The Earth has been hit by thousands of asteroids. The northern hemisphere suffering the most damage. Edgar and his family live in Scotland and manage to survive the initial strikes but their struggles have only just begun.

This is a good take on the apocalypse genre, and there is not a zombie in sight. However, that doesn't mean that there aren't monsters in this story. We all like to think that we are decent human beings who love our families and fellow humans no matter what. But who knows how we would behave when faced with the end of the world?

There are some very suspenseful moments in this story, and some awful horror too. For me the story in the second half of the book, once the running kicked in, dragged a little of times. But the suspense really builds up again later on to a pretty good if slightly ambiguous ending.

I would describe this book as dystopian adventure sci fi with a sprinkle of hope and optimism. It is a lighter read that focuses on the protagonist's transformation from self absorbed husband/father to full on family man as he makes his way across the country to find his family after an apocalyptic catastrophe.

It's a pretty easy read with lots of plausible post apocalyptic scenarios that keeps it interesting It has an adventure flare to it that will appeal to readers looking for action without the bleakness.

Please see my full review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2088085401

This book is a post-apocalyptic book where the main character, Ed, has to get from Edinburgh in Scotland to Cornwall on foot with a very limited deadline. I really liked the plot - Ed and his friends run into a variety of characters who vary in sanity and how murderous they are, as well as dealing with how far and how fast they have to travel. I found it an interesting look in what the apocalypse does to society and how different people react to it and maybe if we had had Laura or Harvey as the protagonist, I would have ended up liking the book a whole lot more.

Unfortunately, we had Ed as a protagonist. Ed who says he loves his family, yet we see no evidence of it in his actions. It feels very much a wishy-washy, distant kind of love that he's obligated to feel because they're his wife and kids. I really dislike Ed as a character because he's unlikeable in a fairly boring way. The people he's running with are pretty unlikeable as well, though they manage to be a little more interesting about it. The whole plot of the book is Ed trying to get back to his family and when you are thinking you don't really want the protagonist to succeed in his goal, they might not be the best protagonist. I was reading it and thinking that Ed's family could do a lot better than him, despite the occasional sweet moments Ed shows.

I didn't hate the protagonist, I just think the book could have been a lot better if he hadn't been the focus of the book. I liked the plot, I liked the world, but Ed as the main character pretty much brought this book down to 3.5 stars for me.

Dark novel about survival after a world disaster. I can picture the book made into a film.

This book has a lot of mixed reviews and to start with I wasn't really feeling the story I sat it down several times, but when it did kick in it didn't take long completely floor me. Absolutely loved it. Reminded me very much of storytelling of The Martian.

Usually I don't look at other reviews before I write mine but this time I did and I am struck by the complaints about the book's pacing in several of the ≤ 3 reviews. Yes, the book is slow in places but somehow it seemed a bit like running.

Don't runners zone out? Don't runners slip in and out of extreme consciousness? Don't runners ache as they run? The book is a little like this.

These days I don't much like post-apocalyptic writing because it is all so similar and was done so much better a century ago before everyone was so self-conscious about it. So this book won't rank high on my all-time list. But it really isn't bad at all unless you are as jaded as I am.

I received a review copy of "The End of the World Running Club" by Adrian Walker (Sourcebooks Landmark) through NetGalley.com. It was originally self-published in 2014 in the UK by Adrian Walker and then picked up by Del Rey UK who issued it in paperback in 2016.

End of the World Running Club is set in a near apocalyptic version of Great Britain. There has been a wave of asteroids that has hit Earth and wiped out most of civilisation. So what little humanity is left is displaying precious little humanity. Survival is everything and the prospect of finding yourself in such circumstances in a a necessity.

The main character, Edgar, is a man with a family he tries to escape as every turn and an attitude that stinks. He is not very likeable and is probably the main reason people will dislike this book. However, if you get past that then what is in here is a very good novel that makes you think and also will appeal to anyone who has done distance running at all. The description of running will chime with runners and the whole approach is shot through with humour, cynicism and somewhere an almost redemptive tale.

