Endling #1: The Last

According to the inside blurb, The Last is recommended for 8-12 year olds. I think it can be enjoyed by all ages but considering the amount of violence, I would actually recommend for age 12 and up.First, lets start with a briefing on the socio-biology of the world of The Last.The 6 governing races are the humans, raptiodons, felivets, terramants, natites and the dairne. The governing races can speak, make tools, learn, pass along learning and are capable of theurgy (magic). A human, the Murdano, excerts a great deal of power over all of the governing races.Mezzitti are the species like wobbyks, starlons, and gorellis. They can communicate with the each other and the governing races, use tools, but they lack the ability to do magic.Inferritti are the chimps, whales, crows, crickets and so on. They cannot communicate with the other species, use tools or do magic.Briefing done.Now, I will first say that I loved this story of the last dairne, a dog-like sentient race that possesses the ability to discern truth. This ability is both appreciated and feared by the 5 other governing races. I don’t think it is much of a spoiler to point out that the gift is the basis of so much of the conflict in this story.But the last dairne, Byx, is a young female. Her knowledge of the other sentient races and the dairne’s own skills is limited because her pack led a very secluded life. What she knows about the outside world is only through dairne word-of-mouth. She has no worldly experience whatsoever.Early in the story, Byx saves a wobbyk in a daring feat, while at the same time escaping some humans that were hunting dairnes. Byx saved the wobbyk, Tobble, so honor demands that Tobble must save Byx three times. Mind you Tobble is tiny (but stout). It is this trip away from the dairne nest that sets in motion the events that will drastically change Byx’s life.The hunters chasing Byx were being led by Khara – a girl that was masquerading as a boy and who also has a mysterious past. Later Khara will both save and capture Byx when Byx goes home to her nest and happens upon a group of the Murdano’s human troops massacring the very last dairnes, including her family. This makes Byx an Endling – the last of her race. The tragedy brings Khara and Byx together (and thereby, Tobble too).It is a strange relationship between the human girl, the dairne and the tobble. Byx believes herself to be a captive, along with Tobble. Khara believes she is doing what is right for everyone. Since Byx doesn’t really have any other options, she doesn’t put up much resistance (well maybe a little). Still, the odd family always looks after each other and also looks for other opportunties.There will be other additions to the family along the way, including Khara’s horse Vallino, the large cat-like felivet Gambler who would rather eat a dairne but refrains because Byx rescued him, and the thief who steals to feed himself Renzo.As Byx gets closer and closer to Khara’s goal, the city of Cora di Schola, her despair increases, as does the danger. Cora di Schola will not be the last stop on the journey of this amazing group of characters.Byx’s hand drawn Map of the First Colony, gives her hope that she is not truly the Endling.While the story is aimed at the young, it is told in a very adult manner. I loved the characters the most, but the adventure is what kept me reading and will, I suspect, convince me to continue with the series.Fair warning: There is no end of peril and action on this journey. It is not for the feint of heart!I won an advance copy from the publisher so that I could bring you this honest review.*********************Favorite Quotes from The LastBecause – Tobble“You save my life, I must save yours three time.”“Why thrice?”“Because that’s the rule.”“But why is that the rule?”“Because I have three tails.”I frowned. “But that doesn’t make any sense.”“I don’t make the rules. But I do obey them.”a conversation between Tobble and Byx“Let me just say this: you do not want to see me mad. I am a terrible sight behold.”Tobble“I’ll bet you can’t do this.”I turned my head to see his huge ears spinning like tiny cyclones, twisting and untwisting.“Intriguing,” I said. “What purpose does that serve?”“None whatsoever,” Tobble said with a grin.a conversation between Tobble and Byx

“This is the best book ever.”-Paige (7yrs)We read this book chapter by chapter as a way for me to engage my youngest daughter and it worked. It really really worked. While it would’ve been too mature for my first daughter at 7, my youngest (3 of 3) was okay with the maturity level given that it’s wonderfully fantastic. What an amazing read. Katherine Applegate for president!

Having grown up with Animorphs and Everworld, I was pretty sure before purchasing this book that anything K.A. wrote was going to be worth reading. And this book probably is, but, I had a hard time remaining engaged. It felt like it was targeted for a much younger audience than other works I've read of hers, and I couldn't get past that sensation. And I don't mean "younger" as in "not including romance", I mean it like expecting the audience to not be able to keep up with any kind of complicated plot.The world created in this first book seems very rich, like you could go all kinds of places in it and imagine a complex history that had taken place that you just don't know about... and never will, because the MC is a kid and egocentric in a way that excludes other perspectives. I can't blame the author for that; character is plot. Character is motivation.In this case, the character becoming tickled pink to realize she can impact the world if she figures it out, but keeping it as a secret titillation that the audience is supposed to innately share, is something that doesn't work in my case.Reading the unfolding plot gave me this sickening feeling like something terrible was going to happen to the character's entire world (like becoming an Endling wasn't already something terrible enough lol...) ...but that it wouldn't be played off that way once the plot advanced sufficiently. And that even if that feeling of gross dread came to pass, Byx's character would just mapbend the heck out of it. Twist it to try to ignore bad stuff and make it somehow "be good if I just look at it from this ultraspecific perspective!"It's kind of like the thing the MC is trying to dig herself out from under isn't being an Endling, or being not confident enough. It's having been raised the way that she was with the circumstances she had, and the family she had known being who they were, and being completely unwilling to look at that, preferring to imaginemember it all with sparkles and love because to do otherwise is too dangerous to her self image to move forward.Byx would have done better as a middle child than youngest child.

Couldn't put it down! buy this book! I was intrigued by this book and was moved by the story and fell in love with the little runt, byx

My granddaughter is reading the book in school. She asked if I could read it with her. She loves in Canada and I love I'm Mexico.I love the book,me granddaughter loves the book too. It's a charming story of the maturing of a wonderful teenage character and her friends.All the different angles of their different personalities make this book amusing and light.

I usually don’t like to read books with “talking animals” but this book is superb. Although it’s marketed for young readers, it is very intelligently written. It does not “talk down” to young readers. I am an avid reader of YA fantasy and I loved Endling the Last! Action packed scenes woven with wonderful dialogue and well-placed humour have left me greatly anticipating the sequel!I highly recommend this book for approximately ages 9 and up. And up. And up!

And this is the one he asked for. So it has has to be good.