The beauty of the end is a very enticing story that plays with the idea of what if humans are going extinct and it’s more inevitable that you think. The story follows the twins, Charlie and Maggie both of them are adopted by an American family and they grow up in this world where is discovered when they were five years old, that all living species had a certain type of mutations in their DNA where you could see how many more generations was left of them. Of course the human race was no exception to this new discovery and the whole world turns upside down when they find out how many generations are left until humans are erased from the Earth.

I really liked this book, I think in terms of narrative and writing style it’s a book that gets you into the plot right away, even though you get to see a glimpse of the world before this discovery it just pushes you right in. I’m not gonna lie when I started this book I thought that it was going to be a little bit of motherhood propaganda, but it was actually really smart the way that the author portrays the themes of motherhood, identity, culture and science without making you feel that the choices these characters are making they are doing them because they are women and “they have to”. Also the characters were really solid for me, Charlie and Maggie are portrayed like basically the two faces of the same coin, both of them with different ideas and lifestyles on the same subject of human extinction that also intertwine someway or another with each other.

The book lacks a little on keeping a clear timeline of the events that happened in the story because there were not clear way that you could notice that the time jumps were being made other than the context of what Charlie (the narrator) was saying, and sometimes it could be a jarring. Also, given that the book has a very strong premise I think the last third of the book got a little weak, but it doesn’t take out that it’s a solid read overall

It’s a book that I would definitely recommend and would love that my reader friends could take a look at it, because I think it’s a great bookclub book to discuss.

Thank you NetGalley and little A for the arc.

This was such a compelling and moving read! I found the world of this book so captivating to watch unfold and found the narrator and her twin to have so much depth as characters. They kept me engaged and I wanted to know more about them as I kept reading. It was most interesting to me to watch Charlie move through situations to reach justice for her sister and Nolan, which included great lengths to find placements under time limits, but also instances of manipulation and greed. It was reflections of Maggie in Charlie that I found most compelling. I will be recommending this book to my library patrons!

This book started out really strong. The extinction of different species was truly fascinating. Then when scientists found out when the human race was going to be extinguished, my heart was pounding....wow! I had never thought of our own species dying out.

Then the book went downhill. The rise of the Mendels. They were the scientists that would save humanity. But you had to donate your eggs/ovaries.
The twins Charlie and Maggie sign up. Maggie is the rising star but the reader never knows what exactly she is working on.

Most of the book seems to have been throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what will stick.
Maggie all of a sudden disappears and the author says its because of this Congressional hearing. But the hearing happened AFTER Maggies disappearance.

I had no idea what Charlie was supposed to be doing or why she was doing it.

Everything after Charlie and Maggie entered the Convent was boring and confusing. I kept wondering why do we care? I felt that the author did not have a full grasp of genetics or why the reader would care about the funding or the congressional hearing.

Overall this book had promise and fell flat and fell flat hard.

This book introduces a gripping premise: humanity faces extinction due to a genetic quirk that sets an expiration date just four generations away. The story follows Charlie Tannehill and her twin sister, Maggie, as they navigate a government-run human-husbandry program designed to combat this impending doom. By offering incentives for reproduction and searching for a genetic fix, they grapple with the ethical and personal costs of their roles.

PROS:

1. Innovative Concept: The novel’s idea of humanity’s genetic deadline is both intriguing and thought-provoking. It provides a compelling backdrop for exploring human responses to existential threats.

2. Complex Characters: Charlie and Maggie offer opposing views and motivations, making for a dynamic, if occasionally unsettling, character study. Their conflicting approaches add depth to the narrative.

3. Realistic Reactions: The story captures the range of human responses to crisis effectively. Characters' struggles with morality and survival feel authentic within the high-stakes context of their world.

CONS:

1. Dry Writing Style: The narrative often relies heavily on exposition rather than immersive storytelling. This approach can make the prose feel dry and less engaging, detracting from the emotional impact.

2. Inconsistent Protagonist: Charlie’s character is somewhat inconsistent, particularly in how she adheres to her principles. Her eventual decisions seem at odds with her established values, leading to a sense of disconnection.

3. Shallow Exploration of Themes: Despite its intriguing premise, the novel doesn’t delve deeply into its core themes. The potential of the storyline feels underdeveloped, leaving readers wanting more substance.

