Title: This World We Live In

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Genre: Post-Apocalypse, Dystopia, Young Adult

Publisher: Harcourt
Publication Date: April 2010
Hardcover: 256 pages

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

Stand alone or series: Book 3 in the “Last Survivors” (formerly referred to as the “Moon Crush”) trilogy

How did I get this book: Bought

Why did I read this book: This is one of my all-time favorite series’ period. Life As We Knew It is one of my favorite novels, and was far and away the best book I had read in 2008. Its companion novel, the dead and the gone was a close second. Needless to say, I anxiously awaited this third and final volume in the series with bated breath. I. Love. This. Series.

Review:

It has been a full year since the moon was struck by an asteroid, pushing its orbit closer to the Earth and unleashing a string of natural disasters. The increased gravitational pull meant tidal waves, extreme weather, and volcanic eruptions on Earth, leading to a global atmosphere of ash that prevents any sunlight from penetrating. In turn, this caused temperatures plummet, crops to fail, and famine and outbreaks of disease became commonplace. In the months following the moon impact, Miranda and her family have undergone a dramatic change in lifestyle in their desperate struggle to survive in the Pennsylvania countryside, as detailed in Life As We Knew It. In the dead and the gone, these same catastrophic events are observed through the eyes of a young man named Alex, and his struggle to protect his younger sisters, search for his missing parents, and stay alive in a drowning New York City.

This World We Live In shifts the timeline of the trilogy forward as it completes the story of both prior protagonists. Miranda narrates the tale once again, relating day to day events through her diary. The one year mark brings dramatic changes to life at home as their family grows in members – both older, familiar faces and some new ones are thrown into the mix. As Miranda and her family try to adjust to the increase in people, they also must worry about their future together as a unit – especially when food begins to run low, and weekly distributions from the town may dry up.

This World We Live In is a terrifying return to a dying world, ravaged by starvation, choked in a blanket of relentless gray. And part of the reason why it, and its predecessors, works so well as a novel is because of the strength and unexpected beauty of Ms. Pfeffer’s writing style, and her flawed, tested, painfully genuine characters. What I loved a whole bunch about the first two books in this series was observing the catastrophic disaster of the moon through narrator Miranda and Alex’s eyes – in Life as we Knew It, the consequences of the impact piled up unexpectedly, hypnotically, whereas in the dead and the gone, we got to see those same events occur in a much more devastating setting (New York City). Ms. Pfeffer’s characters are the standouts in this book, as the shock and novelty of her apocalypse takes a backseat. I do have to say that I missed the initial fear and chaos, the novelty of the disaster that played such a large role in both prior books and was (understandably) not present in this third book. That said, the continued explication of characters is what sets this book apart and makes it work.

Miranda, in her return to narration, has grown and changed in many ways since she was the basically carefree girl of sixteen in Life as We Knew it. Her narrative voice, as read through her journal entries, is searing, soul-searching stuff. She’s brutally honest about her emotions (because if you can’t be in a journal, where can you be?). It’s interesting too because the journal also means everything’s a little skewed, slanted and filtered through Miranda’s perspective. Her struggles in this third book are significant and poignant – especially in her interactions and strained interactions with her mother.

After reading Alex’s story, however, I should mention that it becomes painfully clear just how good Miranda has it, even though her life is by no means ideal – and as such, her conflicts and problems seem more trivial and immature in comparison. Which, I suppose, was Ms. Pfeffer’s point as we readers of the series know, things for Miranda and her family could be much, much horrendous. This is in part what makes Miranda such a realistic character – because isn’t it human nature to think of one’s own situation before anyone else’s? Even after meeting Alex and Julie as they are brought to the home thanks to Miranda’s father and stepmother, no one in the Evans family truly knows the horror of what Alex has been through.

One other thing I loved so far as characters are concerned was how the relationships in this third book evolved and reflect a gritty sense of realism with regard to the setting. Tensions within the Evans household are understandably high, almost all the time. And I love that even though there is “romance” in this book, it’s not the type of teen romance so often read about in YA novels (especially of the teen vampire/paranormal variety). Like everything else in this post-apocalyptic world, “love” has evolved and developed a new definition. Matt and Syl, and Miranda and Alex take what they can get, while they can get it – as Miranda remarks at one point in the book, this may be her only chance at happiness, and she’s not going to waste it. I really, really liked that. No love triangles, no pointless fluffy angst or silliness. Just brutal honesty.

While I did love each of the characters and was moved by Miranda’s narration, This World We Live In was not of the caliber of its predecessors. The introduction to new characters all a bit to nice and well-tempered and easy. There’s little animosity towards these newcomers, which strikes me as false, especially considering the dire food situation. Also, there’s the lack of description or explanation as to how the troupe of Miranda’s Dad, Lisa, baby Gabriel, Charlie, Alex, and Julie have traveled HUNDREDS of miles on foot and in amazingly good time across a barren, unforgiven, foodless, presumably bandit-laden landscape. It reads a little off – at the very least, I would’ve liked to have read more about it.

