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The Boy at the End of the World

by Greg Van Eekhout (Goodreads Author)

3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 · rating details · 314 ratings · 111 reviews

Fisher is the last boy on earth-and things are not looking good for the human race. Only Fisher made it out alive after the carefully crafted survival bunker where Fisher and dozens of other humans had been sleeping was destroyed.

Luckily, Fisher is not totally alone. He meets a broken robot he names Click, whose programmed purpose-to help Fisher "continue existing"-makes i...more

Hardcover, 224 pages

Published June 21st 2011 by Bloomsbury USA Childrens

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Community Reviews

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May 03, 2012 Rachel Hartman rated it 4 of 5 stars

Edited to add: Ok, you know what? I'm giving this another star. Because here we are, a month later, and my son is STILL playing "Ark Designer". He's reading books on engineering and robotics and genetics (and lecturing me on same. *sigh*). He's building Arks out of Lego and drawing pictures of them. He even occasionally jokes, "Hello! I'm going to kill you now! Hello!" (that makes sense if you've read the book).

C'mon, kid. Admit it already: this book rocked your world and changed your life.

-----...more

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Jun 18, 2012 Nick rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: juvenile-fiction, science-fiction

Really good, although I think that the author tried to be a little too cute in a couple of places. The giant parrots were a cool visual image, other than the fact that they wouldn't actually be able to fly, as described. The other mutated animals seemed to have been thought through a bit better.

My only problem with the book was the premise. Mankind has messed things up bigtime. The world is going under, so humans create a bunch of survival arks, to preserve examples of various species until some...more Really good, although I think that the author tried to be a little too cute in a couple of places. The giant parrots were a cool visual image, other than the fact that they wouldn't actually be able to fly, as described. The other mutated animals seemed to have been thought through a bit better.

My only problem with the book was the premise. Mankind has messed things up bigtime. The world is going under, so humans create a bunch of survival arks, to preserve examples of various species until some later time, to restock the planet. Mankind is included in this. Here's the thing: there is no evidence of an actual plan. No schedule for release. No conditions that need to be met. Just stick them in storage and hope for the best. I got no sense that this was ever supposed to work.
After several thousand years of this, apparently, the robot guardians for the arks have gone totally bonkers, in different ways. Some seem to have decided that life itself is the problem with the planet. Others just want to break stuff. The arks all seem to have been designed with different levels of technology, which seemed odd.

So, after someone or something wrecks one of the arks, one of the robot helpers revives the only human still alive in its storage compartments, programs him with survival skills related to fishing, and kicks off the story.

I did love the prairie dogs and other animals, in their future forms. Pygmy mammoths, tiny freshwater crocodiles and other odd evolutionary variations were very interesting...but also seemed familiar in some ways. In a story like this, there always seems to be a guide [Click the robot, check], a faithful animal helper [pygmy mammoth, check], one or more predators altered in strange ways [giant parrots and tiny crocodiles, check] and cute, intelligent nonhuman creatures [gene-altered prairie dogs, check, the full set is here].

So, if you can overlook the weak premise and give in to the good writing, this is a very enjoyable adventure novel in a futuristic setting. Besides, I can hardly wait until the Syfy channel rips off the tiny crocodiles for a TV movie...(less)

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Mar 05, 2012 Anna rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, ya

For the most part, The Boy At The End Of The World is a quiet tale, the story of one boy trying to make his way through a hostile environment in the hopes that he isn't the last of his kind. While he runs into various animals, the dialogue is between himself and his overprotective robot, who he names Click. This is not a book driven forward on inter-character connections. Instead, we have Fisher's desperately working not to be the end of his species, and underneath that there's a bit of mystery...more For the most part, The Boy At The End Of The World is a quiet tale, the story of one boy trying to make his way through a hostile environment in the hopes that he isn't the last of his kind. While he runs into various animals, the dialogue is between himself and his overprotective robot, who he names Click. This is not a book driven forward on inter-character connections. Instead, we have Fisher's desperately working not to be the end of his species, and underneath that there's a bit of mystery to fill in history. What happened to wipe man out? Who attacked Fisher's ark? What happened to the safeguards intended to protect all the species being taken care of in the pods?