4. Unremarkable Government Agency (Mendelia): The government agency, central to the story’s setting, is portrayed as ineffective and lacks significant impact, reducing the tension and stakes involved.

5. Pacing Issues: The narrative struggles with pacing, especially in the latter half. The story loses momentum around 30% in and doesn’t regain its intensity until the final chapters, which may disengage readers looking for a more dynamic plot.

Overall, this book offers a novel concept and interesting character dynamics but is marred by a lack of depth and a pacing that can disrupt reader engagement. The potential for a compelling exploration of humanity’s end is there, but the execution may leave some readers unsatisfied.

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC copy!

The Beauty of the End follows along with the story of Charlie Tannehill alongside her twin sister, Maggie. There’s a biological countdown that’s been discovered, as a species of cicadas, Brood X, have gone extinct. It turns out there was a specific gene that indicated they had no generations left after theirs. Soon, this same gene is found to indicate in all species how many generations they have left. This means the end of humanity. The sisters embark on a journey in their teen years in an attempt to defy and break “the Limit.” This title was thought provoking, it was emotional, it was so very human. I greatly enjoyed this read, and am grateful to Netgalley for the opportunity!

The Beauty of the End
By Lauren Stienstra

A speculative fiction of an almost pre dystopian world where the human race is facing extinction. A story where humans genetic code is evaluated and assessed in an attempt to extend generations to find a cure for humanity's survival.

The plot follows two sisters who were children when the discovery was made. This had a prominent impact on their youth with both girls choosing to dedicate their lives in an endeavour to help scientists find a cure.

The story was both captivating and moving covering the personal and familial heartbrakes and scientific ethics of this parallel world. I was personally unsure about reading this speculative storyline but then found I couldn't put it down...it was that good.

4.5 🌟

Thank you Netgalley for the arc read!

#ilovebooks #bookreview
#scientificstory #greatread
#TheBeautyoftheEnd #NetGalley

3,5 ⭐️

I had never read speculative fiction and this was such a great book so start with!
The first half of the book is really well paced. It sets the context, it introduces the characters (Charlie, Maggie and Nolan) and it explains the problem that they will have to face through the book. I thought that it was well explained and it made you want to read more. The second part of the book, though, took a turn into the narrative that i didn’t expect. I was really into Charlie’s story and her dealing with her emotions when suddenly, plot twist! Now we switch to a Maggie-Nolan narrative. I feel like the main character, Charlie, lost herself when ^that^ issue with her sister happened and she never came back.
I struggled a little bit to finish it but in general I enjoyed it! It’s a really interesting book and a unique take on dystopian fiction.

Thanks to Little A and Netgalley for this ARC.

This is the kind of book I wish I had written !
The story is set in a world where humankind won't be able to reproduce for long. It tackles themes of family, womanhood, research, reproductive rights. It makes us question who has the right to manipulate our ability to reproduce, who has the right to reproduce at its core.
The character's evolution is compelling and we want to root for all of them. Yes, all of them.
I got goosebumps more than I thought I'd get, and I have found my new favourite read.

3.25 ⭐️ rounded down

The Beauty of the End has such an interesting premisce - humanity is four generations away from becoming extinct so the government develops a husbandry program, but the book focuses entirely on the wrong things and unfortunately reads like a poor man’s Never Let Me Go. Where NLMG’s narrator being removed from the “action” serves a purpose in its dreamy and mysterious quality, TBOTE doesn’t pull this off. By focusing on Charlie, we miss the fever dream her twin is experiencing and by jumping in time so frequently, we miss significant emotional moments that would better make me care about these characters.

There are good moments that kept me reading though. The parts we did get to read about the government husbandry training program and practice were highlights. The gambling motif both served a purpose and was fun to read. These moments just didn’t do enough.

I don't feel like this book actually explored the things it wanted to explore, it talked about these topics, sure, but there wasn't much depth to it. The adoption aspect was perhaps the only one that was given actual depth in my opinion.

The writing style was oddly both dry and juvenile in many ways, for a good part of the book it made sense since the characters were children but by the end It was kind of annoyed with it.