Another major issue I had with this novel was how quickly all the big things occur. The second half (actually, the last third) of the book feels incredibly rushed. For example, in the (completely misleading) blurb, the tornado mentioned does not appear until the last few pages of the book! The meat and potatoes of the plot – the big decisions each character makes are barely discussed and simply accepted as givens on the next page. The aftermath of the tornado in particular was hard to swallow because it felt so rushed, and thereby rang as exploitative and unnecessary. But that’s just my personal opinion.

Most importantly, however, I was sorely disappointed that we didn’t get Alex’s perspective at any point in this third novel. As a fellow diligent journal keeper, it would have been awesome to have his narrative juxtaposed with Miranda’s – and since we didn’t get his voice, I felt like Alex was a different, remote character in this book. I’ll say it again: NO ONE knows what he and Julie have been through. I also felt there was a tiny bit of a lapse in continuity – while Miranda talks about Mrs. Nesbitt at length, she never mentions or even thinks about her friend Megan from the first novel. Similarly, because we are deprived of Alex’s narrative, we never hear about poor Brianna (Alex’s sister, who passed away in book 2). Alex has some deep, resounding darkness because of everything he’s been through and his desire to get Julie to safety is all the more understandable because of the family’s past – and I wish we could have seen that.

Notable Quotes/Parts:

After a while you get used to being cold, and hungry, and living in the dark.

But you can’t get used to losing people. Or if you can, I don’t want to. So many people in the past year, people I’ve loved, have vanished from my life. Some have died; others have moved on. It almost doesn’t matter. Gone is gone.

You can read more about This World We Live In at Susan Beth Pfeffer’s blog for the book, and on the book’s official Harcourt page.

Additional Thoughts: On one final note, this has something that’s been bugging me in the blurb for the book and in reviews I’ve seen. There’s an important difference between an asteroid, a meteoroid and a meteor – the object that hits the moon in these books is either an asteroid or a meteoroid. Meteors are small particles from an asteroid or comet orbiting the sun that are observed as they burn up in the Earth’s atmosphere (i.e. a shooting star). Hence, the astral body impacting the moon – by definition – cannot be a meteor. It is either an asteroid (that is, a relatively small, inactive body, composed of rock, carbon or metal, which is orbiting the Sun) or a meteoroid (that is, a small particle from a comet or asteroid orbiting the Sun).

Just a point of clarification from an astro-nerd! (If you want to read more about the difference between asteroids, meteors, meteoroids, meteorites, and comets, check out the handy FAQ NASA has online)

Verdict: Overall, This World We Live In is another potent, harrowing, and very dark story that makes for a fitting, dramatic end to the trilogy. There’s room for more and future narratives (I, for one, would love to read baby Gabriel’s story set much later in a future book), but if it all ends here, that’s ok with me too. While This World We Live In might not be as resonating as the first book, nor as haunting as the second, it’s still an awesome read that I wholeheartedly recommend to all.

Rating: 8 – Excellent

Reading Next: Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs

Hi y’all!

As I recuperate myself from the sheer awesomeness that was Kick-Ass last night, we get ready for another busy week!

Giveaway winners

We have a couple of winners to announce. First, the winner of one copy of Evernight by Claudia Gray is:

Haley Christine (comment #21)

The winner of one authographed copy of Mind Games by Carolyn Crane is:

Jamie (comment #1)

Congratulations to all the winners! Now you know the drill – send an email to us (contact AT thebooksmugglers DOT com) with your snail mail address and we’ll get your prizes out to you as soon as possible! Thanks to all that entered!

Other News

The Ritas:

The RWA (Romance Writers of America) have announced the finalists for 2010 RITA Awards – the Oscars of Romance Novels. Winners of the awards will be announced July 31st at the RITA and Golden Heart Awards Ceremony to be held at RWA’s 30th Annual National Conference in Nashville, Tennessee.

Amongst the finalists we are delighted to see some of Ana’s favorites, including 3 of her top 10 books of 2009: Scandal by Carolyn Jewel, Revealed by Kate Noble and Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols.

Congratulations to all the nominees!

Patricia Briggs on Tour:

#1 New York Times Bestseller Patricia Briggs will be on tour in April for her next hardcover Silver Borne (Ace; on-sale March 30, 2010). The author will be signing books and meeting with readers – check out the dates and locations and make sure to stop by!

March 30th in SEATTLE
UNIVERSITY BOOKSTORE@ 7 PM
4326 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105

March 31st in PORTLAND
POWELL’S BOOKS @ 7 PM
Cedar Hills Crossing
3415 SW Cedar Hills Blvd
Beaverton, OR 97005

April 6th in LOS ANGELES
BARNES AND NOBLE #2743 @ 7 PM
7881 Edinger Ave.
Huntington Beach, CA 92647

April 7th in SAN DIEGO
MYSTERIOUS GALAXY @ 7 PM
7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd: Ste 302
San Diego, CA 92111

April 9th in HOUSTON
MURDER BY THE BOOK @ 6:30 PM
2342 Bissonnet St
Houston, TX 77005

April 10th in MINNEAPOLIS
UNCLE HUGO’S SCIENCE FICTION BOOKSTORE @ 1 PM
2864 Chicago Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55407

Tor.com

We plan to post our first contribution to the Tor.com website this week with a joint review of The Poison Throne by Celine Kiernan. We don’t have a final date yet but we shall post about it as soon as we know!

