Milo and Marcos at the End of the World

Kevin Christopher Snipes

2022 • 384 pages

Ratings4

Average rating4.3

As natural disasters begin to befall them the closer they become, Milo and Marcos soon begin to wonder if the universe itself is plotting against them in this young adult debut by the playwright and creator of The Two Princes podcast, Kevin Christopher Snipes. Milo Connolly has managed to survive most of high school without any major disasters, so by his calculations, he’s well past due for some sort of Epic Teenage Catastrophe. Even so, all he wants his senior year is to fly under the radar. Everything is going exactly as planned until the dreamy and charismatic Marcos Price saunters back into his life after a three-year absence and turns his world upside down. Suddenly Milo is forced to confront the long-buried feelings that he’s kept hidden not only from himself but also from his deeply religious parents and community. To make matters worse, strange things have been happening around his sleepy Florida town ever since Marcos’s return—sinkholes, blackouts, hailstorms. Mother Nature is out of control, and the closer Milo and Marcos get, the more disasters seem to befall them. In fact, as more and more bizarre occurrences pile up, Milo and Marcos find themselves faced with the unthinkable: Is there a larger, unseen force at play, trying to keep them apart? And if so, is their love worth risking the end of the world?

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Susan Scribner

I thought we were done with coming out trauma fest novels, and ready to move on to stories about queer people (including teens) where the plot is driven by fake dating, enemies to lovers, and other tropes that are currently in vogue for both straight and queer romances. But considering the “Don't Say Gay” backlash of 2022, it's unfortunately still timely to show the struggle that two teenaged boys raised in strict Christian homes in small town Florida face when they admit that they like each other.

Despite the title, this isn't a dystopian novel, although strange things happen whenever high school seniors Milo and Marcus are together. A sinkhole suddenly appears on the route to school, and there's a freak hailstorm on an otherwise sunny day. Are these celestial signs that God disapproves of their relationship or simply coincidence? Either way, what are the boys willing to risk to be together? That question is especially challenging for Milo, who has internalized his religion's homophobia, always keeping a low profile and being a good, quiet Christian boy. His behavior with Marcos can be frustratingly hot and cold, but it's hard not to empathize when he's been told all his life that God judges his feelings as wrong and unnatural.

Debut author Kevin Christopher Snipes uses humor, drama, and a bit of magical realism, never sugarcoating the very real challenges that the boys face but still providing a satisfying happy ending for them.

June 26, 2022