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When the world officially falls apart thanks to a virus that originated on an island and couldn't be quarantined. Despite everyone's best efforts for a cure, the only tried and true vaccine was developed on the same island where the virus originated. Now a group of kids are the last hope to get it to the CDC in order to save what's left of their world.
Kaelyn never imagined she would hold the hope of saving the world in her hands. Then again, she never imagined she would watch the people she loved get sick, go mad, and die, either. When her dad died, she assumed the responsibility to get the cure to a place where it could be mass-produced and distributed, but the journey is far from easy. While Kaelyn and her friend Leo are vaccinated, no one else in the group is safe from the virus, including her boyfriend. Without an immunity, Kae's group finds itself with two infected members. Knowing how the virus plays out, they don't think they will ever make it all the way to the CDC in Atlanta.
It doesn't help that there is a gang of malicious, greedy thugs on their tail, either. The Wardens, sent by Michael, their leader, are determined to get the vaccine. Michael has created a group who aren't afraid to profit from the apocalypse, and if they get the vaccine, it will only get to the highest bidders. The group knows their mission is a life or death journey, but the true magnitude of how many lives they hold in their hands with the vaccine is almost too much for a group of teenagers to handle. The only thing that keeps them going is a duty to everything they have lost in this whirlwind apocalypse.
When it comes to the apocalypse, we all know it is going to get ugly, but how ugly should we make it in a young adult novel? Authors like Mike Mullin, Michael Grant, and Lex Thomas show the dirty, ugly side of things with all its grit and grime and don't hide anything from the audience. Then there are authors who can tell the story without getting too graphic, like Mindy McGinnis or Emmy Laybourne. It isn't that they are hiding the grit, they just have a knack for tip toeing around the big, bad and ugly. Everything is behind the black curtain or the "fade to black" where the other authors lay it all out, clear as day. Neither approach is bad, they are just very different, but the thing I like about having both options is that I can get different types and ages of kids to read the same kind of stories while still finding one that is developmentally appropriate for my student. For this series, I have to say Crewe decided to keep the ugly side of humanity behind the curtain and leave it up to the reader's imagination.
For this reason, I really like this story for those younger students who may have liked the dystopias out in the genre right now but aren't really mature enough to handle the graphic side of post-apocalyptic stories. I could give this to a middle school student and they would see one layer, or an older student and they would see a deeper layer. I don't have to worry about situations being too mature or too graphic for a younger student. The story itself was really interesting and would hold the attention of any reader, and Kaelyn is a determined, strong young woman to read about. I was impressed with this trilogy and look forward to more from Crewe!
When a virus takes over, it is only natural to assume the Powers that Be would be developing a vaccine or a treatment to stop the pandemic. People trust the government will save them. But a virus that collapsed all the governing powers is going to squash any hope of finding a cure as well. In the second book of Megan Crewe's The Fallen Worlds Trilogy, Kaelyn has the weight of the world on her shoulders. In The Lives We Lost, the hope of a cure lies in the hands of an orphaned teenage girl.
Kae isn't in the mood for celebrating her birthday with everything that has happened to them. When she grabs her father's coat, the only thing that still smells like him, she discovers the key she has been looking for desperately: the key to his lab where he was trying to develop a cure. When she goes to the lab, she finds 5 vials of a vaccine her father was convinced would work, and as the first guinea pig, it seemed to be protecting him. With the vaccine in tow, Kae convinces Gav to trek with her to Ottawa in search of government scientists who can replicate the vaccine and save the world. What they don't expect are military helicopters to descend on the island in order to destroy what they believe is the epicenter of the pandemic. When a lone soldier speeds up to the dock to save them, Kae piles everyone in to race across the straight to the mainland. Now they are forced to begin their journey with more than they had expected and even with a kid in tow.
But life on the mainland has changed. Leo tried to warn them about what it was like in a world where everyone was scared of dying, people were freezing to death, and starvation was imminent, but Kae is determined to save people with her vaccine. She uses 2 of the vials to vaccinate her little cousin Meredith and Leo, but Gav refuses to use one of the precious vaccines on himself. As they get further into the mainland, however, it becomes clear the virus isn't the only thing they have to worry about. When Meredith tells a group of hostile strangers about the vaccine, the group finds themselves dodging the murderous gang all across Canada. There are a lot of people who would love to save themselves with the few vaccines instead of save the world, but a few brave teens know the right thing to do, even if it kills them.
