Welcome to Litsy!

Really liked this one about a future world where everyone is dead from a big bad fog, except a small group living on an island, all villagers and three elders who rule the roost. They seem happy enough, but are they? Big twist and a rather convoluted ending, but all in all kept my attention till I got to the end.

@BarbaraBB

Stopped in to Barnes & Noble for a browse and I‘m captivated by the gorgeous edge papers on some of the new paperbacks. Isn‘t this beautiful? 😍

This book is by the author of The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle and while it‘s just such a puzzle this book is also very different. Set on an island after the apocalypse a group of scientists tries to hold on to humanity and safe the world. Until there is a murder. An entertaining read that should be turned into a movie. So much scenery and settings that I could not visualize for myself and would love to see!

📸 Beach life Tenerife!

Quite the spontaneous idea but tomorrow I‘ll be traveling to Tenerife (one of Spain‘s Canary Islands) with a friend. She‘s in need of some sunshine and I thought why not join her?!

I haven‘t had much time to curate what books to take with me but I hope these will do for the week!

Look who I met again! 💕💕💕💕

Read this book everyone!

Number 6: Anything Stuart Turton writes is inventive and fun. I enjoy the flare he brings to every theme he tries his hand at and will pick up any of his future books. 🏝️

#12booksof2024

I had no idea what I was reading until I was about a 1/3 of the way in. There were a lot of characters and didn‘t really understand the premise of this novel. I thought I was reading a thriller, but it‘s more sci-fi which isn‘t my favorite genre. Basically, a fog destroys the world and a bunch of scientists bunkered down on an island and a few were considered “elders” to help the rest of the village.

This didn‘t completely blow my mind like Evelyn Hardcastle, but it was still a very fun and unique mystery! I love how with each book, Turton has explored a new genre (sci-fi for this one) while continuing to give tightly plotted, satisfying mysteries. I think the super isolated setting is a good setup for a locked room mystery, but kind of hinders the overall world building a little. He‘s still an auto read author for me!

Bailing for now on this. I‘ll try it again in print. The narrator just puts me to sleep. I immediately start spacing out when I turn this audiobook on.

#doublespin - November

The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle is one of my favorite books of all time (and Devil and the Dark Water was also excellent), so I‘m psyched to finally get to this one! Really hoping it lives up to my expectations.

It's best not to know too much about Stuart Turton's books before reading them, then you get the full effect. Suffice to say that a group of 122 villagers live on an island, the last refuge on earth for humans, after a strange fog with killer insects inside took over the planet. Three scientists also live on the island & are responsible for keeping the villagers safe, but one of the villagers (called Emory) knows that something is not quite right.

@wideeyedreader and I read this for our September Mother-Daughter Murder Mystery book club. I really enjoyed it-it kept me guessing right up until the end.

Friend dropped off a lovely get well soon gift bag including a copy of one of my current reads I had been loaning from the library 😍😍

Another very original mystery from Turton. This one set in a post apocalyptic future on an island: a big locked room populated by simulcrum villagers created by a sinister corporation. There are also three human “elders” and an AI program that manipulates the villagers lives. Someone has murdered the most popular elder, the killer fog has been set loose and only solving the mystery will save them. Weird, but wonderful.

This is a post-apocalyptic, locked room mystery. Its clever and the plot is unlike anything I can remember reading. It‘s well written, with complex characters and seamless world building. The audiobook narrator has a pleasant voice and does a decent job of differentiating between the characters. All in all, this was a good mystery and a pleasant read.

4 ⭐️ I really enjoyed this book. Though I do wish the sci-fi was more prominent than the murder mystery. I know the whole point is on that, but I just wanted to know more about that fog of man eating insects. The characters were well diversed, though the train of thoughts confused me sometimes over who, exactly, was the narrator. Abi is an intriguing being, basically AI.

Tackle the TBR 🤓📚
What are you reading?
#boleybooks #themurderattheendoftheworld #stuartturton #bookbeast #libby
#bookbuds #bookchat

The sci-fi twist on a pretty standard mystery was neat, and I loved the nod to “7 1/2 Deaths…!” I do wish, however, that Abi‘s motivations had been explored in greater detail. P.S. If you read the B&N exclusive, the short story at the back also has a callback to “7 1/2 Deaths,” but is otherwise pretty “meh.”

This book is in the middle of Turton‘s oeuvre for me: lighter in tone and style than The Devil and the Dark Water, not as fiendishly intricate as Evelyn Hardcastle. I really liked the world of this book and would class it a postapocalyptic story with a mystery at its heart rather than a mystery set at the end of the world, if that makes sense.

I loved that it contained elements from some of my favorite genres: mystery, thriller, science-fiction, and dystopia, and Turton weaves all of these various elements together really well. The novel also contains a countdown of sorts, leading to what will be the end of the world if they are unable to solve the murder, it lends a sense of urgency to the novel and creates quite the page-turner. Turton creates a number of complex characters as well.

This was really fun, I‘m now desperate to read the seven deaths of Evelyn hardcastle

This book is like The Hangover with a murder mystery set in a dystopian world (island). It was weird and it hooked me from the start.

My weekend read is The Last Murder at the End of the World.

