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Culture shock hits a group of teens when they learn their parents and everyone in their community are gone.
Not only are they faced with the reality of being without parents, they also have to make decisions beyond their comprehension on how to survive.
John Hennessy's “At the End” was an interesting read, There were times when he captured my attention, Learning what took place next was important, There also were times when the story slowed and seemed drawn out, Overall, “At the End” was a good read,
ed by: Sabrina
,What would you do whenbillion people on Earth suddenly disappeared overnight, including your parents, friends and family How would you feel when youre the only one left on your street.
One of only a few survivors left in your once overpopulated city Panic, confusion, fear, These were all themes that arose in At The End, and rightly so,
The story opens up from the perspective of Darrel, who seems to be going through his normal routine until a wild lion bursts through his back door.
He freezes at the sight, thinking his death was imminent and that all the time hed spent playing video games never prepared him for this moment.
At the last minute, his best friend Felix comes in and kills the beast, They both start to figure out that the reason behind their survival might have something to do with having tin foil placed over their beds as a joke, and sets off to find their friend Maggy, who was also in on the joke.
Having had experience of war and fighting through their video games, the three are smart enough to have some survival instincts.
Especially Maggy, also known as IQ, in the group, They gathered as many weapons as they could before heading out to find a friend whos dad worked for NASA or a similar organisation I believe.
I was impressed that they had such a solid plan, especially in the conditions they were thrown in, one that could evidently save the world.
But their journey down the West coast towards this destination was not a smooth one at all, In this alien invasion, all three along with the companions they made on the way, were tested to the brink of insanity all in an effort to survive.
The novel alternates between Maggy and Darrel aka, Jelly. Both have very distinct personalities and voices and I enjoyed reading through both their perspectives, Maggy is a strongwilled character, who is extremely smart but find it hard to express her emotions easily, She is brave and knows how to take charge, stepping up as the leader most of the time, Darrel on the other hand was an anxious boy that relied heavily on his asthma puffers in order to stem his panic attacks.
I found him to be an extremely weak character, and this weakness was evident in a lot of his actions throughout the book.
But his confidence does build, and he has a few heroic moments as well, I really enjoyed Hennessys portrayal of these characters as he shows that women are not weak, and men can be the ones that require saving sometimes.
This theme isnt only highlighted through Maggy and Darrel, but through the other supporting characters such as Penelope,
The plot was extremely fast paced and I found myself on the edge of my seat from the very start.
It was intense following the characters around, being left as much in the dark as them and feeling the same fear and panic through every step they took.
There was a lot of death understandably and you feel the loss each time because youre rooting so much for these people.
For your fellow human beings, even though theyre fictional,
The mystery of the alions aliens who look like lions kept me on the edge of my seat till the end as well.
It was horrible not knowing what their motive was, and why they decided to basically wipe out Earth entirely.
These creatures were far more
advanced than anyone imagined, and their attack brought the world to their knees, This was mainly due to their ability in making billions of people disappear without a trace, and no one being able to figure out how.
One of the first issues I found was the tin foil explanation or lackthereof, I find it hard to believe that could be the sole reason for the survivors, How did all their parents disappear from the same house, while they survived thanks to some tin foil placed above their bed.
This was definitely not explained properly as the military base was also explained to be safe due to having been made with tin foil in the walls, yet it was still attacked regardless later on.
The second issue is just minor, but it was annoying, Towards the end of the novel, one of the soldiers Albonese I think who was described to be female was suddenly referred to as male.
This really halted the flow of the story, especially when I was so close to the end, as I had to flip back to make sure I wasnt imagining things.
And I wasnt. I understand this is just a small issue, but it really impacts on the flow, and thats never a good thing.
But allinall, At The End was a very good portrayal of the end of the world and an alien invasion.
The characters were all drawn out realistically and the plot was nice and fast, just the way I like it.
I actually really like when the novel ends, so Im not sure how I feel about this only being the first book in a series.
I really want them all to have their happy ending, but only time will tell whether Im brave enough to go through this rollercoaster of emotions again.
