Review by New York Times Review
Byx is a young dairne, a thoughtful sort of dog-human hybrid, and when the book opens, she is living in hiding with her critically endangered pack. Almost immediately, tragedy strikes. Human soldiers of the merciless ruler Murdano arrive while Byx is away from home, and her pack is destroyed. Byx returns to the bloody scene, where she realizes she may well be the last dairne alive, the Endling of her species. Through a quick succession of events, Byx finds herself in the company of Khara, a human girl, and Többié, a comic sidekick called a wobbyk. As typically happens in journey books of this type, the three unlikely friends make their way through a treacherous land (here, it's Nedarra), dodging disaster and building bonds of friendship as well as meeting up with a few more travelers, before they continue on their quest for Dairneholme, where Byx hopes to find others like her. Into this engaging adventure Applegate weaves a surprising number of serious themes: the relationship of family to identity, the importance of expansive gender roles, the dangers of authoritarian government and misinformation, the looming threat of species extinction and the destructive appetites of humankind. "There's one thing you can be certain of with humans," Applegate has a character say. "They always want more." But these subjects are approached personally, through Byx's broadening engagement with the larger world. This is not a book about extinction. It's a book about one dairne figuring out what it might mean to be alone in the world. Perhaps the most powerful thing about "Endling the Last" is that the characters are capable of serious wrongdoing as well as genuine goodness. We learn early on that Byx has, herself, tasted wobbyk flesh, but in their first encounter, she still risks her own life to save Tobble. Khara initially encounters Byx while hunting her with a band of poachers, and then enslaves her. Despite that, Byx rescues her in a moment of peril, noting that "I was about to save the very person holding me captive." Khara eventually returns the favor. As these characters are threatened or empowered and come to know one another better, their instincts and relationships shift, and so does our understanding of them. We see that almost anyone has the capacity to become a hero or a villain. Another surprising element in the story is that dairnes have a unique power - the ability to detect untruth. They also never lie, and this honesty surfaces and evolves throughout the story. "Although dairnes don't lie, we do sometimes ... hope," Byx tells us early on, setting up an interesting relationship for the pages to come. Later, in a moment of despair, she cries, "This hope of mine is ridiculous." But we understand that the group needs both truth and hope to stay on their path. "In truth lies strength" may be the pack motto of Byx's lost family, but by the end of the book, we realize that even truth isn't enough, all by itself. "Endling the Last" is perhaps not quite so perfect a book as "The One and Only Ivan." In reaching for wild adventure, a big cast of characters and a complex fantasy world, Applegate has sacrificed a little poetry and clarity. But if it sometimes feels a little messy, it also feels triumphant. Readers will fall in love with Byx and race with her through Nedarra, breathless and eager, thinking deeply all the way. ? LAUREL SNYDER'S recent books for young readers include "Orphan Island" and the Geisel Award-winning "Charlie & Mouse."
