A review by in_love_with_bookish
Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams

medium-paced

2.0


I really don’t know how to begin this review. It's weird that I have a lot to say about a book that didn’t have much to offer.

The premise was good, intriguing, and original yet the execution was boring and killed whatever potential Agnes at the End of the World had. The comparisons to Wilder Girls and The Handmaid's Tale will definitely raise expectations but to be honest, this book in my opinion doesn’t fit that at all. The characters go through a lot within this book and yet they still feel flat and underdeveloped.

Also, I don’t know how you take two intriguing and fascinating elements like cults and survival in a post-apocalyptic world and you end up with an anticlimactic, underwhelming, and boring story.

The story revolves around Agnes, a girl taking care of her family, living in peace in her quiet home of Red Creek, far from the outside world with all its danger and wrongness.

What Agnes doesn’t know is that she’s trapped in a cult and has been controlled since forever by a madman who believes himself a prophet. As things get more dangerous for her inside, Agnes starts to think of going outside.

Meeting Danny, an outsider will make it even more obvious for her that she’s been living a lie. But Agnes will soon trade one danger with another in a world dying of a viral pandemic.

The problem with this book is that it took a direction that sucked all of the intrigue and tension from the story and the plot was left dry and pointless at times. I was drawn in at first but slowly lost interest in everything that was happening.

The stakes didn’t feel high enough, the tension wasn’t there at all and the characters felt like complete strangers to me even though they were easy to read like an open book. Honestly, I think this book tried to do a lot of things at the same time but couldn’t find the balance to do it smoothly.

I still enjoyed the dynamic between Agnes and her sister and how fascinating it was to see their journeys flip in unexpected ways. There were some moments that kept me on my toes and I hoped we could focus on those more seeing as how they gave a sense of urgency to the story.

All in all, this was just underwhelming and lacking. It had some great moments that showed how great this book could’ve been but they went away quickly. What a disappointment!
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