Let’s Talk YA #11

A little while ago the lovely Emma from Never Judge A Book By Its Cover and I launched Let’s Talk YA. You can check out all of the books I’ve previously recommended, all of which are incredible UKYA books that I think need to be shouted about more.

Today, I’m discussing the heartfelt and hopeful A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World, which Orbit Books kindly sent me in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:

My name’s Griz. My childhood wasn’t like yours. I’ve never had friends, and in my whole life I’ve not met enough people to play a game of football.

My parents told me how crowded the world used to be, but we were never lonely on our remote island. We had each other, and our dogs.

Then the thief came.

There may be no law left except what you make of it. But if you steal my dog, you can at least expect me to come after you.

Because if we aren’t loyal to the things we love, what’s the point?

Why I Love It:

This is a really hard book to review without giving it away, but I will try my best!

At the heart of the book is Griz, who is such an amazing, complex character and their story of post-apocalyptic survival with core themes of family and loyalty. As the story is told mainly through first-person narration, we get a lot of introspection and as I’m such a character-driven reader, this really added to my enjoyment of the story. Alongside Griz are some major side characters who were layered and engaging, proving that Fletcher definitely knows how to create memorable and three-dimensional characters.

The plot twists were so, so good and really added to the message of the story, ultimately being a hopeful one even in the bleakest of environments and the way that the book is left with an open ending left me imagining what certain characters will get up to next. There were intriguing hints and glimpses into the wider world post-Guelding and I liked how Fletcher played with some of the tropes of the genre, using them to masterful effect.

Fletcher kept me utterly hooked, with an enthralling, gripping and thought-provoking dystopian tale that I really hope gets a sequel.

Let’s Talk!

Have you read A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World? What did you think? 

As always, please check out Emma’s blog for her recommendation and we will be talking on Twitter, so please get involved and use the hashtag #LetsTalkYA.