In spite of his newborn status, Fisher is developmentally an adolescent. There's a really interesting balance between innocence and knowledge, since at birth he was imprinted with a specific skill set and a head full of the basic things he'd need to know for survival. There are several different skill sets available, meant to work together as a community, so there are gaps in what he knows and what he can do, but he's competent enough when it comes to everyday issues like keeping himself fed. While he knows how to catch a fish, though, he doesn't have the experience to back that up, so his struggle is a bit like someone who's read a book on wilderness survival trying to fend for themselves for the first time.

The prose is very straight-forward, not the sort of thing that calls much attention to itself, settling comfortably in the background to let the reader focus on the story being told. Unfortunately at times the story is in fact being told (rather than shown) and the big climax suffers for it. Certainly pacing is a difficult thing to achieve, and even more so when your protagonist spends the vast majority of his time without other people around. Still, when I'm informed something has changed and then a short while later given the reason, there's no impact, as there would be if I was given the chance to witness the changes for myself.(less)

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Nov 20, 2011 Kathy added it

Reviewer: JD Burnaman
Fisher was born in pod with bubbling gel, on a mountain with slabs of granite. He finds a Robot who he tries to kill him at first but learns he is a friend. They look around they find a river where Fisher goes fishing and finds a crayfish, roasts him and then it turned into a nice, delicious, fatty, meaty, nuggets of meat. They travel more, talk more, and “Click” tells Fisher about a Ark where he can find more humans. So now they set off for a journey to find the Ark. They...more Reviewer: JD Burnaman
Fisher was born in pod with bubbling gel, on a mountain with slabs of granite. He finds a Robot who he tries to kill him at first but learns he is a friend. They look around they find a river where Fisher goes fishing and finds a crayfish, roasts him and then it turned into a nice, delicious, fatty, meaty, nuggets of meat. They travel more, talk more, and “Click” tells Fisher about a Ark where he can find more humans. So now they set off for a journey to find the Ark. They start discussing about Mammoths and how much protein is in it. Soon they find a Mammoth and they want to hunt it! But unfortunately it was the last one in the world so they decide to keep it and call him Protein. They travel until they find a swamp which takes up about 4 chapters. Fisher runs into a pack of alligators, gets bitten, and then passes out. Click helps him and he loses everything except his underwear and shirt. After passing the alligators, Fisher finds a machine called the Intelligence. He tries to feed them and comfort them but Fisher wasn’t fooled. And sooner or not they learned he was trying to stop him from getting to the Ark. So Fisher tries to destroy him with his tools, and it worked. Soon Fisher’s two index fingers stop working. Meanwhile Click has nano-worms coming out of his ear. Later they lose their supplies and it seems to have been taken by a talking prairie dog by the name of Zapper. She is an adventurer, and she helps Fisher cook a frog he found, and explore the desert. (He is also in Texas). Soon they find Zapper’s colony and they are brought to the jail and soon kicked out. They find the Ark and the colony breaks in with him. Meanwhile, the nano-worms from Click’s brain seem to be from the Intelligence. So Click starts going against Fisher. So that leaves Fisher no choice but to kill him do he does. Later he goes into the Ark and finds another pod her was born in and it gives birth to a girl, Hunter.
Fisher: well his name describes him. He is great at fishing, he gets easily annoyed, and he is great at surviving! But he still needs advice from a robot named – Click: I think he is on the cover on the right. His name comes form the noise he makes, has ton of advice packed in him, and he rarely hisses, and he talks weird, and he can’t whisper. But what annoys him is a big creature like- Protein: AKA- big dung dropper, I don’t really know what to say. All I can say is he has tons of his name packed in him, and he picks up roots as he goes along. He could survive better than Fisher, but his butt could be kicked by a prairie dog named – Zapper: She is a explorer and an adventurer that could survive anything. She has a brother named Red Top. She also had a littermate named Nailer.
To survive and to find more people of his kind. It gets resolved at the end when he finds smart prairie dogs, and a girl. “Fisher: Why is there mud? Click: It is raining. Fisher: I know that. I can tell from all the water falling on us. What I mean is - Why is there mud? What’s it for, other than to slow us down and make us miserable? Click: Worms and fungi and many insects find mud a hospitable environment. Mud stores water for absorption by plants. Large herbivores use mud to – Fisher: That’s not what I’m asking. Why is nature like this? Why is it so hard to find food? Why do things hunt us? Why is it so hard to survive? Who made it this way? Why did they make it this way?”
I loved the book because it had every emotion in it. It was dramatic and sad and funny. And I really hate to stop reading it.
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May 16, 2012 Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars

The Boy at the End of the World this book is the best book i have ever read the boy is trying to survive once he is born from a contaner filled with bubble like gel he is startled by a robot that he thought was going to kill him this book is a science fiction i recamend this book to mrs. hunter because i think she will read it and love it gust like i am right now

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Sep 15, 2011 Brandy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, boy-books, adventure, childrens, dystopian-post-apocalyptic, library, speculative-fiction

His name is Fisher. The world is dangerous. And he’s the only one in it. These are the things Fisher knows immediately on waking up, on being born from the survival pod ages after all the other humans have died. The journey to find any other humans will require Fisher to outsmart robots, evade the deadly gadgets, and win over a colony of warrior prairie dogs—all in a world that has been completely destroyed.

Definitely a post-apocalyptic adventure, as all of humanity has been destroyed--and with...more

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Jul 11, 2011 P.M. rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fisher became born as his Ark was being destroyed around him. All he had was a spear he had made and his profanity. Click, a maintenance robot, followed him and saved him from a rat intent on making a meal of him. Fisher knew that he had to find another Ark as he could not survive alone. As he journeyed west, he happened upon Protein, a juvenile pygmy mammoth who joined the company of adventurers. Along the way, they are assailed by giant parrots, piranha-crocs, and the Intelligence who has solv...more

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Dec 05, 2011 Phoebe rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: intergalactic-academy-reviews, middle-grade, sci-fi, post-apocalyptic

Full review at the Intergalactic Academy.

Greg van Eekhout’s The Boy at the End of the World exists in a crowded market of post-apocalyptic disaster stories. Though writing for a middle grade audience, he joins authors like Mike Mullin, Suzanne Collins, and Ally Condie in addressing what the world might be like after our own is destroyed. Like Mike Mullin’s Ashfall, this story is primarily a road novel. Fisher, an adolescent of an indeterminate age, is awoken in a pod long after the world ends b...more

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Jan 30, 2013 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: artificial-intelligence, post-apocalyptic, science-fiction, ya

In a future Earth ruined by human industrialization and scientific experimentation, one boy, Fisher, and his companion robot, must work to navigate a jungle landscape populated by radically evolved creatures and malevolent electronic life forms to not only ensure their own survival, but that of all human kind. Their only hope is to seek out the Southern Ark, a compound (housing humans in suspended animation) designed by the last surviving humans in an attempt to preserve humanity from extinction...more

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Apr 11, 2012 Samantha rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was a pleasant surprise. When Fisher is "born" or released from the gel pod that has kept him alive while civilization has been completely destroyed, he knows his name, that the world is a dangerous place, and that his alone. This is not a good beginning. Fortunately, Fisher does find friends in a maintenance robot that survived the attack on Fisher's "Ark" when the world was destroyed and a miniature Wooly Mammoth he names "Protein." This unlikely crew sets out across the wasteland th...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Arthur Pengerbil rated it 4 of 5 stars

Reading Level: Grades 4-7

Fisher was "born" when a defective robot triggered the pod right before the entire Ark was destroyed. Fisher was the only biological being to survive. Fisher knows his name, how to talk and one hundred ways to catch fish. Fisher also knows that unless he finds more people, the human race will end with him.

So Fisher sets off in search of other Arks accompanied by his defective robot protector Click and a friendly baby woolly mammoth that Fisher dubs Protein just in case h...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Carol Satta rated it 3 of 5 stars

Fisher emerges from his birthing pod, dripping with gel, into a world of destruction. Although he was just born, his instincts tell him to flee as everything burns and crashes around him.

As Fisher explores the Ark where he has been in preservation for many years, he discovers he is the only human survivor. With a robot and a wooly mammoth as his companions, he searches for another Ark and other human survivors.

