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The Young World
Welcome to New York, a city ruled by teens.
After a mysterious Sickness wipes out the rest of the population, the young survivors assemble into tightly run tribes. Jefferson, the reluctant leader of the Washington Square tribe, and Donna, the girl he's secretly in love with, have carved out a precarious existence among the chaos.
But when a fellow tribe member discovers a clue that may hold the cure for the Sickness, five teens set out on a life-altering road trip, exchanging gunfire with enemy gangs, escaping cults and militias, braving the wilds of the subway - all in order to save humankind.
After a mysterious Sickness wipes out the rest of the population, the young survivors assemble into tightly run tribes. Jefferson, the reluctant leader of the Washington Square tribe, and Donna, the girl he's secretly in love with, have carved out a precarious existence among the chaos.
But when a fellow tribe member discovers a clue that may hold the cure for the Sickness, five teens set out on a life-altering road trip, exchanging gunfire with enemy gangs, escaping cults and militias, braving the wilds of the subway - all in order to save humankind.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published July 29, 2014
About the author
Chris Weitz
8 books107 followersChris Weitz is an Oscar-nominated writer and director. His films include The Twilight Saga: New Moon, A Better Life, About a Boy, The Golden Compass, and American Pie.
The Young World
is his first novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 826 reviews
August 15, 2014
DNF at 60%
You people with that library of unused, witty snarky gifs will have a field day with this one.
You know whose writing style Chris Weitz reminds me of? Victoria Scott. And know that despite not being able to finish this, I mean no disrespect to either authors in drawing that comparison. I only mean to attempt an intelligent guess on which reader group this book may appeal to. Which is a good thing, because I believe there is an audience for this book. I may have even once belonged in that gallery, which may be the reason why I stuck around longer than I really intended because I kept waiting for my mood to change.
Maybe if I added a spoonful AND A HALF of sugar in my tea this morning, or if I took the long way to work instead of my shortcut, or if I DIDN’T wear my favourite boots today, maybe I’d look at this a different way and actually laugh when it means for me to laugh.
But it’s been a week, man. And I’ve only grown steadily grumpier and grumpier. I mean, that effort must have counted for something, right?
This was told in alternating POVs between the protagonists Jefferson and Donna who live in post-apocalyptic New York where the very young children and adults of the world have been wiped out by a mysterious disease. Jefferson is a nerd secretly in love with Donna who introduces herself as:
The fact that this is the first issue you need to clarify to your unsuspecting, temperamental audience? Well fuck you very much Donna, because I really wanted to know that more than, oh I don’t know, actually setting the mystery as to why kids are dying when they turn eighteen for no apparent reason. Because it’s important to remind me that this heroine is all sorts of badass - liking Star Wars, being an anagram nerd and toting a gun, but most importantly, not caring about appearances BECAUSE SHE SAYS SHE’S NOT BEAUTIFUL. And believe me, it only went downhill from there once you get to know her better.
And like any other post-apocalyptic story, the group’s resident science nerd discovers he might finally find the reason and hence, cure for this mysterious disease but they need to trudge through the dangerous territories of the jungle New York City has come to be. So all these quirkified characters get to join the Fellowship: Donna’s gay, black bestie, the diminutive Martial Arts expert who is, of course, Asian, Donna and Jefferson. They meet these different tribes of teens who adapted in various ways in the desolate future.
My other biggest issue with this book was that it always felt like it’s tripping on itself, trying it’s damned hardest to be funny and cool and swaggery with its vernacular that only ended up annoying me with its unrelenting quirk, always ending with a sleazy wink and a nudge at the end. Bogus of the bogosities? NILF? The African-American, Christian, gay best friend? Though to be fair, Peter was pretty awesome and would have been enough of a reason for me to finish this book, only because he gives out the best possible plot bunnies.
I will look forward to a novelisation of that high school drama.
I was pretty hopeful I was going to finish this. I mean, so far Donna’s been steadily annoying and Jefferson has been quite the silly attempt at the philosophical geek everyman pining for the unresponsive Donna (who had a thing going with Jefferson’s brother Washington before he died). She pretty much ignored Jeff’s profession of love the entire novel… then somebody broke out some Gotye, Rebecca Black and Bieber, prompting Donna to have a change of heart.
Any person with the strength fortitude to read further than that - after the Edward worship, the anyhooters and the slut-shaming has earned my respect and ten fake internet points from me. May the odds be better in your favour, dude.
I suppose there’s some campiness at play, some alien humour that went completely over my head. I wasn’t looking for something to satiate my Goldfinch hangover but I certainly didn’t want to tempt an aneurysm in the after with this one.
Review Copy courtesy of the publishers.
Also on Booklikes.
I have seen the future, and it is bacon.
You people with that library of unused, witty snarky gifs will have a field day with this one.
You know whose writing style Chris Weitz reminds me of? Victoria Scott. And know that despite not being able to finish this, I mean no disrespect to either authors in drawing that comparison. I only mean to attempt an intelligent guess on which reader group this book may appeal to. Which is a good thing, because I believe there is an audience for this book. I may have even once belonged in that gallery, which may be the reason why I stuck around longer than I really intended because I kept waiting for my mood to change.
Maybe if I added a spoonful AND A HALF of sugar in my tea this morning, or if I took the long way to work instead of my shortcut, or if I DIDN’T wear my favourite boots today, maybe I’d look at this a different way and actually laugh when it means for me to laugh.
But it’s been a week, man. And I’ve only grown steadily grumpier and grumpier. I mean, that effort must have counted for something, right?
This was told in alternating POVs between the protagonists Jefferson and Donna who live in post-apocalyptic New York where the very young children and adults of the world have been wiped out by a mysterious disease. Jefferson is a nerd secretly in love with Donna who introduces herself as:
A lot of books you read, the author thinks it’s cool have an “unreliable narrator.” To keep you guessing and to acknowledge that there are no absolutes, and everything is relative, or whatever. Which I think is kind of lame. So-just so you know- I am going to be a reliable narrator. Like, totally. You can trust me.
First thing about me, I’m not beautiful.
The fact that this is the first issue you need to clarify to your unsuspecting, temperamental audience? Well fuck you very much Donna, because I really wanted to know that more than, oh I don’t know, actually setting the mystery as to why kids are dying when they turn eighteen for no apparent reason. Because it’s important to remind me that this heroine is all sorts of badass - liking Star Wars, being an anagram nerd and toting a gun, but most importantly, not caring about appearances BECAUSE SHE SAYS SHE’S NOT BEAUTIFUL. And believe me, it only went downhill from there once you get to know her better.
And like any other post-apocalyptic story, the group’s resident science nerd discovers he might finally find the reason and hence, cure for this mysterious disease but they need to trudge through the dangerous territories of the jungle New York City has come to be. So all these quirkified characters get to join the Fellowship: Donna’s gay, black bestie, the diminutive Martial Arts expert who is, of course, Asian, Donna and Jefferson. They meet these different tribes of teens who adapted in various ways in the desolate future.
My other biggest issue with this book was that it always felt like it’s tripping on itself, trying it’s damned hardest to be funny and cool and swaggery with its vernacular that only ended up annoying me with its unrelenting quirk, always ending with a sleazy wink and a nudge at the end. Bogus of the bogosities? NILF? The African-American, Christian, gay best friend? Though to be fair, Peter was pretty awesome and would have been enough of a reason for me to finish this book, only because he gives out the best possible plot bunnies.
It was a high school for gay and lesbian and transgender kids, the ones who got nothing but shit at “normal” schools.
Peter: “Dear old Alma Mother.”
Me: What was it like?”
I will look forward to a novelisation of that high school drama.
I was pretty hopeful I was going to finish this. I mean, so far Donna’s been steadily annoying and Jefferson has been quite the silly attempt at the philosophical geek everyman pining for the unresponsive Donna (who had a thing going with Jefferson’s brother Washington before he died). She pretty much ignored Jeff’s profession of love the entire novel… then somebody broke out some Gotye, Rebecca Black and Bieber, prompting Donna to have a change of heart.
And everything is almost perfect, but I WISH, I find myself wishing Jefferson was here too. I want to see him smile. And then, boom, it;s like a dam breaks in my heart, and I am just drowning in feelings for him, and I think, What am I, insane?
Any person with the strength fortitude to read further than that - after the Edward worship, the anyhooters and the slut-shaming has earned my respect and ten fake internet points from me. May the odds be better in your favour, dude.
I suppose there’s some campiness at play, some alien humour that went completely over my head. I wasn’t looking for something to satiate my Goldfinch hangover but I certainly didn’t want to tempt an aneurysm in the after with this one.
Review Copy courtesy of the publishers.
Also on Booklikes.
February 3, 2015
See more reviews at YA Midnight Reads
The Young World had a lot to promise. I was immediately fascinated by the idea of teens ruling the world with no adults or little kids around to get in their way. I mean, that would make me one step closer to world domination. And that would make the world a glorious place, amirite?
For me, The Young World seemed to be a character orientated read. How much you enjoy this book will most likely rely on whether or not you can connect with the plethora of characters. In particular, Donna and Jefferson. They're the two main characters in this novel, and that becomes apparent immediately because this book is told alternating in their points of views. I strongly believe that these characters need some serious recalibrating. Take Jefferson for instance.
Ummm...what now? Most girls don't like to get slapped in the butt, period. It's called respect and I don't give two shits whether it was meant to be sexual or not. Talk about bad first impressions. And that impression stayed for the rest of the book. So we're told that Jeff is in love with Donna in the synopsis of the book; he has known Donna since kindergarten and he is basically pining for her for majority of the book. And when he does tell her, I actually had to reread that passage twice because I couldn't believe my eyes for the first time. (This is in Donna's POV, by the way.)
TRY TO LOVE YOU?! If she doesn't love you, she doesn't. She doesn't have to love you just because you love her, ugh. Honestly, Jefferson's personality had me disgusted several times. I like his ambition to save the world (even though it's rash), but his people skills need a lot of work.
Furthermore, I felt somewhat uncomfortable reading from Donna's perspective.
She is talking to us like she's aware of us - it was unsettling for me, and weirded me out. Some of you wouldn't mind this, heck--even enjoy it--but I couldn't get over that. Also, this chick over uses the word 'like' and even said LOL in dialogue. *cringe*
I will say that I liked how distinct their voices were; Jefferson obviously sound more mature and level-headed whereas Donna sounded awfully young and whiny. As for the supporting characters, they were also very distinct, but to the point where I felt that each one of represented a stereotype (like the smarty-pants, the clown, etc.).
I definitely liked the fast pace that this book did have. Many apocalyptic novels tend to be way to slow for my liking, and this book just goes to show that fast paced apocalyptic books do exist! I wasn't bored in terms of the plot, which was a relief because it would have been very likely for me to DNF this if it weren't for the well set pace. However, I felt that the ending was rushed. It was as if the author realised that it was time to wrap up the novel, and suddenly he tried to move everything into place without really bothering it to feel right.
The Young World was not what I hoped it to be. There were certainly one or two ups here, but the downs outweighed them by far. I don't see myself continuing with this series, to be frank.
The Young World had a lot to promise. I was immediately fascinated by the idea of teens ruling the world with no adults or little kids around to get in their way. I mean, that would make me one step closer to world domination. And that would make the world a glorious place, amirite?
For me, The Young World seemed to be a character orientated read. How much you enjoy this book will most likely rely on whether or not you can connect with the plethora of characters. In particular, Donna and Jefferson. They're the two main characters in this novel, and that becomes apparent immediately because this book is told alternating in their points of views. I strongly believe that these characters need some serious recalibrating. Take Jefferson for instance.
“Hey!” one of the gunners responds when I pat her on the behind. It’s that girl Carolyn, the blond who used to be kind of a fashionista before What Happened. Whoops. Even after the apocalypse, girls don’t like to get slapped on the butt.
