Really well put together collection of short stories. I really enjoyed this one, thanks for the copy Netgalley!

This is a selection of short science fiction stories about the future. A few I really enjoyed and few I didn't care for so much. I loved the Vigor and Vim and the Hearkeners because they were so different and had interesting themes on life, choices and what we really care about. In fact, they were both tied up in death and what makes us tick.
The stories were short enough to be read in my lunch break but deep enough that It kept me thinking about them long after the book was closed.

I always find it quite hard to rate short stories as there are always going to be ones that you enjoy more than others. Had I just been focusing on the first four stories then this title may have been given five stars. I absolutely loved 'Inertia' and thought this was a great short story to start on - it stayed in my mind for the entirety of the book and was such a unique idea. Veronica's world building abilities are truly astounding.

The only ones I struggled a bit with were the ones that were set in the world of the 'Carve the Mark' series. I think that to really enjoy and understand them you do have to have read that series beforehand and I haven't. That being said, I still thought they were interesting stories and still worth four stars. If anything I think this has made me want to explore more of Veronica's books.

Thank you NetGalley and HarperCollins Children's for the review copy!

I really enjoyed almost all of the stories in this collection and found it very entertaining. I also loved the artwork throughout the book and felt that these illustrations really added to the stories.
Inertia: An interesting story which deals with grief, depression and anxiety and how to process it by following one girl as she prepares to spend the last 30 minutes with her comatose ex-best friend and go through their favourite memories. A contemporary tale with a speculative twist, I thought it dealt with important topics well, having nuance and emotional maturity.
The Spinners: This was my favourite story. An homage to Body Snatchers, this follows two sisters on a mission to rid the world of 'leeches' and ultimately find the leech who killed their mother. It was a road trip story with an alien side serving and I really enjoyed it.
Hearken: A young girl must make a decision that will impact the rest of her life - will she choose red or black? This was a fascinating concept about the music that all humans give off and how certain people could follow the melody and thus play it for others. Once again, we are dealing with the death of a parent which was a common theme throughout the collection.
Vim and Vigour: Death of a friend here - an exploration of grief through one girl's preparation for prom and her fandom for a comic series. Well told tale, if a little cheesy.
Armoured Ones: I didn't connect with this one at all. This was the first story to be set completely in a different world and I felt that we weren't given enough time to ground ourselves in this environment.
The Transformationist: We are off world again here, but this was a much quieter, character given story about one boy coming to terms with the beliefs he was brought up with and how they don't coincide with the life he wants to inhabit. It was gentle and poignant and I really liked this one.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Thank you netgalley and the publishers for letting me read this early. I’m not so keen on short stories usually but I really enjoyed these stories, I wasn’t keen on the last one because I felt it was a little slow for me but I still gave it 3.5 stars all the rest I gave 4 stars. I loved the stories and the plots and the characters. I would highly recommend this book.

I am a huge fan of other Veronica Roth books but unfortunately I just didn't enjoy these stories and really struggled with them. In saying that I must say that the stories are well written just not my cup of tea

Th End and Other Beginnings is Roth's short story collection set in future covering different issues in each.
Like all story collections, there are ones I loved and ones I didn't care for.
I really enjoyed the first 4 of them, but didn't like the last 2 much. I guess they are connected to other books of hers, because it feels weirdly missing information.
I wish she didn't do that because then everybody can enjoy her writing.
Despite that, I enjoyed my time and thought they were exciting.

Thanks a lot to NetGalley and the publisher for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Th End and Other Beginnings is a book by Veronica Roth, made of six short stories. They are all set in the future and deal with different issues.
I really enjoyed the first four stories especially Inertia and Hearken, I liked the characters and the issues in the stories. I didn't really connect with the last two stories as they are associated with another series by the author, that I know nothing at all about.

In all I enjoyed reading this book and it will be great for readers that are fans of Veronica Roth as well as those who are new y to her books. Reading this book has reminded me how much I enjoy reading short stories.

