Bowe, Steph. Sunny at the End of the World, Text Publishing, March 2025, 272 pp., RRP $22.99 (pbk), ISBN 9781922790767
‘It’s the end of the world. If the right undead girl comes along, I’m open to love.’
Sunny at the End of the World is like the love-child of The Walking Dead and Warm Bodies.
In 2018, the world as we know it has ceased to be. A highly contagious virus has killed most of the adults and those remaining are either flesh-eating zombies (albeit very slow moving) or teenagers in hiding. Seventeen-year-old Sunny and Toby join forces to stay alive and protect baby Ronnie.
Fast forward to 2034, Sunny is imprisoned in an underground facility, and we don’t know what’s happened to Toby or Ronnie.
The book alternates between these two timelines, until they meet, and all becomes clear (or does it?). Where did this virus come from? Was it aliens? Or a totalitarian regime? An experiment gone wrong?
Steph Bowe knows how to write a book that will totally engage her readers. Her characters are funny, sad, and totally believable. The dialogue is real – not so clever as to be unbelievable but clever enough to make readers chuckle. And although this is, after all, a post-apocalyptic novel, it has a surprising number of laugh-out-loud moments. I read this in one afternoon – I couldn’t put it down. Sunny (by name and by nature) is a character that I won’t forget in a hurry.
There are some gruesome moments (but they are not graphic): we are not in Stephen King territory here, and only very sensitive readers will find this book disturbing. There is zero sex: only a little teenage wishful thinking!
What makes this engaging YA novel more than the sum of its parts is who wrote it and when.
Steph Bowe had three successful YA novels to her name when she sadly passed away at the age of 25 from a rare form of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma in January 2020. This book was discovered on her computer after her death. It was written well before anyone had heard a whisper of a certain virus known as COVID19. It’s more than a little uncanny.
It’s difficult not to be affected by this tragic loss and to know that this book is her last. However, I think this novel stands on its own two feet. I loved it and I think it will be a huge hit with YA readers.
Highly recommended for readers aged 14+!
Reviewed by Gaby Meares
