The Last Beginning by Lauren James
Genre: Sci-fi, Romance
Published by: Walker Books
Pages: 344
Format: Paperback
Rating: ★★★.5

The highly anticipated sequel to The Next Together is finally in my grasp! I’ve been looking forward to these time travelling lesbians since I heard the prologue of the book at Lauren and Alice Oseman’s joint signing event in April, and I can say, definitely, that the rest was well worth waiting for! What specifically, you ask? Well…

Lesbians. Travelling through space time. Lesbians. Did I mention there were lesbians? 

This is so beyond important to me, and you may know that because over the last couple of months I’ve really been trying to read more diversely. I feel like, in what I’ve read, there’s been a lot of the G and the T, but definitely not enough of the L. The stand outs  I can immediately think of is Read Me Like Book by Liz Kessler and literally everything by Robin Talley. I’m so pleased that another book can be added that represents lesbian relationships well. Also, Lauren promised that she wouldn’t kill her gays, and she stuck to her promise! Woo!

Romance to die for, sometimes literally.

I love a good romance. It’s what really set The Next Together apart, that I was so invested in reading about the same people falling in love over and over again. It was exactly the same with Clove and Ella, I absolutely loved them and how their relationship progresses in ways I really wasn’t expecting.

Also, Matt and Kate turned up just enough times to keep me satisfied. But you know why was wonderful? Tom and Jen, Clove’s parents. They were so supportive and lovely, it made me want to text my parents and tell them I love them.

Mind bogglingly explains ‘The Next Together’! 

If you’ve read the first book, you’ll know that a few things go unexplained, like how 19th century Matthew ends up in the 18th century, or more importantly, why the heck Matt and Kate kept getting reincarnated in the first place, and who was in control of their time travel missions??

Well, never fear, because all of these loose ends are tied and explained extremely well, it makes me want to re-read the first book just to appreciate it more and more!

The logistics of time travel 101

So, for the daughter of Matt and Kate, the world’s best time travellers, Clove doesn’t really know the golden rule of time travel: don’t tell the past about what happens in the future! Or, maybe the golden rule is don’t accidentally run into yourself and erase yourself from existence….but still. I don’t know how she would have thought that was a good idea. Even if Matt and Kate weren’t there to raise her, it’s common sense.

My explanation for her mistake was first that time travel wasn’t part of pop culture and so she couldn’t learn from fiction, but then they talk about Harry Potter, and we all know the Prisoner of Azkaban is all about time travel, so…

I can forgive Clove her mistakes for all that she does for the future of time travel.

Final Thoughts!

Overall, I’m giving The Last Beginning 3.5 stars. I think it was an absolutely great sequel and did an excellent job at concluding the series. Although I thought that time travelling itself felt a little cliche and not entirely logical, but I was extremely impressed by how coherent the end was, even if the jumping back and forth started to confuse me the more and more it happened!

And as for Lauren James’ next book, The Loneliest Girl in the Universe…you couldn’t give it to me soon enough!