At the Edge of the Universe by Shaun David Hutchinson (2017)

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It’s been over six months since Tommy has vanished, literally. No one remembers him; not his classmates, not his parents, not his best friends. Ozzie still does. He remembers everything about their relationships. All the late nights and spontaneous trips to the beach? He remembers those. Everyone thinks he’s going crazy, that he should see a therapist, that he should get on medication but he’s not budging. Especially since the universe as he knows it is shrinking. Soon, not even his best friend, Lua, remembers what the sun is or what the stars are and Ozzie is somehow getting close to the golden-boy-gone-rogue Calvin. Every time the universe shrinks Ozzie loses more and more of what he considers normal and he might not even have time to figure out why because, well, the universe is shrinking.
I have such a mixed relationship with Shaun David Hutchinson books because I absolutely loved We Are The Ants but I couldn’t even get through The Five Stages of Andrew Brawl. Luckily, not only does At the Edge of the Universe follow suit to We Are The Ants, but it also has a lot of references to it throughout the book. Although it was for about two seconds, I did get to see the characters Diego and Henry come alive again which was totally cool. Shaun David Hutchinson also dissed his own book (in his book) and we would probably be friends in real life.
I have trouble putting At the Edge of the Universe into one specific genre. Make no mistake, it’s definitely science fiction. There is a lot of talk about different theories surrounding multiple universes and dimensions that actually got a little confusing. Shaun David Hutchinson does this cool thing, though (as with We Are The Ants), where he’s able to present as science fiction type story as realistic fiction. As someone who doesn’t really like science fiction, this works well for me. However is all out live, although realistic, also science fiction? We are the future of yesterday, using gadgets and technology that couldn’t have even been dreamed of 200 years ago. I present that theory to go with all the other theories throughout this novel.
I really liked how all the characters were presented but I really didn’t like one, which I’ll get to later. First, there’s Ozzie, who I really appreciated. In general, I hope people have the respect and compassion that Ozzie had through life. Yes, he was caught up in his own stuff, but he also took steps to protect the people he loved. This book was also the first time I’ve seen a genderfluid character in literature that wasn’t just there to be made fun of. Lua did a really good job of standing ground in their identity and Shaun David Hutchinson did a good job showing how to properly use pronouns. Still, I thought Lua was a complete jerk and really took advantage of the fact that Ozzie was unstable.
Unpopular opinion, but I also didn’t like Tommy. I can definitely see why he was unstable and I don’t dislike him for that. Yet, he put him and everyone around him down every chance he got and it seemed like no matter what happened, he could never be happy. Calvin, on the other hand, I did like. I enjoyed seeing his journey on his road to recovery from his traumatic event and the change in his demeanor. There’s also Ozzie’s friend Dustin, who didn’t really contribute nor take away from the story. He was just there.
In this novel, there is a lot of writing surrounding self-harm, abusive relationships, and suicidal thoughts. Here’s why Shaun David Hutchinson did it differently than other authors: he wrote a letter, to the reader, addressing it head on. He wrote about how mental illness and traumatic events affect people. But the best part, by far, is we finally go an author to include resources for readers who are having a hard time. By doing this, Shaun David Hutchinson could be helping thousands with just including some numbers in the back.
Now, I hate to bring this review down, but I do have one complaint: the ending wasn't my favorite. It wasn’t necessarily all of a sudden, since the book was almost 500 pages, but there was almost so explanation for why everything happened the way it did. I left feeling kind of empty for Ozzie.

Regardless of the ending, this was for sure a kick-butt book. I am no longer on the fence on Shaun David Hutchinson and can call myself a fan. He impressed me with this one, folks.

4 Stars

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