“Sorry,” I say. “Totally nonsexual.” I try to say it in a cool, devil-may-care kind of way.
Ummm...what now? Most girls don't like to get slapped in the butt, period. It's called respect and I don't give two shits whether it was meant to be sexual or not. Talk about bad first impressions. And that impression stayed for the rest of the book. So we're told that Jeff is in love with Donna in the synopsis of the book; he has known Donna since kindergarten and he is basically pining for her for majority of the book. And when he does tell her, I actually had to reread that passage twice because I couldn't believe my eyes for the first time. (This is in Donna's POV, by the way.)
Jefferson: "Don't. I don't want to hear it. I'll always be your friend, but I want more."
Me: "I know. Maybe I'm crazy."
Jefferson: "Just-just try, will you? Try to love me if you can."
TRY TO LOVE YOU?! If she doesn't love you, she doesn't. She doesn't have to love you just because you love her, ugh. Honestly, Jefferson's personality had me disgusted several times. I like his ambition to save the world (even though it's rash), but his people skills need a lot of work.
Furthermore, I felt somewhat uncomfortable reading from Donna's perspective.
A lot of books you read, the author thinks it’s cool have an “unreliable narrator.” To keep you guessing and to acknowledge that there are no absolutes, and everything is relative, or whatever. Which I think is kind of lame. So-just so you know- I am going to be a reliable narrator. Like, totally. You can trust me.
First thing about me, I’m not beautiful.
She is talking to us like she's aware of us - it was unsettling for me, and weirded me out. Some of you wouldn't mind this, heck--even enjoy it--but I couldn't get over that. Also, this chick over uses the word 'like' and even said LOL in dialogue. *cringe*
I will say that I liked how distinct their voices were; Jefferson obviously sound more mature and level-headed whereas Donna sounded awfully young and whiny. As for the supporting characters, they were also very distinct, but to the point where I felt that each one of represented a stereotype (like the smarty-pants, the clown, etc.).
I definitely liked the fast pace that this book did have. Many apocalyptic novels tend to be way to slow for my liking, and this book just goes to show that fast paced apocalyptic books do exist! I wasn't bored in terms of the plot, which was a relief because it would have been very likely for me to DNF this if it weren't for the well set pace. However, I felt that the ending was rushed. It was as if the author realised that it was time to wrap up the novel, and suddenly he tried to move everything into place without really bothering it to feel right.
The Young World was not what I hoped it to be. There were certainly one or two ups here, but the downs outweighed them by far. I don't see myself continuing with this series, to be frank.
~Thank you Hachette Australia for sending me this copy!~
August 4, 2016
WARNING. THIS REVIEW CONTAINS UNTAGGED SPOILERS !!
Alright. Oh boy. This book was a DOWNRIGHT MESS. I mean, not only was it a mess, it was also incredibly offensive and poorly written and I just can't believe this is actually a published book
I'm gonna just break this down and yeaH.
CHARACTERS:
Literally every supporting character is a stereotype.
First we have Peter, who's African American and GAY. I put gay in capital letters because it's the main thing you actually know about him. All he talks about is being gay, his defining characteristic is that he's gay. He also affirms a dozen gay stereotypes - he always all honey and bitch and basically serves to give the main girl (Donna) his best friend relationship advice which is all (I'd tap that so you should too) yech.
Then we have SeeThrough She's Asian, so get this, her name is actually a play on words of Sifu. She's also a martial arts expert !! and really smart !! Obviously, I mean, she's Asian so she has to be !! Also, she gets killed off for no reasons, just for a bit of male angst so the boys can feel all guilty and dishonourable about bringing a girl along. There's nothing quite like using female characters as plot devices!!
Then we move into main characters. The main protagonist is a boy called Jefferson (yes, that's his actual name not an adopted Post-Apocalyptic name. His parents actually called him Jefferson, and his brother WASHINGTON) Jefferson was an okay (I say this tentatively) lead. MOST of the time he was pretty straight forward with the facts which was good because honestly I only cared about the plot but man he still managed to piss me the heck off. Jefferson absolutely reeks of male entitlement. Like he just walks about and is all ooh, I'm a nice boy. Why don't girls go for me, it's because girls don't like nice boys. Like not this kid! I know this boy and 99% of the time they are, in fact, not nice! GOD. So in his opening lines we have
"Hey! One of the gunners responds when I pat her on the behind. It's that girl, Carolyn, the blonde who used to be kind of a fashionista before What Happened. Whoops. Even after the apocalypse girls still don't like to get slapped on the butt.
GOD, JEFFERSON. Is it because getting slapped on the butt is jusT NOT ON man that's my body y'all can't just go touching it whenever personal space my friend, personal space. GEEZ.
So next we have a nice little moment where Jefferson declares his undying love for Donna, expecting her to reciprocate or at least just be like thanks, but no thanks but instead she's like ????? because he chooses a moment WHEN THEIR LIVES ARE IN DANGER and she's taken aback so he shoots back with a
All she had to say was I love you too. But instead she's starting fights. "Just try, try to love me?"
kid, no girl gotta try to do anything just bc you're feeling under loved yikes ! I honestly can't with this bit the way he's so SHOCKED she's not responding as he plans is a joke.
DONNA
Man, Donna is such a mess she gets her own damn section. This is when we get into the real nitty gritty of the mess of this book. Donna is the alternate viewpoint in this book, and the female voice. But oh my god, she's no problematic!? Honestly, you can just TELL she's been written by a guy because NO GIRLS ACT LIKE THIS. (at least, ones I know anyway)
We start off her narration with
"The first thing you need to know about me, I'm not beautiful"
God! I don't care, Donna! But mostly why this annoys me is that it serves a wider purpose in this book, where all pretty girls are stupid, "sluts", unable to look after themselves and bitchy. Ironic, since Donna has to be one of the most awful, disgusting characters I've ever read. It's basically just serving the purpose to undermine the agency of any girl who might appear beautiful and it's gross. Men, especially, seem to use appearance to characterise females and honestly the way it was done in this book was shocking.
Donna was this girl that spent her life pitting herself against other girls. Every girl she met was a bitch -- SeeThrough was skinny so Donna makes some comment about how terrible it is girls still think it's cool to watch their weight (??? it's the apocalypse Donna maybe she's just not eating enough like damn)
Kath is immediately dubbed a "hoe bag", bitch and slut by Donna. In fact, Donna is absolutely awful to her, just because 1: Kath kissed Jefferson and 2: because she's a female?? I think ??
Donna is that "I'm not like other girls!!" girl, in which her value comes from the fact she's not like other girls, thus degrading every single "other girl". Sigh. My least favourite thing. (Lmao not to mention sexist. Girls don't need to disassociate themselves from their gender to be valuable)
I think this is more of an author fault, but Donna's primary purpose is to talk about boys. Every conversation she has is about her feelings about boys. Every thought she has is about males. I don't think this book passes the Bechdel test even though there are female who communicate with just eachother (3, exactly) times. Each time, all they talk about is boys. There's even a scene where they have a "yes, I guess you've won the fight for the boy" talk. Feckon hell, girls don't like boys jesus!! Girls talk about boys in like 1 in every 100 conversations, probably. ME AND MY GIRL FRIENDS TALK ABOUT GARLIC BREAD MORE THAN WE TALK ABOUT BOYS AND MY FRIENDS HAVE BOYFRIENDS. Like, turns out girls do not constantly fawn over males, despite what they might like to think.
The way Donna communicates with people is ridiculous. She speaks almost exclusively in Pop Culture references, uses the word like fifty times a page and says "anyhoo" and describe everything as "big ass". He pulled out his big ass sword, thats a big as lake. Blegh BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, she says things like STFU in dialogue. And not, stuff you, I mean actually says the letters S T F U to communicate stuff you. And it's supposed to be typical of teenagers like Donna is down with the kids™ but instead she kind of just makes me wanna cry because this is so inaccurate. (Now if she'd been saying surely and straight fire and thats so lit I could have believed it)
TREATMENT OF RAPE AND USE OF RAPE AS A PLOT DEVICE
This book contains, so much rape. Not the actual act of it, but it's a plot device. It's used to make characters dislike other characters. It's used as the reason why the big baddies are the big baddies. (those dudes rape girls, so they all need to die!)
The thing is, rape is treated like this trivial thing that has happened to some of the girls but it's fine. Like, it's just swept under the rug, no worries when it gets down to it. Rape mainly serves as a means to give the male characters an opportunity to be honourable and take the moral highground.
But when it comes down to it? These characters rescue a long-term (2years+) rape survivor and call her a hoe-bag a SLUT and a bitch. The fact she's a rape survivor is never dealt with, there are no repercussions on the mental and psychological health of the girl (who gets called her real name, Kath, about once and TITS MCGEE, the most degrading name I can think of for the rest of it)
The treatment of rape in this honestly shocked me. The fact that is was talked about so novelly was awful and it absolutely was the last straw for me. The rape didn't even serve to develop female characters but instead developed the male characters. It was women being subjected to the rape, but in the end that didn't matter - what mattered was how it effected the boys. I can't even discuss how much this has effected me and how disgusting it is that authors continue to use rape as a meaningless plot device when it's an experience that effects the victim for a life-time
But, as Donna would say, whatever.
POP CULTURE REFERENCES
Okay, at first I thought these were fun. The kids use a pop culture reference, or a hundred, in this book. At first it was cool, but it soon left me lost. Instead of describing a scene, it'd be like "This is just like Resident Evil" of "If you've seen this movie, you'd know what it looks like"
Sadly, I haven't seen that movie so I don't know what the heck is going on. Also, the teenagers were weird about Pop Culture. Like, there's one bit where they are worshipping a plate with Edward Cullen's face on. It's just weird, and in my opinion, lazy writing. A pop culture reference can be fun, but using them to replace the task of describing a scene is lazy. You're an author man!! That's what authors DO.
THE PLOT
I guess this is where positives start? The actual current of events was okay, and the only reason I kept going with it. But then it stuffed it up by having a shitty ending and revelations that didn't make sense so urgh.
Overall:
I'm just done. This was terrible. Do not recommend.
If you're looking for a teen-world post apocalyptic to replace the Michael Grant's, Gone, size hole in your heart -- move along because this is not that book.
Alright. Oh boy. This book was a DOWNRIGHT MESS. I mean, not only was it a mess, it was also incredibly offensive and poorly written and I just can't believe this is actually a published book
I'm gonna just break this down and yeaH.
CHARACTERS:
Literally every supporting character is a stereotype.
First we have Peter, who's African American and GAY. I put gay in capital letters because it's the main thing you actually know about him. All he talks about is being gay, his defining characteristic is that he's gay. He also affirms a dozen gay stereotypes - he always all honey and bitch and basically serves to give the main girl (Donna) his best friend relationship advice which is all (I'd tap that so you should too) yech.
Then we have SeeThrough She's Asian, so get this, her name is actually a play on words of Sifu. She's also a martial arts expert !! and really smart !! Obviously, I mean, she's Asian so she has to be !! Also, she gets killed off for no reasons, just for a bit of male angst so the boys can feel all guilty and dishonourable about bringing a girl along. There's nothing quite like using female characters as plot devices!!
Then we move into main characters. The main protagonist is a boy called Jefferson (yes, that's his actual name not an adopted Post-Apocalyptic name. His parents actually called him Jefferson, and his brother WASHINGTON) Jefferson was an okay (I say this tentatively) lead. MOST of the time he was pretty straight forward with the facts which was good because honestly I only cared about the plot but man he still managed to piss me the heck off. Jefferson absolutely reeks of male entitlement. Like he just walks about and is all ooh, I'm a nice boy. Why don't girls go for me, it's because girls don't like nice boys. Like not this kid! I know this boy and 99% of the time they are, in fact, not nice! GOD. So in his opening lines we have
"Hey! One of the gunners responds when I pat her on the behind. It's that girl, Carolyn, the blonde who used to be kind of a fashionista before What Happened. Whoops. Even after the apocalypse girls still don't like to get slapped on the butt.
