The Quiet At The End Of The World by Lauren James

I really love Lauren’s writing, and i have for a long time, so Quiet was a hugely anticipated book for me in 2019. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the story, because of the masterpiece of The Loneliest Girl In The Universe, however i absolutely loved Quiet.

I’ve been a huge fan of Lauren for quite some time now, and The Quiet At The End Of The World was one of my most anticipated books of the year for me. Not only that, but one of my best friends at Lois Reads Books was breathing down my neck every second of the day about this book until its release. I figured i better start it right away.

I went in to Quiet blind, as that’s how i approached The Loneliest Girl and it worked so well with Lauren’s incredible plot-twists. I want this to be a spoiler free post, because i feel like you can never go in to one of Lauren’s books knowing very much. If you want to avoid even the basics of this book, skip to the next paragraph! This book is apocalyptic of sorts, with only three-hundred humans left on the planet after a virus made everyone sterile, meaning very few babies would be able to be born. The ones that are left are the surviving members of the human race. London is falling to pieces and Lowrie and Shen try to understand how to finish their lives as the only living people. Lowrie and Shen are the youngest people on earth by about sixty years, so without a doubt will be the last ones alive.

Lowrie and Shen are two of my favourite character’s i’ve read about this year. I adored their dynamic and how they interacted with each other, along with how different their personalities seemed to be. Lowrie is incredibly hands on, and to have that representation in a YA book of a teenage girl using tools at any chance she got was absolutely wonderful.

One thing i’ve always loved about Lauren’s writing is her representation. Lowrie does come out as Bisexual in the book, and Shen tries his best to understand it. The questions he asks are incredibly realistic to ones that i’ve got in my personal life, and their conversations about her sexuality are wonderful. To have this extra element in it is wonderful and really adds to the characters.

Something else i loved so much about this book (which is similar to what Lauren includes in all her books), is the extra element of telling the story through social media. Lowrie discovers an old Facebook profile and a lot of the story and history behind the characters is then being told though this Facebook profile. It adds a lot of dimension to the story and keeps it interesting with a different format every so often.

Quiet for me had the exact same reactive plot-twist that The Loneliest Girl did. I was slightly worried that Lauren could never think up a great plot-twist like it, but she did, and she’s proven again that she’s absolutely smashing the YA community with excellent novels that are easily readable and wonderfully thought out. I have no idea how someone thinks up all these things, and i really hope i continue loving Lauren’s writing as much i have her previous novels.

If you have the chance to pick up a copy of The Quiet at the End Of The World i strongly urge that you do. It’s a fast paced and wonderful read that’s honestly interesting for all ages.