Its not the easiest book to read and at times you just want to tell Edgar to get on with things. But its a great, at times very fast paced book, that brings the apocalypse to you in full force

This novel started off with a bang (literally) and leaped right into the action. I was so excited with how the plot unfolded but about halfway through, it started dragging a bit. The main characters were well developed, a bit annoying but relatable, whereas some of the secondary characters felt out of place. Overall, it was an entertaining read and definitely one of the better apocalyptic novels I've read in a while.

*I received an advance reading copy in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.*

I appreciate the efforts made by Adrian Walker, but this novel failed to hold my attention.

Edgar Hill loves his wife and children, but he purposefully works late and drinks every night. Then the end of the world changes everything. Separated from his family by the entire longitude of England, Edgar must find his way across the devastated and anarchic landscape before time runs out and he loses them forever. Thrust together with a small cadre of survivors also left-behind, Ed is the first to decide that their best hope is to run.

The End of the World Running Club is an uplifting post-apocalyptic search for one man’s family. As Edgar learns how to be a runner, he learns lessons of patience, persistence, celebrating small victories, and sometimes just pushing through the pain. The journey forces Edgar to reflect on his life and his priorities, and it’s clear every step not only brings him closer to his family physically, but also brings Edgar closer to being a better father and husband.

As a character, Edgar grows a lot, even displaying physical resourcefulness fairly early in the story, but he sees himself as weak, which in turn makes the reader think of Edgar of weak. He moans a lot. Essentially, he’s not the most fun nor interesting character in this story. There are a smattering of great apocalyptic scenes, some more played out than others, but my favorites include the teen mom who lures travelers with fire only to murder them and take their supplies, the old man on a country estate with an entire wine cellar all to himself, and the religious group ritually drowning their flock.

I enjoy the postulation that “getting back to nature” is a fallacy that many believe will make their lives more enjoyable. Society has evolved for good reason and shelters us from illness, filth, and famine, just to name a few. “Living a simpler life” in the country with the solar panels, organically grown and homemade food, and muddy boots is not an escape from the machine; it’s just another cog, and really only available to a select few.

The book is set in the UK, with a lot of references to cities in England, Wales, and Scotland, accents and dialects, motorways and tea, but there are couple of phrases that jarred me out of the story, including chip packets and lines, which may have been altered for the American version from crisps packets and queues.

Highly recommended for new parents and runners who also enjoy dystopian scifi!

Thanks to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a free copy in exchange for an honest review!

The bottom line:

The End of the World Running Club is a highly typical post-apocalyptic novel that uses a unique angle, but fails in implementation due to poor characterization, a weak story-line, and lack of ingenuity other than in its basic premise.

My review:

Thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Landmark for a copy of this book!

The End of the World Running Club starts off really well. It’s really creepy, borderline horror, and hard hitting on emotion. Some parts of the entire story remain positive throughout. This includes a few characters who are likable and who remain as consistent as humanly possible. It is also descriptive enough to achieve a sense of intrigue, has a strong creepiness factor, and a very unique angle (running across the country to be with your family). Additionally, it reads fast enough and holds its suspense. The best part about the book, though, is the way it describes the act of running and the many emotional, physical, and mental aspects of it. These make for the more interesting parts of the story.

But the positive aspects aren’t really enough to make you ignore the many problems in the book. The main one would be Edgar Hill himself. Although the book is meant to be a journey of realization for him, his entire personality is downright annoying. He fluctuates between determined, whiny, and pathetic, and is too inconsistent to make any real impression. Furthermore, his relationship with his family is meant to be with its share of problems, yet strong. But it comes across as barely-existent, and that weakens the entire foundation of the story itself. As a result, you end up not really bothered about whether he actually achieves his goal or not.

Most of the other characters are annoying too. There is no consistency in the personalities of a majority of the characters, nor in the relationships they share with one another. And that makes their entire journey very tiresome to witness. It seems like Walker only made the characters say and do what he needed for the story to proceed a particular way. Often, that went against the personalities depicted until that point, and made them too random to associate with or even follow. While it did help the story proceed, it also led to it making less and less sense.

