A Book Recommendation

I have just finished reading ‘The End of All Things‘ by Lissa Bryan, published in January this year.

At the time I came across this book I knew nothing of Lissa Bryan and it didn’t even register with me until I was some way into the read that this was a book by a female author.  The book appeared in my Amazon.com suggested reading list, presumablty because I have recently been looking at and purchasing a number of dystopian or apocalyptic or post-collapse scenario books.

I read the first few pages of the book online and was immediately drawn into the story line. The idea of a young woman with a wolf for a pet companion, living in an urban apartment block with a biker guy camped out across the street, was appealing.  So much so, that even though it was a higher price than I would normally pay for Kindle books, I decided to purchase it.

Now, let me say that I do not enjoy all books of this genre.  No, that is not quite true.  I have enjoyed all of the books that I have read so far, but all are written by men and some of them contain generally right-wing ideas and rhetoric that is somewhat distasteful to me and which I think is quite superfluous to the story line.  There was none of that in this book.

Another feature that marks this genre but which is also possibly true of much modern fiction is the sad state of editing of the text or the apparent lack of any editing at all in some cases.  This distracts and detracts so much from the story line of some books that the reader needs to display a certain level of determination to get through it or to ignore it.  Either ‘The End of All Things’ contained none of that sort of thing or the story was so compelling that I didn’t notice it.  Either way, that was a bonus.

This is not intended to be a book review so I am not going to tell you what the story is about or how it progresses.  All I will say is that this is a love story, a tale of courage and hope set in the most dreadful of circumstances.  I read the book in three days over three lengthy reading sessions and found it difficult to break myself away and stop reading at the end of each.

I suppose you could say that I am a bit of a sucker (inwardly) for the emotional stuff, finding my heart strings pulled and shedding tears even during some dramatic television series moments (not that I watch much TV).  The characters in ‘The End of All Things’ are so well developed all through the book that there are many moments in the story where I experienced explosions of emotion and empathy from deep within.  Only the best of writing can evoke that kind of response.

As the story drew to a close, I was left wanting more.  I am not particularly sure that is altogether a good thing, unless the intention is to develop the story further in a sequel, but it felt good to have journeyed with these characters and share their experiences but a little sad to now leave them behind.

I am happy to recommend this book as an excellent read.  It is most definitely not a children’s book but open-minded adults of any age and gender will find it both enjoyable and intriguing.

Here is a link to the first chapter on the book’s own blog page to whet the appetite of anyone who’s interest I may have stirred.