shannonmiz
Written on Feb 21, 2020
What happens if the world literally stops spinning? Well, The Last Day posits that question, and ventures a guess at the aftermath. The scenario appealed to me at once, as I absolutely adore stories like this. I will say that for me, the one negative was that this focused less on rebuilding the world and more on a bit of a mystery at how/why/at whose hand the world was falling deeper into an abyss. As such, it lent to some draggier bits, at least for me personally.
Overall though, I quite enjoyed the story. The world-building was great; the author did a wonderful job incorporating knowledge of the whole Earth (not just England), while explaining gaps in the knowledge base of the characters. Honestly, it's what I beg for from every similar book and rarely get. Hopper.. she's bitter, jaded, and leery. And it makes complete sense for her to be such. She's lost her parents and lives fairly reclusively on a rig until an old college mentor seeks her out on his deathbed.
And sure, I wanted more rig (guess I'll just have to write that one myself!), but I loved seeing what was going on in London and its outskirts. At first glance, it seems somewhat close to "normal". But when you look deeper, things are not going great. People are starving, and there simply isn't enough arable land to support the population. And so, with a final clue from her mentor, Hopper goes off in search of answers. Can anyone be trusted? Can the world, humanity, be saved? These are the questions Hopper seeks to solve, and in doing so she'll find out exactly who she can- and more likely, can't- trust.
Bottom Line: While it has a few slower bits, I enjoyed Hopper's journey so much that I was eager to find the answers with her.