Another thing that doesn’t work for the book was its very commonplace elements. It has everything you expect from a post-apocalyptic thriller. It has the random murders, looting, gangs, and everything that you’ve seen before. While the running club aspect was innovative, that inventiveness doesn’t really extend into the other arcs of the book. So, you end up feeling like you’re reading something that you’ve either read or watched before (I found a strong resemblance between a few scenes from the book and scenes from the movie, The Book of Eli).

All in all, The End of the World Running Club has potential, but does not see it through. This book wouldn’t be very high on my list of recommendations for others. But, if I had to recommend it, it would be to:
- die hard fans of post-apocalyptic novels
- people who don’t really mind a loosely woven story

Belief, memory, fear— these things hold you back, weigh you down, stop you moving. And I need to get moving. I need to stop thinking about this stuff. That’s what Harvey would say— stop thinking, keep moving. But it’s hard to stop thinking when there’s nobody else but you and a candle and an old house on the crumbling coast of a ruined country. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this down— so I can stop thinking about it and get moving.

One part existential meditation and personal redemption, one part post-apocalyptic survival story, The End of the World Running Club by Adrian Walker follows Ed as he is forced to become a better person, though only because deadly asteroids have destroyed most of his vices.

All I know is that the end— in the end— came from the skies.

Ed is cynical, lazy and often halfway into a bottle of wine. He schleps off the majority of the parenting responsibility of his two kids onto his wife because “the one who works, sleeps”. Ed is a character you love to hate, though his critical nature of the world, obvious love for his family despite his actions and nearly complete awareness of his flaws (though not their repercussions) are his redeemable qualities. He has surprising insight for such a disagreeable person and it is this sardonic nature that proves instrumental in his downfall and also his survival.

I wondered daily how we had ever even made it this far. It was a joke, pointless. How could we look after a planet when we couldn’t even look after our own countries, our own towns, our own communities? Our own families. Our own selves. Our own bodies. Our own heads.

Ed wakes up one morning, as he often does, bleary eyed and still half-drunk, but this time something is different: the regular sounds of morning are silenced. Stumbling outside, Ed heads to the corner store and quickly discovers the reason behind the odd morning. Warnings sit boldly on the front page of the newspaper: Strike Imminent! Scotland is about to be hit by asteroids.

In a panic, Ed frantically gathers his family: his wife, young daughter and baby son. They seek shelter in their cellar and hope to be spared. And when the attack is over, Ed quickly realizes the task he is now presented with– one that he is wholly unfit for.

The world had designed me to be something. I was supposed to be a survival mechanism, a series of devices and instincts built, tested, and improved upon over billions of years. I was a sculpture of hydrogen, evolution’s cutting edge, a vessel of will, a self-adjusting, self-aware machine of infinite resource and potential. That was what the world had designed me to be. A survivor. A human being. A man. I sat still in the darkness of the cellar. Arranged on the shelves before me were objects I had not created and could not create; food I had not gathered crammed into cylinders of metal I had not mined; water I had not collected in containers made of chemical formulae beyond my intelligence. I was no hunter, no engineer, no fighter. I was nothing that the world needed me to be. Nothing that my family needed me to be. I did what my body wanted me to do: eat, sleep, stay still, fuck, eat, sleep.

Two weeks later, after Ed has contemplated suicide and almost completely alienated his family, they are rescued and brought to an army barracks along with a group of other survivors. Still mostly unchanged by recent events, Ed seeks out every opportunity to escape his family: dangerous reconnaissance missions, supply runs and the like. It is during one of these outings that something happens which brings everything into focus for Ed. His family is rescued and they didn’t think twice about leaving without him. It is this realization that ignites the fire of change deep within Ed.

You have to understand, you see, this wasn’t a choice. I hadn’t weighed the options; I hadn’t considered the practicalities; I hadn’t reached a logical conclusion. What happened next was not because of my own volition, not because I had found some hidden well of courage and determination.

Left with no other options and faced with the real and desperate need to survive, Ed and the few other abandoned people rally together and attempt the impossible. They must make it across the country of Scotland in time to catch the ships commissioned to transport survivors to safety. So they consider the timeline and make a decision that feeds the fire within Ed until is fully ablaze.

The body wants nothing to do with this. The mind wants nothing to do with this. The resistance wants nothing to do with this. And yet… you’re running. Who are you?

