Two Minute Review: The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles

Title: The Edge of Everything
Author: Jeff Giles
Genre: supernatural
Series: N/A #1
Pages: 368
Published: expected January 31 2017
Source: ARC via publisher
Rating: 2/5

It's been a shattering year for seventeen-year-old Zoe, who's still reeling from her father's shockingly sudden death in a caving accident and her neighbors' mysterious disappearance from their own home. Then on a terrifying sub-zero, blizzardy night in Montana, she and her brother are brutally attacked in a cabin in the woods--only to be rescued by a mysterious bounty hunter they call X.

X is no ordinary bounty hunter. He is from a hell called the Lowlands, sent to claim the soul of Zoe's evil attacker and others like him. Forbidden to reveal himself to anyone other than his victims, X casts aside the Lowlands' rules for Zoe. As X and Zoe learn more about their different worlds, they begin to question the past, their fate, and their future. But escaping the Lowlands and the ties that bind X might mean the ultimate sacrifice for both of them.

Oh boy. Ohhh boyyy. This was a rough read. For one, while there are some interesting action sequences and new ideas for worldbuilding in The Edge of Everything, I do not understand the hype building for this. It is just another rather generic YA supernatural novel that's more romance than anything else. 

The love story between two just-acquainted teens is half-cooked, underwhelming, and made of tired YA tropes. Things get way too intense and involved, way too quickly. The sad part is there is chemistry between the two, but the story doesn't do the work of building a real, solid relationship. The writing is serviceable but nondescript, though capable of pulling off a twist or two. The characters in the story have some charm (at least Zoe does) but it's not the same for the secondary characters.

There were some things I liked about The Edge of Everything -- at least enough of them to finish. The bond between Zoe and Jonah is one of them. The intriguing system of bounty hunting that 'X' is a part of is another. The ending of the story is rather half-done, and follows an easily predicated outcome. This kind of storyline is rarely my favorite and while it wasn't entirely bad (two stars out of five) I won't be continuing the series.