This Week on The Book Smugglers:

We kick-off the week with Ana’s review of her most anticipated book of the year: the (awesome, brilliant) A Conspiracy of Kings by the (brilliant, awesome) Megan Whalen Turner.

On Tuesday, it is Harry’s turn with his monthly column A Dude Reads PNR. This month’s book is Demon Keepers by Jessica Andersen. Later on Thea reviews This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer , the third book in the Last Survivors series (and one of her most highly anticipated books of ANY year).

We close the month with our March issue of Cover Matters. This time around, we discuss Cliched Covers in Fantasy.

On Thursday, it is Thea’s turn to review (and giveaway) another one of her most anticipated reads of 2010: Silver Borne by Patricia Briggs, the fifth book in the Mercy Thompson series.

On Friday, we post our joint review of Guardian of the Dead by Karen Healey, followed by an interview with the author.

Finally, on Saturday Ana posts a From The Page to the Screen with her review of Kick-Ass, the comic and the movie!

And we will just leave you this awesome poster from the upcoming movie, Scott Pilgrim vs the World, another one we (by “we” we mean Ana, really) (THEA’S NOTE: Yes, yes, I am Michael Cera’d out for a little while) can’t wait to see!

~ Your Friendly Neighborhood Book Smugglers

On The Smugglers’ Radar” is a new feature for books that have caught our eye: books we heard of via other bloggers, directly from publishers, and/or from our regular incursions into the Amazon jungle. This is how the Smugglers’ Radar was born, and because there are far too many books that we want than we can possibly buy or review (what else is new?) we thought we could make it into a weekly feature – so YOU can tell us which books you have on your radar as well!

On Ana’s Radar:

I love, LOVE fairytale retellings and the more deviant from the original the better. So, when I saw this in the book shop last Saturday I bought it faster them you could say OMG Squee. I mean, Cinderella’s husband is kidnapped and she goes to rescue him with the help of Sleeping Beauty who is a NINJA and Snow who is a powerful Sorceress both working for Her Majesty’s secret service? I am so there!

Cinderella–whose real name is Danielle Whiteshore (nee Danielle de Glas)–does marry Prince Armand. And if you can ignore the pigeon incident, their wedding is a dream come true.

But not long after the “happily ever after,” Danielle is attacked by her stepsister Charlotte, who suddenly has all sorts of magic to call upon. And though Talia–otherwise known as Sleeping Beauty–comes to the rescue (she’s a martial arts master, and all those fairy blessings make her almost unbeatable), Charlotte gets away.

That’s when Danielle discovers a number of disturbing facts: Armand has been kidnapped and taken to the realm of the Fairies; Danielle is pregnant with his child; and the Queen has her own very secret service that consists of Talia and Snow (White, of course). Snow is an expert at mirror magic and heavy duty flirting.

Can the three princesses track down Armand and extract both the prince and themselves from the clutches of some of fantasyland’s most nefarious villains?

and there is a sequel as well, with the Little Mermaid!

There is an old story — you might have heard it — about a young mermaid, the daughter of a king, who saved the life of a human prince and fell in love.

So innocent was her love, so pure her devotion, that she would pay any price for the chance to be with her prince. She gave up her voice, her family, and the sea, and became human. But the prince had fallen in love with another woman.

The tales say the little mermaid sacrificed her own life so that her beloved prince could find happiness with his bride.

The tales lie.

Saw this one at Scifi Guy…:

MEGHAN CHASE HAS A SECRET DESTINY— ONE SHE COULD NEVER HAVE IMAGINED…

Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan’s life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school…or at home,

When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she’s known is about to change.

But she could never have guessed the truth—that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she’ll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face…and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

…and this one at Angie’s

Finnikin was only a child during the five days of the unspeakable, when the royal family of Lumatere were brutally murdered, and an imposter seized the throne. Now a curse binds all who remain inside Lumatere’s walls, and those who escaped roam the surrounding lands as exiles, persecuted and despairing, dying by the thousands in fever camps. In a narrative crackling with the tension of an imminent storm, Finnikin, now on the cusp of manhood, is compelled to join forces with an arrogant and enigmatic young novice named Evanjalin, who claims that her dark dreams will lead the exiles to a surviving royal child and a way to pierce the cursed barrier and regain the land of Lumatere. But Evanjalin’s unpredictable behavior suggests that she is not what she seems — and the startling truth will test Finnikin’s faith not only in her, but in all he knows to be true about himself and his destiny.

And this is the sequel to The Adamantine Palace by Stephen Deas:

Prince Jehal has murdered, poisioned and betrayed his way to the top. There is a new speaker for the realms, opposition has been crushed, now he just has to enjoy the fruits of power. And yet …He feels more for the wife he married for power than perhaps he should and his lover knows it. And out in the realms those loyal to the old regime are still plotting. and there are rumours that the Red Riders, heralds of revolution and doom are on the ride. And still no-one has found the famous white dragon. The dragon that if it lived will have long ago recovered from the effects of the alchemical liquid fed to the the dragons of the realms to keep them docile, to block their memories of a time when they ruled and the world burned …Stephen Deas has created an epic world, vivid characters, a plot full of betrayals and the most awesome dragons fantasy has seen.