Their journey is fraught with disaster, destruction and the results of humanity pushed to the brink. Each leg of their extreme marathon is action-packed and full of quirky survivors and unusual obstacles. As he fights for his life, Ed begins a transformation and the blessings that still remain become clearer with each tortured mile run.

I felt a surge of hope with every dim sunrise, and with every surge came a feeling of getting nearer to Beth and the kids. When running, I spent most of the time daydreaming about what it would be like to see them again. The smell and warmth of their skin. The sound of Alice’s voice. What our life would be like. Hope became my drug.

Edgar Hill is a “meh” father at best: he’s content to let his wife take care of the kids while he avoids responsibility and contemplates his dreary life. Until the sky begins to fall, and he only has a few hours to prepare. With a rain of asteroids imminent, Edgar is catapulted into motion, trying to scrape together everything he can to help save his family from the apocalypse. They are trapped in their basement for two weeks, and emerge into a world almost totally devastated.

With a few other survivors, they attempt to sort out their lives. When Edgar is out on a supply run one day, his family is rescued and taken all the way across the country in preparation for evacuation. Now he has only weeks to make it to them, with no vehicles, no supplies, and crazy, power-hungry scavengers who want to rule their own territories between him and his family. Running is the only answer. And Ed has never been much of a runner—more of a couch potato—so the lack of supplies isn’t even his biggest obstacle. Will his ragtag group make it to safety in time?

This novel mixes a dystopian, end-of-the-world feel with literary prose to achieve an adventure that focuses on the outer obstacles, but also a man’s struggles with his own inner ugliness. Ed isn’t a nice guy. He loves his family, but he’s kind of—okay, definitely is—a jerk. The end of the world doesn’t change that, but it does shake loose something in Ed and make him realize how precious his family is. Ed’s friend, Bryce, is a fantastic supporting character, injecting humor and attitude that Ed is decidedly lacking. This was a good read that gave me a bit to think about.

(Galley provided by Sourcebooks via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.)

This was a fantastic read. The story line and characters where very intriguing. This book will be ordered for our library system.

I received a copy of the End of the World Running Club from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I picked up The End of the World Running Club to read because it sounded so different from more dystopian novels I’ve read. I mean, how often is the focus on the running part of it? As a bonus, the artwork on the cover is really striking – it’s actually the reason I read the description to begin with. The End of the World Running Club isn’t Adrian J. Walker’s first novel, and the experience in writing shows. After this I’m probably going to check out some of his other books (he appears to be a very prolific writer too, which is fantastic for people who obsessively read).

