A Beginning in the End by Mike Chen – Review

#AbeginningAtTheEnd #NetGalley #Harlequin #HarperCollins #BlogTour #scifi #postapocalyptic #booknerd #scifinerd #goodreads

 

Hello friends, It’s me, the book obsessed food loving Lauren! I’m back with another fabulous line up for a Blog Tour. I know, I know you’re probably thinking that I’m insane with all of these events I’m doing. Sometimes I think I am too, but I just can’t help it because I’m having so much fun! This will be the first of three reviews/excerpt posts for Harlequin’s Winter 2020 Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tours. I’m so excited to share my review with you, as I haven’t shared many reviews for Post-Apocalyptic or Science Fiction novels with you yet. There will be more coming, I have a lot of Scifi in my 2020 reading plans (tentative). Let’s get started with some information about A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen, and then I’ll wrap this post up with my review. Enjoy! 🙂

 

A Beginning at the End  

Mike Chen

On Sale Date: January 14, 2020

9780778309345, 0778309347

Hardcover

$26.99 USD, $33.50 CAD

Fiction / Science Fiction / Apocalyptic & Post-Apocalyptic 

400 pages

 

Summary:

An emotional story about what happens after the end of the world, A BEGINNING AT THE END is a tale of four survivors trying to rebuild their personal lives after a literal apocalypse. For commercial readers who enjoy a speculative twist, or their sci-fi with a heavy dose of family and feelings.

Six years after a global pandemic, it turns out that the End of the World was more like a big pause. Coming out of quarantine, 2 billion unsure survivors split between self-governing big cities, hippie communes, and wasteland gangs. When the father of a presumed-dead pop star announces a global search for his daughter, four lives collide: Krista, a cynical event planner; Moira, the ex-pop star in hiding; Rob, a widowed single father; and Sunny, his seven-year-old daughter. As their lives begin to intertwine, reports of a new outbreak send the fragile society into a panic. And when the government enacts new rules in response to the threat, long-buried secrets surface, causing Sunny to run away seeking the truth behind her mother’s death. Now, Krista, Rob, and Moira must finally confront the demons of their past in order to hit the road and reunite with Sunny — before a coastal lockdown puts the world on pause again.

 

Author Bio:

Mike Chen is a lifelong writer, from crafting fan fiction as a child to somehow getting paid for words as an adult. He has contributed to major geek websites (The Mary Sue, The Portalist, Tor) and covered the NHL for mainstream media outlets. A member of SFWA and Codex Writers, Mike lives in the Bay Area, where he can be found playing video games and watching Doctor Who with his wife, daughter, and rescue animals. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram: @mikechenwriter

 

Social Links:

Author website: https://www.mikechenbooks.com/

Twitter: @mikechenwriter

Instagram: @mikechenwriter

Facebook: @mikechenwriter

 

Buy Links: 

Harlequin: https://www.harlequin.com/shop/books/9780778309345_a-beginning-at-the-end.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-at-End-Mike-Chen/dp/0778309347

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-beginning-at-the-end-mike-chen/1131202168

Books-a-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Beginning-End/Mike-Chen/9780778309345?id=7715580291810

IndieBound: https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780778309345

Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/book/a-beginning-at-the-end/id1459367026

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-beginning-at-the-end

Google Play: https://books.google.com/books/about/A_Beginning_at_the_End.html?id=nq-RDwAAQBAJ

 

My Review –

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, and a honest review and then some it shall receive! I cannot tell you enough how much I enjoyed reading A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen. I loved the world he built with the attention to detail to show what life in the US was like after the first global flu pandemic hit, and how believable it was. I’ve never read an apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic novel that isn’t focused on death and destruction with crazy human mutations, zombies or other fictional creatures. The fact that this book focused more on the surviving people and how they try to cope with what happened and find a way forward in life was a really refreshing outtake. It was a bit of a slow burn, but then again what fantastic science fiction read isn’t? I did not find it difficult to keep track of the four main characters and how the storyline bounced between them. You can tell that there was a lot of thought and planning put into the creation of Rob & Sunny, Krista, and Moira to develop their stories pre and post pandemic. It actually had a really great flow to it, and I love the flashbacks and intermingling point of views to provide you all of the characters though processes at certain plot points. I’ve heard that this book has a similar feel to how Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel was written, which I unfortunately haven’t read yet (but will soon!). The ending felt like it wrapped up nicely so I don’t expect there to be a sequel, but I wouldn’t complain if there was!

I will definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good Scifi read, especially of the apocalyptic kind or to anyone who read and enjoyed Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I’ve already raved about it to some close bookish friends and they’ve added it to their TBRs!!

 

I’d like to give another big Thank You to Harlequin for inviting me to participate in this blog tour, and for partnering with NetGalley to provide me with a free ebook copy of A Beginning at the End by Mike Chen in exchange for an honest review. I can’t wait to read the next two books in the Winter 2020 Science Fiction & Fantasy Blog Tour line up.

 

Until next time, Happy Reading! 🙂