The End Games
by T. Michael Martin
Genre: Young Adult dystopian
Publisher: Harper Collins
Publication date: May 7th 2013
Source: ARC from publisher
Author's website | GoodReads

It happened on Halloween.

The world ended.

And a dangerous Game brought it back to life.

Seventeen-year-old Michael and his five-year-old brother, Patrick, have been battling monsters in The Game for weeks.

In the rural mountains of West Virginia, armed with only their rifle and their love for each other, the brothers follow Instructions from the mysterious Game Master. They spend their days searching for survivors, their nights fighting endless hordes of “Bellows”—creatures that roam the dark, roaring for flesh.

And at this Game, Michael and Patrick are very good.

But The Game is changing.

The Bellows are evolving.

The Game Master is leading Michael and Patrick to other survivors—survivors who don’t play by the rules.

And the brothers will never be the same.

When I first picked up The End Games, I thought I was going to get a fast-paced survival story with zombies along the lines of the third season of The Walking Dead. The End Games was more than that. It tells the story of a young boy's will to survive and the lengths he was willing to go through to protect his brother and reach the safe zone.

I have to be honest and say that I had a hard time reading this book. It wasn't that it was bad or anything, it was just so difficult. The book handles a lot of heavy themes like Patrick's mental and social issues, antagonists that may possibly be insane, and Michael's struggles to stabilize his state of mind. The End Games had themes similar to that of a psychological thriller, and I had to invest a lot into the story and really think because it was so easy to get confused if you didn't pay attention to some minor details.

The writing is really different from what we're used to in the world of YA. It's much more complex and literary, reminiscent of the writing used in well-loved contemporary classics. The main character in the book is a teenager, but the narration treats the reader like an adult. Michael still sticks to his teenage jargon and is known for shouting out internet lingo like the word 'newb' but there was just something about the writing that made it sound so grown up. The book doesn't scrimp on the gory details and harsh realities either. The unique writing style may have taken a while for me to get used to but I learned to appreciate and enjoy it.

I struggled with the narration a bit because the main character, Michael, had a lot of issues with himself that were dealt with so vividly and I felt like he brought me along for the ride. He didn't understand himself completely, making it hard for me to understand him. I really admired his strength and dedication to his brother Patrick though and I really felt his growth as the story progressed. Patrick, on the other hand, was so hard to bear with. He's just a five year old boy and most of his actions were understandable even though he ruins everything almost every time. He really annoyed me but since I guess that is what the author wanted, I think he's a really well-written character. The supporting characters and antagonists were also very well-rounded and entertaining, and I enjoyed their contributions to the book.

The world that T. Michael Martin created for The End Games was new to me, but I welcomed it with open arms. When I read a post-apocalyptic novel I have to believe in it completely and leave no holes for plot holes and doubts, and that's exactly what this book gave me. Unlike most dystopian books, the story doesn't take place years or centuries after the end but places us just a few weeks after the supposed 'end of the world'. I also loved the author's fresh new take on zombies and the living dead and how they came to be.

The End Games actually opens up right in the middle of the action and we're immediately thrown into this world of darkness and monsters. The plot was evenly paced and even though a lot of major details were kept a secret early on, they were gradually revealed throughout the book during the perfect times. There was never a time that I had a question that would go unanswered. There were a lot of instances where I thought that it was done and over, but another curveball gets thrown our way and the book kept me on my toes.