Curmudgeon's Corner: The Last Survivors "Trilogy" Rant

Don't you hate it when a book is so good and then the author decides to write another, and ANOTHER, and you just wish they just left it at the one? That was my experience with The Last Survivors "Trilogy" by Susan Beth Pfeffer. I put trilogy in quotes because I don't really feel like this fits the definition of a trilogy since the second book is a parallel novel that doesn't even have Miranda (the main character from the first novel) and her family in it.

Goodreads Book Description: Miranda’s disbelief turns to fear in a split second when a meteor knocks the moon closer to the earth. How should her family prepare for the future when worldwide tsunamis wipe out the coasts, earthquakes rock the continents, and volcanic ash blocks out the sun? As summer turns to Arctic winter, Miranda, her two brothers, and their mother retreat to the unexpected safe haven of their sunroom, where they subsist on stockpiled food and limited water in the warmth of a wood-burning stove.

Told in journal entries, this is the heart-pounding story of Miranda’s struggle to hold on to the most important resource of all--hope--in an increasingly desperate and unfamiliar world.

My rating: 5 out of 5 stars

My Review

To put it bluntly, I loved this book. A good friend recommended it to me. I had started it a year ago, but stopped because I didn't think the first few chapters were that compelling. I'll get to that later. I'm just glad I went back to it.

Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer stars Miranda, a normal girl who lives in a small town. She is your typical teenager-- fights with her mom, whines about how life is unfair, and struggles with math. An asteroid hits the moon, and the tides cover many areas of land, causing wide spread destruction, panic, and death. Even Miranda and her family who live more inland are affected. They band together, hoard food, and cut wood in anticipation for what is to come. What begins is a very poignant portrayal of survival.

I'll stand by my initial words-- the beginning is still not my favorite. I know that we are supposed to get lulled into Miranda's normal life, but it's almost too much. The story really begins, ironically, when the world seems to come to an end (literally, not just in teen speak). That said, after the asteroid hits, the story gradually heightens the tension and suspense. We grow to love Miranda and her family, and she is forced to grow up fast. But she does, and I admire the woman she becomes in such dire circumstances. The side characters are just as wonderful and three dimensional-- including her two brothers, Jon and Matt, and her mother. Matt is probably my favorite, and I am awed by how well he keeps the family together. He is only a freshman in college. One of the most moving scenes, however, is when the family gets sick with flu. I won't say any more and have the reader discover this scene for themselves. I was moved to tears.

Overall, this book has the feel of the Diary of Anne Frank, as it is told in diary entries of Miranda. This feel was probably completely on purpose by Pfeffer, as the world that Miranda lives in can be compared to Anne Frank's experience, hiding with her family from the Nazis. I was impressed with the world building, the well thought out and three dimensional characters, and the emotional impact of this book. At the end, I was still left with the hope that not only people but the goodness in human nature would survive.

Sounds awesome, right? So then we get to the second book, which is a parallel book, meaning it takes place at the same time as Life As We Knew It, but with different characters.

Goodreads book description: Susan Beth Pfeffer’s Life as We Knew It enthralled and devastated readers with its brutal but hopeful look at an apocalyptic event--an asteroid hitting the moon, setting off a tailspin of horrific climate changes. Now this harrowing companion novel examines the same events as they unfold in New York City, revealed through the eyes of seventeen-year-old Puerto Rican Alex Morales. When Alex's parents disappear in the aftermath of tidal waves, he must care for his two younger sisters, even as Manhattan becomes a deadly wasteland, and food and aid dwindle.

With haunting themes of family, faith, personal change, and courage, this powerful new novel explores how a young man takes on unimaginable responsibilities.

My Rating: ??

So it turns out my Kindle knows me well and didn't even give me the option to read this book. So instead I read the third book (thinking it was the second book), which takes place a month after Life as We Knew It, and we are back in journal format with Miranda, who meets Alex, the star of the second book. Once I figured this out, I decided that if Alex seemed interesting in the third, I'd go back to the second. Not so much.

That leads us to the final book, This World We Live In.

Goodreads Book Description: It’s been a year since a meteor collided with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth’s climate. For Miranda Evans, life as she knew it no longer exists. Her friends and neighbors are dead, the landscape is frozen, and food is increasingly scarce.

The struggle to survive intensifies when Miranda’s father and stepmother arrive with a baby and three strangers in tow. One of the newcomers is Alex Morales, and as Miranda’s complicated feelings for him turn to love, his plans for his future thwart their relationship. Then a devastating tornado hits the town of Howell, and Miranda makes a decision that will change their lives forever.

My rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Yeah, wasn't a fan of this book.

My Abbreviated Review: 

Miranda continues to write about how life is after the meteor disaster and the struggle to find food and other necessities. Except it seems like all of the characters have regressed in their maturity. Miranda starts whining about how bad life is again and fights with her mom about ridiculous things. Matt, who may have been my favorite character in the last book, now is completely self centered and can only talk about a girl he's found while fishing. New characters enter the book (Alex and company), but they only add to the whine and dine that is this book, which is why I had no desire to go back and read the second book.

I was completely underwhelmed by this new entry in this series and hope that this is the last one. Life As We Knew It is a wonderful book and can act as a stand alone. I encourage people to see it that way.

What did you think of this "trilogy"?

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