4.5/5

For fans of: speculative sci-fi, time-travel, slow journeys, post-apocalyptic settings, twists of fate, survival of humanity

Synopsis: After the world falls apart due to the Fly Flu, Nico, Kit, and the Deliverer face a world that is bleak and unforgiving. Nico, a young woman who was born at the dawn of the end of the world must go on a journey at the behest of her grief-stricken father in the hopes of one final chance at salvation. Kit, a young boy with an artist’s heart and love for his family, must walk into the unknown. The Deliverer, having lived many lives, begins their journey towards the end of this current one. At the end of the world, these three individuals experience joy, beauty, love, terror, and heartache all in the hopes of something more.

Review: I won’t lie, this was a total cover buy. I barely skimmed the synopsis, so I walked into this with zero expectations. It was a slow and confusing start since there are three storylines and a time jump after the prologue. Oh, but this book is intriguing. The world building is very well done and the threat of the flies is terrifying: swarms that blot out the sun, the coordination to pick up whole animals and people off the ground and consume them in the air, and then the Fly Flu that is unexplainable but just as terrifying. The threat of other people and their motivations is akin to The Walking Dead, but the innocence and loyalty found along the way breaks your heart and puts it back together. The combination of faith and science, and the beauty that come from it, is breathtaking and hopeful. This story is so beautiful and so different from other YA novels, but also so extremely relevant at this very moment in history.