The whole plot of this book is predicated on the concepts of evolution and environment...more

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Jul 14, 2011 Nicole rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-ra, sci-fi

Wowiee! Pretty hard-core science fiction for a kid's book. Very exciting. Fisher's existence really does feel lonely and desolate, and his struggle to survive seems pretty accurate (he is hungry and miserable most of the time). Click is a pretty genius foil/supporting character, kind of in the mold of C-3PO but less whiny. And the super-evolved animals made things even more interesting (though the talking prairie dogs seemed a little too easy and dangerously Jar-Jar-ian in their syntax). Some hi...more

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Apr 29, 2013 Chris Murray rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adventure, boy-book, diastopian, sci-fi, survival

Summary: (Amazon.com)
Fisher--awakens in the pod he's been grown in. The pod is inside an Ark, built to hold the last humans as well as other species, until the Earth has healed enough from its mostly human-caused deprivations to support life again. The Ark has just been attacked, however, and Fisher is the sole survivor, save for a somewhat-damaged caretaker robot who managed to imprint the boy with the "Fisher" personality just before the attack. The imprint gives him not only his name, but als...more

Summary: (Amazon.com)
Fisher--awakens in the pod he's been grown in. The pod is inside an Ark, built to hold the last humans as well as other species, until the Earth has healed enough from its mostly human-caused deprivations to support life again. The Ark has just been attacked, however, and Fisher is the sole survivor, save for a somewhat-damaged caretaker robot who managed to imprint the boy with the "Fisher" personality just before the attack. The imprint gives him not only his name, but also built in skills and knowledge. Shortly after the disaster, Fisher and the robot, whom Fisher has named Click, learn of the possible existence of a second Ark in the South. After picking up a pygmy mammoth (Fisher names him Protein), they head down a river Huck Finn fashion to seek the rumored Ark. Along the way, they have to deal with some dangerously evolved species, attacks from rogue technology, giant talking prairie dogs, and the possibility of yet another Ark.

My Comments:
Dystopian novels are super hot right now due to the popularity of The Hunger Games books and movie. These novels tend to be written for teens, but The Boy at the End of the World is written for younger kids and would be a good alternative for readers who are not quite ready for teen dystopian novels. In addition, where The Hunger Games has a female protagonist, The Boy at the End of the World has a male protagonist, making it more appealing to boys. Boys would also like this book because there is plenty of action as well as a baby mammoth who drops lots of dung. Great boy stuff!

This is also an action adventure novel. The story begins with a bang and keeps on moving from one exciting situation to another, and at only 224 pages, it’s a fast read. This is not a great literary work, but the writing is fun and there is a bit of humor thrown in as well. Fisher, being just “born” doesn’t have much of a personality, but surprisingly Click, Protein,(the baby mammoth) and the talking gopher, Zapper, do. Their interactions result in many funny moments that help keep the story moving along.

As Fisher, Click and Protein travel in search of the Southern and Western Ark, they pass many remnants of the previous civilization that kids will have fun recognizing, including a MacDonalds sign.

Younger readers and parents be warned. Profanity is used. Not the actual words themselves, but we are told that Fisher has been programmed with “profanity” (e.g. “Fisher used some of his profanity” p36) and finds it useful in expressing frustration. This is probably not such a good message for kids, and it is sure to raise a few eyebrows or elicit a few nervous giggles depending on who is reading the book. Some will find this harmless fun, while others will wonder why the author even bothered to include it.

With Fisher awakening a girl from a pod inside the Western Ark at the end of the book, there are signs that a sequel is in the works.

This book would be best for boys from grades 4 and up, although girls would probably like it too.

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May 20, 2011 Betsy rated it 4 of 5 stars

For all that dystopias are now the #1 hot genre amongst children and teens (having supplanted vampires for the moment) I’ve yet to have a kid actually ask me for one. It wouldn’t take much. If even one ten-year-old walked up to my reference desk in the library and said, “I want a book set in the future” I’d be satisfied that this is a genre with staying power. Kids don’t ask for that kind of thing, though. They’ll specify mermaids or vampires or mysteries or ghost stories, but never future stuff...more For all that dystopias are now the #1 hot genre amongst children and teens (having supplanted vampires for the moment) I’ve yet to have a kid actually ask me for one. It wouldn’t take much. If even one ten-year-old walked up to my reference desk in the library and said, “I want a book set in the future” I’d be satisfied that this is a genre with staying power. Kids don’t ask for that kind of thing, though. They’ll specify mermaids or vampires or mysteries or ghost stories, but never future stuff. That’s where Greg van Eekhout’s The Boy at the End of the World has an advantage, however. Because even if the kids aren’t asking for post-apocalyptic wonders, they are asking me for adventure stories. I’ve even had kids hold up Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet and ask, “Do you have anything else like this?” Well, it’s not exactly the same as throwing a kid in the middle of the Canadian wilderness with only a single hatchet but if you were to replace the words “Canadian wilderness” with “post-apocalyptic hellscape” and “hatchet” with “talking robot” then I think we’d be on the same wavelength. Mr. van Eekhout pens for us a fast-paced, engaging, and sometimes horrifying glimpse into one of our possible futures. A place where if the evil sentient robots don’t get you, the talking prairie dogs might.

He wakes up to a world destroyed. Something has gone wrong. Created with an abundance of fishing knowledge, young Fisher emerges full formed from his pod to find that he may well be the last human being on earth. Thousands of years ago humans created bunkers called “Arks” and placed a variety of species in there asleep until they could be wakened. A good plan, until someone sabotages Fisher’s Ark leaving him, by chance, the only creature alive. Determined to seek out other Arks, wherever they might be, Fisher finds himself in a hostile new world where there’s everything from rampaging birds to mechanical killers. Fortunately he has Click, a helper robot of limited means, a mammoth he names Protein, and a native prairie dog with rudimentary English skills called Zapper to help him in his quest.

Of course the book that this reminded me the most of right off the bat was the recent Tony DiTerlizzi novel The Search for Wondla. There are several similarities. In both books a kid, tended by a robot, is forced out of a safe underground existence by a mysterious threat. With the robot in tow the human befriends a big beningn creature and a native creature with the gift of speech, in an attempt to find other humans. There are, however, some distinctive dissimilarities as well. While DiTerlizzi’s book is meant to read more as a quest novel, van Eekhout’s is a survival tale wrapped in a mission. What’s more, while DiTerlizzi’s novel rolls in at 496 pages, van Eekhout’s comes in at a slim 224. That’s part of what I liked so much about this book, actually. I’ve been reading so many novels recently that need a good 50 to 100 pages cut out of them that to encounter something this tight and fast comes as an enormous relief. Here, at last, is a book with which to entice young readers who would balk at books with the roundabout thickness of a loaf of bread. The story begins with a bang, it keeps running even when it’s thinking, and little time is spent kvetching or meandering. The result is a novel that could never been considered dreamy, particularly poetic, or descriptive. It does, however, fill the needs of kids that like their books fast and furious. No objections here.

The writing is a lot of fun too. You’ve got a hero who has been essentially programmed to know certain things. Amongst them is the knowledge of how to swear. That’s fabulous. He also has a wry sense of humor, almost macabre, that serves him well over the course of the tale. For example “If he died, nobody would be around to ask what had finally killed off the human species. Which was a little bit of a good thing, because the answer – ‘They were eaten by parrots’ – was not the kind of legacy he wanted to leave behind.” That’s great stuff. Fits the feel of the kind of novel this is perfectly.

Now I love me a good post-apocalyptic middle grade novel. Periodically the publishing industry will rediscover this genre and go whole hog for it, which I appreciate. It happened in the mid to late-1970s and it’s happening again today all thanks to The Hunger Games. However, dystopian novels tend to be written for teens. Kids are too often left out in the cold, so whenever I see a book that fits I make sure to snatch it up, right quick. That way I get to read great books like Raiders’ Ransom and Fever Crumb with impunity. Unfortunately, most futuristic middle grade fare suffers from one common problem; The authors just can’t resist referencing something contemporary. For the previous two books I just mentioned, there are sly Harry Potter references snuck in there. Ugh. Mr. van Eekhout, to his credit, avoids the Harry Potter trap, but he does put in one McDonald’s reference that threw me out of the story for an unfortunate moment. Ah well. It’s not as if he name drops the current president or anything.

