecting with it after lockdown. 

There's a diverse cast (as I can recall, it has been quite a few months). I did like the characters way of thinking and it kept me curious how the book would continue. I think what makes people connect with this book is how there's this kind of lock down, and how these teenagers go about it in a beautiful way, and people connect with that. The characters try to survive. But I think for me, that is what threw me off, because I hate feeling like that. Still a solid three stars. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Homophobia, Mental illness, Transphobia, and Murder

Moderate: Animal death, Cursing, Blood, Police brutality, Gaslighting, and Abandonment

amesnotamy's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Pandemic/Epidemic

dreamingofreadingx's review against another edition

dark emotional

• Strong character development? Yes

4.0

I actually really enjoyed this book! At the End of Everything is about teenagers who are abandoned at Hope Juvenile Treatment Center. After a deadly plague takes over the world. Our group of teens has to figure out how to survive as food and supplies slowly dwindle and they realize no one is coming to help.

I was a bit worried that reading about a deadly disease would hit a little too close to home right now. But honestly it just felt relatable. Also this plague and their situation was just so much worse, that I felt a bit grateful. (Which I know sounds ridiculous to say). 
I loved the representation in this book. We got to read from the POV of a non-binary character. Which I’m sad to say, I’ve never seen in any of the books I’ve ever read.
My favorite part about this book was watching all our characters grow so much. We got to see all our characters learning to work together and trust one another. Which is hard for a lot of them to do. 

Overall, I would really recommend this book. Just please check trigger warnings first. At the End of Everything deals with a lot of dark themes. 

Thank you so much Source Books Fire for the ARC! 
*All opinions in this review are my own*

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Racism, Sexual assault, Transphobia, and Blood

b3ck's review against another edition

challenging emotional sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Transphobia, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Vomit, Medical content, and Outing

Minor: Sexual assault and Suicidal thoughts

laurennnn1066's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Deadnaming, Death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, and Abandonment

lokenstein's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This was an amazing book. I picked it up because I heard there were quite a few queer characters in it, including a non binary main character, and indeed there were. But I wasn’t expecting the story to be so much about found families, about everything that is wrong in the prison system – or even in the punishment ideology, especially for young people, and especially in America. Of course this was written (and read) during the covid pandemic, and there are some obvious similarities, although this is still a work of fiction and not really talking about covid (for instance, the plague here has a near 100% death rate). This book broke my heart, but also healed it, and I cannot recommend it enough! 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child abuse, Child death, Death, and Terminal illness

Minor: Racism, Sexual assault, and Transphobia

betweentheshelves's review

dark emotional tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

If you're trying to stay away from anything that feels like the COVID pandemic, I'd recommend probably not picking this one up. While this is about a plague rather than a pandemic, a lot of the events feel very similar to what happened at the beginning of COVID. Things escalated much more quickly, too.

Anyway! I was expecting a more tense thriller kind of story with this one, and while those elements are there, it's more of a character driven story, focused on the teens in this detention center. Besides the plague and trying to survive, there's not much a plot driving the story. It's definitely the relationships and what transpires between this particular group of teens.

There's good representation here, with a variety of identities represented throughout the story. For the most part, I didn't necessarily feel emotionally invested in their story, but maybe that's because it felt too real? I can't quite put my finger on it. The descriptions of all of the measures they were taking against the plague, though, did feel very real. I did appreciate the world building and the extra pieces of news and information between the chapters. It helped build the intensity overall.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Medical content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, and Death

Minor: Deadnaming, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Also realistic descriptions of a pandemic

anniereads221's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book now holds a special place in my heart

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Confinement, Deadnaming, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Sexual violence, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, Abandonment, and Injury/Injury detail

Eugenics Imprisonment

brandilovesbooks's review

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Fantastic audiobook.  Different narrators read for the different POVs.  So much to think about.  Seems so real, so possible, with the recent Covid outbreak.  The development of the characters was fantastic.  I appreciated the choices they were forced to make and the growth as they were made.

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Suicidal thoughts, and Medical trauma

Reading about teens left to fend for themselves during a pandemic may be triggering to some with traumatic experiences from Covid.