GOD, JEFFERSON. Is it because getting slapped on the butt is jusT NOT ON man that's my body y'all can't just go touching it whenever personal space my friend, personal space. GEEZ.
So next we have a nice little moment where Jefferson declares his undying love for Donna, expecting her to reciprocate or at least just be like thanks, but no thanks but instead she's like ????? because he chooses a moment WHEN THEIR LIVES ARE IN DANGER and she's taken aback so he shoots back with a
All she had to say was I love you too. But instead she's starting fights. "Just try, try to love me?"
kid, no girl gotta try to do anything just bc you're feeling under loved yikes ! I honestly can't with this bit the way he's so SHOCKED she's not responding as he plans is a joke.
DONNA
Man, Donna is such a mess she gets her own damn section. This is when we get into the real nitty gritty of the mess of this book. Donna is the alternate viewpoint in this book, and the female voice. But oh my god, she's no problematic!? Honestly, you can just TELL she's been written by a guy because NO GIRLS ACT LIKE THIS. (at least, ones I know anyway)
We start off her narration with
"The first thing you need to know about me, I'm not beautiful"
God! I don't care, Donna! But mostly why this annoys me is that it serves a wider purpose in this book, where all pretty girls are stupid, "sluts", unable to look after themselves and bitchy. Ironic, since Donna has to be one of the most awful, disgusting characters I've ever read. It's basically just serving the purpose to undermine the agency of any girl who might appear beautiful and it's gross. Men, especially, seem to use appearance to characterise females and honestly the way it was done in this book was shocking.
Donna was this girl that spent her life pitting herself against other girls. Every girl she met was a bitch -- SeeThrough was skinny so Donna makes some comment about how terrible it is girls still think it's cool to watch their weight (??? it's the apocalypse Donna maybe she's just not eating enough like damn)
Kath is immediately dubbed a "hoe bag", bitch and slut by Donna. In fact, Donna is absolutely awful to her, just because 1: Kath kissed Jefferson and 2: because she's a female?? I think ??
Donna is that "I'm not like other girls!!" girl, in which her value comes from the fact she's not like other girls, thus degrading every single "other girl". Sigh. My least favourite thing. (Lmao not to mention sexist. Girls don't need to disassociate themselves from their gender to be valuable)
I think this is more of an author fault, but Donna's primary purpose is to talk about boys. Every conversation she has is about her feelings about boys. Every thought she has is about males. I don't think this book passes the Bechdel test even though there are female who communicate with just eachother (3, exactly) times. Each time, all they talk about is boys. There's even a scene where they have a "yes, I guess you've won the fight for the boy" talk. Feckon hell, girls don't like boys jesus!! Girls talk about boys in like 1 in every 100 conversations, probably. ME AND MY GIRL FRIENDS TALK ABOUT GARLIC BREAD MORE THAN WE TALK ABOUT BOYS AND MY FRIENDS HAVE BOYFRIENDS. Like, turns out girls do not constantly fawn over males, despite what they might like to think.
The way Donna communicates with people is ridiculous. She speaks almost exclusively in Pop Culture references, uses the word like fifty times a page and says "anyhoo" and describe everything as "big ass". He pulled out his big ass sword, thats a big as lake. Blegh BUT MOST IMPORTANTLY, she says things like STFU in dialogue. And not, stuff you, I mean actually says the letters S T F U to communicate stuff you. And it's supposed to be typical of teenagers like Donna is down with the kids™ but instead she kind of just makes me wanna cry because this is so inaccurate. (Now if she'd been saying surely and straight fire and thats so lit I could have believed it)
TREATMENT OF RAPE AND USE OF RAPE AS A PLOT DEVICE
This book contains, so much rape. Not the actual act of it, but it's a plot device. It's used to make characters dislike other characters. It's used as the reason why the big baddies are the big baddies. (those dudes rape girls, so they all need to die!)
The thing is, rape is treated like this trivial thing that has happened to some of the girls but it's fine. Like, it's just swept under the rug, no worries when it gets down to it. Rape mainly serves as a means to give the male characters an opportunity to be honourable and take the moral highground.
But when it comes down to it? These characters rescue a long-term (2years+) rape survivor and call her a hoe-bag a SLUT and a bitch. The fact she's a rape survivor is never dealt with, there are no repercussions on the mental and psychological health of the girl (who gets called her real name, Kath, about once and TITS MCGEE, the most degrading name I can think of for the rest of it)
The treatment of rape in this honestly shocked me. The fact that is was talked about so novelly was awful and it absolutely was the last straw for me. The rape didn't even serve to develop female characters but instead developed the male characters. It was women being subjected to the rape, but in the end that didn't matter - what mattered was how it effected the boys. I can't even discuss how much this has effected me and how disgusting it is that authors continue to use rape as a meaningless plot device when it's an experience that effects the victim for a life-time
But, as Donna would say, whatever.
POP CULTURE REFERENCES
Okay, at first I thought these were fun. The kids use a pop culture reference, or a hundred, in this book. At first it was cool, but it soon left me lost. Instead of describing a scene, it'd be like "This is just like Resident Evil" of "If you've seen this movie, you'd know what it looks like"
Sadly, I haven't seen that movie so I don't know what the heck is going on. Also, the teenagers were weird about Pop Culture. Like, there's one bit where they are worshipping a plate with Edward Cullen's face on. It's just weird, and in my opinion, lazy writing. A pop culture reference can be fun, but using them to replace the task of describing a scene is lazy. You're an author man!! That's what authors DO.
THE PLOT
I guess this is where positives start? The actual current of events was okay, and the only reason I kept going with it. But then it stuffed it up by having a shitty ending and revelations that didn't make sense so urgh.
Overall:
I'm just done. This was terrible. Do not recommend.
If you're looking for a teen-world post apocalyptic to replace the Michael Grant's, Gone, size hole in your heart -- move along because this is not that book.
Shelved as 'i-have-my-reasons'
January 13, 2014Come 2014, I think teens are going to realize how overdone and stale this plot is. Couldn't he have come up with something a tad bit more original?
Also, The Tribe called, they want their overdone plot back.
Also, The Tribe called, they want their overdone plot back.
Read
February 21, 2016This description sounds awfully familiar. I wonder why is that... Oh, I know! That's the description of The Tribe, a really cool 90's TV Show.
I'll tell you a little bit about the show...
There is a virus that wiped out all the adults. Not a single adult survived, only the childern and the teens are left in the world and no one knows what caused it. There is no electricity anymore, the food is scarce and the world is a dangerous place to live in. The tribes are forming, the battle over the dominance is constant, but they all have one common goal, to find the cure, because as they get older, they die too.
Really original, right? Mr. Chris Weitz, I think you should stick with the Movie Industry and leave writing to people who don't need to steal other people works to write books.
I'll tell you a little bit about the show...
There is a virus that wiped out all the adults. Not a single adult survived, only the childern and the teens are left in the world and no one knows what caused it. There is no electricity anymore, the food is scarce and the world is a dangerous place to live in. The tribes are forming, the battle over the dominance is constant, but they all have one common goal, to find the cure, because as they get older, they die too.
Really original, right? Mr. Chris Weitz, I think you should stick with the Movie Industry and leave writing to people who don't need to steal other people works to write books.
September 29, 2017
RECENZJA FILMOWA - https://youtu.be/QwcQniOTxyw
Płaczę ze śmiechu
płaczę ze smutku
płaczę jaka ta książka jest dobra.
+ BOHATEROWIE kocham ich
+ różnorodność wow
+ tyle zabawnych tekstów że umieram
+ serce połamane ale cóż
- autorze, piszesz książkę, a nie scenariusz.
July 16, 2014
The Young World was a slog to read through. In many ways, I've read this book before. Some disease kills off all of the adults (ages 18+) and the young children, leaving teenagers in the throes of puberty in charge. And they are the people with guns and unlimited amounts of ammo.
You really do need to suspend belief to enjoy this book. Think about it, a biological warfare type of disease that kills adults and children. I'm no immunologist but you would think that after a disease ran its course, the survivors would have built some sort of immunity to this disease. Nope. At age 18, they get sick and die. Of course this is explained because the disease attacks when a person reaches physical maturity and their hormones level out. OK. Still not buying it.
Did I mention just how much weaponry is lying around, readily available? Why is it that in every post-apocalyptic book there seems to be an endless supply of guns, swords, knives, and ammo? (I'm not American - I find it hard to believe that so much of that stuff is readily available. But it must be as I've been to a Walmart in the US).
The story is told in alternating first person points of view. You get to be inside of the two main characters' heads. There's Jefferson who is practical and logical and actually an interesting character. Jefferson is a natural leader, though reluctantly so. He just wants to survive. He's also a teenage boy, so he is oblivious to a few things. Then there's Donna, named after Madonna (the singer). Donna has an opinion about everything and her point of view is very busy and whiny and annoying. Now here's the strange part with this book. Each point of view had a different font and a very different writing style. Jefferson's point of view is written like a first hand account. Donna's point of view is written almost in a script-like style. I understand that the author is a director, so perhaps he was taking a shortcut on the book to movie adaption.
The main characters along with their companions travel through Manhattan from their home in Washington Square Park to the New York Public Library, Central Station, The subway tunnels, Central Park, Harlem, and finally to Plum Island. Each stop takes them to a different "tribe" culture, from cannibals, to post-apocalyptic entertainment, to weapons construction. WARNING: Some of this entertainment involves cruelty to animals - dogs. (I know that some of you out there hate that kind of stuff). There's also plenty of cruelty to people as well.
The ending was a little abrupt. It kind of made me go huh? Where did that come from?
In spite of my lower rating, I did enjoy some of the supporting characters. I loved Brainbox, the boy genius who was a MacGyver character with a scientific background. He was a little aloof, but what a brainiac. Peter, the African American gay character was a hoot. I kept hoping that he would meet someone soon. Tiny little SeeThrough was my hero and proved that good things do come in small packages.
The Young World was an OK read for me. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it, especially if you've already read this year's crop of post-apocalyptic young adult novels.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for a review copy of this book.
You really do need to suspend belief to enjoy this book. Think about it, a biological warfare type of disease that kills adults and children. I'm no immunologist but you would think that after a disease ran its course, the survivors would have built some sort of immunity to this disease. Nope. At age 18, they get sick and die. Of course this is explained because the disease attacks when a person reaches physical maturity and their hormones level out. OK. Still not buying it.
Did I mention just how much weaponry is lying around, readily available? Why is it that in every post-apocalyptic book there seems to be an endless supply of guns, swords, knives, and ammo? (I'm not American - I find it hard to believe that so much of that stuff is readily available. But it must be as I've been to a Walmart in the US).
The story is told in alternating first person points of view. You get to be inside of the two main characters' heads. There's Jefferson who is practical and logical and actually an interesting character. Jefferson is a natural leader, though reluctantly so. He just wants to survive. He's also a teenage boy, so he is oblivious to a few things. Then there's Donna, named after Madonna (the singer). Donna has an opinion about everything and her point of view is very busy and whiny and annoying. Now here's the strange part with this book. Each point of view had a different font and a very different writing style. Jefferson's point of view is written like a first hand account. Donna's point of view is written almost in a script-like style. I understand that the author is a director, so perhaps he was taking a shortcut on the book to movie adaption.
The main characters along with their companions travel through Manhattan from their home in Washington Square Park to the New York Public Library, Central Station, The subway tunnels, Central Park, Harlem, and finally to Plum Island. Each stop takes them to a different "tribe" culture, from cannibals, to post-apocalyptic entertainment, to weapons construction. WARNING: Some of this entertainment involves cruelty to animals - dogs. (I know that some of you out there hate that kind of stuff). There's also plenty of cruelty to people as well.
