The end and other beginnings: Stories from the future Veronica Roth
Harper Collins Children's Books, 2019. ISBN: 9780008347765.
(Age: 14+) Highly recommended. Veronica Roth is amazing! Her
Divergent series was hugely successful and her youthful
understanding of young people is again demonstrated in this
collection of short stories set in future worlds and imagined
scenarios of beginnings and ends. This book contains six short
stories that are equally compelling and potent in their exploration
of what might be expected in the future. The scenarios are set in an
array of different earth or space-inspired locations, all with some
similarities to our present world but with a variety of warped
situations or circumstances or technological advancements. The
characters though are all battling recognisable challenges or
internal conflicts, and the short story genre gives a relatively
quick (but certainly not saccharine) resolution to each
complication. This is a brilliant short story collection to
recommend to lovers of science fiction or dystopian fiction and the
skill of Veronica Roth in creating new Sci-fi vernacular or
possibilities is note-worthy. Despite the genre implications of 'new
worlds', there is something very familiar about the young teen
characters who contend with the internal challenges in the world of
the future.
This is certainly something to recommend to younger readers, but the
Short Story genre is well handled by an author who is creative and
sometimes unnerving in her view of what the future could look like.
I am sure there will be many readers who wish that Roth had extended
each story into a longer novel.
Highly recommended for readers aged 14+ and for lovers of sci-fi and
short stories. Themes: Short stories; Futuristic fantasy; Science
Fiction; Dystopian worlds; Extra Terrestrials.
Carolyn Hull