This book, to me, started it off very promising and interesting. I was pulled in right from the start, from the very first chapters. The whole idea of the 'last zoo in the world' was very appealing to me - and also terryfing to picture. I also enjoyed the 'tour' the main character (mainly POV) gives the reader around the zoo, its animals and facilities. The interaction between the main characters was also well done. The 'past' chapters set in Paris was, at first, intriguing - and then not anymore. The whole dystopian world on which there is a plague and stuff.
Unfortunately, after the first 20% it all started to fall flat to me. The excitment I had in the beginning was placed with boredom and lack of interest.
I wanted more explanations on how the world outside that zoo was dealing with everything that was going on. And the main characters started to annoy me after a while.
Way before halfway through the book I lost all interest and was just going through the motions. And the end? I was feeling so nonchalant that the twist didn't even shock or impress me.
The audiobook narrator is very good. It made me interested enough to keep going and they make different voices for different characters. I'd recommend it.
As for the book itself, don't expect too much world-building or sci-fi elements.

In a post apocalyptic world, animals only exist in a small number of zoos. Ultimately the zoo on Alcatraz becomes the last one left on earth. Camille, a zookeeper on Alcatraz has a love for animals and is quite comfortable on the island. Her world is shaken up when Sailor, another zookeeper, arrives and begins to break rules, starting small and eventually rising to smuggle an animal out of the zoo. As the resistance grows outside the zoo walls, inside, Camille must decide if she is willing to risk her future.

The Island of Last Things is a very interesting story, asking the question: what would you risk to help save the world? It was intriguing but there were some weaknesses in the descriptions and believability of the world that author Emma Sloleu set up. In addition, the action dragged in some places, crying out for more to happen. Solid characters and an interesting plot, 2.75 stars.

I received this advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

This audiobook was unfortunately a DNF for me around 50% and here is why

I grabbed this partially based on the cover.
I am an animal fan and I like sci-fi and fantasy and I wanted to try something slightly different. Plus, I have been wanting to try more audiobooks recently so this one seemed like a good fit.

I am not incredibly picky as far as like world building per se when it comes to a fantasy book - I’m someone who likes everything from urban fantasy to high fantasy and for me it’s really about like being creative with the plot and the characters and making a story that keeps me interested while also utilizing the ability to have that freedom within the fantasy genre.

I am so sad to say that this book was disappointing and I’m wondering if maybe the physical book will be better?

The friendship with Sailor made a bit of sense to me initially, and then I thought that they were going to end up forming a romantic relationship and then it didn’t seem like that was going to happen and then Sailor was in contact with people from Paris and now we are going back-and-forth between Paris, Alcatraz, and consistently talking to and listening to Camille’s inner dialogue and her feelings towards the animals, but we get almost nothing about the actual conflict within the book the plot itself or why this is categorized as sci-fi fantasy.

For some reason, I thought that there would be some sort of a magical element to this, and I realized after going to the reviews that it is in a dystopian climate fiction world in which there’s only one zoo left in a fairly depressing kind of set up with climate dystopian fiction, which, I am not a fan of climate fiction. It’s not something that I’ve ever gravitated towards, not something that I’ve interest in, so that makes sense as to why I’m not loving this book.

I was a little bit sad about the multiple like animal deaths mentioned and I guess I should’ve been prepped for that but I’m wanting a zoo book and I was sad about the different conflicts that happened to these animals and it was something that just kind of made me not enjoy the read. I appreciated the relationship between Sailor and Camille, but I was hoping that it would develop into something more. It was just incredibly slow as far as the development for that it and I was trying to figure out. Are they going to be best friends, are they gonna you know be partners, and do a heist together or are they going to get into relationship? What does this look like? It seemed to kind of just drag and I know I only made it to 50% so maybe it developed more and I just am not sure. But for me, if I’m going for like a romance book or a book about friendship, I will be expecting to that to be a huge element, but this was a sci-fi fantasy book so I was not expecting to hear so much of Camille’s inner thoughts and feelings towards these animals and to hear so much of her feelings towards like Sailor without it being something that developed more.

I wanting more from this book around 30% and it seemed like something was picking up, but it just was way too slow and there was none enough happening for me to continue reading.

