This was the best end-of-the-world science-fiction book I have ever read, and I don't think I will read a better one in my lifetime. 
 It satisfied my thirst for creativity, imagination,but it also raised many questions inside me and made me re-think some stuff I thought I had put together ever since the so called '2012 prophecy'(although the book contains nothing of 2012, it's the only reference I've got) had become widely known. I never took it seriously, it has always been some sort of a joke for me(and for the rest of the world too, apparently), because 2012 just seems so close to tomorrow, and my, may be not so sophisticated and deep as Jason Lawton's(and therefore the author's), knowledge in the area of astrophysics, I have done my share of research, and I know that for the Sun to burn our planet Earth, many billions years and more have to pass. Therefore, I thought, what's the point in thinking about the 2012 end of the world, when I am 99,9% sure it will not happen, which is scientifically proved. 
 However, I am still a book worm, a science-fiction bookworm, because most of the books will teach you something new, but just the name of the genre tells you that this is well, impossible. Just pure imagination and creativity, supported by science. A win win situation you'd think. 
 And then, you read a book like this. A book that will satisfy you in every way a book can: romance, danger, lovable characters and characters you would deeply hate, or pity in every possible way, but still, characters feel real, have their own personality and traits, and if you are lucky, the book will carry a theme and a message as a bonus; and this book lacks neither of it. In fact, it's full of it. 
 The bittersweet thing is the message and how you will interpret it. It can raise many 'what-if' questions that really have no answers, made me go outside and check that the stars were still out there when the power in my house went out. Most of all, I couldn't ignore the Sun and the way the heat reaches higher and higher degrees every summer for the last few years anymore. Most of all, it made me aware of the relativity of everything, most of all the Universe. May be I will be the one to witness the end of the world, instead of my descendants, like I used to think. 
 One of the many things that make this book great is the flashback style of writing(may be they have a name for a narration like that, I don't know). From the present, than in the past, with only glimpses of what the world used to be, and what it has become, and it makes you eager to see what was in between, what exactly happened and why. 
 The characters were, as I said, real, and you can easily sympathize with Diane, and her thirst for salvation, Jason and his thirst for knowledge and understanding, and Tyler, who had chosen his own unique way of life(almost reminding me sometimes of Mr. Meursault, but than, I realized, he was indifferent because of many complicated reasons), indifferent but interested, and had probably accepted the fact of dying ever since the stars first went out. 
 All in all, the book is a masterpiece, and congratulations to Mr. Robert Charles Wilson for his knowledge and for being able to create a world most of us would never even dream of!