The Island of Last Things: quick links

The Island of Last Things: almost a literary take on Jurassic Park

With its striking cover, Emma Sloley’s The Island of Last Things follows Camille, a zookeeper stationed on Alcatraz at the last zoo in the world. It caters to the uber-rich and is frequently ridiculed by resistance groups. Almost every animal in the world is extinct or near extinction, and at 25, Camille hasn’t known a world where animals were abundant. Her life and worldview is tipped upside down when a new employee, Sailor, starts working at the zoo. When Camille learns of a secret sanctuary for animals, she’s forced to make a decision: does she want to work with Sailor to free them? 

Alcatraz Zoo is almost a literary take on Jurassic Park, fit with tourists in safari khaki and owners who care more about finance than the lives of people and wellbeing of the animals kept there. 

The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley

The chapters alternate in points of view and timelines. With the present from Camille, and the past narrated by Sailor. The Island of Last Things is captured best in the conversations between our two protagonists. As a good chunk of the narrative is based around conversations, it takes effort to make theirs stand out above the rest, and Sloley achieves this. Despite the world around them and their increasingly agitated community, they are there for each other, with an almost homoerotic kind of devotion. 

The Island of Last Things: speculative fiction

At times, however, the story dragged on with a bit of skirting around the issues at hand. The twist, though understandable, leaves an emptiness in the remainder of the novel.

First and foremost, it should be noted that The Island of Last Things is a literary piece of speculative fiction. There is no exploration of how the world came to be this desolate, nor much of how it functions outside of the zoo community. If you’re looking for a gritty dystopian novel, this isn’t it. Rather, it’s a character study, a critique on consumerism, classism and climate change. Camille and Sailor are just trying to look after the animals, even if their definitions differ on how to do so. 

Read: U Want it Darker review: Murray Middleton’s quietly heroic stories

While it may not appeal to some, it’s so earnest in its hope for a better world that you can’t help get drawn in anyway.

The Island of Last Things by Emma Sloley is published by Text.

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