I really liked the first three stories in this and they felt like the strongest and most developed out of the collection. The last couple I did not like as much mainly because the characters seemed developed off-screen and it felt like there was information missing that was needed to film in some of the gaps. This was a good collection but to get the full collection and the benefit it offers, I would recommend reading 'Carve the Mark' first.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins UK for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

I am a huge fan of Veronica Roth’s divergent series and honestly found myself scared to read anything else by her in case it didn’t live up to the high expectations I had set for her. When I saw this book of short stories on NetGalley I knew this was my opportunity to finally take the plunge and I do not regret it one bit.

This book has six short stories which all had a futuristic feel to them and cover a lot of topics from death of a parent to mental health which made me appreciate each story a lot more. There was also a lot of diversity in this book which I was happy to see!

Because this is the first time I’m reviewing a collection of short stories I’ve decided that in addition to providing an overall review of the book I would give reviews for each of the stories.

Inertia – 5/5 stars. This one was one of my favourites in the whole book and looked at mental health and the fear of finding a cure having an affect on what makes them special. Definitely the best one to start this collection off!

The Spinners – 3/5 stars. I didn’t enjoy this story as much and it reminded me a lot of The Host by Stephanie Meyer. I just didn’t feel as connected to these characters as much as I did in Inertia but it was a good story nonetheless.

Hearken – 5/5 stars. Another of my favourites in this book. I really liked Darya’s character and the themes of forgiveness. I really liked the idea behind this story in the sense that people can hear life and death songs. This is definitely a book I would have loved if it was a full novel!

Vim and Vigor – 4/5 stars. This story reminded me of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell and I’m not even mad about it! The main character suffers from anxiety and the reality that as we grow older we start to grow out of things that we love but that the friendships that are made are still really important no matter what.

Armoured Ones – 2.5/5 stars. I think the reason that this story and the next one scored lower for me was because these were based in the world of Carve the Mark which I have still not read. This story just fell short for me. I think with more backstory I would have enjoyed this more.

The Transformationist – 2.5 stars. Again, another story that fell short but I think once I read Carve the Mark I’ll return to this story and hope that I enjoy it more!

Overall this was a good read and I found myself wanting more. I think it’s safe to say that Veronica Roth’s writing style still manages to captivate me and I will be picking up Carve the Mark very soon!

I’m a huge Veronica Roth fan so I was so excited to be approved for this Arc and I wasn’t disappointed, this is a collection of short stories, some even based in the carve the mark world, each one different and I loved Hearken the most, well written as always, beautifully illustrated, so good I need a physical copy now

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

BOOK REVIEW
The end and other beginnings by Veronica Roth.

5 stars
I am a bit of a Veronica Roth fangirl so when I saw this new book I got instantly excited and nervous. Would it be good as the divergent and carve the mark series? I can thankfully say that yes, it is.
This book is made up of short stories (which I am loving this week!), a few based in the Carve the Mark world, which I loved as I am always happy to learn more about my favourite worlds and characters and the Veronica Roth did not let me down. I also adored all of the other short stories, which were all completely different!
It was an absolute treat for me, I just wish I had read it as a physical book and not an e-book as it looks like the illustrations would be awesome.
I was gifted this book in exchange for an honest review from netgalley and @harpercollinsch @harper360ya @harpercollinsuk

I firstly want to say that I was a huge fan of the divergent series.
I’m not generally a fan of short stories simply because I like immersing myself into the story and you can’t do that in just a few pages - series girl here! however I really enjoyed most of the stories in this collection and didn’t feel “cheated”
Each story Has it’s own unique setting and storyline with my favourite being Hearken. I would love to delve more into that world! I also really liked the illustrations and found that they explained things within the story that I otherwise wouldn’t have fully imagined.

3.5 stars

This whole book of short stories has a futuristic feel, sometimes a little dystopian and sometimes a little sci-fi. One story I loved, some I liked and some I didn’t. What is special about this book of shorts is that it is illustrated. The illustrations are gorgeous, so much so that I bookmarked most of them so that I could go back and look at them again. They add a lot to the story and definitely help with visualisation. Here is a flavour of three of the stories.

Inertia was a story steeped in some mental health issues, grief, loss and things unsaid. This story gripped me immediately as two friends were confronted with mortality. It was both of hopeless and hopeful. This story of firsts and friendships in a backdrop of futuristic death rituals was my favourite.

