Milo and Marcos at the End of the World

By: Kevin Christopher Snipes

Narrated by: Mark Sanderlin

Length: 9 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

As natural disasters begin to befall them the closer they become, Milo and Marcos soon begin to wonder if the universe itself is plotting against them in this young adult debut by the playwright and creator of The Two Princes podcast, Kevin Christopher Snipes.

Milo Connolly has managed to survive most of high school without any major disasters, so by his calculations, he’s well past due for some sort of Epic Teenage Catastrophe. Even so, all he wants his senior year is to fly under the radar.

Everything is going exactly as planned until the dreamy and charismatic Marcos Price saunters back into his life after a three-year absence and turns his world upside down. Suddenly Milo is forced to confront the long-buried feelings that he’s kept hidden not only from himself but also from his deeply religious parents and community.

To make matters worse, strange things have been happening around his sleepy Florida town ever since Marcos’s return—sinkholes, blackouts, hailstorms. Mother Nature is out of control, and the closer Milo and Marcos get, the more disasters seem to befall them. In fact, as more and more bizarre occurrences pile up, Milo and Marcos find themselves faced with the unthinkable: Is there a larger, unseen force at play, trying to keep them apart? And if so, is their love worth risking the end of the world?

©2022 Kevin Christopher Snipes (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers

Lovely

Lovely story & performance. This word minimum thing Audible is forcing for reviews tho is quite irritating…

It's a sweet story

It's a sweet story.
More extra words...
Why the hell do I have to provide EVEN MORE extra words?

Exceptionally Crafted

As both a written work and performance, “Milo and Marcos” is thoroughly enjoyable. Very real, heavy circumstances are skillfully navigated by characters written with a lot of heart.

I need more of this!

I’m an avid queer fiction reader and I can honestly say this is one of the best books I’ve ever picked up. It’s unique, it’s imaginative, and it’s downright adorable. It captures important coming-of-age aspects like internalized homophobia and doesn’t shy away from the not so romantic parts of growing up. I read this in two days (almost in one sitting but I started it late at night)! I hope this author comes back with a sequel! I loved this book!

Weird but good

In some ways this was a painful book. Our MC, Milo, is very religious, and he has to come to terms with being gay. The utter anxiety Milo has is difficult to listen to. He is so very afraid of God and of society judging him. But the book has a happy ending. Milo learns to have courage within his cognitive dissonance. And it the end, that makes the book hopeful and happy.

hurts because it’s me, and loved it

I’m a gay man who grew up in the southern united states. some combo of marcos and milo is basically me – agnostic, true to myself, but with massive anxiety and internalized homophobia. it’s been a huge aspect of my life I’ve been working to make peace with. (and before you make assumptions, i’ve been out since I was 15, never had a “beard” relationship, and my spouse is queer)

the story is great. it’s very character and relationally driven. it’s milo’s perspective and interior monologue. you get an inside look into the scared and anxious mind of someone growing up in an environment that is highly covertly hostile the minute you step out of tube. it’s f*cos with you.

marcos is a breath of fresh air. he’s vulnerable, charismatic, and the dream boyfriend. at the same time he isn’t painted as the invulnerable hero who helps the protagonist, he has his own issues anxieties and challenging circumstances where he really needs support. their relationship is energizingly refreshing given their circumstances

I like the concept of the “end of the world” explored here. I won’t go into details or spoilers but the plot is true to the title but in a surprising way.

the book is a hard listen at times. I loved it, and also needed to take it in chunks. but the last 1/3 of it, I needed to finish it in one sitting. I was too invested in the characters, and some of the hardships they faced reignited old hurts for me, and I felt quite upset.

I love this book. I think it’s one of those stories that’s obviously fiction, and not trying to be anything other than that. at the same times there is so much that’s relatable of the characters, and the thought processes they follow and how they arrive at the decisions they make that is revealing, challenging, and enlightening. I honestly cried at the end. heavy tears but good tears.

definitely recommend.

Out of this world story.

I have too many questions but I remember that stories like this one are entertainment and not much.

Frustrating

Milo gave me enough anxiety to last his and my lifetime. I couldn’t wait for the story to end

Gay religious teen

I wanted to like this book and liked the premise. As someone who grew up as extremely religious and gay I was really hoping that this story would speak to me. unfortunately the main character was way too whiny and inconsistent for me. In one sentence he is committing to his god that he won't act on his gay urges and in the very next sentence he is professing his love for Marcos. That happens several times and we never get to see any of the intellectual struggle that Milo is having to jump from one extreme to the next. The narrator was not good at creating distinct voices for each of the characters.

Milo needs to see a psychiatrist because he is so indecisive about everything

It got boring. Marco was a saint for dealing with Milo It had the religious stuff which was unsettling