The ending was a little abrupt. It kind of made me go huh? Where did that come from?
In spite of my lower rating, I did enjoy some of the supporting characters. I loved Brainbox, the boy genius who was a MacGyver character with a scientific background. He was a little aloof, but what a brainiac. Peter, the African American gay character was a hoot. I kept hoping that he would meet someone soon. Tiny little SeeThrough was my hero and proved that good things do come in small packages.
The Young World was an OK read for me. I'm not sure that I'd recommend it, especially if you've already read this year's crop of post-apocalyptic young adult novels.
Thank you to NetGalley and Little Brown Books for Young Readers for a review copy of this book.
January 3, 2016
É uma história que começa com um ritmo alucinante, onde, através dos olhos de Donna e Jefferson acompanhamos a viagem de um grupo de adolescentes, em busca da cura para um doença que matou todas as crianças e adultos.
Quando reparei que o livro era narrado por duas personagens pensei que cada uma estivesse num determinado tempo, mas não, ambas as personagens se encontram no mesmo espaço temporal, e a sua narração é contínua, apenas muda o ponto de vista sobre o acontecimento.
Para explicar toda a situação pós-apocalíptica o autor usou uma forma bastante simples, mas que consegue passar ao leitor com clareza do que levou as personagens do "Antigamente" até ao "Pocky".
Desde início, quando me apercebi que o livro era narrado por um rapaz e por uma rapariga achei que provavelmente iria acontecer algo entre eles, e até achei enriquecedor para a narrativa haver algo mais para além de cenas de perseguição, mas quando ele tentou criar um triângulo amoroso inserindo uma terceira personagem, aí as coisas tornaram-se um pouco mais chatas. Foi totalmente forçado e era completamente desnecessário. Este foi um dos três motivos que me fizeram dar 4★ a este livro; o segundo, foi o facto de a ação ser bastante concentrada na primeira parte (desde o início até +/- a meio), e depois, na segunda parte, fica tudo demasiado lento e bastante repetitivo; e o terceiro foi devido à rapidez do final, que deveria ter muito mais impacto, uma vez que este é o primeiro livro da trilogia.
Confesso que me deixou com vontade de saber qual o rumo que a narrativa vai seguir no próximo livro, mas não foi o suficiente para eu ficar - "preciso de saber o que vai acontecer a seguir, AGORA!" - não foi um final que me fizesse comprar, já, o próximo livro.
Mesmo assim, não posso deixar de recomendar o livro, porque me prendeu muito, e principalmente, para quem gostar de distopias (que não é o caso deste livro), e histórias pós-apocalípticas, será certamente uma óptima leitura. Provavelmente quem já leu "The Maze Runner - Provas de Fogo" de James Dashner poderá encontrar algumas semelhanças.
Quando reparei que o livro era narrado por duas personagens pensei que cada uma estivesse num determinado tempo, mas não, ambas as personagens se encontram no mesmo espaço temporal, e a sua narração é contínua, apenas muda o ponto de vista sobre o acontecimento.
Para explicar toda a situação pós-apocalíptica o autor usou uma forma bastante simples, mas que consegue passar ao leitor com clareza do que levou as personagens do "Antigamente" até ao "Pocky".
Desde início, quando me apercebi que o livro era narrado por um rapaz e por uma rapariga achei que provavelmente iria acontecer algo entre eles, e até achei enriquecedor para a narrativa haver algo mais para além de cenas de perseguição, mas quando ele tentou criar um triângulo amoroso inserindo uma terceira personagem, aí as coisas tornaram-se um pouco mais chatas. Foi totalmente forçado e era completamente desnecessário. Este foi um dos três motivos que me fizeram dar 4★ a este livro; o segundo, foi o facto de a ação ser bastante concentrada na primeira parte (desde o início até +/- a meio), e depois, na segunda parte, fica tudo demasiado lento e bastante repetitivo; e o terceiro foi devido à rapidez do final, que deveria ter muito mais impacto, uma vez que este é o primeiro livro da trilogia.
Confesso que me deixou com vontade de saber qual o rumo que a narrativa vai seguir no próximo livro, mas não foi o suficiente para eu ficar - "preciso de saber o que vai acontecer a seguir, AGORA!" - não foi um final que me fizesse comprar, já, o próximo livro.
Mesmo assim, não posso deixar de recomendar o livro, porque me prendeu muito, e principalmente, para quem gostar de distopias (que não é o caso deste livro), e histórias pós-apocalípticas, será certamente uma óptima leitura. Provavelmente quem já leu "The Maze Runner - Provas de Fogo" de James Dashner poderá encontrar algumas semelhanças.
January 15, 2014
Action-packed, violent, but overall an engaging read. I loved the travel/quest/survival aspect of this. BUT, i abhorred the threat of rape that was ever present. This book should come with a trigger warning. I love that the main character was non-white. Plus, Weitz has a really cool take on the social order of the world after the apocalypse, and it reflects on our world now. Actually pretty thought-provoking at times. I liked that this took place just 2 years after the Sickness, instead of hundreds of years later. It made the characters more relatable. I also liked the ending, which made me want to read book 2. Overall, Weitz's book should be pretty popular, and I think it's a strong debut, though not my favorite kind of story. Oh, also, lots of swearing. Probably the most I've read in YA before. Definitely a book for older or mature teens.
March 18, 2015
Maybe more about a 2.5/5 for me
I didn't love this book though the concept and general world was really intriguing!
I didn't love this book though the concept and general world was really intriguing!
April 22, 2017
4,5
es hatte einige nervige stellen zwischen den Beiden. er liebt sie und sie ihn und dann doch nicht und sie weiß es wieder nicht usw.
es hatte einige nervige stellen zwischen den Beiden. er liebt sie und sie ihn und dann doch nicht und sie weiß es wieder nicht usw.
July 20, 2015
Nope. Nope. I can't do it anymore. I can't read these YA books that showcase whiny characters and bad writing.
At first, I wondered if i was dealing with some fatigue as this is the third apocalyptic/dystopia book I've read in the past month. But as the pages droned on and on, I realized that the voices of the characters created no sympathy, no connection for me. I did not care if this world burned or survived.
I still recommend that if you are curious about the story, please read it. Just be aware of the dark pit of despair that this book will lead you towards.
At first, I wondered if i was dealing with some fatigue as this is the third apocalyptic/dystopia book I've read in the past month. But as the pages droned on and on, I realized that the voices of the characters created no sympathy, no connection for me. I did not care if this world burned or survived.
I still recommend that if you are curious about the story, please read it. Just be aware of the dark pit of despair that this book will lead you towards.
June 30, 2017
Otro libro distopíco, otra historia juvenil que podría resultar más de lo mismo, pero en esta ocasión una historia sin censuras, dura y con ingredientes muy buenos que enganchan desde el primer momento. Tiene mucha acción, es trepidante y hay varios misterios que te dejan con ganas de seguir leyendo, además (de forma más secundaria) hay algo de romance, algo que no eclipsa para nada la trama principal donde los protagonistas tendrán que enfrentarse continuamente a peligros y buscar una cura.
Es un libro que se lee bastante rápido porque, como he dicho, tiene mucha acción y quieres saber qué va a pasar. La violencia es un elemento más en la trama y por ello hay escenas bastante fuertes, así que no os sorprendáis si os encontráis con la muerte de algún personaje principal, pues el autor no se anda con tonterías y hace lo que tiene que hacer sin titubear.
Me ha gustado que se vean dos perspectivas, la de Donna y la de Jeff. Ella más cercana, con un lenguaje sencillo y claro, interactuando con el lector; Jeff tiene más cultura y eso se refleja en su narración, más elaborada pero igual de cercana. El autor introduce muchos elementos de la cultura actual, música, marcas, películas, libros… y crea un mundo peligroso, fascinante y asfixiante que puedes imaginar a la perfección, con diferentes bandas cada cual con un cometido, diversas ideologías y unos personajes muy bien elaborados y completamente opuestos los unos de los otros pero todos importantes e interesantes. Uno de mis favoritos es Peter, que da el toque cómico entre tanta tensión. Pero también está el chico inteligente, Cerebro; Misifú que no es lo que aparenta; Donna, que vive anclada en el pasado; Jeff que quiere que todo sea diferente; Ratso, Kath, Capitán, Theo, Pómulos...
Reseña completa: http://letraslibrosymas.blogspot.com....
Es un libro que se lee bastante rápido porque, como he dicho, tiene mucha acción y quieres saber qué va a pasar. La violencia es un elemento más en la trama y por ello hay escenas bastante fuertes, así que no os sorprendáis si os encontráis con la muerte de algún personaje principal, pues el autor no se anda con tonterías y hace lo que tiene que hacer sin titubear.
Me ha gustado que se vean dos perspectivas, la de Donna y la de Jeff. Ella más cercana, con un lenguaje sencillo y claro, interactuando con el lector; Jeff tiene más cultura y eso se refleja en su narración, más elaborada pero igual de cercana. El autor introduce muchos elementos de la cultura actual, música, marcas, películas, libros… y crea un mundo peligroso, fascinante y asfixiante que puedes imaginar a la perfección, con diferentes bandas cada cual con un cometido, diversas ideologías y unos personajes muy bien elaborados y completamente opuestos los unos de los otros pero todos importantes e interesantes. Uno de mis favoritos es Peter, que da el toque cómico entre tanta tensión. Pero también está el chico inteligente, Cerebro; Misifú que no es lo que aparenta; Donna, que vive anclada en el pasado; Jeff que quiere que todo sea diferente; Ratso, Kath, Capitán, Theo, Pómulos...
Reseña completa: http://letraslibrosymas.blogspot.com....
August 3, 2016
I was drawn to the story of this, since you got the post Apocalypse, teens trying to survive. And well, it made me think of the Tribe and Beyond Thunderdome. Kudos for the Mad Max reference. I mean how could you not?
Anyway, this was, well, first half was okay but once the story and pace picked up, its a 3.5.
I liked some of the characters, like See Through, Brainbox and Jefferson. Donna however I kind of didn't like at first, but later on she grows on you.
The writing was okay. The romance was okay. Though I did like the action scenes and the setting. Otherwise, this could of been better but has its moments. The ending was interesting though.
Anyway, this was, well, first half was okay but once the story and pace picked up, its a 3.5.
I liked some of the characters, like See Through, Brainbox and Jefferson. Donna however I kind of didn't like at first, but later on she grows on you.
The writing was okay. The romance was okay. Though I did like the action scenes and the setting. Otherwise, this could of been better but has its moments. The ending was interesting though.
June 9, 2017
Tof boek over een wereld zonder volwassenen, waar een virus ervoor zorgt dat niemand ouder wordt dan achttien. Een spannend avontuur vol referenties naar de wereld van hiervoor. Wel vond ik persoonlijk de reis erg lang duren, terwijl het einde - aangekomen op de bestemming - opeens enorm snel ging. Ook de romantiek was een beetje cheesy, maar de allerlaatste zin maakt me dan toch weer nieuwsgierig naar meer.
Mijn complete recensie lees je op Oog op de Toekomst.
Mijn complete recensie lees je op Oog op de Toekomst.
October 5, 2017
Uwielbiam ten pomysł, uwielbiam klimat, ale ciąg przyczynowo-skutkowy nie istnieje w tej historii. Aby wymieniać absurdy i bezsensy fabuły nie ma miejsca i czasu. Powiem tylko, że gdyby autor popracował nad bazą, czyli nad opisem świata przedstawionego oraz zasad nim rządzących to byłaby to jedna z najciekawszych i najbardziej oryginalnych serii na rynku, jeśli chodzi o ten gatunek.
June 22, 2014
I was kindly provided with a copy by Little Brown & Net Galley in exchange for an honest review
I had heard a lot of good things about this book, the first young adult novel from acclaimed director Chris Weitz (Twilight:New Moon / Golden Compass etc!) set in the near future in New York City a sickness has decimated the cities adults and young children leaving just the teenagers behind.
