A Boy and His Dog at the End of the World

3.0 out of 5 stars

A fertility epidemic (slowly) wiped out 99.9999% of the world's population. The remaining survivors are scattered around the globe. Griz lives on a small, Scottish island with several family members and two dogs. When one of the dogs is stolen by a mysterious visitor, Griz sets off across the sea and barren landscape to bring the dog back home.

C.A. Fletcher paints a vivid picture of an abandoned, post-apocalyptic world, but this is a tough book to rate. I did not find Griz's story to be compelling...at all...until the final 10% of the book. It was a quick read and that excellent last section made the uninteresting journey somewhat worthwhile. I did appreciate that Fletcher's choice of narration style is part of the story and even pays off in the final pages.

If you like this book, there are a few genre-similar books that I also enjoyed: The Wolf Road, The Fireman, The Dog Stars, and Station Eleven.

See this review and others at The Speculative Shelf.