Review: The End of Everything - M. John Harrison

Genre: Literary Fiction, Sci-fi/Speculative Published: Riverhead Books, June 2026

Actual Rating: 3.5/5 stars

"We were all of us, at least in the beginning, Marnie thought, thrust back inside ourselves by circumstance. Back into the refuge of our humanity because we thought we could now be certain there was something outside it; something which, though it was here now fully extant and recognisable, might not entirely understand that we were here too. The contemporary fear was that we might have brought all this - whatever it was - on ourselves."

The End of Everything was probably one of the most interesting Booker Nominees of this year, to me personally. Yet it’s also one of the hardest for me to review, as my feelings about it are so murky and conflicted. You could argue that that is the exact point of the novel and you wouldn’t be wrong…

First things first: it’s difficult to give an accurate “plot-summary” for this novel, as this is less of a narrative story, and more of snapshot of a world and the observations of its inhabitants. We primarily follow Philip Tennant, a beachcomber who makes his living by scavenging along the coastal tidelines of a near-future post-apocalyptic Brittain. The exact nature of this apocalypse is never detailed. In fact; it’s questioned whether it even can be categorized in any meaningful sense. All we know, is that it started with the arrival of the iGhetti; a new intelligent species that has taken over England. Are they aliens? Are they spectral beings from a different dimension? Are they AI-constructs? Or something else entirely? We never learn for sure.

What we do see is the way they shape and influence humanity around them, leading into a slow and gradual collapse of society: an apocalypse without a clear end or beginning.

What I loved:

I happen to have a soft spot for this particular kind of “quiet apocalypse” and I found Harrisons take on its themes and ideas very interesting.

The novel's most unique characteristic is its style and the feeling it evokes as you read it. It’s hard to explain, but it almost feels like it demands to be processed visually, and the closest comparison I can come up with in terms of vibes is flipping through the artbook of The Electric State.

Reading this book felt more like a walk through the author’s desolate landscapes, than following a specific narrative. This took a bit of getting used to, but I eventually ended up appreciating the dreamlike journey it took me on. Harrison creates an immersive world that feels heavily post-apocalyptic, without ever overdoing it with large spectacle or drama. That combination of grounded, realistic societal collapse, with dreamlike writing that blurs the edges of what is real, creates a powerful combination.

This is a novel that feels very much at home on a Booker-list. For better and for worse. It’s a little experimental, very distinctive and testament to the art of (unique) writing, and it’s just a little bit pretentious and inaccessible. It’s also very much a portrait of the time it was written in, heavily alluding to themes of Brexit, isolation, the rise of AI and the current Zeitgeist of “lingering crisis” in a post-COVID era.

What I didn’t love:

Admittedly, this book's unique vibe and style may also be to its detriment. I struggled to get into it at first, as the writing initially felt so abstract and dreamlike that it floated right by me. It took a bit of a change of mindset (away from narrative and towards dreamlike immersion) for me to appreciate it, and I can see how not every reader will be able or willing to make that shift. It is not an accessible book that can feel a little ergodic on the reader. Your personal milage may vary as to whether you find this picture of our current world worth the effort.

You can find this book here on Goodreads.