The End and Other Beginnings (Oct. 1, 2019) by Veronica Roth.
Despite
containing a collection of six novella-length stories, this YA novel from Divergent and Carve the Mark author Veronica Roth is relatively short. Each story
is a story “from the future” and includes two stories which take place in the
universe that the Carve the Mark
duology is set in. Below, I will give an overview of each of the stories and
conclude with my overall thoughts.
1. Inertia:
Claire Lowell is woken in the middle of the night to attend the last visitation
of her best friend, Matthew Hernandez. At least, they were best friends until
about three months ago. A last visitation happens when hospital analytics
determine that a person’s life will end “regardless of surgical intervention,”
and Matt was in a devastating car accident, which severely damaged his spine.
In different rooms, technology allows Claire and Matt to share a consciousness.
She only gets 30 minutes with him. Will it be time enough to say the things she
never said and previously couldn’t admit as he’s approaching death’s doorstep?
2. The
Spinners: Atleigh Kent isn’t your typical bounty hunter. She hunts
“leeches.” These leeches (a.k.a. symbios)
are ETs (yes, extraterrestrials). Their centipede-like bodies attach themselves
to a person’s spinal cord, taking over the host’s brain and body. The host’s
memories become their own, eventually suffocating the person’s mind to whom it
belonged. If a leech/symbios detaches after a long attachment (either by force
or of its own will), the body will go on living if cared for, but the person
will be a vegetable. Atleigh and her sister, Lacey, are taking a road trip to
the coast with an urn, but Atleigh wants to make a detour first to Nashville
(it’s related to the urn’s contents). Vengeance and all that, but it’s in
Nashville that she runs into Eon. He’s a trusted ET, but flickers with the
telltale signs of wearing digital skin. What true form does he cover up?
3. Hearken:
Darya Singh has perfect pitch. This makes her a candidate to be a Hearkener, as perfect pitch is one of
the prerequisites. Once through years of training, including choosing three
instruments, Hearkeners receive an implant into the temporal lobe after
choosing to hear people’s “life songs” or “death songs.” The type of songs Hearkeners
hear determines the color of the web-like tattoo dye that is seen under the
scalp of every Hearkener: red for life, black for death. Darya attends the Minnesota School for Hearkeners in
Minneapolis. Hearing death songs, especially, has grown in demand with the
ever-constant threat of bio-bombs. Bio-bombers prefer heavily populated areas
(mass casualties = faster apocalypse), so the poorer families live downtown as
opposed to the suburbs or outward. If someone inhales the gas contained in
those bombs, depending on the potency, the victim may be infected within a few
weeks or a few minutes, but death is always imminent. There is no antidote. The
bio-bombers want to destroy the world, but do not believe in ending their own
lives, which is why one always looks closely at those wearing gas masks (which
hopefully you yourself are wearing, but they are expensive).
4. Vim
and Vigor: Edie Robbins doesn’t know what to do. She’s been asked to the
prom by two boys: Evan is good-looking, smart and good at conversation, but
he’s pretentious; Chris is hot, funny and allegedly a good kisser, but he’s
also her ex-boyfriend. Since the death of a friend, anxiety is always close to
the surface, making the choosing of a prom date a significant issue for her. So
she sketches the superheroines of the Protectors – Vim, Vigor, Transforma and
Haze – based on friend Kate’s fan fiction. She attends the Vim and Vigor movie
with Kate and Lynn, but their relationship has changed since Amy left. After
the movie, she doubts her decision to go to Kate’s, but going there gives her
the opportunity to use Kate’s father’s prototype: the Elucidation Protocol
(EP). It doesn’t tell the future, but helps you see what you think would happen
between two scenarios. It is very expensive, but Edie assures Kate she needs to
use it for a very important reason. Does the EP help Edie decide which boy to
take to prom? What will happen if Kate figures out the reason she’s using the
EP?
5. Armored
Ones: This novella is split into two parts. The first, from Teka Surukta’s
point-of-view, tells of the first time she’s ever in the same room as Cyra
Noavek. Teka’s mission is to kill Cyra. But her anger is a hindrance; it makes
her foolish, as she cannot focus on her work and observe Cyra simultaneously.
If she isn’t careful, that could get her interrogated, tortured and eventually
executed. What Teka doesn’t understand is why Otega, a Dormant (a renegade usually on a sensitive, long-term mission who
therefore doesn’t regularly attend meetings), seems to want Teka to see Cyra as
a person, not a monster.
In the second, Akos Kereseth is
appealing yet again to his commander, Vakrez Noavek of the Shotet Army, to be
granted his request for the Shotet Rite
of Armor, “in which a candidate went head to head with an Armored One – the
most dangerous creature on their planet – and either killed it or died in the
attempt.” Armored Ones do not like the current, so what will an Armored One
make of Akos’ lack of current? Despite the danger they pose, they are innocent
creatures. Can Akos do it? Can Akos kill something innocent, not to save his
own life or his brother’s life, but to get something he wants?
6. The
Transformationist: Otho Judacre has spent the past year (a.k.a. season) at
the ACYR (the Assembly Center for Youth
Rehabilitation) for a death that wasn’t intentional. With over
one-and-a-half seasons left to go, Otho is surprised when his attorney (Tyzo)
shows up and states he’ll be released to his uncle for a week. He gets to
return to his home planet of Zold (one of nine nation-planets) for his fluency
exam. He could be on Zold much longer if he himself testifies. His kind uncle
(Auly) is the one who asked his attorney to appeal his sentence, and, for the
first time, someone else came forward to speak on his behalf. That person is
Jove Doret. Jove grew up along the same street as him and still lives there
with his mom (Kiiva) and younger sister (Dasha). Jove’s family are not Ts (short for Transformationists). Ts are oft-seen as a cult. They believe in
self-annihilation and call it “unmaking.” What Otho’s mother put him through
could’ve killed him, not that his brother, Catho, sees that. With Jove’s help,
can Otho find it in himself to speak on his own behalf?
Overall
Thoughts: While I didn’t prefer all of the short stories (I found “Vim and
Vigor” to be the least interesting), I liked this YA collection overall. Roth
reaches out with her imagination and paints with words tales of advanced
technology, aliens and the types of monsters that don’t look monstrous because
they’re human (currentgift or not). These stories of the future can be strange
(I want to know more about the Minnesota
School for Hearkeners), but they have familiar themes such as friendship,
revenge, love and self-doubt. That there may be ETs with centipede-like bodies
involved? Those are just details, my friend.