The way the Mendelia (the government agency Charlie and her sister ended up working for) worked made little sense to me as did people's reaction to an eventual extinction scenario and that did no good for my suspension of disbelief and neither did the way people just went along with what Charlie and Maggie wanted to do as if they had no agency and really just existed as a support cast for Charlie's journey. None of the characters really felt fully realized.

Ultimately this book read like a first draft of a pretty generic YA near-dystopia scenario.

Thanks to Little A and Netgalley for this ARC of 'The Beauty of the End' by Lauren Stienstra.

This is a speculative novel which posits that every species on Earth has a genetic countdown clock ticking down to an inevitable extinction. This revelation happens globally at a time when the twin Tannehills - Charlie and Maggie - adopted from Marshall Islander parents - are growing up and they dedicate their young lives to the Mendelia - the organization tasked with cracking 'The Limit,' the magic number of generations left to any one person.

It's a tale of science, sisterhood, family, governmental and scientific malfeasance, colonial and environmental abuse, friendship, loyalty, and end-of-times. It's a gentle impending apocalypse - everyone seems to just sigh and things begin break down in the quietest of ways. The tone, science, and the muted optimism for a humanity-saving solution reminded me of some of Neal Stephenson's novels, Seveneves. especially.

As a novel it's really strong in the first and last parts but the middle meanders around and gets a bit lost in the science. It's clear that the author is invested in the science but I think it bogs things down and I'd be lying if I said I had much of a clue as to what it was they were trying to achieve and how they were trying to achieve it. There's also a fairly drastic about-face in one of the key storylines which happens without much context and there's one gaping element that's left hanging - hard to say much more without massively spoiling the book. There's also a weird isolationism about the story and the science - this is a species level event but this is pretty much all about the USA, no other country seems to have anything to say about it. It's an oddity given that the author was partially inspired by her work during the Covid pandemic which was very much about a global effort.

When it's good it's very well written and I enjoyed much of it but it's inconsistent and uneven so a mixed bag for me.

If you're looking something great to read, be sure to check out The Beauty of the End by Lauren Stienstra - one of my classmates from UCLA. The book follows a girl who comes of age in a time when man has lost the ability to procreate beyond the next few generations. The question is: can we escape this fate, and what are we willing to do to pursue this goal? The story is both an existential look into our humanity and society as well as a think piece about what scientific methods are appropriate to engage in. I got to know the characters well and was invested in their journey. The book made me think, but I also couldn't put it down.

When Charlie and Maggie are growing up, a huge scientific discovery is made. It all starts when the next generation of cicadas doesn’t come out of the ground when expected. Then dogs start becoming scarce. Scientists discover that all species have a generational limit coded into their DNA, making extinction inevitable. At the time of this discovery, humans have an average of four generations left - only 80 more years on this planet.

The novel follows Charlie into her twenties, as she watches the events unfold around her as a child and then later makes decisions on how to make a difference as an adult. Through her eyes, we see the human proclivity towards panic: multiple people get divorced, leave their children, kill themselves, go on killing sprees. An air of hopelessness is carried around, although a scientific organization, the Mendels, works hard towards finding a way to extend humans’ lives on earth.

I thought the idea of genetic expiration is really interesting, and it was done in a believable way. This wasn’t solely about humans, but it was also tied in to the cicadas and dogs so we could see how it was affecting all species. The one small issue I had with this was at one point in the book, the author said that all the animals people assumed went extinct from habitat loss and climate change actually went extinct due to their DNA. Do I think that some extinctions would be explained by the generational limit? Absolutely. However, habitat loss and climate change kill, and that should not be discounted. It’s one thing to say that some extinctions had other causes, but it’s another thing to say that 100% of extinctions had exactly the same cause.

Charlie and Maggie are adopted twins, living in Pennsylvania with their parents. Despite being identical, they are polar opposites: Maggie is bold and daring, while Charlie is shy and careful. Maggie will say the wrong thing, she will throw big tantrums, she will over-insert herself into your life if she deems it is the right thing to do. Charlie will hang back, not ask for help, and doubt herself every step of the way. Maggie comes off as both toxic and brilliant. She aces classes and is always trying to fix people’s problems. At the same time, this hubris can be harmful. She never says “I’m sorry,” choosing instead to say “I was just trying to help.” She has visions of saving the world, and this often blinds her to the feelings of those around her. Their dynamic as sisters was really well done, because these two bickered and fought, but they also needed each other and gravitated towards each other. When their ideas for the future involve separating from each other, Charlie nearly has a panic attack, imagining her future where she wouldn’t see her sister nearly every minute of every day.

