A God in Ruins

I read Life after Life for my book club, and then was surprised to discover there was a sequel / companion book, A God in Ruins. I enjoyed the structure of the book immensely, as I did the description of Teddy's life. The ending, though - the ending was such a surprise, and so obvious at the same time, and so right - I'm still trying to determine what I actually think about it, but my first reaction was to give it 5 stars on Goodreads and then write this. Can't wait to get to book club this week and force a God in Ruins upon everybody.

I was a bit concerned going into this, since although the first Todd family book, Life After Life, is one of my favourites, I've seen a lot of people stating that there's a twist at the end of A God In Ruins that leaves them feeling annoyed or even angry. For me, though, the ending is what makes this book. Until I got there, it was a perfectly fine book that I might or might not read again — I'm not a huge fan of war stories, which this essentially is — but now I know I'll definitely come back to it.

I don't think the author does herself any favours by saying that this isn't a sequel to Life After Life. (The following is possibly a spoiler? I don't think it really is, but am marking it as one just in case.) If you haven't read Life After Life, then you won't be at all prepared for the way A God In Ruins ends, and I can absolutely see that it would discombobulate you. But having read the first one, it makes perfect sense, and indeed there were clues throughout the story that made me suspect something of the sort was going to happen. If you're planning to read this book, and haven't read Life After Life, stop now and read that first.