The Apocalypse of Elena Mendoza by Shaun David Hutchinson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I’ll always support fiction that gives baby Cthulu a voice. On a humor level Shaun just gets me, or I get Shaun, or there is no getting but his work makes me laugh enough to keep coming back to it. I’m getting off track. The Apocalypse begins at Starbucks and the story of Elena Mendoza begins with one of the best opening lines I have read in a while.
After saving her crush from a shooting on a Starbucks patio (it’s not a spoiler that much is given away in the description) Elena is handed the impossible responsibility of helping the voices in her head orchestrate the Apocalypse. All in all, it sounds like the average 16 year old girl drama. Who hasn’t been tasked with a rapture or two?
This is my second Hutchinson book (the first being We Are the Ants) and what I have enjoyed about both of them is even though romance is weaved into the plot to some degree, it doesnt overpower the story. Elena’s romantic pursuit of Freddie doesn’t outweigh the end of the world (thank god) much like how Henry Denton’s relationship with Diego never distracted us from the red button.
R.K. Gold 