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This Is Where the World Ends Hardcover – Illustrated, March 22, 2016
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A heart-wrenching novel about best friends on a collision course with the real world from Amy Zhang, the critically acclaimed Indies Introduce and Indie Next author of Falling into Place.
Janie and Micah, Micah and Janie. That’s how it’s been ever since elementary school, when Janie Vivien moved next door. Janie says Micah is everything she is not. Where Micah is shy, Janie is outgoing. Where Micah loves music, Janie loves art. It’s the perfect friendship—as long as no one finds out about it. But then Janie goes missing and everything Micah thought he knew about his best friend is colored with doubt.
Using a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators, Amy Zhang masterfully reveals the circumstances surrounding Janie’s disappearance in an astonishing second novel that will appeal to fans of Lauren Oliver.
- Print length304 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherGreenwillow Books
- Publication dateMarch 22, 2016
- Grade level9 - 12
- Reading age14 - 17 years
- Dimensions1.3 x 5.5 x 8.4 inches
- ISBN-100062383043
- ISBN-13978-0062383044
- Lexile measureHL640L
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Zhang’s effortless exploration of the complex intersection of memory and perception, and intricate, menace-laden plot is a perfect fit for fans of E. Lockhart’s compelling We Were Liars.” — Booklist (starred review)
“Zhang does a wonderful job of creating characters. …She creates a plot line that will be believable among most teens about secrets that are and are not shared. This will make a great pairing with Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA) (starred review)
“A dark, complicated tale, steeped in obsession [and] painful secrets…this is most definitely a novel that will have fans talking.” — Kirkus Reviews
“Zhang switches between Janie’s thoughts before the fire and Micah’s after, bridging the two with unsettling fractured fairy tales from Janie’s senior English project…Zhang’s subject and tone recall books like Paper Towns and Thirteen Reasons Why.” — Publishers Weekly
From the Back Cover
Once upon a time . . .
There was a girl named Janie Vivian. And a boy named Micah Carter. And a boy named Dewey. A boy named Ander. A girl named Piper.
And once upon a time . . . Janie Vivian declared an apocalypse. And they all fell down. They all fell down.
Micah can’t remember when or how or why. But he knows one thing for certain:
This is where the world ends.
We drive in silence. I study my palms. There are four perfect half moons where my nails dug in, and a fate line that looks normal. Perfectly straight, average length. I used to think that destiny was fluid, because isn’t that the point of every Disney movie and Saturday-morning cartoon?
You make your own choices. You decide how life goes. I always thought that your fate line would change if something happened, bam, something goes wrong and the line on your palm goes all wonky to reflect that. Nope. It still looks fine.
I dig my nails into my palms again and look ahead. Staring contest, glaring contest. Let’s go, universe. You and me, right here, right now.
Advance Praise for This Is Where the World Ends
“Zhang weaves a dark, complicated tale, steeped in obsession, painful secrets, and mind-numbing vodka. Readers will be left to decide for themselves whether this is a tragic love story or a psychological thriller; regardless, this is most definitely a novel that will have fans talking.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Zhang’s effortless exploration of the complex intersection of memory and perception and intricate, menace-laden plot is a perfect fit for fans of E. Lockhart’s compelling We Were Liars.”—ALA Booklist (starred review)
About the Author
Amy Zhang was born in China and moved to the United States when she was a young girl. She grew up in Wisconsin and recently graduated from college. She is the author of Falling into Place and This is Where the World Ends, and she currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Product details
- Publisher : Greenwillow Books; Illustrated edition (March 22, 2016)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 304 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062383043
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062383044
- Reading age : 14 - 17 years
- Lexile measure : HL640L
- Grade level : 9 - 12
- Item Weight : 12.8 ounces
- Dimensions : 1.3 x 5.5 x 8.4 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,335,521 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

Amy Zhang is the author of FALLING INTO PLACE and THIS IS WHERE THE WORLD ENDS. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.
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Why did I love this book so much? Well, as you may know if you read any of my reviews, the characters where painfully real and that hooked me. Micah is a nerdy boy who has a secret relationship with Janie (his next door neighbour). They have been best friends since they were young and share everything ... according to Janie they share a soul.
But Janie doesn't want anyone to know how close her and Micah are. Micah goes along because he's clearly in love with her and they have been friends forever.
Janie is the type of character who compartmentalizes her entire life. She has her Janie and Micah compartment, she has her dream compartment (which holds her hopes for taking a gap year in Nepal and working in an orphanage) and then she has her school/friend/popular kid/boyfriend compartment. Micah is only allowed to be part of the first and second compartments but at school and in social settings, Janie pretends she doesn't know him.
This is such a real high school relationship, at times it was hard to read. My daughter had a friend who did this to her. He was besties outside of social settings but he didn't include her at school or parties or things like that. My heart broke a bit for Micah, who doesn't understand why Janie does this but goes along with it because that's just Janie.
Amy Zhang writes this from both characters' points of view, so the reader does get to see what's going on in Janie's head. We can see that Janie believes that Micah and her will end up together in the end. But that's in the far distant future and for now she wants to have fun. Micah will always be there for her. After all they are destined to be together. And as a reader, you want to believe her.
Right from the opening pages of the book, though, you know something is off. Micah wakes in hospital with no memory of what happened to him. He's had a head injury and keeps losing memories. And Janie isn't there. And she's not answering his texts. His buddy tells him that she went to Nepal (where she always wanted to go) and Micah believes him. But things don't add up.
As the story unravels, moving back and forward in time, the sequence of events slowly unfold until the reader understands what happens.
Without giving it all away, this book deals with heavy topics including mental wellness and brain injury.
I strongly recommend This is Where the World Ends. Great book!
I was initially worried about how I would like This Is Where the World Ends as it says in the blurb that it has a nonlinear writing style and dual narrators and that could be very very good, or very very bad. The good news, it was amazing! The way the story flowed through time was masterful and made you really sink into the story. Janie and Micah are BFF’s, who have a deep connection. This connection extends to everything but school, where they keep their friendship secret and make sure to never let anyone else in. Then Janie goes missing and Micah is left to try to figure it out. The future chapters are told from Micah’s perspective and the past from Janie’s. The nonlinear made the story that much more powerful.
As you can guess Amy Zhang crafted a remarkable tale in This Is Where the World Ends. The plot was well though out and intricate. The writing was sharp and intricate. The emotions ran high and I cried more than once during my reading. The characters were perfection and played their parts and off of each other so well. The pacing worked so well, moving back and forth should have been annoying or hard to follow but was not at all. The world building was were I did have a small issue. The characters were so well fleshed out that the world they resided in was secondary and at times the lack of a solid world pulled the interplay down a bit. But other than that issue, perfection.
I always enjoy when a book is so much more than I expected. I thought This Is Where the World Ends would be a light YA read about two best friends that discover they do love each other after all. I am glad I was wrong. This Is Where the World Ends was instead, a tale of true love and loss and what happens when your world gets shaken so hard that it may never recover. Amy Zhang has a unique voice that I truly appreciated and I will add her to my list of must read authors.
I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
Top reviews from other countries
Reviewed in India on October 2, 2021

