The Last Days

More of a companion novel than a sequel to Peeps, The Last Days tells the story of new characters: Moz, Zahler, Pearl, Alana Ray, and Minerva, as they form a band in apocalyptic New York. The vampires from Peeps continue to occur, under the guise of them going mad, the sewers are gushing black water, and the earth is shaking. Randomly, it reminds me of the Duck Tales episode when they're in the Bermuda Triangle. Overall, I had similar feelings for The Last Days as I did towards Peeps, but with the additional sex and language in this it's much more of an older YA novel than, say, a middle school YA novel. So, don't expect too much, but no need to hate. 

Peace out!

Peeps

As I started my journey into the world of Peeps, I thought I was seeing how Westerfeld has matured as an author, how Peeps can easily lead into Uglies, but then I saw that all of his novels are published in (or near) 2005. Crazy. He must have had them all stocked up before he got a publisher. But back to the story: Peeps is an apocalyptic novel centered on parasites which cause people to become Westerfeld's version of vampires. Our hero is Cal, who is trying to save the world. 


Being a lesser book of Westerfelds, it was a neat read, though, because Westerfeld likens vampirism unto parasitical infestation in a very plausible and understandable manner. One caveat: this novel is geared towards middle and jr high schoolers, but there's lots of "horny talk." So read it before you hand it to your child and decide for yourself if it's appropriate for your kiddo. It's written for them & a decent read. 


Now enjoy this quote from Westerfeld on Peeps: 

"Maybe there are too many vampire novels, I thought. But that was part of the challenge, to see if I could do something that felt new and interesting, while still being full of bitey goodness. (Unsurprising confession: I am a Buffy fan.) So the book had to be original, but also icky, scary, funny, tragic, and (ahem) not sucky.

Besides getting a new take on the sunlight-impaired, my other big concern was that my vampires should actually make some sense as far as science goes. So I started doing some vampire research, reading a bunch of books about rats, parasites, bites and stings, and biology.

After consuming all there was to know on these subjects, I came up with the four important features that any vampire novel (of mine) had to include:

natural selection,
sexual attraction,
parasitic infection,
and Elvis memorabilia."

Read on, my friends! 

The Year of the Flood

 "So, if you were making the world, you'd make it better?" I said. Better than God, was 

what I meant.  All of a sudden I was feeling pious, like Bernice.  Like a Gardener.  

"Yes," he said. "As a matter of fact, I would."

The Year of the Flood is slated as a sequel to Oryx and Crake; it's really more of a companion novel in my mind. It follows the forward-backward/past&present structure, as well as time frame, of Oryx and Crake with different characters. The Year of the Flood wraps up the cliffhanger of Oryx and Crake, which was very good. It's interesting, however, that when I read Oryx and Crake I wanted it to end one way, but with The Year of the Flood I wanted a different ending, luckily the one Margaret gave me!  

The characters of The Year of the Flood belong to a religious group, almost a cult, called "God's Gardeners." The story is told from multiple points of view of women from the gardeners. I found these characters much more relateable than Jimmy and Crake. Possibly because of their gender. Possibly because of the way it was written. Possibly because they are more relateable. However, the storyline was not as exciting as Oryx and Crake, (because I already knew what was coming?)  but I really like and recommend this novel!

Read on!

Prophet of Yonwood

The Third Book of Ember, The Prophet of Yonwood, is a prequel, well over 100 years prior to The City of Ember and in the town of Yonwood. A young girl, Nickie, is visiting Yonwood with her Aunt to clean up and sell her great-grandfather's home. Yonwood is the home of a prophet who has seen terrible visions of the future -- war -- and is now in a comatose state. The town is all aflutter trying to follow the visions, trying to follow God, as the verge on fanaticism. They are accusing sinners left and right, and adding new "commandments from God" every time the comatose prophet mumbles something. 

This book was okay. It just wasn't what I was really expecting. It was nothing like the other two books, even for a prequel. And to be honest, I found it pretty irrelevant. It covers the space of a few weeks and then in the last chapter it gives a mini epilogue of sorts for the characters. And then, in one sentence, it is linked to Ember. Maybe in reading the fourth book everything will tie together. I'll let you know!