Left to fend for themselves these teenagers form tribes and stick to their different parts of town, this story is all about the Washington Square tribe and told from the POV of two of its members Jefferson and Donna.
As the story starts the scene is set as we discover how the teens are living, which is reasonably well considering, them seem to have supplies, thanks to their resident genius they still have iPods charged by the Sun and thanks to the high end stores in NYC they have fabulous wardrobes. They have made their homes in the houses surrounding the square and are living their lives to the full as when they turn 18 they will succumb to the sickness and die.
After they are threatened by another tribe who want some of the girls in exchange for a pig you get an idea of how they are set up, they have guns and lots of them raided from the local police precinct , and they are not afraid to use them.
Following his brothers death, Jefferson is elected leader of the tribe, it is up to him to make sure they survive but when another tribe member discovers information relating to the sickness and a potential cure they decide to make their way to a library to find some papers relating to the information. Only four of them go, Jefferson, Donna who is secretly in love with, Peter African/American and gay and Brainbox whose nerdy skills before the sickness where mocked but are in demand after.
Setting off in their bulletproof vehicle they make their way through the abandoned streets of NYC stopping only to pick up a stray who has followed them SeeThrough a young Chinese girl with total badass skills. The library is believed to be haunted so all they want to do is get in and out as quickly as possible, splitting up (bad idea!) they start looking for the book they need what they don't bargain for is coming across a tribe living in the library who use the Greek alphabet for their names and happen to love a nice bit of human flesh. Our intrepid gang are needless to say out of there in a shot but only after some maiming and killing has gone down.
They do however now know where they have to go, a research island outside NYC, do they go there risking travelling through some of the worst areas of the city, plus they no longer have a vehicle as it exploded following a shoot out with another tribe, can they find the cure?
They decide to make the journey and the story takes us through many different parts of NYC both above and below ground, they come across bustling markets where a new form of cash is exchanging hands and they also meet people some good, some just plain evil plus they are teenagers they have hormones so they are also busy having sex, eyeing up potential partners and getting drunk, this is something I liked about this story, it could have been written with them just leaving their safe haven walking through the city and shooting some people but they are still getting excited by all the things teenagers love plus they have easy access to any shops and buildings.
The ending came too soon for me and this is with a 300+ pages but it was a great set up for the next book (I hope) and I can't wait to find out how the teens survive in the next book.
The Young World is well written and the believable conversations and general teenage chit chat is unbelievably good, at one point whilst running from the bad guys one girl manages to compliment another on her choice of skirt! The background of NYC is instantly recognisable and is the perfect setting for this book.
This book also covers a lot of issues such as homophobia, racism just to name a few.
I don't know if I can totally pigeon hole it, dystopian? young adult? whatever it is if you like teenage angst, a bit of unrequited love with some badass shoot em ups then this is for you.
It is thrilling, scary, sweet, romantic and so much more, I hope you love it as much as I did!
The Young World is awarded 5 out of 5
I had heard a lot of good things about this book, the first young adult novel from acclaimed director Chris Weitz (Twilight:New Moon / Golden Compass etc!) set in the near future in New York City a sickness has decimated the cities adults and young children leaving just the teenagers behind.
Left to fend for themselves these teenagers form tribes and stick to their different parts of town, this story is all about the Washington Square tribe and told from the POV of two of its members Jefferson and Donna.
As the story starts the scene is set as we discover how the teens are living, which is reasonably well considering, them seem to have supplies, thanks to their resident genius they still have iPods charged by the Sun and thanks to the high end stores in NYC they have fabulous wardrobes. They have made their homes in the houses surrounding the square and are living their lives to the full as when they turn 18 they will succumb to the sickness and die.
After they are threatened by another tribe who want some of the girls in exchange for a pig you get an idea of how they are set up, they have guns and lots of them raided from the local police precinct , and they are not afraid to use them.
Following his brothers death, Jefferson is elected leader of the tribe, it is up to him to make sure they survive but when another tribe member discovers information relating to the sickness and a potential cure they decide to make their way to a library to find some papers relating to the information. Only four of them go, Jefferson, Donna who is secretly in love with, Peter African/American and gay and Brainbox whose nerdy skills before the sickness where mocked but are in demand after.
Setting off in their bulletproof vehicle they make their way through the abandoned streets of NYC stopping only to pick up a stray who has followed them SeeThrough a young Chinese girl with total badass skills. The library is believed to be haunted so all they want to do is get in and out as quickly as possible, splitting up (bad idea!) they start looking for the book they need what they don't bargain for is coming across a tribe living in the library who use the Greek alphabet for their names and happen to love a nice bit of human flesh. Our intrepid gang are needless to say out of there in a shot but only after some maiming and killing has gone down.
They do however now know where they have to go, a research island outside NYC, do they go there risking travelling through some of the worst areas of the city, plus they no longer have a vehicle as it exploded following a shoot out with another tribe, can they find the cure?
They decide to make the journey and the story takes us through many different parts of NYC both above and below ground, they come across bustling markets where a new form of cash is exchanging hands and they also meet people some good, some just plain evil plus they are teenagers they have hormones so they are also busy having sex, eyeing up potential partners and getting drunk, this is something I liked about this story, it could have been written with them just leaving their safe haven walking through the city and shooting some people but they are still getting excited by all the things teenagers love plus they have easy access to any shops and buildings.
The ending came too soon for me and this is with a 300+ pages but it was a great set up for the next book (I hope) and I can't wait to find out how the teens survive in the next book.
The Young World is well written and the believable conversations and general teenage chit chat is unbelievably good, at one point whilst running from the bad guys one girl manages to compliment another on her choice of skirt! The background of NYC is instantly recognisable and is the perfect setting for this book.
This book also covers a lot of issues such as homophobia, racism just to name a few.
I don't know if I can totally pigeon hole it, dystopian? young adult? whatever it is if you like teenage angst, a bit of unrequited love with some badass shoot em ups then this is for you.
It is thrilling, scary, sweet, romantic and so much more, I hope you love it as much as I did!
The Young World is awarded 5 out of 5
July 20, 2014
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The Young World is acclaimed director Chris Weitz's debut novel and while it isn't the best dystopian novel I've read this year, it is extremely entertaining. Weitz has written such a thrilling sci-fi book that showcases his incredible storytelling abilities; The Young World is a cinematic tale with clear world-building and unique characters that will engage readers from start to finish. Weitz has created a gritty, realistic scenario of what a possible apocalypse would be.
It began with the Sickness, a mysterious plague that killed all of the adults and some younger children. The survivors of this plague live in a post-apocalyptic New York City in which teenagers live in tribes who are just trying to survive. Each of the tribes are very insular and relations between each tribe are extremely limited. Jefferson doesn't want to be a hero, but he is forced to take charge of the Washington Square Tribe when its leader dies. All he just wants is to be with Donna, the girl who he has a crush on, but if Jefferson wants his tribe to survive he needs to step it up.
There are so many dystopian books being published each year due to the massive popularity of The Hunger Games and Divergent, as a result it is extremely difficult to find unique dystopian books. The Young World doesn't rely on the genre's tropes and it has an extremely ambitious plot-line that is extremely original and realistic.
I think one of the most appealing aspects of The Young World for me as a reader is how diverse the cast of characters is. Weitz has written Asian, African American and gay main characters that are in the spotlight for the entire novel; these characters aren't side-kicks or sidelined ever and they have an impact on the novel's plot. Most YA books aren't very diverse and it's exciting to see a famous celebrity recognizing the need for diversity in YA literature.
Chris Weitz lets his film roots show in The Young World and it's easy to see that he works in Hollywood. The Young World is filled with film references (some of which are Twilight-related) throughout the novel; immense references usually bother me, but Weitz managed to integrate them cleverly into the plot. Weitz also makes the world-building very clear and I could see the post-apocalyptic NYC so clearly due to the intricate descriptions. I think my biggest complaint with The Young World lies in the fact that the dialogue is written unevenly. Though the dialogue is extremely clever and witty, the formatting of the dialogue is a bit wacky and inconsistent. There are pages where the dialogue is structured in novel format, yet in other sections of the book the dialogue is structured in a play / script format. This could easily have been corrected and I hope that the formatting of the dialogue is altered for the finished copies of this book.
My favorite character in The Young World is definitely Donna who is a strong, snarky heroine that readers will love. I was initially troubled with the way that Donna put down some of the female characters by slut-shaming them, but this aspect was addressed in the final part of the novel. Donna isn't afraid to say what she means and I loved how her character addressed gender inequality and how females are degraded in our modern day society. Weitz expertly addresses how society takes power away from females by turning them into sex symbols and how society values males for being "players", but degrades females for doing the same exact thing.
The Young World is a solid debut novel that will appeal to fans of Gone and The Maze Runner. Weitz fills TYW with tons of humor, action, and world-building that makes this dystopian novel stand out from the crowd. The plot-line is thrilling and readers will definitely want to have the sequel on hand after reading the shocking cliffhanger. The apocalypse has never felt so realistic and frightening as it does in The Young World.
The Young World is acclaimed director Chris Weitz's debut novel and while it isn't the best dystopian novel I've read this year, it is extremely entertaining. Weitz has written such a thrilling sci-fi book that showcases his incredible storytelling abilities; The Young World is a cinematic tale with clear world-building and unique characters that will engage readers from start to finish. Weitz has created a gritty, realistic scenario of what a possible apocalypse would be.
It began with the Sickness, a mysterious plague that killed all of the adults and some younger children. The survivors of this plague live in a post-apocalyptic New York City in which teenagers live in tribes who are just trying to survive. Each of the tribes are very insular and relations between each tribe are extremely limited. Jefferson doesn't want to be a hero, but he is forced to take charge of the Washington Square Tribe when its leader dies. All he just wants is to be with Donna, the girl who he has a crush on, but if Jefferson wants his tribe to survive he needs to step it up.
There are so many dystopian books being published each year due to the massive popularity of The Hunger Games and Divergent, as a result it is extremely difficult to find unique dystopian books. The Young World doesn't rely on the genre's tropes and it has an extremely ambitious plot-line that is extremely original and realistic.
I think one of the most appealing aspects of The Young World for me as a reader is how diverse the cast of characters is. Weitz has written Asian, African American and gay main characters that are in the spotlight for the entire novel; these characters aren't side-kicks or sidelined ever and they have an impact on the novel's plot. Most YA books aren't very diverse and it's exciting to see a famous celebrity recognizing the need for diversity in YA literature.
Chris Weitz lets his film roots show in The Young World and it's easy to see that he works in Hollywood. The Young World is filled with film references (some of which are Twilight-related) throughout the novel; immense references usually bother me, but Weitz managed to integrate them cleverly into the plot. Weitz also makes the world-building very clear and I could see the post-apocalyptic NYC so clearly due to the intricate descriptions. I think my biggest complaint with The Young World lies in the fact that the dialogue is written unevenly. Though the dialogue is extremely clever and witty, the formatting of the dialogue is a bit wacky and inconsistent. There are pages where the dialogue is structured in novel format, yet in other sections of the book the dialogue is structured in a play / script format. This could easily have been corrected and I hope that the formatting of the dialogue is altered for the finished copies of this book.
My favorite character in The Young World is definitely Donna who is a strong, snarky heroine that readers will love. I was initially troubled with the way that Donna put down some of the female characters by slut-shaming them, but this aspect was addressed in the final part of the novel. Donna isn't afraid to say what she means and I loved how her character addressed gender inequality and how females are degraded in our modern day society. Weitz expertly addresses how society takes power away from females by turning them into sex symbols and how society values males for being "players", but degrades females for doing the same exact thing.
The Young World is a solid debut novel that will appeal to fans of Gone and The Maze Runner. Weitz fills TYW with tons of humor, action, and world-building that makes this dystopian novel stand out from the crowd. The plot-line is thrilling and readers will definitely want to have the sequel on hand after reading the shocking cliffhanger. The apocalypse has never felt so realistic and frightening as it does in The Young World.
