[ARC Review] Ending Eleven by Jerri Chisholm
Everyone in Compound Eleven thinks I was killed. But they’re dead wrong…
I spent my entire life in Compound Eleven as a fighter. Surviving in an underground city filled with violence, oppression, and tyranny. We were told the world above was scorched, an immediate death sentence. I should have died never knowing the truth. Instead, when I fought Wren—a boy from the top floor, a Preme—I fell for him. And eventually learned that my reality was an insidious lie.
Escaping Compound Eleven nearly killed me and Wren. Now we’re aboveground, where the world is anything but a toxic, burning wasteland. It’s green and lush, filled with sunshine, fresh water…and hope. All of which tastes bitter when I see what it’s cost me. Because something in Wren has changed. He’s broken—along with whatever it was between us.
Now the tides of violence in Compound Eleven are rising, threatening to spill out and shatter this peaceful place with brutality, corruption, and death.
But do I stop them…or join them?
My thoughts: This is the third and final book in the Eleven Trilogy, and whew, what a finale. If you thought Eve and Wren breaking out of Compound Eleven was the hardest part of their escape, you haven't seen anything yet. Eve left a lot of people behind at the end of Unraveling Eleven, and now it's time to make things right.
I loved the character development in this final book. Eve had a lot of choices to make - big, ethical choices that could easily flip her new world for better or worse. And Wren is not the guy we met in Escaping Eleven - far from it.
Ending Eleven gave me the same thrill that I had when I first read Allegiant, the final Divergent novel. Chisholm packed a lot of dilemma and action into this resolution, and it was easy to forget that I was reading YA. It's hard to say if I would have made all the same decisions as Eve, but Eve's narrative kept me turning the page nonetheless.
With engaging writing, an action-filled plot, and the ultimate resolution to Eve and Wren's story arc, Ending Eleven is the conclusion this trilogy needed and fans of the series won't be disappointed.
Thank you to Entangled Teen for providing an advanced copy of this title! All opinions are my own.
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Release date: 3/6/23
Format: eARC
eARC provided via: NetGalley widget
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