Spoiler Warning

Warnings first: There’s a whole lot of animal death in this novel. That shouldn’t be a huge surprise, considering it covers an event that literally results in the end of civilization as we know it. Sadly this means that animals would be hit pretty hard. The End of the World Running Club is unapologetically a post-apocalypse novel that doesn’t shy from hard to deal with details. I found it best not to think too hard about the tidbits he drops here and there.
When I first saw the title of this book, I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I guess some part of my brain naturally assumed there’d be zombies (because of the running), but I’m happy to report that that wasn’t the case (no offense to zombies, but a change is nice once and a while). You can tell that Walker put a lot of thought into the “end of the world” part of his story, even though the event itself doesn’t last the entire length of the novel (though obviously the effects of said event last much longer).
The plot itself is actually fairly straight-forward, it just so happens to be very thoroughly fleshed out. The main character, Edgar (AKA Ed) survives a cataclysmic event with his family. Shortly after he’s separated from them, so he and a small group of survivors start the long trek to be reunited with Ed’s family and the rest of their group. Obviously a lot of events and obstacles lay in their path, which makes up the majority of the story (and helps to make it more interesting).
The funny thing about the title is that the exact words did finally appear in the novel – almost three quarters of the way through. Meanwhile the “club” didn’t become a running club until the halfway point, give or take. There’s a decent amount of buildup to that point, so that when everything does finally all come together it makes sense.
The characters in the novel were almost brutally human – they reflected both the good and the bad of humanity. Sometimes we got to see genuinely caring people, other times we saw a character that had always and will always put themselves first. The variety in personalities among the survivors was greatly appreciated. There are seven people in the original group that sets out, Ed (obviously), Harvey, Grimes, Bryce, Henderson, Yuill, and Richard. Ed wasn’t the best dad before the event, and he’s trying to make up for all his mistakes by getting back to his family when he’s needed the most. Harvey is a rock, and I mean that in the emotional sense; he’s always the stable and reasonable one in the group. Bryce is described as a bear in size, and his emotions are rarely under check. Grimes is a military woman, determined to stay by those she swore to protect. Richard is a single father who just wants to get back to his kid (who is off with Ed’s family), his presence screams past military experience. Henderson and Yuill are probably the least defined of the group; one is temperamental and a bully, the other is a bit of a push-over and resentful of the position he’s been placed in (I describe them together because I honestly cannot remember which is which).
I’ll admit that a couple of the character deaths that occurred felt unjust to me. I’ll admit that this was at least in part because I liked those characters, so my bias is clearly showing some. (Massive spoilers ahead) I really liked Grimes, and felt she deserved better than she got. Yes, I know she died doing what she wanted (protecting the people she promised to help), but it just felt so sudden, and was over with so quickly, I didn’t really have time to cope or adjust. The other one that broke my heart was Harvey – not only did I love his character, but I felt like his death was so needless. They were there! He could have been safe! I keep thinking to myself “if they hadn’t let him go to sleep right then, he’d still be around.” So I guess that really goes to show how good of a job Walker did at getting me emotionally attached.
I really enjoyed Ed’s perspective on the whole thing – he’s retelling the events he went through to get to where he did. I believe he’s doing it to prevent himself from questioning his own sanity. It’s actually a really interesting thought. What proof does Ed have of any of it happening? From where he’s currently sitting, you can’t tell if any of it is true. Sure, he could probably walk a mile or less and start seeing more proof, but that raises some interesting questions. Should he have to do that to prove his sanity? And if so, who is he proving it to?
I enjoyed reading the End of the World Running Club, it was an interesting perspective on an old topic (dystopian novels) and I really enjoyed the unique nature of it. I’m going to take some time to look into Wilder’s other books once I finish writing this review. He’s definitely an author worth keeping an eye on.

At first this book confused me, because while there was the end of the world, there was no running. But then, at about 50%, the running started.

As an apocalyptic story it's very good, with a type of apocalypse that doesn't often show up and a moderately unlikeable hero. I liked his determination, and being in his head as his mental state deteriorated was unsettling. Now, I must go and stock up some water and canned food...

Edgar Hill was an unhappy man the Sunday morning that the world nearly ended. His wife was still recovering from giving birth to their youngest, Arthur, and their entire marriage focused on keeping their two children alive. Gone was the love that had brought them together and instead there were two adults that barely tolerated each other. Edgar was a bit of a dick to his wife with his "he who works gets to sleep" decree. He had put on a ton of weight since their marriage and was an all around dick to be around. He did agree to look after the children on weekend mornings so that Beth could sleep. That is why Edgar was awake (and a bit hungover) when he remembered the news from the night before those asteroids were about to hit the planet. His teenage fantasy with all things apocalyptic kicked in and he knew he needed to get his family to the cellar. There they survived for three weeks before being rescued and sent to a refugee center of sorts. Three months later Edgar is out on a scavenging mission when Beth and the kids were swept up in a rescue that would put them on ships to the other side of the planet, where damage was minimal. With the country's infrastructure destroyed by the asteroids, Edgar and a band of misfits set off on foot for the 450-mile trek to his family. Will Edgar and his companions make it to the ships before they set sail? Or will the treachery they encounter along the way do what the asteroids could not - destroy them all?


