Friday, June 18, 2010

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

3 stars -- I liked it, but not as much as the first two books

Book three of The Last Survivors books picks up after book one (Life as We Knew It) and book two (The Dead and the Gone) leave off and combines them. This World We Live In returns to Miranda's house as the long winter ends.

I swear that the cover says, "For those who wonder what happened next," though a quick glance at the Amazon Look Inside option doesn't show it... I may have imagined it. I do things like that. But this book really is for those who wonder what happened next for both Miranda and Alex. They had both been left in extremely emaciated states, both seemed to be on the brink of death, and while the endings of the previous books were hopeful, things were so far gone that readers couldn't be sure what the characters' futures would be.

This World We Live In continues Miranda and Alex's stories. It's an interesting read, and without giving any more away than is already on the cover, readers can imagine what feelings spark up between Miranda and Alex, seeing as the world has so many less ways for young people to meet and interact.

Alec and Miranda's stories intertwine when Alex shows up at her house with her dad and his new family. They've formed become a family in their own rights when their travels led them all in the same direction for a while.

There are a lot of characters in this novel, which is different compared to the lack of characters in the previous two novels. It lent a completely different feel to the novel, despite going back to Miranda's journaling-style of writing.

The book gave more depth to the post-apocalyptic world that Ms. Pfeffer has created, but the ending seemed more hopeless than the other books. I almost feel like there's not much more she can do with this world, because things are just continually deteriorating and nothing ever improves. But it's a writer's perogative to turn things around on a dime if need be.

Overall, I really like the series. I like the post-apocalyptic descriptions and the amount of thought that had to go into everything that could and would go wrong with a seemingly innocuous event. But this third book is the least favorite of the three, and I'm not sure I would intentionally recommend it to anyone.

2 comments:

Kevin said...

'allo there, Ms. Lucretia.

Though I fear this is being creepy -- and generally, having the fear is enough to confirm that you are in fact being creepy -- I suddenly thought of you today and wanted to find out how you've been doing. Considering it's been roughly... oh, a decade since I've seen you, I know it's quite random, but that's just how my brain works sometimes.

Either way, you should let me know if you'd be up for catching up at some point. And if not (again, trying to not be creepy here), I won't bother you!

As far as the book goes, I haven't read it, but people with three names generally strike me as greedy. I mean, leave some for the rest of us, amirite?

Oh, and if you're still wondering who this is, the last time you saw me, I believe we, and a group of your friends, were followed back to your dorm by a random car after some dinner/dance thing. Good times!

Tashva said...

Most people, when getting in touch and trying to limit their creepiness, have a working profile with contact information... It's possible that I'm severely blogger-inept (and since I'm only motivated to do bloggy things at work, and even that not very often, it's not beyond the realm of possibility) and perhaps you have everything hanging out there somewhere, but when I click for your profile, I merely see your name... giganto-sized... and no other options.

Feel like leaving contact that I can refuse to post?