While I think Charlie and Maggie were well-developed as characters, I was frustrated by the lack of additional characters in their lives. In this book, Charlie only had two friends total, one as a child and one that was also a coworker, and she never had any lovers (and Maggie only had one). This made it seem like Charlie was incredibly isolated in her life. Even if she was too socially anxious to make friends, she would have been surrounded by the people Maggie brought into their lives, because Maggie would never settle for such a lonely life. I realize that every person you interact with in a life can’t be named in order to save space in a novel, but I would have liked a few side characters to make it seem like these twins weren’t the loneliest people in the world.

The decision to be a parent was crucial in this novel, and we see how it affects both those closest to the story and strangers later on in the book. The government begins giving aid to women to reproduce, particularly if they are above a certain age (in order to extend the length between generations). We also see women being coerced into having children, and into being a surrogate for children with someone else’s DNA. In some ways, this parallels politics in the US, where women’s choices are taken away. In this novel, women still have a right to their own bodies and healthcare, but there is a lot of coercion and even some brainwashing going on, starting in the youngest grades at school.

I really liked the human response to the impending extinction in this novel. Some of it just felt really realistic. Disaster can bring out the worst in humanity, and we saw people use it as an excuse for every immoral action in the book. This was a beautiful study of two sisters and of humanity as a whole. If you enjoy a good dystopian, end-of-the-world read, definitely pick this book up.

Charlie and Maggie are twin girls who are young when the world discovers that the human race is going extinct within four generations. At first, their parents try to hide this news from the girls, but they inevitably find out because it has worldwide implications. Through the years as Charlie and Maggie reach adulthood, they have to decide how involved they want to be in solving this crisis for humanity. Charlie and Maggie have to decide how much of themselves they need to give to the cause.


This book brings up many conversations about how humanity could possibly react to such devastating news. It explores how there are those who help, those who take advantage of the situation for personal gain, but also how one could think they’re “only trying to help”, but might be doing more harm than they realize. Some of the topics might be triggering to some. There’s some concerns over consent, and what people will try to get away with under the disguise of helping humanity.


This book started off paced pretty well, but it slowed down drastically in the middle. Towards the last third of the book it picked back up but by the time it did, I had already lost interest. This book has a great concept and morally gray characters which I liked. Overall, I did like the book and I’d recommend it to anyone interested in the topics.

Thank you Netgalley and Little A for allowing me to read this book early for an honest review.

When a scientific breakthrough alerts the world to the ending of humanity in 4 generations, Maggie and Charlie Tannehill are still in elementary school, but the discovery will lead them down the path of scientific research. As they wade deeper into uncharted bioethical waters, they will be forced for reckon with their own beliefs and challenge what is best not just for themselves but for all mankind.

Thoughts:
The blurb immediately caught my eye. Alternative reality, or in this case the lead up to dystopian reality, can be so hit or miss. But there was something that resonated so deeply with our modern reality and discussions around adoption and biological engineering that I knew I just had to read The Beauty of the End.

I finished last night and I am still thinking about it. The plot troubled me (in a good way) as I grapple with the possibilities of what science will risk to achieve a goal. My heart breaks for the pain and longing of the families in the novel, especially thinking of how children in our real world are commodified.

The juxtaposition of Maggie and Charlie was so beautifully done, it never felt like a stereotypical “opposite twins”. Their motivations were clear, Charlie’s voice powerful. The family dynamics devastated me. What I loved most of all was the ending - not going to say more but it hit just the right emotional

There are only 2 reasons this isn’t get 5 stars - the first, some of the science was a little weakly explained, which kept distracting me. The second, there is a pivotal moment for one of the characters that felt too easy for me.

I would definitely recommend that you pick this up and give it a read.

Wow, The Beauty of the End is a book that will make you think. It’s a book that will make you question your beliefs.