The spinners had a feel of the THE Host but executing the world in a short story was a tall order. So this one crashed and burned a bit for me. I found it a little boring and I didn’t feel the connection between the siblings or other character.

Harken was a super interesting concept but it felt a bit unfinished. I wanted to know so much more about the world, the bio bombs and the giftings. A longer story would have done this more justice.

Overall this was a book that you could dip in and out of. Not all the stories appealed to me but they might to some. Considering how stunning the illustrations are in the ebook, I am only imagine how they will translate even better into a physical book.

Thank you to Harper Collins for this early review copy.

You know the author is good when starting their newest book makes you tremble in fear.
Most of the stories are female-led and let me tell you how amazing it was to read about such a diverse group of women, some busy saving the world, others just saving a friendship but all being unapologetic in their womanhood. I also liked that the characters wielding a gun were not written as superior to the ones that liked makeup or worried about a boy and that none of them were just one-sided but a multitude of likes and dislikes that formed a person.
And I'm also so glad that this DRC already has the definitive illustrations because they are beyond amazing.
All the short stories are connected by a common theme but they could not be more different from each other.

Inertia

This short story reminded me of a bit of Van Gogh in how artistic types often struggle with their mental health and the fear that the cure will make away with what makes them who they are.
This was the perfect short story to start this book with because it bludgeons every defense you have into smithereens and leaves you to deal with the aftermath. Not only that, there were several turns of phrases that forced me to stop and appreciate the writing. I also loved Claire and was rooting for her since the beginning.
(Funnily enough, and maybe because I’m rereading them, this reminded me of Twilight.)

The Spinners

This one was a more forgettable read despite being one of the more attention-grabbing stories. I like the overall themes of family, grief and growing up and the male love interest was lovely and just interesting enough not to obfuscate the main characters. The Leeches reminded me of the souls in The Host by Stephenie Meyer, only evil. Last Stephenie Meyer comparison, promise.

Hearken

This was my favorite original world (I’m not counting the ones that appeared in other series) even though it is set on Earth. This short story felt the closest to reality, reminding me of the terrorist attacks in Europe throughout the last couple of years. The main character being Indian-American is also pretty cool.

Reading this left the same feeling behind as watching an episode of Philip K. Dicks Electric Dreams. When Darya speaks about how music makes her feel all I can listen is the show’s soundtrack and when she describes the Hearkners and how they obliged to identify themselves by pulling the hair out of their faces I thought of “The Hood Maker”. I only wish we had gotten more background into them and that ending will be gnawing at the back of my mind for a long time...

I enjoyed the overall themes of forgiveness, alcoholism, and sisterhood and I loved how insightful Darya was when it came to her own feelings.

Vim and Vigor

This reminded me of Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell in how Edie is in fandom and has to live with anxiety.

This is perhaps the most normal of the stories and my absolute favorite. It focuses a lot on grief, female friendships and growing out of things and people and the feelings that come with it. Veronica’s writing was at it’s best for me here but what truly made me love this story was that Edie was a feminine girl that loved clothes and makeup and neuroscience because you don’t have to freak choose!!

The next two short stories are part of the Carve the Mark universe which I did not read. I did try to start but Veronica Roth’s books are not the kind you can read in a rush so I decided to wait until I have the time to have my heart broken-. I have been here before. I know how she rolls. Although it would be better if you knew the characters you can still enjoy these stories without the main series.

Armored Ones

The first part of this short story focuses on Teka and her quest for vengeance. I liked Teka and her description as well as her rage-fuelled thoughts but it was Cyra’s appearances that I loved the best.

The second part focuses on Akos but I cared very little for him and a lot more for all the LGBTQ rep in this!!!

The transformationist
This beginning...
I loved Zoldan and its inhabitants but it was too short for me although this being in the CtM universe gives me hope that I will see Otho again and more becomes clear. But talk about gay feels in this one...
All these stories are bound by a common theme and how it manifested in such a different way. The female majority and diversity were unexpected but an absolute win for me as well.

Thank you to NetGalley and HarperCollins for this DRC.