On Thea’s Radar:

My absolute favorite book from last year was Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life As We Knew It, with the dead and the gone as a close second. AND, the cover and synopsis for the third book in the series has been officially released! Cue hyperventilation! MUST HAVE THIS BOOK NOW NOW NOW!

It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

Ana sent me an email with this cover, that has me salivating…

Ever since the floods came and washed the world away, survivors have been desperate to win a place on X Isle, the island where life is rumoured to be easier than on what’s left of the mainland. Only young boys are in with a chance, the smaller and lighter the better. Baz and Ray are two of the lucky few to be chosen, but they soon discover that X-Isle is a far cry from paradise. Ruled by Preacher John, a dangerous religious fanatic, it’s a violent, unpredictable place where terrible things can happen at any moment. The boys hatch an extraordinary plan in order to protect themselves – the construction of a mighty weapon of defence. But can they complete this weapon in time, and are they really prepared to use it in order to secure their freedom? Powerful and compelling, “X Isle” is a fast-moving thriller that will keep you guessing right to the very end.

This next one I saw on Amazon, and am pretty excited for it. Connie Willis hasn’t come out with anything in a while, and I really loved Doomsday Book, so Blackout should be a treat!

Oxford in 2060 is a chaotic place. Scores of time-traveling historians are being sent into the past, to destinations including the American Civil War and the attack on the World Trade Center. Michael Davies is prepping to go to Pearl Harbor. Merope Ward is coping with a bunch of bratty 1940 evacuees and trying to talk her thesis adviser, Mr. Dunworthy, into letting her go to VE Day. Polly Churchill’s next assignment will be as a shopgirl in the middle of London’s Blitz. And seventeen-year-old Colin Templer, who has a major crush on Polly, is determined to go to the Crusades so that he can “catch up” to her in age.

But now the time-travel lab is suddenly canceling assignments for no apparent reason and switching around everyone’s schedules. And when Michael, Merope, and Polly finally get to World War II, things just get worse. For there they face air raids, blackouts, unexploded bombs, dive-bombing Stukas, rationing, shrapnel, V-1s, and two of the most incorrigible children in all of history—to say nothing of a growing feeling that not only their assignments but the war and history itself are spiraling out of control. Because suddenly the once-reliable mechanisms of time travel are showing significant glitches, and our heroes are beginning to question their most firmly held belief: that no historian can possibly change the past.

From the people sheltering in the tube stations of London to the retired sailors who set off across the Channel to rescue the stranded British Army from Dunkirk, from shopgirls to ambulance drivers, from spies to hospital nurses to Shakespearean actors, Blackout reveals a side of World War II seldom seen before: a dangerous, desperate world in which there are no civilians and in which everybody—from the Queen down to the lowliest barmaid—is determined to do their bit to help a beleaguered nation survive.

Thanks to Rhiannon Hart for the heads up on this one:

An invisible, uncrossable physical barrier encloses the Unified States. The Line is the part of the border that lopped off part of the country, dooming the inhabitants to an unknown fate when the enemy used a banned weapon. It’s said that bizarre creatures and superhumans live on the other side, in Away. Nobody except tough old Ms. Moore would ever live next to the Line.
Nobody but Rachel and her mother, who went to live there after Rachel’s dad died in the last war. It’s a safe, quiet life. Until Rachel finds a mysterious recorded message that can only have come from Away. The voice is asking for help.

Who sent the message? Why is her mother so protective? And to what lengths is Rachel willing to go in order to do what she thinks is right?

You can check out the first chapter of The Line online HERE.

I’m a little late on this one, but I really am intrigued by the premise:

What does it mean to be bad?

Eric Bear has it all: a successful career, a beautiful wife, a blissful home. He knows he’s been lucky; a while back, his life revolved around drugs, gambling, a gang of stuffed-animal thugs, and notorious crime boss Nicholas Dove.

But the past isn’t as far away as Eric had hoped. Rumors are swirling that Dove is on the Death List and that he wants Eric to save him. If Eric fails to act, his beloved wife, Emma Rabbit, will be torn apart, limb by limb.

With a nod to the best of noir and the wisest of allegories, and interlaced with greed and gangsters, Amberville depicts an alternate world that mirrors our own realities and moral concerns, and reminds us of the inextricable link between good and evil.

And finally, check out the new cover for the second book in Kim Harrison’s Madison Avery series:

No synopsis yet, but hopefully one will be around soon!

And that’s it from us! What are you looking forward to?

Title: the dead and the gone

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Genre: Young Adult, Speculative Fiction

Stand alone or series: Book 2 of the ‘Moon Crush’ trilogy, but can be read as a stand alone novel. the dead and the gone is the companion novel to book 1 of the trilogy, Life As We Knew It and details the same catastrophic events with different characters, from a different perspective. Book 3, This World We Live In will be a direct sequel to both companion books and is to be released in 2010.

Why did I read this book: I loved the first book so much that I immediately combed all my local bookstores for the dead and the gone. Needless to say, I’m a huge fan.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event–an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex’s parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.

With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

Review:

I loved Life As We Knew It–it is easily one of the best books I have read in 2008 (you can read that review HERE). So it goes without saying that when I discovered its sister book the dead and the gone had been released earlier this year, I wasted no time getting my hands on a copy, eager to see how it would compare.

