This World We Live In

Title: This World We Live In
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Level: Young Adult
Location: YA Pfeffer, S.

*Sometimes called The Last Survivors Trilogy, this title follows the events of the companion novels Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone. If you have not read these novels, please stop reading as there are spoilers in this review.

It's been a year since a meteor hit the moon causing the Earth and it's inhabitants to struggle to survive a global catastrophe, massive starvation, floods, tornadoes, climate change, and disasters unimaginable. In this novel, Miranda and her family from Life As We Knew It continue to live as best they can, rationing supplies, scavenging abandoned houses for the things we all take for granted. In a twist of fate, Alex Morales and his sister Julie from The Dead and the Gone become a part of Miranda's life.


This World We Live In Susan Beth Pfeffer Book Trailer - Funny bloopers are a click away

The Bottom Line: While we got to know the characters very well in the first two novels, this addition completes what I feel is an authentic and moving series of books with characters that are unforgettable.

Skinned

Title: Skinned
Author: Robin Wasserman
Reading Level: Young Adult
Location: YA Wasserman

Lia Kahn was perfect: rich, beautiful, popular — until the accident that nearly killed her. Now she has been downloaded into a new body that only looks human. Lia will never feel pain again, she will never age, and she can't ever truly die. But she is also rejected by her friends, betrayed by her boyfriend, and alienated from her old life.
Forced to the fringes of society, Lia joins others like her. But they are looked at as freaks. They are hated...and feared. They are everything but human, and according to most people, this is the ultimate crime — for which they must pay the ultimate price.
This is a book about learning what's important on the inside, not on the outside. Lia has a reality-check when she becomes the epitome of what she and her friends despised- a "skinner" - a mechanical copy of her previous life. Her family, friends, and even her boyfriend have a hard time excepting Lia's new form and Lia herself is having a hard time moving on from being rejected from her previous life. She has to decide what she wants and how she feels - and if she even can feel.

Bottomline: I enjoyed this book. If you like the dystopian stories (Hunger Games, City of Ember, Uglies) then this the book for you. This is a start of the Gripping Trilogy and it should be exciting - I'm intrigued!

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Title: The Forest of Hands and Teeth

Author: Carrie Ryan

Reading Level: YA
Location: YA Ryan

Mary lives in a colonial-esque village surrounded by fencing that separates the village from the forest. The forest is off limits as the "unconsecrated" or zombies, roam freely and often try to breach the fence to attack the living. Generations have lived a simple life of survival, always dependant on the "sisterhood," a religious order that runs the community in all ways, taking away the need for commerce or free-will. The goal of the villagers is to survive and that is all they know. Mary questions this existence and soon events in the village cause her to seek out answers.

Bottom Line: I love a good post-apocalyptic novel and this one had me hooked for awhile, but then hoping for it to be over ASAP. I thought the characters weren't really developed until close to the end of the novel and this kept me confused trying to figure out why the protagonist was thinking and doing different things. I like the imagery, the discovery, and self-discovery, but then when the end finally came, I was thinking, huh?