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youngthespian42's review against another edition
3.0
This post apocalyptic sci-fi book is surprisingly cozy for most of the book. The relationship I built with the characters kept me reading.
The two groups this book focuses on have opposing views yet mostly live in harmony and peace. I don’t need every book in this genre to feel like The Road, but the lack of conflict between the two groups keeps the stakes of most of the story pretty low.
When this book gets to the last act and the conflict comes the book becomes engaging and interesting. The ending feels rush after waiting so long for the book to get going.
I do think this book is worth checking out and the prose is great and readable. The story reminds me a lot of B-sci fi movies I loved as a kid. The concept is amazing and will stick with me.
The two groups this book focuses on have opposing views yet mostly live in harmony and peace. I don’t need every book in this genre to feel like The Road, but the lack of conflict between the two groups keeps the stakes of most of the story pretty low.
When this book gets to the last act and the conflict comes the book becomes engaging and interesting. The ending feels rush after waiting so long for the book to get going.
I do think this book is worth checking out and the prose is great and readable. The story reminds me a lot of B-sci fi movies I loved as a kid. The concept is amazing and will stick with me.
theaceofpages's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Most people and other animals are stuck in loops - essentially repeating bubbles of time. There are, however, those who live amongst them. The chosen/survivors/unlooped need to learn to survive in this new world where one wrong step or sound may release a looper, who will attack the disturber before disappearing, taking some of what they have been interacting with with them. Coco is one such survivor. The book follows her as she grows up from a lonely twelve year old girl and meets others like her, some of whom want to bring back the old world, and others who want to make a new one. But differences aside, they all recognise that preventing dangerous structures like nuclear power plants or factories with toxic chemicals from becoming unlooped is important. But as the looped world begins to fall apart - a combination of crumbling infrastructure and the surviving animals and humans disturbing loops- Coco and her friends realise that they need to find a way to restart time sooner rather than later: It is only a matter of time before something essential breaks and destroys them all, looped and unlooped alike.
I absolutely loved the concept of this book! The not quite zombies but still dangerous and to be avoided loopers provided an interesting dynamic but without taking away from the focus on human reactions and relationships. I'm still a little confused about how things got the way they were, but it was an interesting world to spend some time in and I enjoyed reading about it.
The story switches between current events and diary entries to fill the reader in with what happened. While this was a clever choice to allow the story to take over a long period of time, I do feel like it potentially took away from the character and relationship development. The more fleshed out [arts focussed on what was most important for the plot and we got filled in with (usually very short) "oh by the way, this happened since the last chapter" segments. I feel like these part in particular could have had a bit more emotion to make up for the amount of time they sometimes represented. Although I feel like the individual character arcs could have had a little more depth at times, I did find the societal arcs to be rather believable. I found myself wondering several times which side of things I would have started on - both had good points - and I wondered where Coco would have ended up has she met Forrest first. I definitely feel like most people would have moved to some kind of middle ground as they did as the survivors developed new communities with homes are resources and relationships with the other survivors around them, and even started families. It's definitely easier to have more set in stone beliefs when you have nothing to lose. Although I do think that it would have been interesting to have seen the more gradual approach to this instead of the more jumpy changes we get from how the author decided to treat the passage of time. Although I do understand why - this would have been much longer had time gone more slowly.
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. While I did like it, it was also a bit of a letdown. I had prepared myself for the possibility for a while since wrapping up a book like this felt like it would be difficult. I'm not sure what I was hoping for to be honest. I did enjoy the epilogues though!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
I absolutely loved the concept of this book! The not quite zombies but still dangerous and to be avoided loopers provided an interesting dynamic but without taking away from the focus on human reactions and relationships. I'm still a little confused about how things got the way they were, but it was an interesting world to spend some time in and I enjoyed reading about it.
