Where the World Ends

Where the World Ends was positively received by critics, including starred reviews from Booklist,^[3] Kirkus Reviews,^[4] and Shelf Awareness.^[5]

Reviewing the book, Booklist's Maggie Reagan wrote, "McCaughrean ... slips into the cracks of the human soul, dissecting with compassion the many paths that a person might take when confronted with such a challenge. The design of the book is as austere as its subject ... and, in an afterword, McCaughrean describes the tragic true story that inspired her own. Though this story is desperately sad at times, it glistens, too, propelled by the notion that where there is life, there is always, always hope."^[3]

Kirkus Reviews called the novel "a masterpiece," highlighting how "McCaughrean takes the bones of a real event, wraps it in immersive, imaginative detail and thoroughly real emotion, and creates an unforgettable tale of human survival.^[4]

Writing for Shelf Awareness, Emilie Coulter highlighted how Where the World Ends "stuns with its dark narrative and haunting visual imagery." She further commended McCaughrean's decision to include "illuminating back matter, like a glossary, and an illustrated list of the birds of 18th-century St. Kilda," which helps readers to "[explore] what happens when the everyday-ordinary turns disastrously extraordinary."^[5]

Where the World Ends is a Junior Library Guild book.^[6] Booklist included it on their 2020 "Top 10 Historical Fiction for Youth" list.^[7]