I was not disappointed.

the dead and the gone follows seventeen-year-old Alex Morales on the eve of the disaster. A smart, driven young man of Puerto Rican descent, Alex spends his evenings working for extra money at the local pizza parlor in New York City. When he’s done for the night, he closes up shop and returns to his family’s apartment building, where his father is landlord. Alex’s two younger sisters, fourteen-year-old Brianna and twelve-year-old Julie, are already at home waiting for him. Their father is in Puerto Rico for their grandmother’s funeral, and their mother is working a late emergency shift at a hospital in Queens. The only other member of the Morales immediate family is the eldest son, Carlos, who is enlisted in the marines. Thus Alex, Bri and Julie are settling down for bed when their electricity goes out, though not atypical for their neck of the woods in a hot New York summer. They learn that the asteroid that hit the moon that evening has had some unpredicted consequences, but they are certain that the astronomers and scientists will figure out how to get the moon back in place. With that, they all go to sleep. The next morning however, brings some terrible changes for Alex and his sisters. They learn about the tidal waves that obliterated islands and coastal cities, and that the city subways were flooded, killing thousands instantly. They learn that Queens and Manhattan are submerged. And they learn that there is no way to know if their mother and father are ok, or even if they are alive. Thus begins the dead and the gone, as Alex struggles to make the right decisions to protect himself and his two younger sisters in a dying city.

the dead and the gone is a completely different animal from Life As We Knew It–it begins with a literal bang, dispensing with any preliminaries as the first chapter opens with the asteroid’s devastating impact on the moon. the dead and the gone also marks a change in characters and narrative style. While LAWKI is written in the first person point of view of the protagonist Miranda in the form of her diary entries, tdatg is narrated strictly in the third person limited point of view, with insight to Alex’s thoughts and perspectives. One of the (negligible) quibbles I had with the first book was how Miranda was very much an observer to the apocalyptic events of the ‘moon crush’. She remains passive (at least initially) as her mother and older brother make the tough, life-saving decisions to keep the family alive. In this companion book, however, Alex–though only a year older than Miranda–is thrust into the leadership role, needing to keep his younger sisters safe.

The most important difference, however, is that of location. Whereas the first book took place in rural Pennsylvania (far fewer residents, more open land and small towns), Alex and his sisters are alone in one of the largest, toughest cities in the world. The significance of this location change is felt almost immediately, and threads through the entire novel. When Alex awakens the morning after the asteroid strike, he and his sisters do not have the miraculous foresight of Miranda’s mother–nor do they have the financial security Miranda’s family did. Instead, Alex and sisters Bri and Julie have only what is in their cupboards, and what they have been given from their aunt and uncle’s bodega. They get a free lunch at their respective schools and are forced to live meal to meal, standing in food ration lines, braving riots and other predators, scrounging for anything left behind in apartments that are later deserted. And that’s just the tip of Alex’s worries as the weather turns cold, ashy and permanently gray with the worldwide volcanic eruptions caused by the moon’s new proximity to Earth, spewing ash into the atmosphere and blocking out the sun indefinitely.

One of the largest worries I had coming into this book concerned predictability. The novelty of discovering what happens with the moon pushed closer to the Earth had already been exhausted in Life As We Knew It, and I was concerned that reading the same events again could be tedious. Thank goodness, this was not the case. While Life As We Knew It terrifies, keeping readers on the edge of their seats wondering what can happen next, in the dead and the gone it is not so much about what happens, as it is how these young, ill-prepared characters will get through each disaster. Even though I knew what was coming next–subzero temperatures, ashy skies, epidemics–the way things manifest in New York is different than the way they did in rural Pennsylvania and each chain reaction event is detailed flawlessly and uniquely (the way Julie’s school’s vegetable garden dies from an early frost, or Bri’s severe adult onset asthma, for example).

Many reviews I’ve seen (predominantly on amazon) detract from this novel because it is a whole lot darker, more terrifying and more bleak than Life As We Knew It. To be honest, this is to be expected–in a large, metropolitan area, with no adults to look after them, you best believe that Alex does anything in his power to keep his family alive. As New York is a major city with a large population (not to mention home of many influential rich folks and politicians) it is kept on life support with bursts of electricity and food rations. The ration lines begin in the city far before they did in LAWKI, and with those long lines come riots, violence, and desperation–at least initially, while there are still enough people alive and strong enough to put up a fight. As the fallout from the moon’s proximity wears on, however, the higher population of NYC translates to more rotting corpses, more suicides, more rats in the streets. There’s a black market that arises out of necessity, and Alex takes to ‘body fishing’–stripping the recently dead of their swag, to trade in for cans of food or other items.

And, there is the titled issue of the ‘gone’. In the initial asteroid strike, the subways of New York flooded, killing thousands almost instantly, along with those who were wiped out on the coast lines by repeated tidal waves. Alex and his sisters have no idea what has happened to their parents–if they are alive, injured, or dead. They, along with thousands of others, have simply disappeared. This is a huge theme in the book–Alex’s youngest sister Julie is constantly terrified that Alex will disappear without her, whereas Bri desperately clings to her belief that their parents are still alive, refusing to abandon their family apartment. There’s a haunting scene where Alex takes a trip to Yankee Stadium to examine the some of the bodies pulled out of the subway, looking for his mother. It’s heartbreaking, gut wrenching, and yet feels so incredibly realistic. If I had thought that Ms. Pfeffer was pulling punches in LAWKI, the gloves came off here in the dead and the gone.

