The End

by Sara Lucinda Bell

The End is an emotional roller coaster following the lives of three young adults as they fight to survive through the end of the world. Hank, the sole survivor of his Marines Logistics Group in China, is searching for his pregnant wife. Dallas, pregnant with her first child, is searching for her parents... or anyone who can help deliver her baby safely. Kyle suddenly finds himself a leader in this crazy new world, a role he has never had before. All three of them must fight to stay who they are, to find what they are looking for, and to survive.

Genres: Post Apocalyptic

251 pages, Paperback

First published February 14, 2012

About the author

Sara Bell received a Bachelor of Science in journalism, emphasis on photojournalism, from Northern Arizona University. When she isn't writing she enjoys reading, cooking, and traveling with her husband and son.

Reviews

[Marizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would like to preface this review by stating that I have never been a huge fan of the apocalyptic genre. I tend to find most works revolving around the apocalypse feel fatalistic and usually attribute humanity's demise to science fiction-inspired zombies and/or other ludicrous phenomenon that I generally find distasteful.

That being said, I quite enjoyed Bell's exploration of the hypothetical "end of the world" scenario. Bell chose to emphasize the human condition of being among a handful of the last survivors of an annihilated society, who happen to simultaneously find themselves pioneers of a new order.

The central story revolves around three main characters: Dallas; a student, wife and future mother who finds herself stranded in Arizona; Hank; Dallas' husband, a marine who is the sole survivor of his battalion in China; and Kyle; a teenage boy who discovers all his bullies met their end and feels his rise to power has finally taken place. There are several peripheral characters, without whom the plot would not move forward as smoothly. Although these other characters are not central to the main action, and the story is not frequently told through their narrative, they act as catalysts that inspire the central characters into action and reveal the true motives of the main characters to themselves, as well as the reader.

The most interesting aspect of the novel for me is that Bell explores how a sudden catastrophic event(an event more plausible as one that would bring about the end of the world than other, frequently employed theories) allows life paths for these characters that would not otherwise have existed for them. Each character discovers what is most precious to them in this new wasteland through retrospection, delving them into their pasts and contrasting those pasts to the bleak new present and unpromising future. Through this, the characters begin to evaluate what they perceive to be their strengths and weaknesses as well as their ultimate goals; self-analyses that shape the course of their actions. Bell seamlessly integrates these personal dilemmas into one central theme: at the end of the world, there are two real paths; destruction and hope.

While the story is solid and intriguing, I have only minor complaints about the overall reading experience, which mostly boil down to editing and/or publishing. There are a few instances of spelling errors (ie. "Marina sauce" as opposed to "Marinara sauce"), a case of a confused pronoun (in which Leonard is referred to as "she"), and occasional formatting issues with the e-book (I purchased my digital copy through iBooks on the iPhone).

Disregarding those minor flaws, this novel is refreshingly honest and tantalizingly insightful. Bell is a very promising young author with an interesting viewpoint, and I highly recommend adventurous readers to add this novel to their to-read bookshelves.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://charlotteswebofbooks.blogspot....

Newly married, Dallas is pregnant and attending college in Arizona while her husband, Hank, is stationed in China with the Marines. Dallas is in the basement of a science lab on campus when The End arrives. She emerges and finds death and destruction at every turn. Dallas does the only thing she knows how to do - go home. She sets off on foot for Texas and where her family lives While her journey "home" takes her all over the country, Hank's journey "home" takes him all over the world as he fights to make his way back to Dallas. Along the way they both encounter people who help them redefine the term "family". Will they be able to survive the end of the world or will the dangers they encounter on their journeys be the end of them both?

First I want to say that Sara Bell is a regular reader of my blog and when I started letting my "geek flag" fly over post-apocalyptic books she offered to let me read the book that she wrote. Since I am never one to turn down a post-apocalyptic book I agreed to read The End. I will be honest to say that it took me a few minutes to get used to the "voice" of Dallas. She is a Southern Young Adult and speaks a language that is a bit different from what this old lady speaks, but once I got used to the tone of Dallas's voice, I just flew through this book. Like I said earlier, "The End of The World As We Know It" can be anything your imagination will let it be. The world that Sara Bell has created not only has death and destruction, but it has hope.

