I wanted to read this book the second I saw the cover, because after One Man Guy I really got interested in all the different religions and their priorities, and I've always been curious about Muslim culture but never really looked it up.

Meet Jamilah's family; Shereen, a girl who wears a hijab full of propaganda quotes, Bibal, a boy who has degreed in engineering, and dad Hakim, who is against all of their children's desires. Kind of hypocritical of him considering he has a phD but decides to just be a taxi driver. Or maybe his misery was cursed upon them when their mother died. There's a Muslim kid named Fareed at Jamilah's high school, and he stands by his religion but there's a nasty teen named Peter who is about the most openly racist kid on the planet. Or, as racist as any Trump supporter. The way everyone has assumptions about Muslims, Jamilah has been disguising herself as Jamie, not wearing her hijab and always making up excuses about her lifestyle and avoiding any friends over or any friends meeting her father. Sad life, huh? Well, the Grade 10 formal is coming up, and Jamilah has some kind of online relationship.

You know, there are times where I feel like this blog makes me look a little racist. I mean, my first movie review was Not Without my Daughter, a movie about a mother trying to escape with her daughter from Iran, which I gave a D to. And then I've given Fs to movies that have a lot of race and religion mentions. And now a negative review to this? Well, there is some negative that has to do with this. Jamilah's dad Hakim, is one of the strictest - no, make that meanest - fathers I've ever read about, and maybe that's the point but I felt the offensiveness kind of crawled in a little too much. And what I mean by too much is he and Jamilah argue - and these arguments are actually good - in fact, they're infuriating and I was always rooting for Jamilah, but it starts with one of these arguments and then puts it on repeat. The response and outcome was always predictable to the point where it was painful. I just wanted to yell to Jamilah to just keep secrets, and maybe just sneak out. I know she has a curfew, but if she can get away with not wearing her hijab at school and disguise her name for as long as she has, I think she can get away with one night out. And in all honesty, Hakim is not a total monster. But he says girls simply have less rights and abilities than men and that's simple fact. I don't know if that's part of the Muslim religion, but it's a little impossible to take his side in an argument after he says that. Which is easy considering how both his kids are able to get away with so much and Jamilah can't get away with a second cup of mint tea. 

Another story element I was really against was the minuscule mention of Jamie's hijab. Here's what I mean. Jamilah gets a job somewhere in public, and it's clear enough when she gets the application that she's wearing it because she's in the car with her sister Shereen. But afterwards it's never clear, never mentions, when she has her hijab on or not. And this is a problem, because when she has family and friends coming over to her workplace, it's good for her to think about when she should switch her identity and how ready she should be, which is I think realistic, but this never happens and that could've builded tension and made sense simultaneously. There's also a twist in this book, but the fun-turned-dismal arguments exhausted me and put me in the state where the twist was instantly predictable.

I originally picked up this book because of the interesting premise and I was interested in Muslims. This book does have an assortment of instruments and shows some decent rap Arabic lyrics and also shows the similarities between Muslims and other cultures more endorsed in North America. The biggest similarity I noticed was mint tea, by the way. And I liked how it shows people might not actually judge you as much as you think if you have a secret (even though I don't think that's how everyone would react.)

But how did I think about the ending? The ending almost always determines my final grade. Well...this is my least favourite book ending since The Glass Arrow back last Winter. It spends all its time building up toward a, you could say boss battle of sorts, and then, well, let's just say it hurts to read, it doesn't understand that the ending makes the whole book a ripoff, and it was in short a disaster. The only amusing thing is that I expected this story element that comes in pretty much every secret identity story and it didn't come.

I was in the biggest reading slump ever when I started this book, because I had my attention shifted entirely to The Blacktop Brothers 5. I still am, and I also refrained from reading this for a while because I read a few pages and was reminded of the bores of my Top 3 Worst books. But you know what? 

This is Where it Ends starts at 10 a.m. in the small town of Opportunity, and the Opportunity High School. The principal is putting on a speech for every kid of every grade in the auditorium. Five minutes in, the doors won't open. A boy walks in. Tyler Browne, a former high school dropout who reenrolled just this semester. And he reveals something in his pocket; a gun, and uses it automatically, not on the wall or on anyone's leg, but the heads and hearts of anyone who's picked on him and anyone who tries to stop him and anyone who refuses his requests, and now we have our book.

