The Last (Endling Series #1)

The Last: Endling # 1
By Katherine Applegate
HarperCollins, 2018. Fantasy, 383 p.

Byx is the last of her kind—what her species (dairnes) call an “endling”. She saw humans kill off her pack and now wonders if she really is the last dairne or if there are others hidden in the safe haven legends. Byx has also saved a wobbyk named Tobble that then (due to wobbyk code) must try to save Byx multiple times. To make things even more complicated Byx gets caught by a human girl masquerading around as a boy tracker…which in turn means that Tobble and Byx end up being taken to places where even more humans are and thus they will find out just how much humans want dairnes to truly be extinct.

This is a good beginning to a brand new series written by Newbery Award-winning author Katherine Applegate. The various different (and fantastical) animals are very interesting…and the bits of legends where it talks about the different sentient races pull together the history of the different species in such a way that kids will understand the backbone of this world. Basically this is a good, new series for kiddos who love reading fantastical stories with animals as the main focus. If a kid has read every Redwall book, this is a good place to go next. Also, the narrator of the audio book does a good job at bringing the book to life and having a good solid pace for the story.

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