On the Edge of Gone

Written by an autistic author Corinne Duyvis this is an OwnVoices review.

Summary

On the Edge of Gone explores whose life is worth saving when the world is coming to an end. On January 29, 2035, a comet is scheduled to hit the earth, a big one. Denise, her mother, and sister Iris have been assigned to a temporary shelter outside of their hometown of Amsterdam.

But with Iris missing and at the rate Denise’s drug-addicted mother is going they’ll never reach the shelter in time, however, a last-minute meeting leads them to something even better. A generational ship scheduled to leave Earth behind to colonize new worlds after the comet hits.

But with usefulness as the indicator of who is allowed to stay autistic Denise worries about whether or not she’ll make the cut. What about her mother and sister? Do their lives matter enough, with the future of the human race at stake?

Review

Denise is one of the best written autistic characters I’ve encountered in a while, which probably comes from the author being autistic. While the autism portrayal is wonderful, there are some elements I have questions about.

Denise is half white half Surinamese, which is cool I just have a question about a seemingly white author writing a half POC character. She did seem to hit several cultural points, but I’m not from the culture to know if they are correct.

There was also a trans character but I won’t ruin who they are, I think the author did a good job with their portrayal.

Overall it was a great piece especially when it came to autism, I just have a few questions about the other aspects of diversity included.

Five Favorite Things

1. The autism
2. Denise’s love for cats
3. Iris
4. Denise’s picky eating
5. Els

I’d give this a solid 4.5.

Amazon: On the Edge of Gone