The End of the World is Rye by Brett Cottrell: A unique take on Urban Fantasy that kept me reading! 4/5 Stars.

Hello! And welcome back to all my readers and followers. I'm sorry for the delay, but as many of you know, I've been working on my move to Hawaii as of late. But now we're settled in and I can get back to reading and reviewing!

Today, I am reviewing the Paranormal/Urban Fantasy story The End of the World is Rye by Brett Cottrell. Another debut novel and the first in a series, this book asks us to believe in different beings that each embody one particular aspect, or thought, of God – His Genius, Inspiration, Wrath, and Love are all in attendance, each with their own personas and characters. The story is in first person, narrated from the perspective of Contradiction, or Cognitive Dissonance, whose job is to help people reconcile the disparate aspects of God’s being. Unfortunately, Insanity escapes his chains, and heads out to cause trouble as only he can.

Naturally, this doesn’t bode well for the rest.

I received this book as an Advance Review Copy (ARC), so the final version may be slightly different from what I’ve reviewed here. This review is, as always, honest in its entirety.

This was a fun romp through a very interesting fantasy world that Mr. Cottrell has created. I enjoyed the book very much, and, overall, give it a 4/5 rating. Here is my breakdown.

Characters: 5/5. Definitely the strongest point of this book. I loved the interaction between the various aspects of God’s psyche, the thoughts given form, and the variety and interplay made the book for me. Each one was unique, but tied together, unable to dismiss the others but locked into their own points of view. Fantastic.

Plot/Storyline: 4/5. Expertly executed. It starts out small, with a “hey, Insanity’s gone, that’s a problem,” and escalating into the “Oh, crap, what now?” type of thing. Classic threads are interwoven with those of Cottrell’s own design, creating an original, unique event. I was curious about the limitations of the character’s ability to “zap” themselves through time; it’s stated that they can, unless restrained, but I didn’t see them use it very much. Would it have been helpful? I don’t know.

Flow: 4/5. Clean and easy to read. I had no trouble convincing my fingers to turn pages (yes, this was a physical book this time!) and they went by very quickly. There are no major stumbling blocks, and, indeed, I thought that the story moved from beat to beat very well.

Spelling/Grammar: 3/5. I hope that Rosarium Publishing runs through this book one more time. It’s not bad, by any means, but there were enough small errors that I noticed them. Little things, small typos and misplaced punctuation, maybe a dropped word or two.

Overall: 4/5. A very enjoyable read, filled with fun, danger, excitement, and intriguing possibilities. I had a great time in Mr. Cottrell’s world, and I’m looking forward to the sequel!


You can find the book on Amazon here: