A number of delinquent teenagers are held at a juvenile treatment center where there seems to be no hope and no one to care about them. The guards are acting strange and one day there are no guards. They learn that the world is in the throes of a pandemic although they do not know the details. They want to survive and have to decide if they are going to leave or stay.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I could not get into this one. I felt like there were too many characters and I had a hard time telling them apart or caring about what was going to happen. I did like the unique way of story telling with the articles and information in between the narrative chapters but I think there were just too many characters.

3 for neutral. I tried to read this on a couple occasions, but just couldn’t get past the first few pages. I am very much a moody reader though, so if able to finish later I’ll definitely update. I think it was a bit too confusing, even in starting for me.

This was an interesting story and relevant with current conditions, however I found it very difficult to connect with the characters and follow all the different storylines.

Not everything or everyone in life are treated fairly and for many it can be the difference between a normal life or taking a bad path in life.
The hope juvenile treatment centre is a home for many of those that have ended up down that bad path or been treated unfairly.
Never would they have imagined that they would be truly left behind by everyone when a worldwide epidemic strikes. To be left without hope, help or comfort; it’s a truly heartbreaking realisation that it’s a representation of the juvenile justice system today with their lack of support, disciplinary of racial injustice but also disabled youths with how they are often forgotten about.
I enjoyed the sole premise of the storyline how it brings up a lot of issues that are in-fact happening today not just with the pandemic but the problems in the justice system itself.
Although a great read some may find the jumping between characters storylines a little confusing but do not let this put you off reading it as it really was a wonderful read.

I wish I could rate this higher.

It has everything I love! Dystopia, apocalypse, teens having to fend for themselves...the elements just didn't come together properly to form something great. It's still good, I finished it and I'm recommending it, it's just not as good as I hoped.

Part of the problem, for me, was the multiple points of view. I felt like I was just getting to know one character and I was flung into another's point of view. It took me a while to get everyone down - a consistent problem with me - and when the POV changed I had to spend the first page or two reminding myself who this was and what had been happening with them up until now.

I did enjoy the story, though. The teens were very resourceful and they came up with some really clever ideas. It was a great look at how things might have gone if we'd been a little less lucky over the last two years. I enjoyed getting to know them and watching them come up with their solutions.

I enjoyed this, but I feel like for me it could have been better. Still a definite thumbs up, though.

Interesting premise. Well written. Timely. Topical. Would provoke lively discussion in a YA book club.

I loved the premise of this book following a few teenagers in the Hope Juvenile Detention Center. This book did a great job of shedding hope and opening eyes to a lot of the systemic injustices that happen within this community. However, this book felt very difficult to get through and I was not as connected to these characters as I feel like I should have been with the heaviness of the the topic.

Here it comes, the slew of pandemic related fiction. In short, take The Stand and mix it with Legend with a CW network spin. Hope for Better Futures is a residential facility for supposed delinquents who are abandoned when a pandemic breaks out. The crew must devise a way to survive while the larger world breaks down due to supply chain issues. The story is told from alternating perspectives of the residents, but not all the residents (Casey and Isaiah and Nia do not get their own chapters). While fans of dystopian works will likely love this one, I found some of it a bit too forced with many of the characters described in such a way as to check off boxes (Teen with disability? Check. Nonbinary? Check? Aggressive White male? Check. And so on.) The plot was a bit predictable, but thankfully, the resolution does not end as tidily as a tv show typically does. I also took a bit of an issue with the use of stereotypes about juvenile centers, but I still found it to be a solid story.

A story of resilience and hope. Humanity is tested on a group of youth who feel already forgotten about and they bound themselves together through hard fought trust and determination. Survival at it's finest. Really enjoyed this fast paced novel of a new age plague and the struggles to overcome it and so much more.

