After being so thoroughly disappointed with the previous book in this series, I had no real expectations for The Last Beginning... so to say that I’m merely surprised by how much I enjoyed this book would be an understatement. I’m shocked! In the best way possible, of course. I knew from the moment I started reading, and realised that this story followed Clove rather than Katherine and Matthew, that this book had potential - and luckily, it tapped in that. I think my enjoyment of this book can be summed up in one word: fun. This book was just so entertaining! I went into this sequel with no real expectations, and I am so happy to say that James really stepped it up. I was not aware that this was a companion novel rather than a direct sequel, but I think that worked out for the best. I was completely sucked in by this storyline and its cast of characters.

I think the biggest reason why I was able to enjoy The Last Beginning more than its prequel was due to its plotline. While The Next Beginning was arguably more of a romance than a time-travel or sci-fi story, this book was - in every way - a time-travel adventure with a tiny bit of romance thrown in towards the end. I absolutely loved that this book let the sci-fi and time travel aspects play out more, something that I never thought I would say (as I’m really not a sci-fi fan). While the physics may seem a tiny bit rudimentary to the more knowledgeable readers, I had no real qualms with how the science aspects of the time travel were discussed. In fact, I really appreciated that it incorporated those descriptions and made them as much easier to follow than I would have expected. I also really loved that computer coding was part of the story. In fact, the entire science and theories surrounding the dystopian society, the technicalities of the time-travel/wormhole generator machine thing, and even the AIs were very well-written.

The actual time-traveling aspect of the plotline was also incredibly well-done. The last two parts of the story were simply unputdownable. I absolutely loved the complexities of the multiple timelines, especially how James managed to keep it relatively easy to follow but still made it rich and crazy in the way all time-travel shenanigans should be. The clever way the events of the first book connected to the events of this book may or may not have made me gasp out loud. Yes, they were that clever and I did not expect it to be so cleverly intertwined! I honestly loved seeing all of the events play out, and finding out more about the future as well, especially Clove’s role in it. I’m trying to keep the details of the plot as vague as possible, but I honestly just loved watching everything play out. It was addictive.

The characters also made this story. I will admit that I struggled to connect with Clove, our protagonist, in the first part because she came across as the typical bratty teen. It was hard to sympathise with her when she was being over-dramatic - at one point, she literally said her life was over because she kissed her best friend who was not into her *eye roll* - and making dumb decisions (and I’m talking too-stupid-to-live level dumb decisions), but at the same time, I appreciated how realistic she acted. I normally cringe when people say teens are bratty, immature and other assortments of similar negative adjectives, but I did think Clove acted her age and I appreciated that despite that, she was able to adapt and mature as the story progressed. She learnt from her mistakes, and the more she became aware of the importance of her decisions, the more she calmed down and took it seriously. I kind of loved that the author was able to capture a teenager’s thought process so accurately, but still give her own brand of depth and character.

With that being said, the characters who truly stole the show were Tom and Jen, Clove’s parents. They honestly deserve an A+ parenting award! I could not get over how brilliantly supportive and sweet they were. I loved that they put Clove first, and did everything in their power to make sure she was happy and healthy. They went out of their way to support her no matter what she did, but they were also firm and well, parent-y when they needed to be. There was no Absent Parent trope here, thank God!

Other thoughts:

• The LGBT+ themes were perfect. Clove is a lesbian but she had already been out for several years when this story is set, which I don’t think is that common in YA. A lot of books are about the emotional and societal strains of being in the closet (etc.) and while that is obviously important to represent, I really loved that we had an out-and-proud LGBT+ protagonist and a healthy f/f romance.
• Ella did sound a little bit too much like Katherine in her online communications, and I had trouble separating the two of them in my head at times. I wish her voice had been a little more distinctive.
• I liked the multimedia formatting. It works so much better in physical printing, in my opinion, so if you were going to read these books as ebooks (like I did for the first book), I’d advise against it. The different fonts for different timelines worked well too.

Overall?

I did not expect to enjoy The Last Beginning as much as I did, but I am pleasantly surprised. The plotline was fast-paced, addictive and clever. I loved seeing how the timelines intertwined, and seeing more about the future of this world (and how it was tied to Clove, Katherine and Matthew). Clove was a decent protagonist but I did struggle to warm up to at first, Luckily, she grew on me the more the story progressed and her development was well-written. I liked her relationship with Ella and how her friendship with Meg was portrayed, but it was Tom and Jen who stole the spotlight for me. I would definitely recommend this book to people who were iffy about The Next Together. It is leagues better!