The story switches between current events and diary entries to fill the reader in with what happened. While this was a clever choice to allow the story to take over a long period of time, I do feel like it potentially took away from the character and relationship development. The more fleshed out [arts focussed on what was most important for the plot and we got filled in with (usually very short) "oh by the way, this happened since the last chapter" segments. I feel like these part in particular could have had a bit more emotion to make up for the amount of time they sometimes represented. Although I feel like the individual character arcs could have had a little more depth at times, I did find the societal arcs to be rather believable. I found myself wondering several times which side of things I would have started on - both had good points - and I wondered where Coco would have ended up has she met Forrest first. I definitely feel like most people would have moved to some kind of middle ground as they did as the survivors developed new communities with homes are resources and relationships with the other survivors around them, and even started families. It's definitely easier to have more set in stone beliefs when you have nothing to lose. Although I do think that it would have been interesting to have seen the more gradual approach to this instead of the more jumpy changes we get from how the author decided to treat the passage of time. Although I do understand why - this would have been much longer had time gone more slowly.
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. While I did like it, it was also a bit of a letdown. I had prepared myself for the possibility for a while since wrapping up a book like this felt like it would be difficult. I'm not sure what I was hoping for to be honest. I did enjoy the epilogues though!
I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. As always, all opinions are my own.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Child death, Chronic illness, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Death of parent
Minor: Pregnancy, Cancer, Terminal illness, and Animal death
Also moderate to graphic isolationsammi620's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
loringue's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-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? No
5.0
alongreader's review against another edition
5.0
This is a mind melter in the best kind of way! I've seen time loops represented in media before - I live in the world and watch TV and movies and read books - but never like this. This is really something special.
The story stretches over about twenty years, with a few flashbacks extending that here and there. There's also a second narrator, and they narrate in chunks - so it'll be Coco for five or six chapters, then the other one for five or six, then back to Coco. It's a good way to show more of the world than one person could see, and a good way to explain things to us a bit, as they discuss various theories and ideas.
I kind of understood a bit the resolution, sort of, in general, but it doesn't really matter; we don't need to understand why it happened, not in detail. The story is in how people react, how they learn to deal or not to deal, how to come together or fall apart. For that alone, even if you don't like speculative fiction, this is worth a read.
It can also make you a bit paranoid - how do I know I'm not trapped in a loop of writing this? How do you know you're not trapped in a loop of reading it? (If you are, my profound apologies; there are so many better things you could be trapped in a loop doing!)
I loved the epilogue and would love to revisit this world to see how they're going to deal with things - but I always want to know what happens after the end, so take that as you like! I will certainly be looking out for more books by Ann in the future, I look forward to seeing what other old cliches she can make completely new again.
The story stretches over about twenty years, with a few flashbacks extending that here and there. There's also a second narrator, and they narrate in chunks - so it'll be Coco for five or six chapters, then the other one for five or six, then back to Coco. It's a good way to show more of the world than one person could see, and a good way to explain things to us a bit, as they discuss various theories and ideas.
I kind of understood a bit the resolution, sort of, in general, but it doesn't really matter; we don't need to understand why it happened, not in detail. The story is in how people react, how they learn to deal or not to deal, how to come together or fall apart. For that alone, even if you don't like speculative fiction, this is worth a read.
It can also make you a bit paranoid - how do I know I'm not trapped in a loop of writing this? How do you know you're not trapped in a loop of reading it? (If you are, my profound apologies; there are so many better things you could be trapped in a loop doing!)
I loved the epilogue and would love to revisit this world to see how they're going to deal with things - but I always want to know what happens after the end, so take that as you like! I will certainly be looking out for more books by Ann in the future, I look forward to seeing what other old cliches she can make completely new again.
barbtrek's review
5.0
This was a very unique post-apocalyptic science fiction novel.
The story was well written and kept my interest. The great writing helped me to enjoy the story even though I felt the rules in this post-apocalyptic world were arbitrary and confusing!
Some story elements were never completely explained though I appreciated that the epilogue gave some nice closure.
I got the audiobook and the ebook and listened during the day and read at night. The audiobook was nicely narrated.
The story was well written and kept my interest. The great writing helped me to enjoy the story even though I felt the rules in this post-apocalyptic world were arbitrary and confusing!
Some story elements were never completely explained though I appreciated that the epilogue gave some nice closure.
I got the audiobook and the ebook and listened during the day and read at night. The audiobook was nicely narrated.
barbtrek's review against another edition
5.0
This was a very unique post-apocalyptic science fiction novel.