I find myself a little surprised at how much I enjoyed The End of the World Running Club. Edgar was a bit of a dick and I really struggled to like him at first. One of those characters that are so distasteful if you had encountered him in real life you would hate him and try to convince his wife that she could do better. The author did an astounding job of painting just what a dick Edgar was before the asteroids hit. He was the kind of guy that would frequently get drunk with his work buddies leaving his wife to be the sole care provider for the kids. He was very hands-off in their upbringing. He started to redeem himself when he kicked it into gear knowing what was about to happen. Even then he was a bit dickish when he kicked in the door for his local store. It isn't until his family is evacuated to safety that Edgar starts to realize how much of a dick he had been. It wasn't until he had to start out on foot that he was -- humbled -- enough to realize how lucky he was to have such a wonderful family. His journey forces him to encounter some pretty perilous situations and even more perilous survivors - the desperate kind. The kind of situations you would only expect to encounter in a post-apocalyptic world. I felt a rush of relief as the book ended, but the story still felt unfinished. I can see another book coming down the way - I hope so at least.

Bottom line - I haven't read a good post-apocalyptic story in a while and I am glad that I picked up The End of the World Running Club. With flawed, complex characters, the author created a world that seemed far more plausible than most novels in this genre. If you are looking for a way to escape the world's headlines (or potentially needing to take notes in the event of a global meltdown) than this is the book to pick up!

Details:
The End of the World Running Club by Adrian J. Walker
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Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date: 9/5/2017
Pages: 464
Buy it Here!

An interesting apocalyptic novel, The End of the World Running Club didn't quite meet my expectations, but it was still an enjoyable book covering an intriguing concept.

Quite honestly, this is one of those books that proves to be so hard to review. Let's start off with what I did like. The prologue and the first chapters which detail and cover the actual lead-up to the apocalyptic event, the event itself, and the immediate aftermath was so well-done. It was riveting and emotional. Edgar, our narrator, is a 35 year old man who leaves a lot to be desired. He's a layabout at heart, just with a job. He is a disappointing husband, father, and citizen. But, there's nothing really wrong with him, he just seems to lack oomph. He doesn't do much, and he admits it. And, at this point in the story, his flaws are laid out and fairly relatable. So when the asteroids/meteors start to rain down on Earth, he and his small family (wife and two young kids) hunker down in their tiny cellar in Scotland. The coverage of this event and the emotional turmoil Ed and his wife, Beth, go through down in that cellar with their young daughter, Alice, and their still-nursing baby, Arthur, was written so well. This section was edge-of-your-seat, nail biting good.

However, the story was inconsistent after that. The four are eventually rescued and the novel jumps to months later as we follow Ed through the integration into the newly formed interim-society at the barracks with the other survivors, Ed's flaws take the seat front and center. He's whiny. He's self-centered. He's everything that makes your eyes roll and your lips curl as you force out a resigned sigh. But, I recognize that he's supposed to be that way. And, here's where I think the novel could've been handled better.

My problem with Ed, is that he doesn't really change over the course of the book, despite the fact that I'm lead to believe he should...or even does. But, he doesn't really. Ed gets separated from his family still fairly early on in the story. His wife and children are picked up at the barracks with many other survivors to be taken down to the southern tip of England where they will await a departure by boat to be taken elsewhere. Ed and a handful of other misfit toys spend the rest of the novel trekking their way across England to get to the boats and (for some) their families in time.

Ed berates himself, he chastises, and he searches for his own redemption...but not really. What happens here instead—especially once all hope seems lost and he spontaneously begins running as a last ditch effort to get to his family on time—is that he isn't hoping for redemption. He's hoping for the chance at redemption. He overcomes the physical effort of getting his out-of-shape body to run, but he makes very little emotional progress. He's not actually running to see his family, he's running because he thinks he's supposed to want to desperately see his family.

The majority of the novel is spent with the runners as they encounter different obstacles along the way. I recognize how hard it probably is to not fall into the trap of clichéd ideas for post-apocalyptic events, and Walker manages to dodge it most of the time. It's almost a little too much like being in a museum of various post-apocalyptic outcomes—a set of dioramas displaying the different ways different people(s) handle this traumatic aftereffect. But, many of the characters Walker creates along the way for Ed to discover are just on the good side of believable and fairly developed. Those are the more enjoyable moments and ultimately what helped keep this novel afloat.

If you like apocalyptic books, this one is certainly worth the chance. There's a little bit of an ambiguous ending, but nothing that detracts from this if it remains a stand-alone.

Plain and simple, just really, really good. I highly recommend this to fans of apocalyptic fiction and fans of family tales. Well worth the read.