August 15, 2016
2.75 stars. This book started out feeling juvenile to me but it did have a lot of action and it kept my interest all the way through. The premise is that in the future some biological agent kills adults and children and now all that is left are teens who are protected by some hormone they have that goes away in adulthood. I liked the characters but would have liked them to be more developed or fleshed out. I'm not sure if I will go on to book 2 but I might because I am curious to see how things continue.
January 5, 2016
3.5 stars.
September 25, 2017
"Mamy kolejny piękny wiosenny dzień po upadku cywilizacji."
Moja intuicja mówiła mi, że ta książka wcale nie będzie taka dobra. Ale zaintrygował mnie autor.
Chris Weitz - reżyser i autor, jest twórcą filmów saga Zmierzch, Złoty kompas, American Pie. Napisał również z Tonym Gilorym scenariusz do ,,Łotr 1: Gwiezdne Wojny", więc sami widzicie, że autor intrygujący. Byłam ciekawa, co może stworzyć ktoś, kto wydał takie hity. No ale niestety intuicja mnie nie zawiodła...
,,Młody świat" to historia post-apo w której wszyscy dorośli i dzieci wyginęli w skutek pewnego wirusa. Przeżyli tylko nastolatkowie. Mamy tutaj grupkę przyjaciół, którzy próbują coś zrobić, niestety po drodze mają pełno przeszkód. A na tle całej tej fabuły jest wątek romantyczny.
Akcja jest prowadzona dwutorowo z perspektywy Donny oraz Jeffersona. Bohaterowie są całkiem w porządku, nie z��yłam się z nimi jakoś specjalnie, ale ich lubię. Jefferson czasami mnie tylko denerwował w pewnych sytuacjach. Oprócz nich jest jeszcze trochę osób, ale oni jakoś nie zostali zbytnio rozwinięci, więc słabo ich poznałam.
Na zdjęciu obok macie pokazane jak wyglądają wszystkie dialogi. Autor chyba zapomniał, że to jest książka a nie scenariusz do filmu. Bardzo mi przeszkadzał taki dialog, ponieważ na ogół żaden autor tak nie pisze i czułam się trochę jakbym czytała scenariusz a nie normalną rozmowę.
Sam styl pisania Weitza dość amatorski, co zresztą nic dziwnego, bo w końcu to Jego pierwsza powieść.
Co do samej fabuły, niestety nie mogę powiedzieć, że była oryginalna i jakaś fascynująca, ponieważ mamy tu typowy świat post-apo w którym po prostu wymarły osoby w danym wieku, a młodzież walczy o jedzenie. ,,Młody świat" jest bardzo podobny do serii ,,Jutro", bo z tego co wiem, to tam też dorośli wyginęli, w ,,Starterze" jest podobna sytuacja, tylko, że przeżyli jeszcze starcy. Cała akcja bardzo, ale to bardzo przypominała mi fabułę ,,Prób ognia", czytając cały czas trafiałam na sceny podobne jak w tej książce.
Na początku też dość długo nie mogłam się wciągnąć w historię. Potem na szczęście fabuła zrobiła się ciekawsza. Nie mogę powiedzieć, że brakuje tutaj akcji, bo w książce naprawdę dużo się dzieje i lepiej nie odlecieć przy czytaniu gdzieś myślami, bo potem się okaże, że nie będziecie wiedzieć, jak bohaterowie nagle już znaleźli się w innej sytuacji. Plus za dynamiczność akcji.
Ciężko mi tak ostatecznie stwierdzić, czy ,,Młody świat" mi się podobał czy nie, bo nawet po mimu tych nie fajnych wad, nie było najgorzej, aczkolwiek po reżyserze takich hitów spodziewałam się więcej. Po kontynuację sięgnę (bo to trylogia jest) ponieważ, na koniec pojawił się bardzo ciekawy podtekst polityczny i mnie zaintrygował. Teraz jestem ciekawa, o co chodzi? Lubię takie smaczki w fantastyce.
Na koniec dodam, że książka ma fajną okładkę, w dotyku jest miziasta a litery wypukłe. Insignis jak zawsze dobrze wydaje książki.
October 12, 2017
3.5 ster.
Ik vond het een goed boek, ik ben ook zeker benieuwd naar deel 2. Alleen helaas niet zo orgineel.
Ik vond het een goed boek, ik ben ook zeker benieuwd naar deel 2. Alleen helaas niet zo orgineel.
April 20, 2024
Oj…….
Niczym opowiadanie 6-klasisty, tylko pani nauczycielka powiedziała ze ma być na 355 stron
Niczym opowiadanie 6-klasisty, tylko pani nauczycielka powiedziała ze ma być na 355 stron
September 15, 2014
Any time a novel puts me into a reading slump, I know that the review and my liking of the book are going to go down, dramatically.
I was so close to DNFing THE YOUNG WORLD. It started off interesting. I liked the idea of a world where adults don’t exist, and in this post-apocalyptic world, where kids (under the age of 18) have to fend for themselves, well, it’s an interesting concept to me.
Unfortunately, Chris Weitz could not keep the idea from becoming boring, and I pretty much will blame it on his characters, and then, him making some poor decisions.
So the characters:
Our MC: Jefferson, the geek, the sidekick to his old brother Washington, who has to step up into the leadership role after Washington dies. He doesn’t want it, but he feels obligated. And he’s boring as hell, but I liked his morals (first ⅔ anyway), that I didn’t completely hate the character.
Our second MC, though, I disliked: Donna. She’s our snowflake. You know the girl MC - she’s plain, boring, there’s nothing special about her at all. She likes Star Wars and hates Barbie. She’s just different. In this post-apocalypse where everyone is giving it up because they’re not going to live past 18 anyway, she’s holding onto her virginity, but still having fun in other ways. She slut shames. She teases, but you know, it’s OK because she’s just really different. I absolutely loathed this character.
Peter - The black gay best friend of Donna’s. I liked his snark, but there wasn’t enough Peter to save this novel.
Brainbox - also a geek. Friend of Jefferson’s. Thinks he can find the cure. Saw the ending from a mile away with this character. Everything about him made the ending (which seemed like should Weitz wanted to shock the reader, completely predictable.)
SeeThrough - our little ninja BAMF. She tries so hard to overcompensate for her size and age, and for people to believe she’s really as hard as she seems. She’s not, but she’s still awesome. I liked her.
Kath - Because every YA seems to need a love triangle. Toss away character, and I figured she was.
Onto the poor decisions:
--#1 putting in an unnecessary love triangle. Instead of using those pages for much needed information, Weitz decided to force a love triangle that felt completely forced.
--#2 Relationship between Jefferson and Donna - felt forced through and through.
--#3 Certain conflicts that the characters went through were a little too drawn out, and again, for a first novel in a trilogy, these conflicts took pages away from world building (world building that I believe should have been put in the novel).
--#4 Characters changing personalities on a whim. Our geek hero turns manwhore in 30 seconds. Seemed legit.
--#5 Racing to the finish line. The book ends on a conflict that should have been more drawn out, written properly, and more fully developed. Weitz truly failed to give the reader adequate knowledge on what was going on.
--#6 The world building (what little there is) was poorly executed.
--#7 Giving the reader a reason to care. I didn’t give a fuck about what happened to the characters. This is always an issue when it comes to a series. I should want the characters to be OK, to succeed, to live and love and complete their goal/mission/whatever. If I don’t, yeah, just not a good thing.
Just a random dislike:
--#8(?): Chris, you made Edward Cullen a deity to one of the Mole People? Seriously? That’s just weird.
Sorry this is such a ranty review. So onto the pluses for THE YOUNG WORLD:
--#1 The action really keeps the pace of the novel moving. There’s not any real slow parts of it, and had I been more interested in the book, it wouldn’t have dragged for me the way it did.
--#2 I liked that the characters weren’t all just a bunch of white rich kids. There was race/culture/class diversity with the kids, and I liked it.
--#3 Secondary characters were really fun to meet (for the most part).
--#4 Concept of the story (world without adults) is still a huge plus for me, and something that I enjoyed about the story.
Overall, I’m not going to continue the series, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend THE YOUNG WORLD.
I was so close to DNFing THE YOUNG WORLD. It started off interesting. I liked the idea of a world where adults don’t exist, and in this post-apocalyptic world, where kids (under the age of 18) have to fend for themselves, well, it’s an interesting concept to me.
Unfortunately, Chris Weitz could not keep the idea from becoming boring, and I pretty much will blame it on his characters, and then, him making some poor decisions.
So the characters:
Our MC: Jefferson, the geek, the sidekick to his old brother Washington, who has to step up into the leadership role after Washington dies. He doesn’t want it, but he feels obligated. And he’s boring as hell, but I liked his morals (first ⅔ anyway), that I didn’t completely hate the character.
Our second MC, though, I disliked: Donna. She’s our snowflake. You know the girl MC - she’s plain, boring, there’s nothing special about her at all. She likes Star Wars and hates Barbie. She’s just different. In this post-apocalypse where everyone is giving it up because they’re not going to live past 18 anyway, she’s holding onto her virginity, but still having fun in other ways. She slut shames. She teases, but you know, it’s OK because she’s just really different. I absolutely loathed this character.
Peter - The black gay best friend of Donna’s. I liked his snark, but there wasn’t enough Peter to save this novel.
Brainbox - also a geek. Friend of Jefferson’s. Thinks he can find the cure. Saw the ending from a mile away with this character. Everything about him made the ending (which seemed like should Weitz wanted to shock the reader, completely predictable.)
SeeThrough - our little ninja BAMF. She tries so hard to overcompensate for her size and age, and for people to believe she’s really as hard as she seems. She’s not, but she’s still awesome. I liked her.
Kath - Because every YA seems to need a love triangle. Toss away character, and I figured she was.
Onto the poor decisions:
--#1 putting in an unnecessary love triangle. Instead of using those pages for much needed information, Weitz decided to force a love triangle that felt completely forced.
--#2 Relationship between Jefferson and Donna - felt forced through and through.
--#3 Certain conflicts that the characters went through were a little too drawn out, and again, for a first novel in a trilogy, these conflicts took pages away from world building (world building that I believe should have been put in the novel).
--#4 Characters changing personalities on a whim. Our geek hero turns manwhore in 30 seconds. Seemed legit.
--#5 Racing to the finish line. The book ends on a conflict that should have been more drawn out, written properly, and more fully developed. Weitz truly failed to give the reader adequate knowledge on what was going on.
--#6 The world building (what little there is) was poorly executed.
--#7 Giving the reader a reason to care. I didn’t give a fuck about what happened to the characters. This is always an issue when it comes to a series. I should want the characters to be OK, to succeed, to live and love and complete their goal/mission/whatever. If I don’t, yeah, just not a good thing.
Just a random dislike:
--#8(?): Chris, you made Edward Cullen a deity to one of the Mole People? Seriously? That’s just weird.
Sorry this is such a ranty review. So onto the pluses for THE YOUNG WORLD:
--#1 The action really keeps the pace of the novel moving. There’s not any real slow parts of it, and had I been more interested in the book, it wouldn’t have dragged for me the way it did.
--#2 I liked that the characters weren’t all just a bunch of white rich kids. There was race/culture/class diversity with the kids, and I liked it.
--#3 Secondary characters were really fun to meet (for the most part).
--#4 Concept of the story (world without adults) is still a huge plus for me, and something that I enjoyed about the story.
Overall, I’m not going to continue the series, and I honestly wouldn’t recommend THE YOUNG WORLD.
October 31, 2014
My thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Point of View: Dual (Jefferson & Donna)
Writing: First Person | Present Tense
Setting: New York
Genre: Sci-Fi | Post-Apocalyptic (Pandemic)
This book is promising, but I enjoyed only about 30% of it. Back then I thought the humor was a nice touch. In a twisted way, it helped make the book more interesting. Later on, it became weird and annoying.
