Terry J. Benton-Walker's first middle-grade novel, Alex Wise vs. the End of the World, is a heartfelt and action-packed urban fantasy that follows a gay Black boy as he strives to save the world from evil gods seeking to usher in the apocalypse.
Twelve-year-old Alex Wise and younger sister Mags are displeased to be going on a summer cruise with their estranged father and his "upgraded" family. Worse yet, after the ship sets sail, a mysterious figure (the Shadow Man) snatches Mags overboard. Alex jumps into the ocean to follow her and awakens on an island. There Liam, a boy from the magical realm of Paradisum, leads Alex to the Shadow Man's cave, where Mags gets possessed by Death, one of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and disappears. The Horsemen, Liam explains, launched a coup against the High Goddess of Paradisum and destroyed their world. They are determined "to conquer Earth and as many realms as they [can] get their hands on." It is up to Alex, with the help of best friend Loren, Liam, and favorite teacher Mr. Dexter, to defeat the Horsemen, stave off the apocalypse, and wrest his sister from Death's control.
Alex Wise vs. the End of the World is an exciting and genre-bending narrative that melds comic-book style adventure, urban fantasy, and teen romance into a fresh and exhilarating coming-of-age story. Thrills and snarky humor balance heartfelt, emotional moments. Benton-Walker (Blood Debts) features several LGBTQ+ characters, all of whom are portrayed with great depth and complexity, and he invites all readers, especially those who identify as queer, to love themselves first and the world after. --Cade Williams, freelance book reviewer