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 29, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the land of Nedarra, six governing species reign supreme, but the dairnes a cross between dog and sugar glider are critically endangered. Hunted by humans to obscurity, the remaining dairnes have left their treetop nests for more concealed abodes on the ground. Byx is the runt of her pack and highly curious about the world around her. When she sneaks out to explore one day, she rescues a wobbyk (imagine a silvery-blue chinchilla) named Tobble from a group of poachers, only to return home to the horror of finding her entire pack slaughtered by human soldiers. Byx flees with Khara the poachers' young guide and Tobble, but the unusual group is brought up short by unsettling news: Byx may be an endling, the last of her species. What follows is a dangerous, heart-stopping quest to stay alive and find an elusive island where dairnes are still rumored to live. Applegate (Wishtree, 2017) effortlessly constructs her fantasy world, briskly moving readers through its imaginative details while creating winning, unique characters. Readers expecting a whimsical animal adventure should be warned that the pervading tone is dark, calling attention to humans' greed and lust for power. Yet, Khara proves a loyal friend, as do others in Byx's unlikely crew. This epic series starter is a bracing, propulsive read that will be a challenge to keep on the shelf.--Smith, Julia Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
The gripping first installment of Applegate's (The One and Only Ivan) new fantasy trilogy assembles a motley crew in a suspenseful, tautly drawn quest. The narrative centers on Byx, the 11-year-old runt of a litter of an almost extinct, threatened species of dairnes-highly intelligent doglike creatures who walk upright and can talk, glide, and distinguish any lie. When the curious Byx ventures beyond the confines of her pack's carefully hidden home, she saves a humorously polite creature, a wobbyk named Tobble, meets a 14-year-old tracker named Khara disguised as a boy, and misses the slaughter of her community that leaves her the last of her kind, an endling. The conflicting motivations of the strongly drawn characters prove compelling as Khara captures the grieving Byx and Tobble to take them to an island city to consult a scholar whom Khara believes will save Byx (while paying a hefty price). Persuasive emotional underpinnings give depth and urgency to the adventure as the team unites against sinister forces. Ages 8-12. Agent: Elena Giovinazzo, Pippin Properties. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-Byx has always thought of herself as last: last-born sibling, the youngest in her whole family, and least adept at all the skills valued by the caninelike "dairnes." But when her family, the last-known group of dairnes in Nedarra, is hunted down and murdered by humans under the rule of the villanous Murdano, she truly becomes the last-an Endling, the sole survivor of a species. Byx sets out on a desperate but hopeful journey in search of Dairneholm, a mythical settlement of dairnes. Along the way she is joined by an increasingly unlikely group of adventurers including Khala the human, a girl disguised as a boy with a mysterious past, and Tobble, the small and fiercely loyal wobbyk. Their mission becomes more dangerous as they discover the true machinations behind the dairnes's eradication. Fantasy lovers are in for a treat with this smartly paced, enthralling adventure that pairs novel and exciting world-building with classic high fantasy tropes and political intrigue. Applegate's characters feel fresh and modern, and their questioning of the status quo will resonate with today's middle graders. Illustrations and maps will help young readers imagine the rich setting filled with fantastical creatures that vie for power in Nedarra. The heart and courage Byx and her companions must find within as they stand up against unimaginable odds will inspire and delight. VERDICT A sweeping fantasy epic for the middle grade set that will have readers clamoring for a follow-up. A first purchase.-Darla Salva Cruz, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Byx is a "dairne," a sentient doglike species on the verge of extinction. After humans slaughter her family, she sets out on a quest to find more of her kind. Friends (Tobble, a "wobbyk"; Khara, a human girl) help, but others want to enslave Byx for her ability to distinguish lies from truth. Once past its tragic and gruesome beginning, this thoughtful adventure hits deeper notes about truth and wrongdoing. (c) Copyright 2018. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
What do you do when you're the last of your kind?Applegate transports her readers to a new land, one inhabited by numerous sentient species, six of which have fought to the top of the food chain: humans, dairnes, felivets, natites, terramants, and raptidons. In this world, readers meet Byx, a dairne--a doglike creature that walks erect, glides like a flying squirrel, and has opposable thumbs--on the day she becomes the last of her species. It's also a day when Byx meets two other creatures: Tobble, a wobbyk, with large ears and a short round body, and Khara (short for Kharassande), a 14-year-old, brown-skinned human girl who pretends to be a boy so that she is not limited by the gendered rules of human society. Bonded through lifesaving acts, the three embark on a journey to find Ferrucci the Gharri, a scientist and scholar who may be able to protect Byx from a human emperor who is hellbent on killing off her entire species. Applegate skillfully builds a fully realized world of intrigue and wonder without ever letting up on the story's quick pace. Themes of genocide, conservation, and magic are interwoven, providing thought-provoking questions for astute readers and educators.A savvy choice for readers of fantasy; individual readers and book clubs will love it and demand to know when the sequel will be available. (Fantasy. 8-11)
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