The story was well written and kept my interest. The great writing helped me to enjoy the story even though I felt the rules in this post-apocalyptic world were arbitrary and confusing!
Some story elements were never completely explained though I appreciated that the epilogue gave some nice closure.
I got the audiobook and the ebook and listened during the day and read at night. The audiobook was nicely narrated.
The story was well written and kept my interest. The great writing helped me to enjoy the story even though I felt the rules in this post-apocalyptic world were arbitrary and confusing!
Some story elements were never completely explained though I appreciated that the epilogue gave some nice closure.
I got the audiobook and the ebook and listened during the day and read at night. The audiobook was nicely narrated.
_b_a_l_'s review against another edition
3.0
Very character driven sci-fi with a novel and interesting premise.
For me the characters weren't quite strong enough to carry a book of this length though - I would have enjoyed it more if they'd been a little more fully formed or the book just a little shorter.
For me the characters weren't quite strong enough to carry a book of this length though - I would have enjoyed it more if they'd been a little more fully formed or the book just a little shorter.
kagedbooks's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT86ESeDh/
The September read in @Joshuas_Space’s SciFi Fanatics book club was The Never Ending End of the World by Ann Christy.
Long review short, I loved it. It’s a unique take on an apocalypse that is pretty deep and insightful for a book that is really easy to read (or listening to in my case) it’s sort of A Quiet Place mixed with Revolution.
So I guess this would be a post-apocalyptic story maybe mid-apocalyptic
Basically the majority of the world is frozen into loops where they just keep repeating the same actions. Loop lengths vary from person to person could be a second, or several hours.
The catch is if the loop is disturbed by something it breaks and the looper goes feral and tries to attack everything before
presumably dying and disappearing.
This book takes place over several decades following the event that caused the loops, but the time progression doesn’t feel rushed or inorganic. You’ll still have plenty of time to connect with the characters.
The story is mostly told through the eyes of Coco Wells, a young woman who has been living in solitude for years, before realizing she’s now alone in the world.
As resources and infrastructure start to fail the unlooped face a difficult choices not only about how to live in this world but how plan for the future.
I am left with a few questions at the end but I don’t mind that and the story kept me engaged throughout.
The book explores themes of survival, hope, love, and legacy.
While this is largely considered sci-fi I think it could appeal to a larger audience because it’s more about the human element than the science.
The audiobook has two narrators:
Therese Plummer and Ari Fliakos these are both new narrators for me but they did a great job of bringing life and emotion into this story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Campfire publishing for the chance to listen to this book early. Receiving the ALC does not affect my review and thoughts on the story are my own
The September read in @Joshuas_Space’s SciFi Fanatics book club was The Never Ending End of the World by Ann Christy.
Long review short, I loved it. It’s a unique take on an apocalypse that is pretty deep and insightful for a book that is really easy to read (or listening to in my case) it’s sort of A Quiet Place mixed with Revolution.
So I guess this would be a post-apocalyptic story maybe mid-apocalyptic
Basically the majority of the world is frozen into loops where they just keep repeating the same actions. Loop lengths vary from person to person could be a second, or several hours.
The catch is if the loop is disturbed by something it breaks and the looper goes feral and tries to attack everything before
presumably dying and disappearing.
This book takes place over several decades following the event that caused the loops, but the time progression doesn’t feel rushed or inorganic. You’ll still have plenty of time to connect with the characters.
The story is mostly told through the eyes of Coco Wells, a young woman who has been living in solitude for years, before realizing she’s now alone in the world.
As resources and infrastructure start to fail the unlooped face a difficult choices not only about how to live in this world but how plan for the future.
I am left with a few questions at the end but I don’t mind that and the story kept me engaged throughout.
The book explores themes of survival, hope, love, and legacy.
While this is largely considered sci-fi I think it could appeal to a larger audience because it’s more about the human element than the science.
The audiobook has two narrators:
Therese Plummer and Ari Fliakos these are both new narrators for me but they did a great job of bringing life and emotion into this story.
Thanks to NetGalley and Campfire publishing for the chance to listen to this book early. Receiving the ALC does not affect my review and thoughts on the story are my own