A review by bryonycostello
This Is Where the World Ends by Amy Zhang
3.0
I received this book for free from the Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.
This review was originally posted on my blog, Of Literature & Lipstick.
Okay…I have conflicting opinions on Amy Zhang’s second novel. I adored her first, Falling Into Place, and quite enjoyed the premise of This Is Where the World Ends, but unfortunately I was left disappointed.
I ENJOYED THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS…
* Amy Zhang’s writing is incredible. It creates a whimsical feeling, one as though you are floating on clouds made of marshmallows. She is incredible talented. She has a distinctive style of writing which I appreciate in authors.
* Her descriptions of settings and characters are super realistic.
* The atmosphere of the writing and storyline is akin to The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson which is a novel that I really enjoyed.
* Dewey’s character reminded me of Ronan from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I love Ronan’s character despite his flaws and issues, so I had an appreciation for Dewey despite not overly enjoying him.
Okay, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but hear me out – her writing is truly something magical.
I DIDN’T ENJOY…
* The fact that Janie seemed like another Margo Roth-Spiegleman from Paper Towns. Both Janie and Margo are interesting, but they’re not particularly nice people. They’re manipulative and expect people to do as they please with next to nothing in return. They ignore their “best friend” or the boy they love in school and treating them with no respect.
* It’s okay for authors to have one writing style and stick to writing what they know/what they write best, but for me this was way too similar in feel and storyline to Falling Into Place.
* The formatting is confusing at times. This book is written in a non-linear form, which is fine if it’s formatted correctly. While “before” and “after” are labelled at the beginning of the chapter, it is often unclear immediately as to whether Janie or Micah is narrating the said chapter as they have very similar voices and all of the chapters are written in present tense/first person.
* Janie and Micah go on ninja-like espionage’s much like Q and Margo in Paper Towns. It sometimes felt as though I was reading a retelling of Paper Towns.
*
* The ending was too quick and clean for a book full of so many complications and emotions.
Amy Zhang is without a doubt a talented writer, and I’d love to read some of her future work if it was a different type of story. Ultimately for me though, This Is Where the World Ends was just too similar to several other stories that it didn’t stick out or feel like anything special.
This book may be unsuitable for people under 17 years of age due to its use of sexual content, drug and alcohol use, and/or violence.
This review was originally posted on my blog, Of Literature & Lipstick.
Okay…I have conflicting opinions on Amy Zhang’s second novel. I adored her first, Falling Into Place, and quite enjoyed the premise of This Is Where the World Ends, but unfortunately I was left disappointed.
I ENJOYED THE FOLLOWING ELEMENTS…
* Amy Zhang’s writing is incredible. It creates a whimsical feeling, one as though you are floating on clouds made of marshmallows. She is incredible talented. She has a distinctive style of writing which I appreciate in authors.
* Her descriptions of settings and characters are super realistic.
* The atmosphere of the writing and storyline is akin to The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson which is a novel that I really enjoyed.
* Dewey’s character reminded me of Ronan from The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. I love Ronan’s character despite his flaws and issues, so I had an appreciation for Dewey despite not overly enjoying him.
Okay, that doesn’t seem like a lot, but hear me out – her writing is truly something magical.
I DIDN’T ENJOY…
* The fact that Janie seemed like another Margo Roth-Spiegleman from Paper Towns. Both Janie and Margo are interesting, but they’re not particularly nice people. They’re manipulative and expect people to do as they please with next to nothing in return. They ignore their “best friend” or the boy they love in school and treating them with no respect.
* It’s okay for authors to have one writing style and stick to writing what they know/what they write best, but for me this was way too similar in feel and storyline to Falling Into Place.
* The formatting is confusing at times. This book is written in a non-linear form, which is fine if it’s formatted correctly. While “before” and “after” are labelled at the beginning of the chapter, it is often unclear immediately as to whether Janie or Micah is narrating the said chapter as they have very similar voices and all of the chapters are written in present tense/first person.
* Janie and Micah go on ninja-like espionage’s much like Q and Margo in Paper Towns. It sometimes felt as though I was reading a retelling of Paper Towns.
*
Spoiler
Janie was raped. I don’t like the way that Amy Zhang wrote about rape. It was written as though it wasn’t a major deal despite Janie clearly not coping with the rape. The rape is what triggered her to set her house on fire and then drown herself.* The ending was too quick and clean for a book full of so many complications and emotions.
Amy Zhang is without a doubt a talented writer, and I’d love to read some of her future work if it was a different type of story. Ultimately for me though, This Is Where the World Ends was just too similar to several other stories that it didn’t stick out or feel like anything special.