---
title: "Endling by Maria Reva | Book Review"
description: "Endling by Maria Reva is racking up the awards! Well deserved. The novel is a bit like a rubik's cube in that there are different tales that twist and turn together, revealing the story. Set in..."
url: https://somisguided.com/2026/06/16/endling-by-maria-reva-book-review/
date: 2026-06-16
modified: 2026-06-16
author: "Monique"
categories: ["Book Reviews"]
tags: ["canadian", "debut", "fiction"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Endling by Maria Reva | Book Review

[![](https://somisguided.com/wp-content/uploads/endling-maria-reva.png)](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/609448/endling-by-maria-reva/9780735278448)

(https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/609448/endling-by-maria-reva/9780735278448) is racking up the awards! Well deserved. The novel is a bit like a rubik’s cube in that there are different tales that twist and turn together, revealing the story. Set in Ukraine, 2022: Yeva is running a mobile lab for snails. She’s scouring the country’s forests and valleys for the “endlings,” the last of their species. There is lots of little snail science sprinkled throughout the book. As you can imagine, this is not the life Yeva’s family wants for her. They want her to marry. It’s unlikely, but to finance the lab, Yeva joins a dating agency for North American men looking for Ukrainian brides.

Nastia and Sol (Solomiya) are also part of the agency. Nastia as a beautiful blonde bride and Sol as a translator. Their mother would be displeased by their life choices too since she spent most of their childhood protesting against the marriage industry. But their mother has disappeared, and in a childish way the sisters think they may get her notice by being part of the problem. Unlikely.

During one of the romance tours, Nastia approaches Yeva about borrowing the van. Yeva forces her to submit a proposal and insists on pretending it’s like a government grant or funding proposal. It’s very funny, and sad. Yeva is at the end of her rope. The snails have died, except for one called Lefty. But Nastia persists and Yeva relents. Yeva soon finds the van full of 13 bachelors who Nastia is effectively kidnapping in protest, a last ditch effort to attract her mother’s attention. Well, things go wrong. Specifically Russia invades.

The story of the bachelors, the sisters and Yeva all twist together into the story of Reva’s own experiences as a Ukrainian expat watching her homeland be destroyed and worrying about family. There are sections of the novel that feel experimental, where there are rewrites of certain passages. There’s commentary on the agent-editor-publisher process and what North Americans’ understand (or want to hear) about the war. All of that works to create a sense of urgency and social commentary that makes the novel really interesting.

I enjoyed this story. It’s about love (not necessarily romantic love), passion for a job, hope, resilience, and the chaos of life.