So far as characters go, Alex is a far different protagonist than Miranda. Most obviously, he’s a teenage boy versus Miranda’s teenage girl. But he’s also shaped by his heritage as a Puerto Rican, and his family’s religious beliefs as devout Catholics (more on that in a bit). He’s driven and intelligent, having won a scholarship to one of the most prestigious private Catholic schools in the city, and aspires to go to Georgetown after his senior year. More than that, Alex always has something to prove (that he is as good as his older brother, that he can beat his top rival in school), and ultimately it all boils down to his own insecurities: how he is terrified each decision he makes for his sisters could mean their death. I am in complete awe of Ms. Pfeffer’s characterizations and relationships–just as Miranda felt incredibly genuine as a teenage girl in the first book, Alex is heartbreakingly alive and real here. His struggles as the oldest sibling (with Carlos out of the picture), his love-hate relationship with his youngest sister Julie, his attempts to stay sane as the world falls apart around him–it’s all incredibly genuine. All of these characters and their fates had me near tears at certain parts of the book. Once again, I found myself fully invested in Alex’s story and those of each character in this novel.

Another major facet to the characters and plot of this novel is faith and the church. Alex and his sisters are driven in large part due to their faith, however Alex and youngest sister Julie question God, while Brianna’s faith never wavers. The church plays a pivotal role in relief efforts, and in the lives of each of the Morales members. Alex’s school remains open for the entire year, throughout the summer and winter, offering a free lunch to anyone who still attends provided they perform a specific task before going to classes in the morning (no chores, no lunch). Similarly, the family’s local church provides information as relayed through the diocese, and remains holding regular mass, even as the congregation dwindles and the weather turns unbearably cold. It’s an interesting contrast from the first book, where a more zealous, crazed look at religion is portrayed. I should say that I am not religious at all and am extremely wary when reading books that feature faith so predominantly (usually for fear of having some unsavory religious message rammed down my throat)–but I can assure any readers who may be feeling tentative towards the dead and the gone that the religion aspect is handled excellently. Alex’s faith is a part of who he is as a character, and no religious/spiritual redemption lessons are beaten over readers’ heads–which I might add is simply testament to Ms. Pfeffer’s brilliant characterizations, yet again.

On one final note, I have read some criticisms for the ending of this book for being too abrupt, Alex having struggled so long and so hard to get his sisters to safety, but I have no problems with it (besides the fact that I’m greedy and want more, that is). There are no rainbows and sparkles, no miraculous fixes to the devastation of civilization here–but despite the hefty tragedy, the book ends with hope. And I can rest assured that Alex’s (and Miranda’s) story will be continued with This World We Live In!

Notable Quotes/Parts: One exchange between Bri, Julie, and Alex:

“Couldn’t we use the ticket to get food instead?” Bri asked. “Real food. Lots of it. That way we wouldn’t have to leave New York.”

“I want to use it to get out,” Julie said. “It’s my ticket. I’m the one who took it in the first place and it was in my pile and I get to say what we do with it.”

“But what will Mami and Papi think if we’re not here?” Bri asked. “Or Carlos? How will they find us if we leave?”

“It’s been six months!” Julie shouted. “They’re dead. And Carlos might as well be. I’m not going to stick around here and die waiting for them to come back. Stay here if you want, but I’m going!”

Bri began to cough.

“Where’s the inhaler?” Alex asked, looking around the living room for it.

“Bedroom.” Bri gasped.

Alex raced into the bedroom and grabbed the inhaler from Bri’s night table. “You’re supposed to carry this with you all the time!” he shouted, resisting the temptation to fling it at her.

Bri took a deep puff. Her coughing subsided. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Forgot.”

“You can’t forget,” Alex said. “Forgetting can kill you. What if you had an attack and we weren’t here?”

Bri began to cry.

“Happy birthday, Papi.” Julie muttered.

“That does it!” Alex yelled. “Julie, go to your room, right now.”

“Why?” Julie asked. “It isn’t my fault Bri’s crazy.”

“Now,” Alex said, trying to keep his rage under control. “Before I pick you up and throw you in there.”

[...]

“I’m using the ticket to get out,” she said. “I don’t care what you and Bri do. It’s my ticket and I hate it here.”

“Julie, it’s not that simple,” Alex said.

“It is,” she replied. “People leave all the time. All my friends are gone. Most of the sisters are gone. We’re the only ones stupid enough to be here.”

“We’re not stupid,” he said.

“Bri is,” Julie said.

“Don’t say that,” Alex snapped. “Her faith is stronger than yours. Maybe you’re the stupid one.”

Julie looked Alex straight in the eye. “Tell me Mami and Papi are still alive,” she said. “Tell me that’s what you really think.”

“It doesn’t matter what I think,” he said. “It doesn’t even matter what Bri thinks. What matters is Bri can’t walk more than five blocks without having an asthma attack and you’re thirteen years old and you can’t look out for yourself.”

“I could if I had to,” Julie said.

