Review: End Times by Anna Schumacher

End Times by Anna Schumacher

Publisher: Razorbill
Publication Date: May 20th, 2014
Pages: 352
Series: End Times(?)
Source: Gifted/Publisher
Rating: 2/5
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Carbon County, Wyoming is like a current running through Daphne’s heart.

When life gets too tough to bear in Detroit, Daphne flees to her Uncle Floyd’s home, where she believes she’ll find solace in the silent hills of her childhood summers. But Daphne’s Greyhound bus pulls over in downtown Carbon County and it’s not silence that welcomes her. It’s the sound of trumpets.

Daphne’s desire to start again in simple country comfort is instantly dashed as the townsfolk declare that the End Times are here. And incredible occurrences soon support their belief. Daphne does all she can to keep her head down and ignore the signs. She works a job at the local oil rig, helps around the house, hangs out with her pregnant cousin Janie and gets to know Owen, a mysterious motocross racer and fellow roustabout at the rig. But soon a startling discovery shatters her resolve and calls into question all her doubts and fears.

Daphne landed in Carbon County for a reason. She only has to read the signs—and believe.

I kind of went into this one blind. I thought I had read about. So when a blogger friend asked me if I wanted her ARC to review because she wasn't feeling it I jumped on it. But it turns out, I either didn't read the blurb or I didn't understand the blurb. Oops. Turns out I am not the right type of reader for this book.

End Times mainly follows Daphne. She's just gone through a very traumatic experience well living with her mom in Detroit. And they aren't really seeing eye to eye at the moment(her mom pretty much hates her). So she jumps on the bus to go live with her uncle, aunt and cousin in a small County in Wyoming.  Daphne decided it was best not to tell them the real reason why she was fleeing Detroit so fast. And I guess luckily for her they didn't really ask. They just took her in because they love her. But Daphne's arrival is marked with weird occurrences. As soon as she steps off the bus an orchestra of trumpets are heard throughout the County. Nobody knows where they are coming from. And eventually they just stop. That's just the start.

Carbon County is a very small run down place. It's obviously hurting for money. And so are most of its residents. It really relies on the goodness of its people and God. But unfortunately a lot of them do have their own agendas. And that really comes through when Daphne strikes oil in her families backyard. Suddenly Daphne is marked as the savior and her uncle is going to become rich. He hires an oil company to come and secure the site and set up a rig. This of course brings a whole bunch of workers to Carbon County and well the residents aren't totally happy with them.

End Times gives us a bunch of interesting characters to say the least. Honestly I hated a bunch of them. Daphne is a plan girl with a broken past. She doesn't really trust people, especially guys. She's trying to find her place in Carbon County but she's different from the residents. She doesn't put all her trust in the church. She doesn't believe what it's selling to say the least. Daphne's also use to hard work, so when the rig sets up she applies to work there. She wants to help out and needs the pay. And that's where she meets Owen.
Owen has been having these very weird dreams. These dreams are pointing him to somewhere and someone. So he gets on the road in search of them. Along the way he meets up with Luna. Luna and Owen apparently grew up together in a cult. The cult lived off the Earth and the adults just slept around with all the members. Owen doesn't know who is father is and Luna tells him that's because he's a son of the Earth. Yea, pretty effed up. The whole Earthen cult thing will come into play throughout the story. Anyhow, Owen's dreams become more prominent the closer he gets to Carbon County. Add on the job opportunity to work on the rig. It's a easy decision.

We've also got Uncle Floyd, who is super trusting of everyone. He's kind of a pushover. He puts his trust in the church. But when he suddenly has all this money coming in because of the oil he puts it directly back into the town. He's more concerned with keeping the town afloat than getting his family out of their trailer and into a house.
There's also her pregnant 17 year old cousin Janie. Poor innocent Janie. Obviously being an unwed teenage mother is close to blasphemy in her town. But Janie thinks her unborn child is a sign from God. And than the church and minister start to believe that too. Even calling the child a prophet. Needless to say things get crazy there. And let's not forget Janie's boyfriend and baby daddy. What an asshole. He's under the impression he's the shit. All his friends bow to his every move. Janie is under some sort of spell when it comes to him, too. He does some awful things, starts a lot of rumours and is just an awful person with a massive temper. He'll make you angry and want to punch something.
There's a ton of other "interesting" characters. But it would take me all day to write about them. Just know that these people have put all their trust and faith in the church and God. It's pretty much a cult. They will say and do whatever the minister tells them. Their opinions change every few pages based on what's happening in the town. I don't like these kind of people and I don't like reading about them. So this makes Brittany very angry.

End Times is a start of the apocalypse, rapture type book. Very heavy on the religious aspects. With a lot of frustrating characters. I'm pretty sure a lot of readers will find this book super interesting. Especially with the build up to finding the prophet and what is to be an epic showdown between Carbon County and the daughters and sons of the Earthen. I'm unfortunately just not the right reader for it. It is not a Brittany type of book.

Happy reading!

Brittany