Kids don’t really know what they mean when they ask you for an “action book”. They’re basically just craving something that doesn’t bore them to sleep. It’s what catapulted the Alex Rider series to fame and fortune, and what keeps kids coming back to books when they’ve a host of digital distractions at their beck and call. The Boy at the End of the World is very much of that ilk, but it has more brains than your average airport thriller. Here’s a dire future that looks bad, but has a hero you can emotionally attach yourself to easily and a plot that moves like river rapids. Throw in what may be the world’s creepiest villain (let’s just say it gives the term “earworm” a whole new meaning) and you’ve got yourself a great little book. One that knows what it wants to do and then does it. Just fun.

For ages 9-12.
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Mar 25, 2012 Kathy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-march-2012

At the begining of this book, I couldn't understand how it had been nominated to a group that contained the likes of EVERYBODY SEES THE ANTS and FREEDOM MAZE. By the end, I understood. Nothing, in years, has reminded me more of Andre Norton. That is high praise. Very high praise.

It started out rather routinely. Our hero, Fisher, is the sole survivor revived from an ark which was intended to save a remnant of humanity in the face of growing ecological disaster. He does not want to be the last and...more

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Dec 24, 2011 A P rated it 1 of 5 stars

This book has a number of problems which make it not worth the time or money.

It's supposed to be a kid's book, and yet it promotes profanity. It doesn't use any actual profane words, but it talks about the main character using profanity over and over again. It goes on to say that profanity is good for this, and profanity is good for that, rather than encouraging kids to find a higher level of language.

The writing style itself is exceptionally average.

To round things out, the main character is fo...more

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May 28, 2011 Reader rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-read-may-2011

In the midst of all the clunky 500 page fantasy novels out, it's refreshing to read something as fast-paced and fun as van Eekhout's latest. Fisher awakes from his pod to find the world falling apart around him. After he escapes and is joined by Click, a helper robot, the boy discovers that he was supposed to be one of the last humans in the world, charged with restarting the planet for humankind. Convinced that there are other humans out there like himself just waiting to be "awakened", Fisher...more

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May 22, 2012 Tanya Patrice rated it 4 of 5 stars

I read this because it was nominated for a 2011 Nebula Award - otherwise it wouldn't have been on my radar because it's most assuredly for middle grade kids, and I don't tend to enjoy those books very much. That said, my kids loved it, and I rather liked it as well - that's just about as high a praise as I will ever give to any MG book. The action moved along steadily, as Fisher finds himself the last boy on Earth, and goes about seeking other settlements/ Arks where it's possible that more huma...more

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Feb 05, 2012 Emma Mcdonald rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction, young-adult

I'm not usually a big fan of end of the world and survivor stories, but this book had me hooked from the beginning with its very simple opening. I wanted to know more about this boy Fisher and what was going to happen to him. He is the lone survivor of the Ark project designed to save the human species after the end of the world as we know it. Unfortunately something tries to destroy the Ark. Fisher is woken by a robot named Click and set on the path to rebuild human civilization. Having no clue...more

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Jun 24, 2012 Diana rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: action, coming-of-age, fiction, friendship, science-fiction, ssyra

Fisher "becomes born" into a dangerous world. Hundreds of years after humans have ravaged the planet, he is born from an Ark that contains specimens of all the species of animals on the planet. But his Ark is attacked, and he's forced to flee, the only human survivor. A custodial robot from the Ark, Click, begins to help him. Fisher learns that there are other Arks, and begins a desperate search for them, hoping to find other humans. But he has to survive first...

Excellent, fast-paced read that...more

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Mar 04, 2011 Summer rated it 5 of 5 stars

I absolutely loved this book. It's so hard to find a book to recommend to a middle school boy. Well this is it! It has everything, adventure, hilarity, thought provoking circumstances. Gosh darn it, it made me think about what I would do in Fisher's situation.