Still not loving the narrator, but I am hooked on the story anyway. I can‘t stop listening. If only they had chosen a calm female voice, like the woman who narrated Station Eleven. That would have been perfect. The omniscient narrator in this book is an AI who‘s referred to as female, for goodness sake! What was the publisher thinking with this fussy male audiobook narrator? Anyway, enjoying the book and all the sci-fi twists!

Starting this one tonight and I already love it because there‘s a map! 💕 #thelastmurderattheendoftheworld #currentread

Book 49📚 3.5⭐️

A post apocalyptic sci-fi thriller. When a deadly fog takes over the earth, one island is safe. But after the murder of their leader the fog begins to close in…

I‘ve just started this audiobook, and I HATE the narrator. Terrible choice. They should have picked someone altogether less histrionic. I may have to start over with a non-audio version. This guy sounds like he‘s used to narrating arch but cozy mysteries set in the English countryside, not dystopian fiction.

Part 2/2 #lasttenbooks

Actually, in terms of books I passed on and then regretted it and bought a new copy of, the last one I re-bought was Station Eleven. They were changing the cover and I kinda liked the old one.

Also, I replaced my copy of A Little Life because I wanted the original UK cover before it became obsolete.

I'm always arguing about books, but I remember proper disagreements about Nod by Adrian Barnes at a book club long ago.

My first #aardvark box!
So colorful and pretty.
And I‘m very excited to read these.

This author manages to combine sci-fi (fantasy here) with murder mystery in a unique way. And I'm here for it.

#BookSpinBingo @TheAromaofBooks

Sci-fi readers will be well fed next month 😋
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#aardvarkbookclub #scifi

I don't have any strong feelings about this book. It was just an okay story that entertained me for a little bit.

Happy Friday, littens! 🥳📚💕

Today is a good day. I went to Barnes & nobles earlier (more on that in the next post...) and now I am cuddled up with Rumpel and finally digging into the new Stuart Turton book! I am officially HOOKED! That man can really write a compelling story!

@RaeLovesToRead Tagging Rae since Turton is her author hubby! 🤭🩷

#catsoflitsy #rumpel

Long time no reviews! Hi! This was a weird friggin‘ book guys. Like way more racism than I expected. I‘m trying to finish a boatload of books this summer for all staff SRP, so I can‘t tell if this book was compelling or if I‘m motivated by bragging rights and a trophy.

Themes: Dystopian Utopia, Sherlock Holmes-esque, Family Bonding

Yay! Finally a Stuart Turton book I completely understood the ending to! 😆 I enjoyed his other books, but in that, “I think I got it? But I‘m not sure…. I liked what I did get!” way. This one is by far my favorite by him; I loved his characters and the setting. It won‘t be everyone‘s cup of tea, and that‘s alright, it will definitely bring some good discussions to the table.

This book was so freaking good! I was immediately invested and needed to find out what was going on. I was flipping through these pages so fast. It also makes you think a lot, especially about humanity. It kept me guessing until the last page. Was seriously so good. 5/5

I kept seeing reference to this book, and had to dive in. It was an interesting dystopian murder mystery with some quite quotable lines. I thought parts were repetitive- okay, Jack died 5 years prior! But I thought the character development was very good. Imagine if the human race was hard-wired to always choose kindness over power.

Excellent book. So different from what I usually read and I couldn't put it down.

Full review: https://lsmoore49.blogspot.com/2024/05/the-last-murder-at-end-of-world-by.html

Oooooooo! Love me a fun #bookmail day 🤩 I splurged on the B&N Exclusive copy of Stuart Turtan‘s latest so I could get the bonus short story 😎 I am already figuring out what weekend I should block off to sit and read this beauty - Turton‘s books always require my full concentration and brain power 😂

Because of the excitement of Stephen King's new release, I forgot to make a post celebrating these other two books which were also released on Tuesday! I'm particularly excited about the tagged book! I really love Turton's previous books! 💕📚

#BookMail that‘s been steadily trickling in since January.This signed special edition of Turton‘s latest is gorgeous! His 3rd novel,I adored his 1st book but his 2nd was not quite there. It sounds like another twisty turny plot so🤞122 villagers & 3 scientists live on an idyllic island that shatters when one of the scientists is murdered.They have 107hrs to find the killer before the fog that killed the rest of the world envelops their sanctuary.

Any of my US buddies going to see my favourite Autobuy author this week or next???

Tell him I said Hi 😁

Points for creativity, but ultimately I didn't really enjoy the experience of reading this book. There was a lot going on, and I felt lost almost the whole time, and when you finally learn what's going on it just wasn't worth the lead up. It felt long and at times it was repetitive, going over the same basic suspects over and over again. But then at times it would skip ahead several hours and I would be totally lost.

Well this is off to a good start... 🌫🏝😬

Still thinking about this book - this quote in particular

This was one of my most anticipated books for the year and my library hold arrived while I was in the midst of a deep reading slump… but I‘m so glad I kept reading, even if it did take me way longer than it should have.

It‘s such an interesting premise and most of the time it really delivers and definitely makes you think about humanity, the general state of the world and the power of community bonds, greed and unethical science.