Thank you Netgalley for this arc

Wow! What a book! So this is definitely something that I felt relevant to right now especially with barely starting to get over covid myself. I was literally kept on the edge of my seat for most of it and I do think that this was a trip!
The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is kind of named in mockery form of a sense, there is no hope and when an epidemic outbroke the guards, social services, the national guard everyone just left the kids there. While some of the kids broke off and decided to take their luck somewhere else and take off a bunch of the kids stayed and tried to make the best of it to basically survive.
While there were *TW DEATH* and the kids worked with themselves to take care of their own and to try the best they could on the medical care it was tragic and sad. These kids were trapped, they had nowhere to go, while they could call their families they did not always get a reply.
If the kids try to leave they will get shot because of everything going on and they were literally working together just to survive, then of course you have a lot of bullying because of being nonbinary and things like that. This is definitely a crazy novel, thrilling to keep you on the edge of your seat but it also pulls on your heart strings bc you just want to help these kids! If you love twisty, pandemic-style thrillers then this should be your next read! Thank you Sourcefirebooks and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this one!

At the End of Everything by Marieke Nijkamp was such a thrilling story! I was on the edge of my seat the entire team reading it, so good!

Thank you to the publisher for the advance reader copy of this novel. I do love most apocalyptic novels but perhaps this one is a bit too early after/during covid for me. The ending was the best part in my opinion - I really felt the character arcs were well developed by then. I liked this book but I’m interested in the author’s next novel. I think she has a good voice and insight into struggling teens.

Thank you to NetGalley, Sourcebooks Fire and Marieke Nijkamp, for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

At The End of Everything is an apocalyptic survival story about a group of teens stuck in a detention center when the plague hits. It is not a thriller but more of a survival story of what happens when 25 teens are left to fend for themselves after being abandoned by staff. While it is not action packed, there is a wonderful story here of friendship, sisterhood, and making do with what you have.

The main characters in the story are Logan, Emerson, and Grace. Logan, is mute and somewhat autistic and depends on her sister, Leah, to help her along. Sadly, Leah is one of the first to get sick and Logan's story is definitely what makes this book so amazing. Grace is the one that takes control when they first realize they have been left behind. She leads, organizes, and brings everyone together, even when there is seemingly no hope at all. Emerson has just arrived at the facility and is already being bullied, as she is non-binary. Her growth throughout this novel is also what deems this book so incredible.

There are so many wonderful things about this book and I really enjoyed reading it. I was rooting for all characters to survive, but realistically, that was not to be. The character development was honest, and I especially liked the phone call transcripts. The entire book feels like true, especially given our situation now.

I'm not going to post this on my IG. I started reading the book and found it pretty disturbing because of the
child abuse. I just couldn't read it. I tried a couple of time but I think the pandemic is making me less tolerant of
sad stuff. I know. Pathetic. But there it is.

Thank you to Sourcebooks Fire and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

// Content warnings: death, disease, guns, violence // – I am unable to provide a full list of content warnings since I did not finish reading this novel.

// Quick Statistics //

Overall: 2/5 Stars

Plot: 1/5 Stars

Setting: 2/5 Stars

Characters: 1/5 Stars

Writing: 4/5 Stars

Memorability: 1/5 Stars

// Quick Review //

While I wish I could say that this novel lived up to my expectations, but I unfortunately cannot. Just like This Is Where It Ends, the novel falls short on its diversity, plot, and realness. I ended up not finishing the novel after being stuck at 55% for a long time.

// Other Information //

Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Page Count: 320 pages

Release Date: January 25, 2022

Series: None

Genre: Fiction, Young adult, Science fiction, Suspense, Contemporary, LGBTQ+

// Book Description (via Goodreads) //

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of This Is Where It Ends comes another heartbreaking, emotional and timely page-turner that will keep you on the edge of your seat.

The Hope Juvenile Treatment Center is ironically named. No one has hope for the delinquent teenagers who have been exiled there; the world barely acknowledges that they exist.

Then the guards at Hope start acting strange. And one day…they don’t show up. But when the teens band together to make a break from the facility, they encounter soldiers outside the gates. There’s a rapidly spreading infectious disease outside, and no one can leave their houses or travel without a permit. Which means that they’re stuck at Hope. And this time, no one is watching out for them at all.

As supplies quickly dwindle and a deadly plague tears through their ranks, the group has to decide whom among them they can trust and figure out how they can survive in a world that has never wanted them in the first place.