Alex shook his head. “You can’t,” he said. “I can’t go off with you and leave Bri behind. And I can’t stay behind with Bri and let you go off on your own.” He left unsaid the idea of his deserting his sisters while he escaped.

Additional Thoughts: Three things.

First, as promised, here are a few more End of the World/dystopian type stories for the apocalypse/post-apocalypse fan! There are the classics, Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (which I’m sure some will remember from English class in middle and high school!) and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, both dealing with nuclear holocaust. For Young Adult novels in the dystopian, post-apocalypse vein, there’s Isobelle Carmody’s Obernewtyn Chronicles (the series has been reprinted by Penguin this month–and the long awaited fifth book is finally in publication!), Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games or Neil Shusterman’s Unwind (these are all post-apocalypse, however). Other mentions: The Postman (ignore the movie, save your eyes the torture), Children of Men (I actually liked this movie a lot as well as the book, give both a go), The Dark Tower books (I am calling them post-apocalyptic since the majority of the story takes place in worlds that have been left behind) and Liberation (which I haven’t read yet but really want to). Any other suggestions?

Second, on Monday there was a special on the Discovery Channel about what would happen in a two degree warmer world–showing the flooding of New York city, storm fronts, etc. Not nearly as catastrophic as the events in these novels, but certainly lends some perspective to how something as small as a temperature increase in two degrees can lead to drastic, climatological effects worldwide.

Finally, for more on Susan Beth Pfeffer and her Moon Crush books, make sure to check out her blog HERE. Even cooler, she has a blog up concerning her progress and plot ideas for This World We Live In HERE (warning, spoilers for the first two books abound!). **EDIT: Rats, looks like book 3 won’t be out until Spring 2010.**

Verdict: the dead and the gone is a harrowing companion book, and a novel I loved just as much as the first, if in a completely different way. A caveat–this is not a book for the faint of heart. This novel is far darker than its predecessor. There is more bleakness here, and perhaps this isn’t to the tastes of some readers–but despite the tragedy, hope remains. I highly recommend both novels in the series. Again, one of my favorite reads of the year.

Rating: 9 Damn Near Perfection

Reading Next: Knights of the Cornerstone by James P. Blaylock

Title: Life As We Knew It

Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer

Genre: Young Adult, Speculative Fiction

Stand alone or series: Book 1 of the ‘Moon Crush’ trilogy. Both Life As We Knew It and book 2, the dead and the gone can be read as stand alone novels as they are companion books (different characters, different location) and follow the same catastrophic events from different perspectives. The third and final book, titled This World We Live In, is a direct sequel to both companion books and will be released in 2009.

Why did I read this book: A few months back, Meljean Brook wrote a blog post after she finished Life As We Knew It, and I (sucker for apocalypse/post-apocalypse stories that I am) immediately added it to my ‘to buy’ list.

Summary: (from amazon.com)
Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all–hope–in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

Review:

I will start off this review by laying all my cards on the table–this is quite possibly the best book I have read in 2008. No hyperbole, no frills. Straight up, this is an affecting book about the end of civilization, with all the emotional gravitas of Cormac McCarthy’s much (overly, in my opinion) lauded The Road, but BETTER because it is tempered with the one thing McCarthy is allergic to: Hope.

Life As We Knew It begins with the mundane events in a sixteen year old girl’s life. Miranda goes to school, she mediates between best friends that are growing apart, she’s angry at her mother for limiting her from doing the things she wants to do. She worries about prom, and boys, and studying for math tests. Then an asteroid hits the moon, knocking its orbit askew and pushing it closer to the earth. Everything in Miranda’s normal life changes. Tidal waves devastate the coastlines and islands. Earthquakes destroy cities and countries, and volcanoes erupt simultaneously worldwide, forever changing the planet’s atmosphere with ash blocking out the sun. Crops die, epidemics wipe out entire populations. Starvation and surviving the bitterly cold winter seems impossible.

And yet, despite the fact that it is the end of the world, Miranda and her family have each other–and they endure.

Part of the reason this book is so effective is because it is written in the first person point of view, told from Miranda’s diary entries. Initially, I was a bit wary with this writing device–there is a necessary degree of kitschy-ness and detachment inherent to the diary device–but all of my worries and prejudgments melted away as the story progressed. Miranda’s voice is incredibly clear and honest, allowing a glimpse into a teenage girl whose life has been stripped from her before she even got a chance to live it. The first person point of view is flawless, allowing readers to feel Miranda’s frustration and anger, her resignation, and ultimately the strength of the love she has for her family. I don’t think I have ever read a teenage heroine that comes across as genuinely as Miranda does–her forced growth and maturation is shocking. Passages like this show her incredible character growth–in a sad, bittersweet kind of way:

It’s funny how sorry I feel for Jon these days. I’m 2 1/2 years older than him and I feel like I got those extra 2 1/2 years to go to school and swim and have friends and he got cheated out of them. And maybe he’ll live 2 1/2 years longer than me, or 20 years, or 50, but he’ll still never have those 2 1/2 years of normal life.

Miranda changes from defiant teen, sneaking out of the house to go for a swim in the pond and sulking over why her younger brother Jon gets all the good food, to understanding that she will do whatever she must to make sure that her family–even if it is just one of them–will survive. It’s incredibly touching.

