All That’s Left In The World
Erik J. Brown
Cover art by Luke Martin
Recommended for Ages12+
RRP £7.99
Reviewed by Nicky Mathewson
Andrew is walking through the woods, on his way through Pennsylvania USA, trying to reach Alexandria, Virginia. He has a message to deliver to a family there, assuming they survived the bug that is. The bug—the superflu that wiped out most of the population including Andrew’s family and everyone he knows. He’s alone with barely any food left, but he must reach the people in Alexandria. He needs to explain why their parents are dead.
Jamie is in his cabin, in Pennsylvania. He has the perfect set-up: solar panels for electricity, vegetables growing in the garden, running water from the well, plenty of medical supplies. His mum was a doctor and is the only thing missing from his perfect set-up. She caught the flu and now Jamie is alone with his rifle that he can’t bring himself to use.
After an unfortunate encounter with a bear trap in the woods Andrew is badly hurt and hopes that whoever lives in the cabin, if anyone, can help him fix his leg up, or else he could just shelter for the night, until the pain eases.
Jamie is counting his rations in the lonely silence of the cabin when he hears a noise outside. He hasn’t been outside for a couple of weeks and is terrified. There’s a thump and a grunt so he knows there’s definitely someone out there.
Andrew finds himself looking down the barrel of Jamie’s gun. Terrified, exhausted and in excruciating pain, he half wishes this boy would pull the trigger.
Erik J.Brown wrote this book because he wanted to see more queer representation in post-apocolyptic books and I’m so glad he did. Erik has written a superb novel with a tender love story sandwiched between tension and disaster. It’s wonderful and uplifting and I couldn’t have enjoyed it more!