Bottom line - I really did enjoy The End. I think that the thing I enjoyed the most is the fact that on their journeys, both Hank and Dallas realized that "home" is not a specific place, but a person. Wherever that person is, you will find "home". If you like post-apocalyptic or dystopian novels then grab this one while it is still just $2.99.

[Jlk275 · Rating 5 out of 5]

With a broken economy that cannot seem to regain its footing, an unprecedented number of American citizens who are co-dependent on government aid and several foreign countries disgusted with American perversity and its deviance from modest social norms, it is only a matter of time before terrorists, disgusted with American vulgarity, resort to nuclear warfare in order to exterminate the world of social deviance once and for all. The End takes its reader on an emotional roller coaster ride of surviving the end of civilization, as we know it. The story follows the handful of survivors who are lucky to be alive, yet have so many painful challenges ahead of them as they try to move forward in their desolate world. The author keeps you enthralled from start to finish as you follow the perspectives of each character and find yourself wondering what you would do in the same situation.

[Steffani Rideau · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite not usually being interested in 'end of the world' novels, I loved this book! Typically those kind of novels are ridiculous and a lot of the events couldn't actually happen, but everything in this book could actually happen in real life, which is spooky in a way. I love the way each chapter was written by different characters and the way each of the characters evolved over time! It's definitely a book that you don't want to put down once you start it.

[Ryan · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was a good, well-written story and it was exciting until the very end.

[Andy Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pretty good apocalyptic tale, but I'm writing this about a month after reading it and I already can't remember much about it. It's told in the first person from the perspective of three people: a young woman in the US, her marine husband in China, and a loner teenager type, also in the US. When the disaster happens (which I don't think is ever really explained) the woman tries to travel to the town where she grew up to see if her parents are alive. Her husband tries to travel home to the US across half the world. That's about it. Obviously they come across some other people and situations along the way.

Pretty well written and in short chapters that made me keep reading 'just one more' before putting down the book.

[Sue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing in this felt particularly original or compelling. Got interrupted about 4 chapters in and never felt interested enough to go back to it.

[Nancy S · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the second post-apocolyptic novel I have read which is in the form of a journal. The voices of 4 people alternate - Hank, the marine stationed in China when "the end" hits; Han, the young Chinese boy that Hank "adopts" and takes home with him; Dallas, Hank's young, pregnant wife, and Kyle, a much-bullied young boy who is damaged beyond repair.

The story consists mostly of Hank and Dallas's attempts to find one another in the newly altered world. It is by turns heartbreaking and wonderful, hopeful and despairing.

While things seem to progress a little too easily, I am giving this book 5 stars because I loved it. Purely emotional. I really want a sequel, to see what comes next for Hank and Dallas and their family.

[Rita · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yeah but no. Reminded me so much of the first zombiebook I ever read (I know this is not zombies...) For my taste this was way too all-American. I like characters with flaws. I like more action. I like things not so goody goody. For a post-apocalyptic world, the world described here was too goody goody what with some guy going insane for a minute? warnings about people who might be bad? You would thing that when someone travels days on end with cars that need to be filled with gas from cars that no longer start you'd run across some hardship not just lack of other food than canned or getting a severe sunburn BLAH.

[Rick Garvin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Journal from the first person of 3 1/2 characters. Most people die, families are separated, seek each other..... with primary characters just a two dimension sketch and supporting characters just a bare sketch. Its difficult to empathize with characters that really have so little to them. Some of the journeys are just infeasible. I put this one down half way through.

Why two stars? The copy editing was reasonable, few spelling errors and the grammar was fine.

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked it, but was a bit overdone.

[T. Jackson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Kinda had this big build up to something and then....nothing.