The story was told from 2 POV's. I didn't have much problem with Jefferson's POV at first, but Donna's POV kind of annoyed me from the get-go. She talked in a strange and confusing way that is hard to put a word to it. The use of "like" at least a thousand times when she talked made me want to bang my head against the wall. But then again, it was part of her character's trait or something like that. Later on in the book, both Jefferson and Donna got on my nerves. I didn't like the way they sort of ranting on and on about things from before It Happened. It was so boring.
The writing was okay, I think. It wasn't good, but the rambling and the over the top effort to make it humorous were not what I would say a good way to capture the readers' attention.
In short, it wasn't the book for me. I didn't enjoy reading it after reading about 30% of it. I think some people might enjoy it, though, if they don't mind a book that the characters talk on and on and on and on....
January 10, 2016
Começar o ano com uma historia pós-apocalíptica, onde só sobrevivem a uma doença fatal, os adolescentes. Melhor seria impossível xD A narrativa é contada sobre dois pontos diferentes. O que na minha opinião foi um aspecto muito positivo no desenvolvimento da trama. Os capítulos são curtos o que nos permite avançar com mais rapidez na leitura. E a escrita do autor também me surpreendeu, alem de rápida mas bastante explicita, existe ao longo da historia imensas referencias à cultura Pop actual, o que nos faz sentir uma ligação mais próxima das personagens. Referencias como, a músicas, a livros, a famosos, foram um aspecto muito bem explorado pelo autor. Claro que as referencias que mais gostei foram sobre a Katniss de Hunger Games. O aspecto que menos gostei foi o romance que surge no final do livro. Apesar de gostar do casal, o romance pareceu um pouco forçado. O final apesar de não ser surpreendente, deixa-nos ansiosos por respostas. E claro, a ideia de um vírus produzido por humanos, ser capaz de matar quase toda a população mundial é bastante interessante, o que me faz estar empolgada para ler o segundo volume. Aconselho vivamente xD
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September 26, 2017Verta, suolenpätkiä, toimintaa – niitä tässä piisaa.
Sen sijaan en oikein pääse yli siitä, kuinka tarinan tytöt – lähes koko ihmiskunnan tuhonneen viruksen jälkeisessä ultraväkivaltaisessa maailmassa – kerrotaan ja nähdään lähinnä fyysisten ominaisuuksien ja niiden pohtimisen kautta. Come on, ei ketään kiinnosta postapokalypsissa, minkä kokoiset tissit jollakulla on! Vielä vähemmän, millaiset jonkun toisen tissit ovat!
On tämä siltikin, piru vieköön, ihan vetävää kerrontaa.
Sen sijaan en oikein pääse yli siitä, kuinka tarinan tytöt – lähes koko ihmiskunnan tuhonneen viruksen jälkeisessä ultraväkivaltaisessa maailmassa – kerrotaan ja nähdään lähinnä fyysisten ominaisuuksien ja niiden pohtimisen kautta. Come on, ei ketään kiinnosta postapokalypsissa, minkä kokoiset tissit jollakulla on! Vielä vähemmän, millaiset jonkun toisen tissit ovat!
On tämä siltikin, piru vieköön, ihan vetävää kerrontaa.
August 19, 2014
First Look: The adult-free, kid/teen-run society plot has been a subtle trend for a long time now. It's never been the big thing, but these books just keep popping up. And, for the most part, I'm into it--I love Gone and The Maze Runner, and then there's the classic
Lord of the Flies
(with which I have a weird relationship). So, I figured, "Hey, let's give this a shot." Now, though, I'm wondering if we need to give this trend a rest.
Setting: I wish this setting made sense. Sure, I'll accept that the creatively-named Sickness came along and killed everyone except the teenagers, for plot's sake. Once the explanation of the Sickness comes, though, it loses its credibility. Everyone except the teenagers was Good going.
Characters: Jefferson, one of the point-of-view characters, is your standard main character hero type. He's a decent leader, a good fighter, has a lot of courage, and is generally respectable and moral. And that's about it. Nothing about him ever grabbed my interest. It's hard to care about someone who is such a Gary Stu. There is no depth to him--he's not a three-dimensional character, which doesn't make him feel like a real person.
I spent most of the time wanting to punch the other POV character, Donna. Most of this has to do with her maddening narration, which I'll discuss later. Her personality is slightly more interesting and unique than Jefferson's, but she also has an annoying habit of trying way too hard to be cool. She uses so many unnecessary slang terms--and other terms that were probably meant to be slang, but I honestly have no idea what they are--and it grated on my nerves. Also, she keeps referring to Kathy as "Tits McGee" long after she learns her real name. Is there a particular reason Donna has to keep degrading her like this, or is it supposed to be funny? Because it isn't.
Plot: With better writing and characters, the plot could have made for an enjoyable book. It moves along at a solid pace without ever getting boring. I may have disliked the POV characters, but hey, at least there's action and suspense.
And the romance. Once it gets started, every other aspect of the plot suddenly becomes less important. It's overbearing and feels forced. I couldn't sense any of the apparent chemistry between Jefferson and Donna. It's more "Well, this is YA, so we have to include a romance otherwise everyone will hate it" than anything else.
Uniqueness: I thought this had the potential to stand out from other books with a similar premise, but it brings nothing new to the table. It just left me feeling like I had read this exact same thing before.
Writing: The writing is the reason I almost didn't finish this book. I don't know if narration has ever made me so mad. It sounds like a written version of that "IDK, my BFF Jill" commercial. It's cluttered with slang terms where slang terms are unnecessary. There's a fine line between having an "authentic" narrative voice and trying too hard, and that line is crossed farther than I've ever seen before. There are terms that are appropriate in a forum post or a tweet, maybe, but not in a novel. Actually, some of these terms shouldn't be used for any purpose, ever. Fun fact: whenever an author uses words like "vajayjay", "teh internetz", "gnarly", "mofo", "NILF" (like MILF, but...nerd), and, God forbid, "anyhooters", a baby panda cries. Sadly, I'm not coming up with those out of nowhere--each of those words is in this book.
This book is also gloriously blessed with a narrator who apparently thinks it's okay to misuse "like" whenever she feels like it. I understand that teenagers sometimes talk like that, but I don't read books in order to be reminded of how many people abuse the English language on an hourly basis. Public Service Announcement: STOP USING "LIKE" THIS WAY IN BOOKS.
Here are a few more highlights:
"A lot of books you read, the author thinks it's cool to have an 'unreliable narrator'. To keep you guessing and to acknowledge that there are no absolutes, and everything is relative, or whatever. Which I think is kind of lame. So--just so you know--I am going to be a reliable narrator. Like, totally."
"I may not be all SAT-wordy like Wash and Jeff, but no way are they gonna lord it over me, knowing bonus words and sh*t."
I think I've just been insulted.
"A lot of girls don't get Star Wars..."
"He gives me sh*t for swearing too much and saying 'like' all the time. Which, yeah? But here's the thing. Everybody thinks that 'like' is just a sort of junk word, empty calories or whatever? But my theory is that it's totally unfairly maligned."
"But I'm sort of kind of a virgin. Not, like, totally. Not, like, Goody Two-Shoes or anything. Like, I've done some stuff, but...yeah."
Also, I've been indirectly insulted again.
"I mean, that's just a metaphor, just another like."
That's not a metaphor. That's a simile.
Bonus simile:
"Grief cuts you open. Our nerves are poking out of our flesh and twining around each other like fighting octopi."
And weird analogy:
"Somebody gets accepted into the big university in the sky every few weeks."
Likes: At one point, Donna mentions a few titles of some stories that Jefferson makes up to tell the younger kids. One of them is "The Garage That Ate Bands". I want in on that.
Not-so-great: Jefferson is what, sixteen years old? And he doesn't know what an EMP is. Donna is the same age and doesn't know what bioweapons are. Chris Weitz, you could at least give teenagers some credit.
"The problem with all of this--the Princess Thing and the Jedi Thing--is that--and I can't put too fine a point on this--they are fictional. They don't exist."
Overall: This book could have been so good. Instead, its decent plot is weighed down by an illogical setting and flat, boring characters. And the narration. This is some of the worst narration I've ever read. It's almost four hundred pages of "like", question marks at the end of statements, and other obnoxious slang terms. I wanted to throw this book across the room on a regular basis. I'm disappointed by this, and I do not recommend it to anyone. It might just be the worst book I've read this year. To quote Donna: "Uuuuuuggh. Why?"
Similar Books: It's a dystopian/sci-fi novel with teens running their own society, like Gone , Variant, The Maze Runner, The 100, and Monument 14 .
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.
Setting: I wish this setting made sense. Sure, I'll accept that the creatively-named Sickness came along and killed everyone except the teenagers, for plot's sake. Once the explanation of the Sickness comes, though, it loses its credibility. Everyone except the teenagers was Good going.
Characters: Jefferson, one of the point-of-view characters, is your standard main character hero type. He's a decent leader, a good fighter, has a lot of courage, and is generally respectable and moral. And that's about it. Nothing about him ever grabbed my interest. It's hard to care about someone who is such a Gary Stu. There is no depth to him--he's not a three-dimensional character, which doesn't make him feel like a real person.
I spent most of the time wanting to punch the other POV character, Donna. Most of this has to do with her maddening narration, which I'll discuss later. Her personality is slightly more interesting and unique than Jefferson's, but she also has an annoying habit of trying way too hard to be cool. She uses so many unnecessary slang terms--and other terms that were probably meant to be slang, but I honestly have no idea what they are--and it grated on my nerves. Also, she keeps referring to Kathy as "Tits McGee" long after she learns her real name. Is there a particular reason Donna has to keep degrading her like this, or is it supposed to be funny? Because it isn't.
Plot: With better writing and characters, the plot could have made for an enjoyable book. It moves along at a solid pace without ever getting boring. I may have disliked the POV characters, but hey, at least there's action and suspense.
And the romance. Once it gets started, every other aspect of the plot suddenly becomes less important. It's overbearing and feels forced. I couldn't sense any of the apparent chemistry between Jefferson and Donna. It's more "Well, this is YA, so we have to include a romance otherwise everyone will hate it" than anything else.
Uniqueness: I thought this had the potential to stand out from other books with a similar premise, but it brings nothing new to the table. It just left me feeling like I had read this exact same thing before.
Writing: The writing is the reason I almost didn't finish this book. I don't know if narration has ever made me so mad. It sounds like a written version of that "IDK, my BFF Jill" commercial. It's cluttered with slang terms where slang terms are unnecessary. There's a fine line between having an "authentic" narrative voice and trying too hard, and that line is crossed farther than I've ever seen before. There are terms that are appropriate in a forum post or a tweet, maybe, but not in a novel. Actually, some of these terms shouldn't be used for any purpose, ever. Fun fact: whenever an author uses words like "vajayjay", "teh internetz", "gnarly", "mofo", "NILF" (like MILF, but...nerd), and, God forbid, "anyhooters", a baby panda cries. Sadly, I'm not coming up with those out of nowhere--each of those words is in this book.
This book is also gloriously blessed with a narrator who apparently thinks it's okay to misuse "like" whenever she feels like it. I understand that teenagers sometimes talk like that, but I don't read books in order to be reminded of how many people abuse the English language on an hourly basis. Public Service Announcement: STOP USING "LIKE" THIS WAY IN BOOKS.
Here are a few more highlights:
"A lot of books you read, the author thinks it's cool to have an 'unreliable narrator'. To keep you guessing and to acknowledge that there are no absolutes, and everything is relative, or whatever. Which I think is kind of lame. So--just so you know--I am going to be a reliable narrator. Like, totally."
"I may not be all SAT-wordy like Wash and Jeff, but no way are they gonna lord it over me, knowing bonus words and sh*t."