// Characters //

The novel is split between the POV’s of three characters: Logan, Grace, and Emerson. Logan is the sister of Leah, and both of them are living at Hope Juvenile Treatment Center, a place for troubled teens. Emerson is a non-binary teen also at this center. And Grace? I honestly forget who she is as a character.

This is a major issue with the novel: most if not all the characters are flat, unrealistic, and tokenized. So are their relationships. If This Is Where It Ends was performative, At The End of Everything was even more so.

The first chapter is pretty much dedicated to going through all of the characters at Hope and naming off their gender, sexuality, and race. During the first chapter I could already tell that the characters would be sloppily represented. This seems to be an issue I have with Nijkamp’s novels: the sloppy representation.

But besides the characters’ identities, I didn’t relate to or become attached to any of them. They were all flat and unrealistic, making it hard to sympathize with them in their hardships.

// Writing and Setting //

This novel is split between 3 POV’s: Grace, Emerson, and Logan. The writing is descriptive but basic.

The novel takes place in a world where a mutation of the Black Plague is ravaging the world. It seems as if this situation was meant to reflect but be a more dramatized version of our world today and the pandemic. The setting was decent but left me unsatisfied and not thrilled. For a suspense novel there was hardly any tension.

The main characters are troubled teenagers who have been sent to Hope Juvenile Treatment Center, a place that (not surprisingly) is not really treatment oriented.

// Plot //

After an unusual day at Hope, the guards abandon the kids without a mention of why. The kids ‘escape’ and come in contact with a blockade at the entrance of the nearest town, preventing them from truly escaping their nicely named prison. They discover that the world is currently at the mercy of a black plague mutation.

At the plague begins to infect those within Hope, the kids must band together to take care of one another and live.

I cannot speak for the second half of the novel, as I DNFed at 55%, but the first half of the novel was slow-moving, not compelling, and chaotic. There was so much going on, yet I felt as if the story dragged. And a lot of the story was pointless in terms of the kids’ survivals.

// Overall Review //

I gave this novel two stars because it has promise, but it was just not for me. With lazy diversity, chaotic yet slow story-lines, and flat characters, I couldn’t continue reading this novel past 55%.

The young people at Hope Juvwnike Treatment Center have been left to fend for themselves, the guards, therapists and warden have walked out. They don’t know why until they learn of the plague that has begun to ravage the country and has left them to fend for themselves. They lose friends to the sickness but they also find a family, support and ultimately a home with each other as they are forced to find their way to survival. I really enjoyed this book and hope that generations to come read it and see what strength in times of hardship looks like, it isn’t individuals alone but people coming together and supporting one another.

I'll admit, I didn't fully enjoy Nijkamp's "Even if We Break", and so I was hesitant going into this. Hesitant further by the multiple POV this book provides, similar to the previously mentioned book. Yet, Nijkamp has done an amazing job of writing these varying characters during such a drastic and emotional time. Reading a book about a plague during an ongoing pandemic is emotionally jarring, and some of the responses from adults felt pulled out of my own conversations with conservative family members. While a bit slow, the emotional hold this book had on me made it worth it.

This book is painful and emotional. Its pacing is heavy, and the characters' issues give almost everyone something to connect to. The teens are the forgotten and the lost, and they're fighting to survive- and their right to deserve that. It's an interesting tale, in a prominent time.

A well paced adventure/spooky story set in the world of a devastating pandemic (Sound familiar!) As much as the story was well structured, I struggled to engage with the main protagonist on an empathetic level.

I really struggled with the rating on this one. I went back and forth between a 3 and 4, finally ending on a 3. The big idea behind this book is excellent. It is a story exposing the corruption in the prison system of the USA and the political division that is continuing to hurt the underprivileged and marginalized in our country. It also is a great testament to the struggles of LGBTQIA+ youth - especially those who are nonbinary. The issue I had was the lack of character backstory and development. Every character was very two dimensional. I also struggled with some of the dialogue being so direct and charged with making a political/social statement that it wasn't natural or conversational. Again, I loved the idea of this book but the execution is not quite there. I did really appreciate the author's note at the end and her passion for telling the story of those who are continually disenfranchised by society.