This is a tough kind of book to write. The books I write usually take place over a few days to a few weeks. There are some books I've read that either do that or take place over several months or a year. Some even longer, like The Glass Castle or the Red Rising trilogy. But I can't remember a book that takes place over as little time as this one. This book switches places with characters constantly, with every 1 page minimum and every 6 pages maximum. And I was not looking forward to reading the rest of this book after the first 40 pages. The way each chapter takes place over 1 to a few minutes felt more in-my-face rather than delightfully-different, which is what I think Marieke Nijkamp was going for. And the back stories, and there are several back stories, felt more filler than important to the plot. That isn't always terrible; there can be several details in a story that have nothing to do with the end result but this seemed to overly stall. Anyone who knows me knows I detest short story books; ones that tell so many stories there's no real plot. This isn't one of those, but sometimes it feels close, which is a disadvantage when you both have several different perspectives and it takes place over as little time as this book.

But this book found its way to win me back with personallific characters and clever connections to the school shooting. Marieke Nijkamp thought up brilliant ways to show relations to these characters who seem to have nothing in common; Claire is a cross-country runner with a boyfriend Matt and an older sister Tracy who went into the army. Tomas is a delinquent trying to erase the records of his Muslim friend Fareed after escaping detention. Autumn is Tyler's sister who is concerned for him after he reenrolled and who's . And Sylv is Tomas's sister and is in love (girl with girl) with Autumn. 

One story problem I found is when Tomas is picking the lock. What I was thinking was, "Wasn't the lock put on the doors from the inside? Did Tomas go through a vent or something?" And yes, there are some shootings that are just painful to read and keep reading about, but maybe that was the point, to pay tribute to school shootings in general by creating an antagonist we can't root for. 

The writing especially perks up to my taste after the second half, when it really shines with emotions and what the kids are fighting for; for a thousand tomorrows. That was my favourite line. The book also made me think dearly about how I wanted it to end: Do I want Tyler caught? Probably, but that would be predictable. Do I want a big gunfight? That would be maybe better. Do I want Tyler to escape? I hate him, but maybe, for an original story's sake. I was also curious if Tyler was going to be able to get to all the heroes we follow, and the closer he got, the more time went by and the book basically went from a last-minute Worst to just okay enough to warrant a recommendation. It went from an F to a B-. Crazy, right?

I also liked its idea of Tyler trying to "win". And the ending is the most important part, which I have stressed more than enough. It somehow managed to shock me and pay tribute at the same time.

Here's a way I can really explain "This is Where it Ends." A little while ago, I read a book called "Variant." And it was easy to get through and fun to flip through but it seemed to sacrifice character development and substance doing so. This book is like Variant completely backwards. Is this book action packed? No. Is it exciting? Depends on your reading tastes, and if you can be plot patient. Does it have good characters? That was kind of the point all along. And that's how many readers will remember this standalone book.

HAVE FUN! I think this was the best reading year ever. And expect the Top 10 Worst in a few days.

 I was nervous to start this book. The Taking was an enormously captivating surprise, a thrill ride with superb fantasy, shocking twists, and a perfect character study. But I've read series like Ruby Red, The Maze Runner, and Sylo that had terrific beginnings but shot themselves in the foot afterwards, which overall took away from the enjoyment of the first instalments even though that's not what I stand for. I shouldn't have worried.

This time, there aren't as many spoilers at the back of the book. It's been seventeen days since Tyler, Agent Truman, and Kyra Agnew's dad were swept away at the top of a volcano by a cyclone of fireflies. Did Tyler survive? In The Taking, people who are taken are only taken for forty-eight hours tops, so maybe not. For Kyra, however, she was gone five whole years, so now she has a shoestring to hold onto while she hopes. But now, she and the rest of the kids who have taken refuge from the police who want to, we don't even really know, to them, have just recieved word of a newsletter that says a 16-year-old was found not knowing how he got where he was, has a description much like Tyler's, and is now in confinement several hours away. It could be a trap, but Kyra has to try, and in the meantime, perhaps find out what happened to her, why the government has been abusing these special people, and why Kyra has these special powers unlike anything anyone has seen before.

