The Various Features from Austin Aslan’s Book That Solidify It as a Great Novel

A sudden, large almost aurora borealis light appears from the sky, frying all electronic devices and thus separating your island from the rest of the world. What are your first reactions? Your first thoughts? Your first impulses? How would those change if you suffer from heavy epilepsy and require, say, a father to watch you at all times? Would you still try to compete with others with violent impulses, knowing that you could suffer epileptic episodes at any random time? Islands at the End of the World, written by Austin Aslan, follows Leilani, an epileptic, along with her father who lives on an island of Hawai’i. Due to Leilani’s epilepsy, her family decides to let her and her father travel to another island where they would take a drug trial test. If the trial is successful, the new drugs could significantly reduce the frequency of Leilani’s epileptic episodes. After they arrive, the father goes to try the microwave in their hotel room, but it does not heat his food. Soon enough, many electronic devices fail, including communication devices and planes. In other words, they have become stranded. As the people on Leilani’s island use immoral tactics to gain resources, Leilani and her father try to survive while moving towards their home island. Along the way, Leilani finds that her epilepsy may just have a link with the strange light in the sky.

            When I selected this book, I was intrigued by its title and plot. From the excerpt and praise on the back of the book, it reminded me of a lot of other survival stories that I enjoyed and it also seemed to have mythological elements. What I expected was a jungle or forest setting, a focus on finding resources and surviving animal attacks, and a decent amount of mythology. As I read the story, I found it to be a lot less mythological than I was expecting and the type of survival portrayed was also different. Even though the story was different from my expectations, it does not mean that it is a bad story. In fact, I am willing to bet that a lot of people are going to like the storyline much more than what I expected. The story focuses on two main characters and they are constantly surrounded by other violent people, which is very similar to other alien invasion stories I have read and enjoyed. For the most part, the story is realistic. During the first half of the book, it uses science to explain the strange abnormalities. The way Austin incorporates scientific explanations into the book shows that he knows what he is talking about and tries not to use simple fictitious explanations as a convenient way to tell readers why the abnormalities occur. The story does get a little mythical near the end, but I still appreciate the fact that the author uses realistic explanations for a large portion of the story. The plot is also interesting. I would consider the book to be mainly science fiction, along with survival elements akin to those from alien invasion stories. If you are a fan of these types of stories, I highly recommend this book as it merges these two things and a couple of other story elements into a well-constructed storyline.

            Along with the plot, the two main characters in the story are also interesting to read about. There are many near-death and painful situations that would cause a normal father and daughter to just give up. However, the two main characters always have the idea that their family is waiting for them back home, which is the main driving force for their continued struggles to reach their home island. It is also fascinating to read about the conflict between the two main characters about what actions to take in the story. Even throughout tough situations, Leilani tries to convince her dad to not be violent, such as telling him to not shoot a person. This begs the question: should they fight to survive or act kindly to gain trust? For the most part, Leilani’s ideas work well. The only way they were able to get as far as they did towards their goals was because they gained assistance from others. If Leilani and her father were violent, these people likely would not have helped them as much as they did. However, there are still some parts in the story where Leilani’s ideas lead to dangerous situations. For example, they got into a fight with a stranger, even though they tried to act nice. If they had shot him at first sight, they would have been perfectly safe. Combined with the determination and pacifist nature of the characters, their familial relationship is also quite riveting. I think the sheer fact that there was a fatherly figure in this story interested me as I have never seen a father take the lead role in this genre. Throughout many tough situations in the story, we can see the father act like a fatherly figure, always trying to calm down Leilani and ready to sacrifice himself when necessary. However, there are times where the father acts more immature or somewhat selfish, catching us off guard. For example, the father once suggests using Leilani as bait to try to escape, but while keeping her safe, of course. However, these actions actually show how much pain the father is holding inside but is hiding from Leilani. In this sense, the seemingly immature actions of the father could be an overload of stress and shows that even he has his limits. In general, I think the characters were well crafted and unique, not like any set of characters I have read about before. In fact, I think it is worthwhile to read the book just to see the well-crafted characters that Austin develops throughout the story.

            Even after the great characters, Austin only adds to his list of things done right by conveying the outside people in an exciting way. For example, when the people on Leilani’s trip island found out that the light in the sky could mean an immediate lack of resources, everyone’s survival instincts kicked in. There were lots of hoarding, killing, panicking, and other illegal actions. When I thought about how an event like this would occur in real life, I realized that the humans in the story act just like how I expect them to act. Humans are born with survival instincts, and so of course, they would do whatever they can to survive. The realistic outside characters compelled me to read the story because I could truly believe the way they acted, unlike some other stories where their actions do not make sense to you, eliminating your interest in them. Not only are the feelings and actions conveyed realistically, but they are also gripping. The author successfully added so much tension through various tough situations, such as losing essential items and the resource hoarding described above, which help the book play its role as a survival story much better. After all, a survival story is not a good survival story if it does not make the reader feel stressed.

            Austin did a great job with this novel. It combines a lot of elements that I liked into a single book and does so quite seamlessly. The book also adds some new elements that I had not read about before, which was surprising and caused greater interest to the story. I think my favorite part of this book is its believability. The way the characters respond to their situations seem genuinely plausible and this allows me to envision the story better. The characters’ personalities are also realistic, but I do not think they would be a great role model, as they can sometimes be reckless. However, if you focus on their good actions, you can still learn a lot. The book is just a fun read overall and I would highly recommend it to those who enjoy survival and alien invasion type stories.