This was an interesting story. I remember reading a sneak peak of this book and I was intrigued by the foreboding feel of it, almost sinister and dark, with a weird voice that knew everyone's thoughts and feelings. The world building is amazing, with details slowly being unveiled about a past that is way more technologically advanced than we are currently, and an island that has many secrets all around and under it.

This was honestly kind of hard for me to get into at first. There seemed to be too many characters being introduced all at once and there was a lot of shifting around on what character was being focused on. I believe the narrator throughout the whole book was Abi, the all-knowing voice, but sometimes it could get kind of confusing, almost like there was a shift in tense. Once I got used to it and the story really started unfolding, I was really greatly entertained by the story line. I love a good murder mystery, especially when memories have been manipulated or erased. Emory was like Sherlock Holmes or Hercule Poirot, noticing all the small details that everyone else misses and recreating the chain of events that led to the murder.

There's also a message woven throughout the story, about what humanity is and what is an acceptable line to cross to ensure the greater good. I can't really say a whole lot, because I don't want to ruin the whole plot of this novel. It was great having all the clues unveil and the puzzle pieces lock into place. This book showed the difference between being biologically human and having humanity, and even though we can have empathy for people's circumstances and the horrors they have had to face, it doesn't excuse their actions.

I raced through the last 60 pages or so, anxious to see if the approach of the fog would be stopped and to find out who the murderer was. I was satisfied with the ending, but I do feel like it was a little anti-climactic and I think some questions were not fully answered. Overall, I was very entertained by this book and would recommend to anyone who likes post-apocalyptic fiction or murder mystery.

Thank you to BookishFirst and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC. I am leaving this review voluntarily. ( )

I had the opportunity to listen to the audiobook version of The Last Murder at the End of the World. The narrator is British and was understandable. He used different voices to represent different characters, and while I didn't necessarily love all of voices, it did help differentiate who was speaking in the story.

This book was an interesting take on a post-apocalyptic dystopian world. At first, I was a little overwhelmed by the number of characters who were introduced, but I quickly was able to get familiar with the key players. The narrator of the story is ABI, an artificial intelligence that is connected to everyone's thoughts and can communicate with them, almost as a second conscience. The first quarter of the book concentrates mostly on world building and getting to know the characters, so it takes a while to really dive into the more exciting parts of the story, but I did like how descriptive it was. We end up in a murder mystery, but it all turns out to be far more complicated than expected. The book really took some turns that I was not expecting at all, and it kept me guessing about what really happened and who was involved. At times it could be a little confusing, trying to keep everything straight amidst the constant turns the story took, but eventually everything is fully explained. The story kept me interested and was hard to put down until I reached the end.

Thank you to Tantor Audio, Sourcebooks Landmark, and NetGalley for the audiobook review copy of The Last Murder at the End of the World! All opinions expressed in my review are completely my own. ( )

The title of Stuart Turton's new book caught my eye - The Last Murder at the End of the World. I enjoy post apocalyptic fiction and murder mysteries, so this was an easy book to pick up.

I'm always fascinated as to what an author imagines for the 'end of the world'. I liked what Turton has come up with - there's so many directions the plot could take from the opening chapters.

The end of the world is a small island surrounded by a poisonous black fog. Three elders make the decisions for the 121 gentle villagers. And then there's Abi - the artificial intelligence that speaks to everyone through their thoughts. When a body is found, its heralds the beginning of the end...

There's lots more about the island and the inhabitants to discover. Trying to solve a murder is a new situation for the villagers. Normally the elders take care of everything and their word is the final decision. But one villager is determined to get answers for not just the murder, but for the rest of their tiny piece of the world. They have 107 hours to solve the killing.

In addition to some great world building is the characters' growth. Will they find the whodunit? Will changes take place? Will they survive the changes?

Something different for me, but I very much enjoyed it. ( )

I think Turton books are ones that would be fun to return to, as they are quite a bit denser and more layered than your average mystery. This is certainly a genre blend though, with some dystopia, some sci-fi, and then your basic murder investigation. There is a lot of information to take in over the course of the story, many technological surprises that change the flavor of the murder mystery. This isn't a whodunit that you can unravel on your own, as you will have no idea what pieces are even possible until the end. One thing that bugged me about the characters was that I couldn't tell what generation/age they were from the dialog. I would be reading and then suddenly be reminded that this is a child, or this is an adult who is talking about her own adult father, or whatever. It definitely helped to have the AI narrator bringing the threads together, even if it was also unreliable. ( )

Kind of a standout for me for this author. I feel like I always want to like Stuart Turton more than I do; I find his "twisty" books tropey (in a good way) and fun, but I always feel like I see the twists coming so far away! However, this one had pretty well won me over by the end anyway—I enjoyed the actual characters and their interesting interpersonal dynamics quite a bit. ( )