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Summary
Summary
When a deadly virus begins to sweep through sixteen-year-old Kaelyn's community, the government quarantines her island-no one can leave, and no one can come back.
Those still healthy must fight for dwindling supplies, or lose all chance of survival. As everything familiar comes crashing down, Kaelyn joins forces with a former rival and discovers a new love in the midst of heartbreak. When the virus starts to rob her of friends and family, she clings to the belief that there must be a way to save the people she holds dearest.
Because how will she go on if there isn't?
Megan Crewe crafts a powerful and gripping exploration of self-preservation, first love, and hope. Poignant and dizzying, this heart-wrenching story of one girl's bravery and unbeatable spirit will leave readers fervently awaiting the next book in this standout new series.
Reviews (5)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 7 Up-In Crewe's sequel (2013) to The Way We Fall (2012, both Hyperion), Kaelyn is on the run with her friends and a new companion, Tobias, who comes to warn the islanders that they are about to be bombed by the military. Kaelyn, who has discovered vials of a potential vaccine for the virus that has destroyed the world, was already planning to leave. Melissa, her three friends, and her love interest try to find a place where doctors might complete the work begun by her father, who created the vaccine. While there are a few improbable situations, the novel's tension and danger (word has gotten out that they possess a vaccine and they are being hunted) is captured by Sisi Aisha Johnson's slow and deliberate reading. There is desolation in her voice as the group discovers the total lack of any society wherever they journey. The narration reflects the full range of the characters' emotions. Listeners will be kept on the edge of their seats throughout and will look forward to the next volume in the trilogy.-Edie Ching, University of Maryland, College Park (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this tense apocalyptic thriller, first in a planned series, Crewe (Give Up the Ghost) explores the slow collapse of society in a microcosm, as a deadly disease ravages a small Canadian island community. Chronicling her town's descent in diary-style letters to her best friend, Leo, who is away at school, introverted 16-year-old Kaelyn watches as a virus sweeps through the town, its victims losing all social inhibitions before dying. With the island quarantined from the mainland and no cure in sight, hope dwindles. Some of the uninfected try to maintain order and help each other survive, while others resort to drastic measures. As Kaelyn loses people she's known all her life, she slowly forms new bonds of friendship and even love. But when she gets sick and inexplicably recovers, it forces her to reassess her life and dreams. As hope wars with loss, this gripping, psychological thriller never loses focus. Though Crewe's story can be gruesome and horrifying, she escapes the trap of making events too depressing and hopeless, maintaining a strong sense of realism throughout. Ages 12-up. Agent: Adams Literary. (Jan.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
Sixteen-year-old Kaelyn has returned to the Canadian island where she grew up, feeling shy but resolved to be more friendly and outgoing. She doesn't get much chance, though. As the island community begins to be hit with a mysterious virus, Kaelyn records the events in her journal as if she is writing to her former best friend, Leo, now off the island. The virus symptoms move from a sore throat to a terrible itch, progressing to a stage where, just before they die, infected people are hyper-friendly and lose all their inhibitions. While Kae's father, a microbiologist, frantically works to diagnose the illness, Kae finds herself gradually taking on a leadership role in distributing information and food to her panicky neighbors while she tries to discern whom she can trust in an atmosphere of fear. Crewe does a good job building the ominous mood where a tiny tickle in your throat can signal approaching death. Comparisons with Susan Beth Pfeffer's Life As We Knew It (rev. 11/06) are inevitable, since both explore the varying effects of fear on families and communities through the eyes of a teenage girl. Kaelyn's growth as she takes on adult responsibility is compelling, as is her tender and slow-building romance with former schoolmate Gav. susan dove lempke (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Give Up the Ghost, 2009) utilizes a less-is-more approach, subtly closing the walls in on the characters as they run out of resources. The narrative consists of Kaelyn's letters she'll never send, addressed to her estranged best friend. While the entries sometimes read less like letters than prose, the focused perspective enhances the claustrophobic atmosphere. An abrupt ending neglects some story aspects but nicely completes Kaelyn's social arc. Readers will root for the believable characters struggling through heartbreaking situations. (Science fiction. 12 up)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Booklist Review
Taking a cue from zombie novels, Crewe refuses to explain the cause of the virus that begins wiping out a small island community. It begins with a sore throat, then progresses with itchy skin, and then most disturbingly the infected become highly affectionate before the hallucinations set in. Kaelyn, 16, has an inside track to the epidemic: her father is a biologist at the local hospital. But his news is bad, and soon the island is cut off from the mainland, running out of power, and victim to a rogue band of looters who begin terrorizing survivors. It's not long before Kaelyn's mom takes ill, and not long after that Kaelyn, too, begins to feel an itch in her throat . . . Written as a journal addressed to Kaelyn's ex-boyfriend, this is the kind of book that makes you look up in alarm when someone near you sniffles. It viscerally conveys the horror of sudden, brutal illness and the struggle between being humane and saving your own skin. A sequel, hopefully just as phlegmy, is on its way.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist