The Shade of the Moon by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Series: The Last Survivors/Life As We Knew It series (bk. 4)

Genera: Dystopian Sci-fi

Subjects: survival, natural disasters, post-apocalyptic, social classes, family, societies, Tennessee

Age/Grade Level: Teen

Length: 288 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

List Price: $17.99

Publisher: HMH: Harcourt

Summary/ product description: “The eagerly awaited addition to the series begun with the New York Times best-seller Life As We Knew It, in which a meteor knocks the moon off its orbit and the world changes forever.

It's been more than two years since Jon Evans and his family left Pennsylvania, hoping to find a safe place to live, yet Jon remains haunted by the deaths of those he loved. His prowess on a soccer field has guaranteed him a home in a well-protected enclave. But Jon is painfully aware that a missed goal, a careless word, even falling in love, can put his life and the lives of his mother, his sister Miranda, and her husband, Alex, in jeopardy. Can Jon risk doing what is right in a world gone so terribly wrong?”

My Review: This book takes place about 3 years after the events of This World We Live In, and 4 after Life As We Knew It and The Dead And The Gone. It’s told from the 3^rd person perspective of Jon, Miranda’s younger brother. There are a lot of events we missed out on in-between the 3^rd book and this book. I think I would of preferred the 4^th book to be set right after the 3^rd book, and maybe this could have been book 5. I’m a bit disappointed.

This book is very different from the other three because the characters are all in Sexton, Tennessee living in or near an enclave. Clavers and Grubs. Jon’s a Claver because he has Julie pass (Alex’s sister, she died in book 3). Grubs are laborers. Clavers are kind of jerks to the grub. It seems kind of extreme that grub would be treated so poorly after only less that four years since the enclaves were set up. Can society really change so fast? I guess in order to survive they do what they have to, but why treat White Pines like it’s the wrong side of the tracks? It just seems to soon for these social classes to develop. Or maybe it’s just a Tennessee town folk thing.

I don’t like that this book is from John perspective. Living in Sexton has spoiled him and turned him to a bit of a jerk. He goes to the high school, and plays soccer. He doesn’t work hard or fight for survival like he did in Life As We Knew It. I miss Miranda’s perspective/diary. In this book she’s apparently married to Alex and pregnant. I know that didn’t happen in book 3, and I still hate that this is years later.

Despite all of that, this book wasn’t boring. The writing is good and descriptive. It all flows well. The world building is okay. It’s not as thrilling or scary as the 1^st two books were. There aren’t any more natural disasters. The sun is still blocked out by ash, but thing have settled down. There’s a lot more focus on how society is surviving and getting along. There’s still sickness, and it’s kind of like they reverted back to the 1800s. But, they do have air purification systems in Claver homes, and they build greenhouses and have food. The world is far from perfect, but people are living.

There was a little bit of romance between Jon and a girl named Sarah, but not much. The book didn’t become truly exciting or thrilling until part three of the book. That’s when Jon leaves Sexton, but that’s all I’ll tell you. I really made up for the slowness of the first half. So, Life As We Knew It fans, hang in there!

I recommend this book and series if you liked Ashfall by Mike Mullin. Yellowstone did blow up because of the moon in this book series, so there were a lot of similar events. Also, if you liked The Eleventh Plague by Jeff Hirsch, or any other dystopian book, really. I loved Life As We Knew It, so start with that book. I read it before I ever heard of the dystopian genera (I just called it post apocalyptic), back when it first came out. It’s a good book with great characters. The 2^nd book has a different set of character, and the 3^rd book merges both sets of characters. This book took those characters further into the future, and continued their story. There’s no doubt in my mind that there will be a 5^th book.

Cover Art Review: I love the colors on this cover. There’s a moon on it like all the other books, and it’s embossed. The photo of the town looks kind of like an old black and white photograph. The resolution on it doesn’t look so great. But the cover overall is great.

Monument 14 by Emmy Layborne

Release Date: July 3rd

Publisher: Macmillan

Series: Monument 14 (bk. 1)

Genera: Dystopian sci-fi/post-apocalyptic

Subjects: Natural disasters, survival, 

Length: 294 pgs.

HC/PB: Hardcover

Summary/ product description: “Your mother hollers that you’re going to miss the bus. She can see it coming down the street. You don’t stop and hug her and tell her you love her. You don’t thank her for being a good, kind, patient mother. Of course not—you hurdle down the stairs and make a run for the corner.

Only, if it’s the last time you’ll ever see your mother, you sort of start to wish you’d stopped and did those things. Maybe even missed the bus.

But the bus was barreling down our street, so I ran.

Fourteen kids. One superstore. A million things that go wrong.

In Emmy Laybourne’s action-packed debut novel, six high school kids (some popular, some not), two eighth graders (one a tech genius), and six little kids trapped together in a chain superstore build a refuge for themselves inside. While outside, a series of escalating disasters, beginning with a monster hailstorm and ending with a chemical weapons spill, seems to be tearing the world—as they know it—apart.”

My Rating: êêêêê

My Review: This book reminded me of the Gone series by Michael Grant, but with less kids and less sci-fi elements. These 14 kids are trapped in a department store because there are chemicals in the air that could affect them. Apparently NORAD was cooking up something nasty, and the earthquake caused it to blow up and be released into the air in Colorado. (My dad also worked at the NORAD Cheyenne Mountain base, like one of the character’s dad’s. Hope they don’t actually have these chemicals). It causes different blood types to have different things happen to them. Type-O’s, the most common, turn into raving lunatics who want to kill (like zombies almost). It’s a pretty unique take on what we usually see as a zombie/virus cliché. It’s pretty scary.

I actually thought some of this book was cute and hilarious. Some of the things the kids say-WOW!!! Especially Max. Dean’s inner dialogue is pretty funny (main characters) but Max, the eight-years old, he’s had one heck of a life. He tells all these amazing stories about going to a strip club with his uncle or things he’s seen and stuff his family does. It’s pretty ridiculous. And there’s another kid that thinks anything slightly wrong is a sin, and he keeps pointing it out too much.

Also, I love the setting. A department store would be a great place to be stuck in for a long time, especially if it has a ton of food and solar powered electricity. There’s just so much stuff and so much you can do and be prepared for. I think the author did a great job of taking advantage of the setting and everything in it. It’s way better than a desert Island like in Lord of the Flies (which was a boring book anyways).

I can’t wait to read the next book. Wonder what will happen. It ended with quite of a cliff hanger.

Cover Art Review: The roof doesn’t look much like a grocery store roof, but that cloud of smoke and the teens and kids do show the book’s content well. Red and turquoise are a nice color combo too. I’m wondering if the book will have some kind of texture or special paper/foil.

~Haley G