All of the other characters are filtered through Miranda’s narrative, and I especially loved the relationship between her and her mother. So many diary entries discuss Miranda’s feelings for her mother: how Miranda loves her but hates the situation her family is in; about how her mother does not understand her; about how she alternates between loving and hating her mother. There’s a particular scene involving chocolate chips that is unbelievably poignant and painful to read. And yet, the mother-daughter relationship is, like everything else in this powerful book, so very genuine. And at the end of the day, it is abundantly clear how much Miranda loves her mother and her brothers, and how much Miranda’s mother will sacrifice for her children. Two other relationships that were particularly excellent were those between Miranda and her religious friend Megan, and another with Miranda’s family and neighbor Mrs. Nesbitt.

By the end of this novel, I was in love with each and every character, flawed and frayed as they may be.

In addition to the strength of the characters in this novel, the cataclysmic events of the apocalypse itself are terrifyingly realized. I loved that the end of mankind in Ms. Pfeffer’s tale occurs not because of nuclear war (which is always a popular theme, especially in YA apocalyptic fiction) nor to any fault of humankind at all–it is something external and unstoppable, and every event happens in cause-and-effect chain reaction. What would happen if the moon were knocked closer to the earth? Ms. Pfeffer enumerates each catastrophe with shocking aplomb–nonstop tidal waves, earthquakes, volcanoes, plague, famine, the obliteration of the sun…it is scary how realistically each catastrophe is portrayed.

But perhaps the thing I love the most about this novel–besides the characters and relationships–is how Ms. Pfeffer takes readers through the nitty gritty chaos and everyday life dealing with the apocalypse. The asteroid that altered the moon’s position took mere seconds, but the devastating effects are felt for years, lifetimes, to come. So many End Of The World tales occur in a far off future years after worldwide decimation, dealing with the few surviving humans POST-apocalypse (be it plague or zombies or nuclear war, whatever). I loved seeing Miranda’s quick thinking mother yanking her children out of school, chopping wood in the summer, racing for canned goods and cat food to stock up before the stores run dry. And then during the long cold winter, I loved seeing how the real villain in this story is starvation, how every canned green bean is vital to survival, and how each character begins to sacrifice meals.

Jon was making himself a can of green peas for lunch when all of a sudden he turned to us and said, “How come none of you eat lunch?”

It’s funny. We haven’t in ages, but Jon was always outside with Matt and I guess he figured Matt ate a big breakfast or something. He didn’t know what Mom or I were doing…

I eat every single day. Two months from now, maybe even one month from now, I might eat only every other day.

We’re all alive. We’re all healthy.

These are the good times.

The novel is excruciatingly detailed in each day to day struggle and the slow sapping of physical strength by starvation–yet the true strength of this family lies in the characters’ love for each other, their dependence on each other, and how this emotional strength keeps them all going.

If I had to cite one problem I had with the novel (which isn’t really much of a problem), it would be with how prepared and well-planning Miranda’s mother was. She knew to cash out her bank account, to stock up on food, on firewood, on candles and batteries, and make sure her woodburning stove was working. They were utterly prepared for the upcoming months, and Miranda never had to make any of these sorts of survival decisions (at least, not initially). Plus, the events in this rural setting are largely untouched by any of the problems of death, flooding, etc one would face in a metropolitan area. What would happen had Miranda’s mother not been so clear-headed? Had they not been able to stock up on food and wood before winter settled in?

Of course, now that I have read the dead and the gone, these questions have been answered. (Review to follow this week!)

Life As We Knew It is a powerful examination of the human spirit, even in the grimmest, bleakest hour. There’s no Happy Ever After here, but there is hope, a dash of color at the end of a cold, ashy gray winter. I cannot express how much I loved this book. Easily one of the best–if not THE best–books I have read this year.

Notable Quotes/Parts: Here’s a section that had me near tears:

“Miranda, I want you to know how proud of you I am.”

“Proud of me?” I asked. “Why?”

“For a million reasons,” Dad said. “For being smart and funny and beautiful. For finding swimming when skating didn’t work out. For all the things you’re doing to make your mother’s life easier. For not complaining when you have so much to complain about. For being a daughter any father would be proud of. I knew asking you to be the baby’s godmother was the right thing, and the past few days I’ve realized just how right it is. I’m so glad I’m your father. I love you so much.”

Additional Thoughts: I am a sucker for apocalyptic tales of any variety. Life As We Knew It reminds me a lot of Lucifer’s Hammer by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle (in which a comet hits the earth, causing a string of cataclysmic natural events similar to those in LAWKI–I haven’t read Lucifer’s Hammer in ages, and have just been inspired for a re-read!).

Other favorites I would recommend to people who want more of the literary end of the world would include Stephen King’s The Stand, Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, Max Brook’s World War Z, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend, and of course, Cormac McCarthy’s The Road. Any other favorites you have or would like to recommend?

As I mentioned in the review, I’ve kind of cheated since I have also just finished reading the companion book to LAWKI, the dead and the gone–which I also *highly* recommend (I loved it, in a way different and more complex than the first novel).

Verdict: I haven’t been this moved by a book in a long, long time. This is a new classic, and one that I encourage everyone to read. I cannot wait for This World We Live In later next year.

Rating: 10 Perfection, a classic in its own right

Reading Next: the dead and the gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer