If it’s not hard enough to write a straightforward, linear novel, Parker Peevyhouse has made it far harder for herself by writing a novel that is actually five interconnected novelettes. So it’s enormously to her credit that this book has turned out so well. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s the best YA novel I’ve read this year.

The first story is set right now (or very close to now) and the subsequent ones step into the future, developing the story up to some unstated point over a hundred years from now. Our universe has somehow intersected with another universe, and a very few people can cross between them, weakening the barrier between the universes.

Over the course of the five stories we experience the lives of different characters – some of whom are able to cross between universes and some of whom aren’t – as the intersection alters both universes, as technology advances, and as global warming begins to take hold.

So what’s so great about Where Futures End? Well, first up the structure is not easy to pull off. Different characters? Different time periods? Different voices? Not an easy thing to manage, but something that could go terribly wrong. Well, it doesn’t. It works beautifully, and rather than losing narrative drive, the end of each story leaves you wanting to read the next to add more pieces to the puzzle. Each adds another layer, revealing more about what was going in the previous stories while developing its own story.

Then there are the stories themselves. I’m going to come right out and say that the stories remind me a lot in style and type of many of the short stories that I’ve written, although these are more fully developed, and no doubt that makes them appealing to me. But each is a really well thought through glimpse of the future, rigorously developed, with compelling characters.

Ambitious. Clever. Gripping. You should add this one to your wish-list right away!

Rating: 5 Stars!

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Publication date: February 9, 2016

I received this book as an eARC from the author.