So are the questions I had at the end of this book answered? Yes and no. They were answered and opened up even more of them. I couldn't believe the twist up they pull on this major character. It should've seemed so obvious. I also liked how Kyra not only uses her powers but uses her weakness to her advantage, and that when a character is in danger, she considers both sides of rescuing her or not but goes for the right one. 

Simon shows he has feelings for Kyra as well, and I guess I kind of saw it coming after the end of the first book, but after the romance I shipped in the first book, I wasn't all for it. I appreciated Kyra's reaction, though. It wasn't completely rejecting yet not completely accepting either. And Simon is anything but a jerk, which didn't make this section of the storyline necessarily...bad. And when two characters reunite, I never saw the twist coming. Not from a million miles, and it shredded even more questions and I might've shed a tear.

There's this flirt-and-smack moment that I didn't like and reminded me too much of the horrid twistup in The Scorch Trials, and this moment where a character holds some of our heroes but let others walk around freely. But those were the only times where I was thinking negatively of the book. Oh, and maybe when Kyra has to dye her hair, mostly because I always pictured Kyra like Mia Wasikowska's Alice:

 The Virals series is probably my most mixed baggage of books. The first Virals was lots of fun, Seizure was astounding, and Code and Exposure were just so-so. Now the series is finishing up. So what sort of tie-breaker is Terminal?

There's a new set of Virals in town called The Trinity, and the one glimpse our bossy and protective hero Tory Brennan got of them was back in the last book with three sets of glowing red eyes in the woods. They are lurking somewhere in Charleston, vandalizing landmarks and labs that the Virals are connected to.Not only that, but Chance Claybourne, the slimy rich boy, has found out the secret, mostly because he's now a Viral too, except his eyes glow the same as The Trinity's eyes. Oh, and Kit, Tory's father, and Whitney, Tory's girlfriend, might be beginning to take another step. The only question in that is, can Tory handle it? And can Tory handle everything thrown her way? Especially Ben and Chance's constant battles?

Let's just say this is my third favourite Virals series, and I really enjoyed it pretty much up till the end. We knew it had to end. We just wished it didn't, and it shows hints of not going the way I wasn't hoping it would go. And that sounds like a confusing sentence, but that was intentional. You kind of get the sense that everything's wrapping up and it's trying its best to say a proper final goodbye. And I'm glad Tory is finally over Ben's little mistake so long ago. 

My favourite part of the book was when Tory once again feels upset about Kit and Whitney but this time she acknowledges her selfishness and makes up for it in one of the most heartwarming moments I've read in quite a while.

Seizure is still my favourite Virals book (the second) and always will be. One of the best parts about it was the different advantages each individual of the pack uses to their full potential for a treasure hunt meets roller coaster. There's a little bit of that here again, but I was hoping for a little more. One thing I didn't really appreciate was the side story of Jason Taylor. He had a crush on Tory from the get-go, and while I understand Ben and Chance are already some heavyweight brawlers, I wasn't ready to completely dismiss Jason like that. It's true, he's the least special of the love triangle, I mean rectangle, and there's a lot going on for what has to be filled, but book writers never have a page limit. And Jason is not just, not special. The former "Mean Girls" trio has some enlightenment, however, which allows me to be a little less condescending of it.

Like all the other Virals books, you're probably asking, is there an exciting ending? Absolutely, the Virals have really met their match this time. It's very suspenseful, has fun with playing the trickery game and brings more than one twist. One I loved, the other I loathed, and the latter is one of the main reasons I didn't give this a higher grade.

In the end, Terminal is not the best and not the worst. I'm gonna miss these characters. It's a little sad after knowing them all these months. To celebrate, here's the ratings I gave to each of the books, in order.



VIRALS: 3/4                     Letter Grade: B
SEIZURE: 4+/4                 Letter Grade: A++
CODE: 2/4                        Letter Grade: C
EXPOSURE: 2.25/4          Letter Grade: C+
TERMINAL: 2.5/4            Letter Grade: B-