Common Sense Media Review
By Mary Eisenhart
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Dark, compelling tale of obsessive friendship, rape, death.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 14+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Read
Parent and Kid Reviews
What's the Story?
Eighteen-year-old Micah is in the hospital. There's a lot he doesn't remember, but he can tell something pretty bad has happened, especially since no one will give him a straight answer when he wants to know where his brilliant-but-troubled best friend, Janie, is. Also, the police keep wanting to talk to him about the fire that burned Janie's house down around the time she vanished. As the story unfolds and he struggles to piece together what's really going on, his often-confused narrative voice alternates with that of Janie, who may be a bit less in control than she thinks she is.
Is It Any Good?
A small-town teen with memory loss struggles to learn where his best friend is, why she left him, and why the police want to talk to him about her torched house in this dark, compelling page-turner. Author Amy Zhang, switching between the narrative voices of the two characters, weaves a complex, sometimes deceptive story -- some of which the reader may figure out before protagonist/narrator Micah does, and some of which is open to different interpretations -- as she reveals two complicated, relatable, not always likable characters who form their own world, and looks at what happens to them in THIS IS WHERE THE WORLD ENDS:
"The point was each other. They knew each other in their atoms, and the point was that they were together. They never talked about it, but they both knew what they feared. More than anything, they feared that they wouldn't have each other someday.
"And without each other, there wouldn't be much of a point at all, would there?"
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about how to have strong -- and healthy -- friendships. Do you know anyone who's had the kind of relationship issues the main characters have? How did it affect their lives? What did they do about it?
Why do you think boring small towns are such a popular setting for stories about teen angst and out-of-control events? What other examples can you think of? What's the appeal?
What do you think of the violence in This Is Where the World Ends? Does it seem realistic?
Book Details
- Author :
- Genre : Coming of Age
- Topics : Friendship , School ( High School )
- Book type : Fiction
- Publisher : Greenwillow Books
- Publication date : March 28, 2016
- Publisher's recommended age(s) : 14 - 18
- Number of pages : 304
- Available on : Nook, Hardback, Apple Books, Kindle
- Last updated : September 30, 2025
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