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A review by brookeisbusyreading
All That's Left in the World by Erik J. Brown
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I only planned to read for about 2 hours… Flash forward to 5 hours later because I got hooked and had to finish the book.
This was my first YA dystopian novel - and my first QUEER YA dystopian novel! Omg the things I can say!!!
First, I loved all the tense, thrilling scenes as well as the ridiculous jokes/banter! Andrew and Jamie were perfect together from the start but there was something about this slow burn romance that made my heart pound. The growth from Jamie, insividual traumas, development of feelings for each other, and the detailed descriptions create this labrynth of well-crafted scenes.
My favorite part of the book would have to be the balance between realism and fiction. I hadn’t read a dystopian book before but, based on the summary, I thought the end of the world in this book would either be caused by some disease/illness or zombies…and I’m so glad it wasn’t zombies! The fact that the author has the setting - the ‘bug’ - take place AFTER COVID is a perfect choice, in my opinion. It highlights how humanity had a tendency to repeat its mistakes.
And then you have the aspect of purity - aka Jamie’s innocent nature in the beginning and Andrew’s desire to somehow be a good person. Putting that beside the greed, desperation, and fear creates the scale of good to evil I think every dystopian story should have.
I love how, while Andrew and Jamie’s relationship was front and center, it wasn’t the main focus of the book. Their pasts, mistakes/regrets, the emptiness of the world, and the guys’ interactions with different people were also focuses too.
All That’s Left in the World is a tragically sweet queer romance set in a world so cruel and unforgiving, it makes you cling as much to Andrew and Jamie as they cling to each other.
This was my first YA dystopian novel - and my first QUEER YA dystopian novel! Omg the things I can say!!!
First, I loved all the tense, thrilling scenes as well as the ridiculous jokes/banter! Andrew and Jamie were perfect together from the start but there was something about this slow burn romance that made my heart pound. The growth from Jamie, insividual traumas, development of feelings for each other, and the detailed descriptions create this labrynth of well-crafted scenes.
My favorite part of the book would have to be the balance between realism and fiction. I hadn’t read a dystopian book before but, based on the summary, I thought the end of the world in this book would either be caused by some disease/illness or zombies…and I’m so glad it wasn’t zombies! The fact that the author has the setting - the ‘bug’ - take place AFTER COVID is a perfect choice, in my opinion. It highlights how humanity had a tendency to repeat its mistakes.
And then you have the aspect of purity - aka Jamie’s innocent nature in the beginning and Andrew’s desire to somehow be a good person. Putting that beside the greed, desperation, and fear creates the scale of good to evil I think every dystopian story should have.
All That’s Left in the World is a tragically sweet queer romance set in a world so cruel and unforgiving, it makes you cling as much to Andrew and Jamie as they cling to each other.