Many thanks to the author John Hennessy for kindly providing an electronic copy of his book in exchange for an honest review.
At the EndThis review also appears on my blog sitelinkThoughts By J!
ed via Basically Books Goodreads Group, of an ebook copy received Augustin exchange for my fair and impartial review.
Through the first couple of pages, I wasnt sure I was going to like this book I prefer the readers hook to reach for me immediately but once I read just a few pages, I was hookedand no complaints after that, this novel is literally nonstop pageturning.
There is no deceleration of tension the plot line moves at nearly hyperdrive speed, carrying the reader along with total engrossment.
Its finally here: the danger thats been discussed, and scoffed at, since thes: alien invasion, Yes, folks, you read that correctly, Aliens have invaded planet Earth, and everything you think you know about alien abduction is probably accurate, In the first two nights,of the population is “taken, ” Those that remain are quite often adolescents or younger, but not being abducted certainly doesnt indicate safety, for the aliens seem determined to eradicate humanity.
Those not abducted are hunted in fact, like the predator species the aliens so resemble, some of the Earthlings are “marked” for prey, hunted down, and consumed.
Enter a trio of frightened yet determined young people: Daryl, Felix, and Maggy, who wont just lie down and wait to be fodder.
Instead, theyre bent on survival, no matter what the cost, and no matter if its even possible, Theyre trying, and theyll save all whom they can on the way,
I received this book via Basically Books Goodreads Group for the purpose of a review, I read the synopsis of the book and thought I would really enjoy the book, I started reading and it was a very slow start, I immediately realized that this book was not for me, I could not connect to any of the characters on an emotional level, I think this At the Enda post apocalyptic novel's target audience is preteen/young teens, Unfortunately, I did not complete the book, However, my daughter began reading it and really liked it, She enjoyed the characters and the setting for the book, Therefore, mystar rating is based on my daughter's review, Bromigo and Bramiga if you can take reading that every other sentence, the story is well written and a positive delight to read.
I couldn't put it down and read it in less than a day, As far as postapocalyptic nightmares go, this one has some great creatures no zombies and many surprises throughout, I received this book for free with the promise I would review it when I was done,
How would I describe this book Well you know them lazy Sunday afternoons where you find youself just flicking through the TV channels, and you end up stumbling across some Bmovie, that doesn't have the best acting, is clearly low budget and has a pretty standard plot Well that is what this book is.
Is this a bad thing No, I love them kind of movies, they keep you entertained from beginning to end, They may not be life changing but they are fun,
That is this book to a T, It was damn entertaining, I kept reading to find out what would happen next yet I know I won't be sitting here in a weeks time pondering on the mysteries of life because of it.
Admittedly the first couple of chapters were shaky the characters felt a bit forced and flat, I just couldn't really believe them how they were acting, their conversation, their actions, All forced.
However the book does pick up, and as the action gets going it becomes easier to ignore this 'wooden plank' type of dialogue throwing back to my first point of the cheesey Bmovie
I should have connected completely with the characters especially Darrel but I just never felt them 'real'.
Still I was routing for them,
I was expecting a completely different story to what I got, From the description I imagined a more thriller type of scifi where you never really see the enemy and no answers are give, THEN from the first paragraph I expected a government conspiracy type scifi where the people of the world were being stole away to curb overpopulation and it is up to our protagonists to stop it.
This second idea was SLIGHTLY touched upon, but the book is definitely more of an all out action, alien invasion.
As I have said, once the action kicked in it never stops, Even splitting off into two completely different perspectives of the invasion: Down on Earth and up on the Mothership.
This kept everything fresh and interesting, not allowing one setting to become stale,
A perfect read for a Lazy Sunday, and it definitely was nice lounging in the sun today doing just that.
Didn't require any though, hasn't changed my life, but fully entertained,
It was also nice to see an ending with no lose ends in a scifi story like this, too many end with the 'to be continued.
. . ' feeling.
Look forward to seeing how this author progresses and improves in the future,
.