The Two of Us at the End of the World by C.A. Fletcher

“But I’m not slow. I’m just me.

Mouse.

It’s a little name that she gave me that doesn’t really fit me anymore, because I’m big, and I’ve been bigger than her for a long time now, and what I know about going slow – and what she always forgets – is that if you go fast, you miss things happening.

And I don’t like missing things.

I like knowing them.”

-The Two of us at the End of the World

A Boy and his Dog at the End of the World hit me pretty hard. I loved it a whole lot. It was really emotional, but it was amazing.

This is the companion novel to it, and while you don’t necessarily need to read them in order, I can’t see reading this any other way. There are connections between the books that make more sense if you read them in publication order.

As much as I liked the first book, this one didn’t hit the same way for me. And it wasn’t bad, but I didn’t love it quite as much, and it was definitely a darker, rougher read in terms of what was going on to these particular characters.

This novel alternates between two timelines, a boy and a girl at the end of the world just after the gelding. And then almost 200 years later, we see Cat and Mouse, two close siblings (though not quite siblings) who are trying to survive in a world where most of humanity is gone. Cat and Mouse have been each other’s “only ones” for a long time. But all of that changes one day when they come across a Russian man who tries to kill them. Mouse kills him in self-defense and not long after, the two stumble upon two young girls who were being held captive by this now dead man.

Freya and Storm are sisters and have been through a lot, but the worst for them is yet to come. And this is where I’m going to pause so as not to be too spoilery. The worst things that happened to them are off page, but the cause and effect of it is pretty terrible and I really had a hard time reading this. There were certain themes and physical/mental health issues that came up in this book that were just really harrowing to read.

The book itself was good, but it was maybe too dark for what I was wanting right in that moment. The alternating storylines didn’t really connect for me in any specific way. I think I get what was being hinted at, but it just fell flat for me. I think I was just really left wanting more. This is such a big difference from how I felt after reading A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World. That being said, I still loved that book and this companion novel while not a favorite of mine might work for other readers more.