The pacing is good, and it's not a long book. Perhaps the start is a bit slow, but I didn't mind. The characters are sweet, and the relationships between them well developed. This novel offers a lot of diversity, which is always nice to see. It's not a big plot point, and perhaps doesn't even really matter, but it's there. Like it should be. Maybe this is just the first time that humanity has been in communication with the whole planet, so it’s bee noticed and recorded. Maybe one day Shen and I will find out that we can have a baby – even the thought of how we’d accidentally discover that makes my stomach squirm – and then that’ll be that: people will start having babies again. Like the sterility never happened at all.

Lauren James is amazing at a good plot twist, the one in The Loneliest Girl in the Universe really got me! The Quiet did not disappoint! I had some inklings but even so I still didn’t get the full picture until the reveal. This story is very character driven and I loved getting to know Lowrie and Shen, the last two humans to be born. It explores some very interesting themes and I loved seeing the characters work through them. Knowing that eventually they’d be the last two people on the planet? How terrifying would that be? Would any amount of preparation ever be enough? I actually am in awe at how much I felt like I knew the character who we only learnt of through social updates, which got me to thinking, there are plenty of people in my life that I only know through social updates and I feel like I know them? WHAT A WEIRD WORLD WE LIVE IN.

Discussion

Oh, this was definitely an interesting read - science fiction may be a genre that I'm least interested in, but the writing here completely takes you in. And it's also a very quiet one - it reminded me a lot of the quote 'This is the way the world ends. Not with a bang but a whimper'. Lowrie, our sixteen-year-old narrator, has a very strong head on her shoulders. She's eager to learn - eager to know - willing to change - willing to help - devoted to her family of caregivers - devoted to Shen - and always - always hopeful for a fighting chance of survival. 🤍🤍 Lowrie and Shen are best friends. They are also the youngest people on the planet after a virus caused the human race to become infertile. The Quiet at the End of the World has more twists than a bowl of spaghetti with one major turn that changes the whole course of the novel. It’s a testament to Lauren James that she manages to weave this surprise into the plot so deftly. I only guessed before it happened which doesn’t happen very often these days! All the Extras Diversity - A+ (the MC is bisexual, the love interest is Chinese/British with a hearing impairment and there's a trans character!)

courtesy IMP Awards) Creative inspiration can come from all kinds of strange, beautiful and unexpected places – a waterfall at sunset, a colourfully-dressed woman on a train at peak hour or a snippet of history, long forgotten but dredged up to fill a social media post with a fascinating factoid. Continue Reading I read Station Elevena few years ago, and really came away from that novel with a sense of just how much there still is to live forwhen you’ve lost everything. As a reader I feel like there are so many stories that hadn’t been told in that kind of setting – after the angst of the apocalypse, when you’re not necessarily trying to rebuild the world but live a good, happy life in the time you have left. So as a writer, I didn’t want to write a dystopia full of villains and evil governments (there’s enough of that in real life). I just wanted to write about humanity in isolation. This book was so brilliant! Exploring the effects of A.I. and infertility on human population, it's thoughtful, chilling and also admittedly, a bit lonely. I loved the platonic relationship between Shen and Lowrie as they navigate the last years of humankind together. Great review. I do like dystopian/sci-fi books and this one has been everywhere these days. Will definately be looking this one up Lowrie and Shen are a little naive, but in a genuine and likeable way. Both are competent and kind, and I thought quite realistically portrayed.There’s great representation here too - bi and trans, deaf, Chinese characters. So good to see so much. There’s no finish line you need to cross to have lived a worthy life, Lowrie. You don’t need to achieve anything if you don’t want to.” Representation: Lowrie (mc) is bisexual; Shen (mc/li) is Chinese & deaf in one ear; Maya (sc) is bisexual; Riz (sc) is a trans boy.

What makes The Quiet at the End of the World is this inherent relatability; we may never go through anything like this but so vividly-realised are Lowrie and Shen that every single thing they feel and think makes perfect sense, feels innately, truly human.But I know now what I have to do. I can’t sit here, quiet at the end of the world. I have to fill the world with noise. I have to shout and fight and give everything I have to make sure this isn’t the end.” (P. 318) Lowrie tried to know more about the past and came across a Facebook account of a girl called Maya. She learned more about the virus and how people reacted at that time. It was delightful to know how the past affected the future and how will the present affect the future. “Everything is connected” and that is a sentence from a series called Dark that I recommend watching. I think the book could’ve been more enjoyable if there were chapters with Shen’s perspective.