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Book Info:
At the End of the River Styx by Michelle Kulwicki
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Publishing Date: September 24, 2024
4 stars
It is a slow-burn/slow-pacing novel but slow in this case is the best pacing for this theme: death of a parent, grieving, and guilt. Two brothers are dealing with the death of their mother. One feels guilty for her death (Bastian) and can't cope with it as well as the other.
I love that Bastian at the age of 18 is rehabilitating a bookstore although he has no plans for his future. Somehow it is as if he is hugging himself, anchoring himself to life. He is carrying too much guilt.
I liked Zan (he traded places with his mother more or less 400 years ago and now serves the underworld) he appeared to Bastian in his dreams and Zan was assigned to bring Bastian from the living world. I like his struggle. He hesitates and relates to Bastian.
I also like Bastian's best friend Riley. She keeps him with a foot in daily life.
Synopsis:
Before he can be reborn, Zan has spent 499 years bound in a 500-year curse to process souls for the monstrous Ferryman―and if he fails he dies.
In Portland, Bastian is grieving. He survived a car accident that took his mother and impulse-purchased a crumbling bookstore with the life insurance money.
But in sleep, death’s mark keeps dragging Bastian into Zan’s office. It shouldn’t be a problem to log his soul and forget he ever existed. But when Zan follows Bastian through his memories of grief and hope, Zan realizes that he is not ready for Bastian to die.
The boys borrow time hiding in the memories of the dead while the Ferryman hunts them, and Zan must decide if he’s willing to give up his chance at life to save Bastian―and Bastian must decide if he’s willing to keep living if it means losing Zan.
Content Warning: accidental death, grief, survivor’s guilt
Book Links:
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/at-the-end-of-the-river-styx-michelle-kulwicki/1143881745
About the Author:
Michelle Kulwicki grew up in the Pacific Northwest overturning every rock and stick in an unending quest to find portals to worlds far more exciting than her own. After moving to the mountainless Midwest, she earned her bachelors and master’s degrees in music performance, and spent years in the symphony and musical theater pit circuit. She’s now a mom by day, musician by night, and writer in all the spaces in between—a life that is somewhat lacking in portals, but is still full of magic.
Her short fiction has been both Locus Recommended and Hugo nominated, and her first full length novel, At the End of the River Styx, will be debuting in Spring of 2024 from Page Street Kids.
Author Links:
Website: https://www.michellekulwicki.com/
Twitter: https://x.com/kulwickiwrites
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kulwickiwrites
Tour Schedule:
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