Helpful Score: 2
This book is the continuation of Miranda and her family's story from "Life As We Knew It" and it is every bit as absorbing, as well. While I enjoyed "The Dead and the Gone", it did not have the same impact as these two books, for me. I love the characters and the way these are told from the journal writings of this young girl in a harsh and changing world. Some new characters come in. New lessons learned in a world of continuing hardships. This one is a bit darker, but a wonderful read!
Helpful Score: 1
Heartbreaking, yet the best book in the series.
Helpful Score: 1
Reviewed by Karin Librarian for TeensReadToo.com
A year has passed since a meteor collided with the moon, sending it closer to the earth, and forever changing the world. In LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, Miranda chronicles the events her family experiences as they struggle for survival during dramatic weather changes, loss of friends, and dangerous food shortages.
The companion novel, THE DEAD & THE GONE, follows the hardships of Alex and his sisters in New York City. The author paints a more gruesome side of life in this installment. One that stays with the reader long after the book is closed.
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN brings the two stories together.
Once again, we see Miranda at home with her mother and two brothers as they continue to eke out a living. They find ways to deal with lack of food, poor air quality, cold temperatures, and no electricity. Even though they are doing okay now, Miranda knows it won't always be like this. The food deliveries might stop and then what would they do? Miranda's mother rejects any suggestion of leaving , but Miranda knows there will come a time when they'll have no choice.
Miranda's brothers leave for a fishing trip in an attempt to supplement the provisions they receive weekly from town. Matt and Jon bring back a lot more than fish. While fishing, they run into a band of travelers including Miranda's father, his new wife, Lisa, and their new baby, Gabriel. Also traveling with them is a man named Charlie and a brother and sister named Alex and Julie. As if that weren't enough, Matt meets a girl named Syl and claims her as his wife.
If supplies were dangerously low before, adding six more people to the mix made it downright frightening. Everyone struggled - with issues of privacy, issues of jealously, and issues of conscience.
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN returns the reader to the first-person diary format of LIFE AS WE KNEW IT. Miranda documents her changing life as she talks about her growing family, her complicated feelings for Alex, and the grotesque discoveries that still seem to pop up even after a year. Their lives settle into a new routine until an unthinkable disaster rips through town. Miranda and her family are forced to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives if they want to survive in the world they live in now.
Susan Beth Pfeffer gives her readers what they've wanted. Personally, I'm very glad she went back to the first-person diary format. Even though there were times Miranda seemed at bit too whiny and I wanted to strangle Alex, I'm happy with the ending of the book.
If this series is new to you, please begin by reading LIFE AS WE KNEW IT followed by THE DEAD & THE GONE. You won't be able to understand the full impact of what these characters are going through in THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN without knowing a little about their backgrounds.
A year has passed since a meteor collided with the moon, sending it closer to the earth, and forever changing the world. In LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, Miranda chronicles the events her family experiences as they struggle for survival during dramatic weather changes, loss of friends, and dangerous food shortages.
The companion novel, THE DEAD & THE GONE, follows the hardships of Alex and his sisters in New York City. The author paints a more gruesome side of life in this installment. One that stays with the reader long after the book is closed.
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN brings the two stories together.
Once again, we see Miranda at home with her mother and two brothers as they continue to eke out a living. They find ways to deal with lack of food, poor air quality, cold temperatures, and no electricity. Even though they are doing okay now, Miranda knows it won't always be like this. The food deliveries might stop and then what would they do? Miranda's mother rejects any suggestion of leaving , but Miranda knows there will come a time when they'll have no choice.
Miranda's brothers leave for a fishing trip in an attempt to supplement the provisions they receive weekly from town. Matt and Jon bring back a lot more than fish. While fishing, they run into a band of travelers including Miranda's father, his new wife, Lisa, and their new baby, Gabriel. Also traveling with them is a man named Charlie and a brother and sister named Alex and Julie. As if that weren't enough, Matt meets a girl named Syl and claims her as his wife.
If supplies were dangerously low before, adding six more people to the mix made it downright frightening. Everyone struggled - with issues of privacy, issues of jealously, and issues of conscience.
THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN returns the reader to the first-person diary format of LIFE AS WE KNEW IT. Miranda documents her changing life as she talks about her growing family, her complicated feelings for Alex, and the grotesque discoveries that still seem to pop up even after a year. Their lives settle into a new routine until an unthinkable disaster rips through town. Miranda and her family are forced to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives if they want to survive in the world they live in now.
Susan Beth Pfeffer gives her readers what they've wanted. Personally, I'm very glad she went back to the first-person diary format. Even though there were times Miranda seemed at bit too whiny and I wanted to strangle Alex, I'm happy with the ending of the book.
If this series is new to you, please begin by reading LIFE AS WE KNEW IT followed by THE DEAD & THE GONE. You won't be able to understand the full impact of what these characters are going through in THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN without knowing a little about their backgrounds.
What an ending. My heart was pounding reading the last 50 pages. This was a very good book. I feel that this book and how it ended and the death that is in the book that I would rate the book for ages 18 in up, but I'm conservative and protective of my kids and I don't think this series would be good for them under 16. About the books in general the first one was the best. I enjoyed the second one but I didn't like waiting to read the third one to get back to the original family played in book 1. It was a great series and very well done and I really enjoyed the "journal" theme of the writing. WELL DONE! A Great Ending, I love that not everything ends PERFECTLY - This made the book COMPLETE!
Talk about an all-nighter! I started this book last night at 8 pm, and found I was incapable of stopping. It was so gripping, so easy to keep going, impossible, as they say, to put down. I'd read the first 2 already,last year - and though I couldn't remember all the facts & characters immediately (however, I do believe it's better to read these books close together, if possible) it all came back very quickly; it was as if I'd always known them, known these families and their fears. And suddenly realizing it was 1:30 am, can't stop reading, then I look up a little later - it's 3 am. I fell asleep near dawn. Woke up at 8 in the morning and couldn't get out of bed till I had finished the book. Never have I done that, not even when I HAD to, in college. It was so immediate, and compelling. Very strong ending, like a loud chord! I think this is the most powerful and moving of the series so far. Heartrending, too...the story so well told that you're not even aware time is passing. Myself, I didn't want it to end. And now, I see I'm somewhere in a wishlist of 43 others for the next book. I think this time I won't wait so long to read The Shade of the Moon, I may simply have to buy it!
I enjoyed picking up where we left off in Book one. Though this is book 3. This is a devastating story, one filled with reality in the face of humanity's worst fears. How things would be for any of us if something like this happened to the world. The moon falling close to the earth, causing the end of days. I was so close to all of the characters and it could be any of us. I highly recommend this series.