Lately I have been getting really into speculative fiction, which often has a commentary on our current day and age. In this novel, the human race is set to expire as more and more people are sterile. This causes a host of problems, there is not as much need for housing, so all houses plummet in value, as the world will only need less and less. The story revolves around adopted sisters from Pennsylvania who discover they have rare and very valuable eggs that can last 5 generations.

The book started out strong for me, I liked the character development and the premise is just fascinating. However, it got a little too into the weeds for the scientific explanations and became a bit dry. I’d say it goes past the genre of “speculative” into more Sci Fi. Others with an appetite for that may enjoy it more.

Thanks to NetGalley and Little A for the ARC. Book to be published April 7, 2025.

I'm lucky to have gotten my hands an ARC of Lauren Steinstra's brilliant debut The Beauty of the End. In this speculative novel, identical twins Charlie and Maggie live in a world where a DNA gitch renders most humans infertile and humanity has at most four generations left before extinction. While battling their own personal desires, Charlie and Maggie chart their paths through their careers, love lives, and sisterhood.

I could not put this book down, and Stenstra's blend of science and imagination blew me away. Highly recommend.

I’m a big fan of speculative and science fiction, so I was very excited by the description of this book. I’m happy to say it absolutely met my expectations!

The story follows adopted twin sisters Maggie and Charlie through their childhood and young adulthood as the world around them is completely upended by the discovery that humans have a genetic “expiration date” of approximately four generations away.

To start, I think the premise of this book lands in the perfect sweet spot of plausible speculative fiction. It touches on topics relevant to current events (reproductive choice, medical ethics, “unprecedented times,” etc.) but without tying itself too closely to actual real-life events like the pandemic or climate change. This allows the book to still be thought-provoking but not so on-the-nose that it feels unoriginal or loses the sense of escapism you want in a book. I was not at all surprised to read that Lauren Stienstra has a background working in public health during the height of the pandemic; it definitely informs the storyline of the book. I can really see parallels between COVID and the Limit in terms of their effect on society. Both completely threw the world into a tailspin, but then after a while you have to just keep living life—and that can feel like an absolutely insurmountable task. It’s the panic you feel when you realize nothing actually matters—7 million have died from COVID yet I still have to do laundry and answer emails and go to work and act like our sense of life as we know it hasn’t been utterly destroyed—in competition with the freedom you feel when you realize nothing actually matters—day-to-day worries that normally control your life like project deadlines and the vacuuming you need to do couldn’t be more inconsequential than when you’re staring in the face of a species-wide existential threat. I think the book did a good job of capturing that feeling.

I think I would have liked the book to spend a little more time exploring the global effect of the Limit societally. The pandemic was a threat to human existence biologically, but also a threat to the very structure of society, and I think the Limit would have been even more so. I imagine if the Limit were real there would be people burning buildings because they think it’s a government hoax and people trying to hold researchers hostage because they think extinction is preordained and shouldn’t be stopped and countries threatening to nuke other countries if they don’t share what they’ve learned. That’s part of what makes things like that so terrifying—they threaten to unravel the very fabric of our society and expose the ugliest parts of humanity. We saw small glimpses of that in places (telling the girls they shouldn’t be out by themselves, Aunt Frankie’s friend, etc.), but I think having a bit more of that global context throughout the book could have upped the underlying tension.

***SPOILERS*** My biggest wish for this book is that we had a more definitive answer about what happened to Maggie. What did she know before she died? Was it an accident, or could she just not live with herself? Why did she cancel the airline ticket? Because her body was never found, I kept expecting her to make a re-appearance somehow, but then she just…didn’t. I also wanted Charlie to be harder on Maggie once she knew the truth. I didn’t want Charlie to continue to try and be like her and think fondly about her, I wanted her to completely disavow Maggie. I wanted her to think that she didn’t care if Maggie was actually dead or not, because she was dead to her anyway. However, I also understand the choice to make their relationship more complex than that. ***END OF SPOILERS***

Overall, I really liked this book. I enjoyed the writing and found the premise to be a unique take on dystopian fiction. Lauren Stienstra is absolutely a new author to watch, and I look forward to reading more from her in the future!!

What a brilliant, emotional book.
The lessons and feelings I have will stay with me.
The complicated relationships and motivations were a treat to read, however were also harrowing and real.