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The Islands At The End Of The World (2014)

by Austin Aslan(Favorite Author)

3.74 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0385744021 (ISBN13: 9780385744027)

languge

English

genre

Fantasy

publisher

Wendy Lamb Books

review 1: A Hawaii-centered apocalypse story. It’s kind of wild though--(spoiler alert) giant alien sea turtles muck with all electronics, essentially like an EMP, pushing the world into chaos. But it’s OK, because they also suck up radiation from all the melting down reactors. Not sure it would go down like that, but regardless, it’s a quick story of a father and an epileptic daughter trying to hop islands and get home.
review 2: Leilani has epilepsy, and lives in Hawaii. She is scheduled to participate an an experimental trial that might cure her, so she travels to Honolulu with her dad. Then things get weird. There are reports of a global meteor shower. The president mysteriously disappears. Electronics start failing. A mysterious green cloud appears in the sky.... more Society falls apart pretty quickly in typical apocalyptic fashion - looting, roving gangs of barbarians, militarization - all the usual stuff. But I will say, I enjoyed the way the author took his time setting it up, rather than just starting us off in a world that's already post-apocalyptic. Leilani and her dad stick around Honolulu for a little while hoping for the best, but eventually decide they need to make their way home. (The author includes maps of all the Hawaiian Islands, which is really helpful for understanding their journey.)Along the way, they have numerous close calls, get help from unexpected strangers and make some interesting discoveries about the mysterious cloud (the "orchid") and its connections to Leilani and Hawaii. The writing is superb - more than a few times it reminded me of The Road (Cormac McCarthy) both in terms of their circumstances and how they were described. I loved this book. At the same time, I can totally understand why some people really didn't enjoy it. Everyone has their own personal preference for the source of the apocalypse, and this one won't be everyone's cup of tea. Sometimes you never find out what happened (sometimes I do find out and wish I hadn't.)But even if you didn't like that, there are so many other things to love about this book. There's no major love interest distracting you from the story. The author blends her knowledge of Hawaii beautifully into the book. Leilani and her dad have actual weaknesses. Their journey is incredibly difficult but still realistic. I've loved a lot of Book Ones. Most of the time I've hated the stories end of the series (looking at you, Hunger Games, and you, Divergent...) so I'll be very curious to see how Leilani's story plays out. less

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