I'm not going to go into the specifics of the story, but I am going to say the characters were fantastic. The originality and voice of each character was superb. I know i'm gushing incoherently, but it is rare for me to find a middle grade...more

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Dec 28, 2012 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: dystopia

Recommended Age:
12+

Overall Review:
Today's middle grade and young adult markets are overrun with dystopian novels, and it can often feel like if you've read one, you've read them all! I was pleasantly delighted to find that The Boy at the End of the World was refreshingly unique, with a compelling, honest voice, interesting characters, and a dystopian setting that wasn't quite like anything I'd seen before. The book was written in an elegantly simple, easily readable style underlaid with thought...more

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Aug 26, 2012 Matt rated it 3 of 5 stars

Rating: 3.5

A good (although short) book, could've been better though. Definitely looking forward to the sequel (of which I'm pretty sure there will be)! Also needs a more YA-ish cover.

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Aug 01, 2011 Charlou Lunsford rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sci-fi, j

He wakes up. He knows his name is Fisher. He knows some basic skills. He doesn't know why. He leaves the pod. He could be the last boy on earth and he sets out with a robot named Click to find out if he can survive in a world altered by humans of the past.
While the descriptions all say "thrilling" I never felt it. There is, of course, adventure and some scary creatures but I think the tone of the book affected that. I found myself putting it down often. There is a sense of humor I appreciated t...more

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Mar 24, 2012 Ashley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: kids-novels

Fisher becomes born by accident. His body was in a pod, already aged to about 12 or so, equipped with basic information about the world and a full vocabulary. His first word is a profanity and is used when the Ark where he became born starts to crash down around him as he hurriedly tries to sever his plastic umbilical cord. He is the only survivor. Along with Click, a humanity-helping robot, and a woolly mammoth Fisher names Protein (just in case he gets hungry), he journeys across a post-apocal...more

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Jan 20, 2011 Jenn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grade, sf-and-fantasy

I was fortunate enough to read an early copy of this book, and it's fabulous! It starts with one of best opening scenes I've ever read, as the boy Fisher awakes to find himself the lone survivor of a futuristic "ark." It's a gripping, fast-paced story of survival and adventure, but my absolute favorite parts involved the unlikely friendship that forms between Fisher, his robot, and a stray mammoth that seems to adopt them both. At times the book is suspenseful, funny, poignant, and edge-of-your-...more

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Mar 07, 2012 Scott Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: review

I would have loved this book when I was younger, and probably would have gotten into arguments as to whether it was better than The White Mountains with friends. A swift, smooth plot, fun characters--including a robot, a nano-swarm, a mammoth, and some of the best prairie dogs you've ever met--all make the book fairly race along. It does a great job of painting horrible future consequences of our current present without ever being preachy or boring. This book is a lot smarter and more fun than m...more

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Aug 01, 2011 Emily Tippetts rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Post apocalypse, the last human on Earth is awoken from suspended animation. The Ark that has housed him and countless others has been destroyed, so it is him, a broken custodial robot, and a very big world that has changed drastically since the humans went extinct. When the party stumble upon evidence of another Ark, so begins the journey to see if humanity can re-emerge on Earth, but even the security robots that guard the Arks have evolved away from their original purpose. There are several t...more

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Feb 19, 2013 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think that The Boy at the End of the World by Greg Van Eekhout was a very well thought out book with a great, original plot. Of all of the characters, (Fisher, Click, and Protein) I think that Protein the mammoth was my favorite character, just because he was so chill and he couldn't talk, and he just walked around doing stuff that only mammoths do, like making cool noises when something happened.

I would reccomend this book to teenagers ages 69-69 and a half. My favorite part is when Click is...more

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Childrens > Middle Grade

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Young Adult

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Science Fiction > Dystopia

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Adventure

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Fantasy

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Apocalyptic > Post Apocalyptic

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Childrens

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Adventure > Survival

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About Greg Van Eekhout

Greg van Eekhout writes books for kids and adults. He enjoys eating little tacos, walking along the beach, and practicing kung fu. About the kung fu: He's let himself get a bit slovenly, quite frankly, so please do not challenge him to a fight. He cries easily. He's a weeper. He lives in San Diego.

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