Where the World Ends
Geraldine McCaughrean
Subjects
- History Time - blasts from the past
- Action Adventures - chills, thrills and plenty of spills
Winner of the CILIP Carnegie Medal. Every summer Quill and his friends are put ashore on a remote sea stac to hunt birds. But this summer, no one arrives to take them home. Surely nothing but the end of the world can explain why they've been abandoned - cold, starving and clinging to life, in the grip of a murderous ocean. How will they survive? 'Brilliant, beautiful...as unpredictable as the sea itself' Philip Reeve, author of The Mortal Engines 'This is the best book I've read this year. Extraordinary' Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The Girl of Ink and Stars
Reviews
McCaughrean doesn't give us a nice happy ending to this tale. That's probably because it's based on a true story and real life doesn't conform to our desire for happily ever after. There's plenty of tension, a wonderful evocation of the dynamics of a community in peril and isolation and completely convincing characters. I learnt a lot about communities from the past and their struggles for survival.
Loved the idea of the boys being keeper of things. I also thought the personification of the winters cold was brilliant. But I thought the treatment of John left much to be desired.
MrsBoother
Star Reviewer
This is a great story. Made me want to visit St Kilda. There were shades of Lord of the Flies so if you enjoyed that this story is a must.
BuckyReads
I loved this book. In places it reminded me of Lord of the Flies but the surroundings themselves, Hirta of the East coast of Scotland, with its stac to be harvested, become as much a part of the story as the boys that are taken there annually to hunt seabirds for their commodities. The story is based on a real-life event that saw the boys dropped off as always, but when the boat doesn't return for them, we find out what life on inhospitable and brutal Hirta brings for them. This is a fabulous imagining of the events in the long months the boys remained there, and the book led me down a rabbit-hole of internet research after I'd finished, so desperate was I to learn more of this long-since dead tradition. I would recommend it to KS3 readers (there are short references to period bleeding, and a suggestion of sexual activity) wholeheartedly; I'd also encourage adults to read this as it was fascinating!
MrsMo
My favourite book of the year so far! I couldn't put this book down! The characters were believable and I was concerned about the fate of the central character. The island setting and the mythology surrounding and what happens back on the mainland keeps the pace cracking along. At times very bleak and violent, this is a book I would recommend for 12+. It also deals with issues of identity (including gender/sexuality) and there is an underlying pessimism that might be too dark for younger readers. I was really satisfied with the ending!
mthresher