If you are someone who enjoys literary fiction and books about friendship and like sci-fi fantasy dystopian fiction where there is heavy emphasis on human rights conversations conversations about friendships and about morality, then I think you’ll enjoy this one, but for me, this was not something I was looking for at the moment.

Please do not let my review deter you if this book looks interesting to you. I am fairly picky with my books, and I may end up coming back to this one, but for now, this is my honest opinion.

Thank you for the ARC, I appreciate the opportunity to leave honest feedback voluntarily.

(3.75 Stars because it is not quite a 4, but not far off)

Than you to #NetGalley for making this book available to read and review.

So, I read some of the other reviews about this book and while I can see where they are coming from, I don't necessarily completely agree. Yes, to enjoy this book, you need to suspend your disbelief. The author glosses over a lot of the "unknowns", but I am not sure if it is because she didn't want to distract from the story with implausible "facts", or because she didn't think people would focus on them. Like I said, if you can not think too hard about the impossibilities (or just things that didn't make sense), it is a really good story with good dialog and is a touching tale about our need to connect, and belong.

With that being said, there are a lot of unanswered questions, or maybe just "things that make you go 'hmmm'". What caused the blight, how are plants pollenated, why does it seem like only food vendors (and animals) are impacted by the blight, and loads of other (situations and physics) that just don't work.

IMHO, the story, the theme, the dialog, and the camaraderie more than make up for any of the more fantastical elements of the story. The narrator is also very good. The pace is slightly slow, but it all works out at the end.

The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley is set in a dystopian future where the natural world is dying, the "wild" no longer exists, and cartels seem to be running everything. Our main character, Camille, works at what is essentially the very last zoo on Earth, located on Alcatraz Island. Think of it like a Jurassic Park, but for common animals we see today. Camille much prefers her life at this zoo, safe from the unknown dangers outside. The zoo even offers tours for money to see these rare animals.

Camille becomes intrigued by a new zookeeper, Sailor, who arrives from Paris after its last zoo shut down. Sailor shares a shocking secret with Camille: there's a sanctuary where animals are truly roaming free. Camille hadn't really considered the ethical implications of how the animals were kept before, but she's found innovative ways to care for them and has become one of their favorite keepers. This connection builds Sailor's trust, leading her to share a bold plan to get some of the zoo animals to freedom at this sanctuary. Camille now faces a huge decision: keep her comfortable, routine life, or take a monumental chance to free animals and venture out into the unknown.

I'm going to classify this book more as fiction than pure dystopian fiction. While it's definitely set in a dystopian future, the premise didn't really focus on what happened to get them there or the new way of living. Instead, it was much more centered on fictional elements like friendship, basic human rights, animal rights, and morals. I really enjoyed the relationship between Camille and Sailor, and the ethical dilemmas presented in the story made it a truly unique read for me.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio in exchange for an honest review. Release date 8/12/25.

An interesting premise that doesn't fully live up to its potential. Another entry in the slow apocalypse end of the world genre, it had a chance to be truly unique with its setting. Unfortunately it didn't take advantage of the zoo, and there was really no effort made to flesh out the world. If the story is shifting back and forth in time anyway (BTW UGH), I wish there'd been some lore about why Alcatraz was chosen for a zoo, how that worked, the animals inhabiting it (just going by the text it seemed like there were maybe ten kinds of animals on the island... you say it's one of the last zoos in the world but there's no sense of presence.)

Last zoo in the world..set in a dystopian era? Yeah sign me up, this sounded interesting!

when I started the book I was excited to see how the world would be mapped out.. but there wasn’t any real world building. Everything felt so grey… and for dystopian I feel like we NEED the world building. It all felt very muddled.

I liked Camille and Sailor, but I felt like I couldn’t really FEEL them being friends. Totally thought they were going to be lovers, so that’s a bit of a bummer. Their friendship just felt surface level. The whole book really felt surface level to me.

There were some plot lines that could have been flushed out so well, but it’s like we got a little glimpse and then… nothing.

I did like the ending.

Thank you to FlatIron for the physical arc and Macmillan audio for the ALC!