I think I've just been insulted.
"A lot of girls don't get Star Wars..."
"He gives me sh*t for swearing too much and saying 'like' all the time. Which, yeah? But here's the thing. Everybody thinks that 'like' is just a sort of junk word, empty calories or whatever? But my theory is that it's totally unfairly maligned."
"But I'm sort of kind of a virgin. Not, like, totally. Not, like, Goody Two-Shoes or anything. Like, I've done some stuff, but...yeah."
Also, I've been indirectly insulted again.
"I mean, that's just a metaphor, just another like."
That's not a metaphor. That's a simile.
Bonus simile:
"Grief cuts you open. Our nerves are poking out of our flesh and twining around each other like fighting octopi."
And weird analogy:
"Somebody gets accepted into the big university in the sky every few weeks."
Likes: At one point, Donna mentions a few titles of some stories that Jefferson makes up to tell the younger kids. One of them is "The Garage That Ate Bands". I want in on that.
Not-so-great: Jefferson is what, sixteen years old? And he doesn't know what an EMP is. Donna is the same age and doesn't know what bioweapons are. Chris Weitz, you could at least give teenagers some credit.
"The problem with all of this--the Princess Thing and the Jedi Thing--is that--and I can't put too fine a point on this--they are fictional. They don't exist."
Overall: This book could have been so good. Instead, its decent plot is weighed down by an illogical setting and flat, boring characters. And the narration. This is some of the worst narration I've ever read. It's almost four hundred pages of "like", question marks at the end of statements, and other obnoxious slang terms. I wanted to throw this book across the room on a regular basis. I'm disappointed by this, and I do not recommend it to anyone. It might just be the worst book I've read this year. To quote Donna: "Uuuuuuggh. Why?"
Similar Books: It's a dystopian/sci-fi novel with teens running their own society, like Gone , Variant, The Maze Runner, The 100, and Monument 14 .
I received an ARC of this book through NetGalley.
Read more of my reviews at http://anniesepicblog.blogspot.com.
September 13, 2014
Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales
Quick & Dirty: This book had problems, certain ones that made me want to throttle one of the characters. However, the plot twists and turns kept me interested enough to read on and I ended up enjoying it.
Opening Sentence: It’s another gorgeous Spring day after the fall of civilization.
The Review:
Meet the group of Washington Square, survivors of a disease that killed all but those in their teenage years. When you reach 18, though, you fall pray to it. When Jefferson and Donna, along with three other friends, find that the disease originated close by, they go on a mission to find a cure. Of course, people and things will get in their way. Some of their group will die. All of their group will kill to get to where they need to be. And possibly, they might save the world.
The Young World has a plot that is generally very used up. Disease kills everything, only a few survivors left, trying to survive, the whole shabang. They even have, like in Partials, girls that are unable to produce children. For the first half of this book I was vaguely interested but not extremely invested because of how often this dystopia crops up. As more and more happens, I enjoyed it, but still felt some essential element missing. Maybe it was character development. Most of the characters, at the start of the book, are the same people they were at the end. Give or take a few. For those that did change, it wasn’t a gradual one; rather, it was like a switch was flicked. I’m his friend, I love him, at the slightest provocation — and then for the rest of the book it didn’t waver.
Something that was unique about the story was the way it was narrated. Jefferson has a strong grasp on his values and beliefs, and had a voice that spoke them all. I have to say that I could relate to Jefferson more because, well… Donna talks like girls. You know how in this era girls will say “do you, like, want food?” Adding likes and whatnot? The likes are added into her part and you do not notice how annoying it is for a thousand likes on every page until you’re reading through it. If I sound like that then heaven help the people who aren’t used to it (though I hope that by reading my vocabulary is a little more advanced)! She even has a little speech at the beginning about why, like, it isn’t such a bad word, like, you know, it helps relate stuff and, like, yeah. I respected her more towards the end as her actions overpower how she narrates, but at the beginning, nada.
The other characters were also interesting with original personalities. I really enjoyed Brainbox who managed to make me laugh once or twice with his awkward social skills. Brainbox is a super smart boy with a knack for building generators and understanding science that no one else begins to get. He’s the kind of guy who pieces together everything about fifty pages before everyone else and when he realizes they haven’t got it yet, helps to clue them in. The next is SeeThrough, a little ninja who is small but powerful. Her father used to run a karate business, so she might look puny but she knows how to defend herself. And then Peter. I really loved Peter. He’s gay and proud, and also made me giggle a few times. Donna is closest to him of the group.
Altogether? The Young World was a pretty good book, worth a read if you can stand three million “likes” in a chapter. The plotline wasn’t very original, but twists and turns kept me guessing and interested enough to continue reading. The ending was sped up more than the rest, giving me a rushed feel that didn’t give me the closure I wanted. I even didn’t understand at first what was happening — then I reread. Yes, I liked this book. Yes, there are things that could have been changed. Things that were done super well was the complicated plot and world-building. Also, I could always tell which character was narrating. Improvement could have been added to character development (make it more gradual), and the ending. And of course, the likes.
Notable Scene:
I look down at the slice of roast in front of me.
The roast is an oblong hunk of meat, browned at the edges, sweating pink juice onto a platter. The smell that rises from it is sublime.
My mouth waters as I gag.
“You could say that about other taboos,” says Alpha.
Then, a moment before the part that I call “I” can say it, I realize I am looking at a cooked human thigh.
FTC Advisory: Little Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette Book Group provided me with a copy of The Young World. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
Quick & Dirty: This book had problems, certain ones that made me want to throttle one of the characters. However, the plot twists and turns kept me interested enough to read on and I ended up enjoying it.
Opening Sentence: It’s another gorgeous Spring day after the fall of civilization.
The Review:
Meet the group of Washington Square, survivors of a disease that killed all but those in their teenage years. When you reach 18, though, you fall pray to it. When Jefferson and Donna, along with three other friends, find that the disease originated close by, they go on a mission to find a cure. Of course, people and things will get in their way. Some of their group will die. All of their group will kill to get to where they need to be. And possibly, they might save the world.
The Young World has a plot that is generally very used up. Disease kills everything, only a few survivors left, trying to survive, the whole shabang. They even have, like in Partials, girls that are unable to produce children. For the first half of this book I was vaguely interested but not extremely invested because of how often this dystopia crops up. As more and more happens, I enjoyed it, but still felt some essential element missing. Maybe it was character development. Most of the characters, at the start of the book, are the same people they were at the end. Give or take a few. For those that did change, it wasn’t a gradual one; rather, it was like a switch was flicked. I’m his friend, I love him, at the slightest provocation — and then for the rest of the book it didn’t waver.
Something that was unique about the story was the way it was narrated. Jefferson has a strong grasp on his values and beliefs, and had a voice that spoke them all. I have to say that I could relate to Jefferson more because, well… Donna talks like girls. You know how in this era girls will say “do you, like, want food?” Adding likes and whatnot? The likes are added into her part and you do not notice how annoying it is for a thousand likes on every page until you’re reading through it. If I sound like that then heaven help the people who aren’t used to it (though I hope that by reading my vocabulary is a little more advanced)! She even has a little speech at the beginning about why, like, it isn’t such a bad word, like, you know, it helps relate stuff and, like, yeah. I respected her more towards the end as her actions overpower how she narrates, but at the beginning, nada.
The other characters were also interesting with original personalities. I really enjoyed Brainbox who managed to make me laugh once or twice with his awkward social skills. Brainbox is a super smart boy with a knack for building generators and understanding science that no one else begins to get. He’s the kind of guy who pieces together everything about fifty pages before everyone else and when he realizes they haven’t got it yet, helps to clue them in. The next is SeeThrough, a little ninja who is small but powerful. Her father used to run a karate business, so she might look puny but she knows how to defend herself. And then Peter. I really loved Peter. He’s gay and proud, and also made me giggle a few times. Donna is closest to him of the group.
Altogether? The Young World was a pretty good book, worth a read if you can stand three million “likes” in a chapter. The plotline wasn’t very original, but twists and turns kept me guessing and interested enough to continue reading. The ending was sped up more than the rest, giving me a rushed feel that didn’t give me the closure I wanted. I even didn’t understand at first what was happening — then I reread. Yes, I liked this book. Yes, there are things that could have been changed. Things that were done super well was the complicated plot and world-building. Also, I could always tell which character was narrating. Improvement could have been added to character development (make it more gradual), and the ending. And of course, the likes.
Notable Scene:
I look down at the slice of roast in front of me.
The roast is an oblong hunk of meat, browned at the edges, sweating pink juice onto a platter. The smell that rises from it is sublime.
My mouth waters as I gag.
“You could say that about other taboos,” says Alpha.
Then, a moment before the part that I call “I” can say it, I realize I am looking at a cooked human thigh.
FTC Advisory: Little Brown Books for Young Readers/Hachette Book Group provided me with a copy of The Young World. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review.
April 9, 2021
And I'm reminded of why I'm not a fan of multiple POVs.
Because I usually end up disliking the view of one of the characters and deeply dread their chapters.
So who was it this time? Donna or Jefferson?
I won't keep you in suspense: it was Donna.
Maybe it was just because I hated her so much, but it felt like her chapters were way longer than Jefferson's? I don't know, but I couldn't stand the ridiculous way she spoke. She said 'like' no less than 50 times each chapter. She was that annoying, fickle, stupid female character we all know and love. (that was sarcasm)
I didn't even enjoy what was going on in the story when it was told in her point of view because she didn't take anything seriously EVER. At one point they're getting attacked by a frickin' polar bear and she's sitting there giving me descriptions like, "Peter raises his big-ass sword."
And don't even get me started on how she treated Kath. Her completely unreasonable nickname for her and the fact that she thought of her as a slut just because she was insanely beautiful and talked to Jefferson. She had no idea that Jefferson and Kath had slept together, she just made unfair assumptions and didn't even attempt to understand the hell that Kath went through. Kath was raped probably multiple times in her old tribe, of course she's not shy about her body anymore. She's been violated in the worst possible way and Jefferson was someone that she wanted to be with by choice, a choice she didn't get to make before. And she saved all their lives! You know what, I liked Kath a lot.
Oooooooooh! And I have to complain about this.
Brainbox was my favourite character. He didn't say much, but when he did he made me realize that he really was the most intelligent of the group. And he's very chill.
If I find the time, I think I'll have to read the next book because of that damn cliffhanger.
Because I usually end up disliking the view of one of the characters and deeply dread their chapters.
So who was it this time? Donna or Jefferson?
I won't keep you in suspense: it was Donna.
Maybe it was just because I hated her so much, but it felt like her chapters were way longer than Jefferson's? I don't know, but I couldn't stand the ridiculous way she spoke. She said 'like' no less than 50 times each chapter. She was that annoying, fickle, stupid female character we all know and love. (that was sarcasm)
I didn't even enjoy what was going on in the story when it was told in her point of view because she didn't take anything seriously EVER. At one point they're getting attacked by a frickin' polar bear and she's sitting there giving me descriptions like, "Peter raises his big-ass sword."
And don't even get me started on how she treated Kath. Her completely unreasonable nickname for her and the fact that she thought of her as a slut just because she was insanely beautiful and talked to Jefferson. She had no idea that Jefferson and Kath had slept together, she just made unfair assumptions and didn't even attempt to understand the hell that Kath went through. Kath was raped probably multiple times in her old tribe, of course she's not shy about her body anymore. She's been violated in the worst possible way and Jefferson was someone that she wanted to be with by choice, a choice she didn't get to make before. And she saved all their lives! You know what, I liked Kath a lot.
Oooooooooh! And I have to complain about this.
Brainbox was my favourite character. He didn't say much, but when he did he made me realize that he really was the most intelligent of the group. And he's very chill.
If I find the time, I think I'll have to read the next book because of that damn cliffhanger.
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