The End We Start From by Megan Hunter – Book Review

Book Review | 3/5 stars | Genre – Dystopian Sci-fi

In the midst of a mysterious environmental crisis, as London is submerged below flood waters, a woman gives birth to her first child, Z. Days later, the family are forced to leave their home in search of safety. As they move from place to place, shelter to shelter, their journey traces both fear and wonder.

(Synopsis from Goodreads)

I had seen this book popping up around the book shops and then again around the internet. The book cover was so aesthetically pleasing to look at and the actual synopsis sounded like something I’d definitely want to read. Having added it to my Christmas list it was pretty obvious when I eventually got the book from my Granny!

Inital thoughts…

One thought that crossed my mind was that I hadn’t ever flipped through the pages of the book all the times i’d seen in a shop. Therefore it came as a surprise to me when I realised it was all written in multiple short poem-like sections. It was because of this that it did take me a while to actually get into the book.

My Top Moments…

• Beautifully written: despite the surprising format, it was a very beautiful book to read. The author has such a stylistic approach that forms a realistic world that could potentially come true.
• Scarily appropriate: how the world currently looks, with the fear of environmental damage becoming more possible, this story really rings true. There were moments where what Hunter describes sounded far to possible.

Overall…

I guess there were moments that I enjoyed reading this book; it made for really good reading on the bus and just before I went to bed. Like I said above, the style of writing was really interesting and nice to read however, it did take me out of the moment far too many times. Mostly during the middle of the book I wasn’t entirely sure where the characters had gone – the most I knew was they were in Scotland then they weren’t.

At the end of the day, it was a fairly average book for me. An enjoyable read but I don’t think it will ever be a book that I read again.