There is a lot about this book, the group of teens tracking across the countryside, the snow, the food, etc. that reminds me of Ashfall by Mike Mullin, but this story is much less mature than Mullin's series. That isn't to say it isn't a good story, but if you have read some of the more gritty and mature versions of this story, this one won't be as exciting. There were quite a few instances where I wanted to just smack the kids as they announced their possession of a vaccine, got in arguments with people on the street, and trusted people WAY too easily, but I imagine there are a lot of naive young adults out there who would fall into the same traps (although letting your little cousin announce you have a vaccine is quite possibly the stupidest thing you could ever do). I wanted them to maintain a lower profile, but they seemed hell-bent on walking in and announcing their presence with every step. It was maddening at times.
Even with the lack of maturity, this was a fun story. It's mild nature would make it great for a younger reader who was new to the post-apocalyptic genre, but it would probably be too immature for a reader who had finished a story like Ashfall. I would give it to your stronger middle school readers, and it would be really interesting to see how many of those kids would find the actions of the book's characters to be childish as I did. Maybe they wouldn't even notice! But, Crewe did a pretty good job, and I will definitely be coming back to the third book to see the final leg of their journey.
Living on an island seems idyllic, right? Well, if a deadly virus broke out on your island, you might not think your isolation was so beneficial, especially when the government quarantined everyone on the island and killed anyone trying to leave. In Megan Crewe's first book of the The Fallen World trilogy, The Way We Fall, we get a view of island life that will make you cringe (or itch if you have fallen ill!).
Kaelyn misses Leo, but being back on the island where her mother grew up and not in the big city is enough of a transition to keep her mind occupied. Still, she writes Leo letters in a journal to say all the things she wished she had said in person. She tries to transition, but the kids in school aren't as willing to accept her as they used to be. When one of her friends' father gets sick, she is creeped out by the strangely and brutally honest things he says to her. When he devolves into illness and dies, it begins cycle the island is bound to succumb to.
Soon everyone is getting sick. The illness is contagious, so simply speaking with someone is sick could doom you to the cycle. With so many dying on the island, the government decides to cut the island off to protect the rest of the mainland, but doing so cuts the island off from necessary supplies. The government drops a few supply shipments, but when things start to get tight, looting and hoarding become a problem. When Kaelyn sees Gav, a classmate, taking food from stores, she assumes he is hoarding, but in reality he is trying to make sure everyone out there gets fed in the wake of the crisis. Even though the world is coming to an end, there are still some people out there trying to do right by others, but how can you keep looking to the future when almost everyone you know has lost their future to an unbeatable illness?
I have now officially read three quarantine stories in the past two months. Didn't really intend to go on a quarantine binge, but I did. Out of the three, I would say this was my second favorite, just behind Lex Thomas' Quarantine (original title, I know). I think this story was more realistic in terms of the actual illness, but somethings seemed off about the state of civilization on the island. No one really fights back. Mostly people hunker down. And the looting takes a while (like weeks and weeks) to finally ravage the island. I found that a little unbelievable, but it made for a better story in terms of humanity. I didn't find myself constantly thinking I would rather be a banana slug than a human being.
My biggest issue with this story was its premise- not the quarantine or the illness, or even the island, but the totally unnecessary "journal conversation" with Leo. Leo is never on the island, isn't even fully explained, but the whole bloody book, is about him? This book would have been much more powerful without that angle. I didn't even mind the first person narrative, which isn't usually my style, but I hated the idea of Kae pouring her heart out to a boy who has nothing to do with any of the story I was reading. In fact, I don't even know the full Leo story now that I have finished the book! OK, end rant. Sorry.
But still, I really did like this story and have every intention of reading the next book in the trilogy. I am looking forward to more of Gav, because he is just the type of young man you all hope your sons will grow up into. He thinks about others before himself and risks everything to help people he barely knows. I love Gav! This is a mild mini-apocalypse type story that would be appropriate for a mixture of ages and reading levels as it is relatively tame on all fronts. And hopefully Crewe will explain a little about Leo in the next book, or ditch him altogether!
