The Last Days

by Scott Westerfeld | Teens |
ISBN: 1595141286 Global Overview for this book
Registered by wingGoryDetailswing of Nashua, New Hampshire USA on 8/26/2011
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Journal Entry 1 by wingGoryDetailswing from Nashua, New Hampshire USA on Friday, August 26, 2011
I really enjoyed Westerfeld's book Peeps, and when I came across this fair-condition trade paperback follow-on novel at the Book Cellar I had to pick it up. [It features a different set of characters, but does take place in the same universe as the previous book - and there are a couple of characters from Peeps who make brief but significant appearances here.]

While not quite up to the standard of the first book, this one entertained me very much, from the opening quote from the Night Mayor's annals to the varying points of view - it's told from the viewpoints of five main characters, so we get to see each them from others' eyes as well as their own. It opens with Moz and Zahler, long-time friends who play guitar together in a kind of two-man band (that's not really a band), as they come across a woman who's hurling personal items out of her 4th-story apartment. One of these items is a rare Stratocaster guitar, which Moz rescues with the help of a bespectacled girl named Pearl - and with that meeting comes the plan to form an actual band. Pearl has a friend who can sing, you see (despite some... personal issues), and the boys know of a subway-performer who drums on paint buckets, and no sooner have they begun to play together then they find they make beautiful - and magical - music...

But is that magic a good thing or not? A charismatic but devious talent agent comes into the mix, along with visions of immense monstrous beings tunneling below the city. And since the city itself is falling apart daily, people going missing or going crazy, garbage piling up, hordes of rats and cats everywhere, our heroes find themselves trying to prepare for their first big gig while avoiding the chaos around them.

I liked where the story went, and enjoyed the characters and their interactions. There's enough explanation of back-story from the previous book that you know what's going on, but I think it does pay off to read the other one first; this one felt a wee bit lighter, despite the scale of the disaster that was taking place, oddly enough. Still, a good read, often very funny, and should resonate with musicians...

Released 11 yrs ago (10/31/2012 UTC) at Daniel Webster Highway (See Text For Details) in Nashua, New Hampshire USA

WILD RELEASE NOTES:

I left this book among the display of mums in front of Trader Joe's (262 DW Highway) at about 4 or so; hope the finder enjoys it!

*** Released as part of the 2012 Chills & Spills release challenge; it features vampires and monsters. ***

*** Released for the 2012 TICK-TOCK Challenge. ***

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