Even more predictable. ( )

Rating: 4.6/5

This book continues right off from where the second book in this series finished off. While it does recap a few things, I found it best to read this book right after finishing the second book. This book does have violence in it, so if you don't like reading about that, then don't read this book.

The author continues with the humour, it's not as much as the previous books in this series, as this book is more serious.

“Drink your potatoes or you can’t have potatoes for dessert.”

“Cute makes me sound like a stuffed animal.”
“Keep in mind that I sleep with my stuffed animals.”
“Okay, cute it is, that’s definitely me, cute as a button.”

There are some great reminders that having a group as leaders, is better than just having one person. They all see and think differently.

“Keep on questioning my decisions,” Herb said. “Sometimes the people on the committee are uneasy about challenging me.”
“Well, you have been right most of the time.”
“Just keep on questioning what I’m saying, promise?”

Many discussions are had that reflect our planet currently.

Sometimes it helps to have the right person there, at the right time. As well as to gain friend and partnerships, as everyone should want to help each other.

“It’s good for all of us to have somebody to talk to. There have been things I’ve had to go through that have shaken me.”

I found myself wanting to keep reading, so please keep an eye on the time while reading, otherwise you may miss things, or stay up all night.

“I wasn’t asleep. I was watching out the front window. This must be important,” Herb said.
“It is. We have to talk. We have everything wrong.”

I'm not going to spoil how this ends, but it does finish off the series, but leaves it open if the author decides to continue writing.

"There was always hope. Life would find a way." ( )

Good. ( )

One of this year's Evergreen Book Award nominees - and a realistic contribution to the YA dystopian /survival genre that's so popular right now. Adam Daley, our protagonist, is pivotal in helping his friends and neighbors survive a complete computer outage, help care for his twin brother/sister, and assist their usually reserved neighbor, Herb, who definitely is using his past career experiences in the CIA to plan ahead. Within days people throughout the region are desperate for food/clean water, and society reverts to survival mode so quickly it shocks even Adam's mother, the precinct police captain for their neighborhood. Adam's father, a airline pilot, was away from home with a flight slated for Chicago; ominously, the family has not heard from him since the outage. Adam's two classmates, smart-aleck friend Todd, and Lori Peterson, a farm girl, add both comic relief and a budding romance subplot. Never gratitious or profane, this story is appropriate for any teen. Clearly written, YA appropriate word choice, and one plot twist after another brings readers along as Adam emerges from regular teenage boy into a man helping fight a war for his family and neighborhood's survival. ( )

This is the final book in the trilogy, but it provides enough backstory that it would easily be possible for someone to read the last book without having read book 1 and 2. I don't recommend doing that, but it would be possible. I enjoyed book 3 and feel that, unlike many trilogies, Walters did a great job tying up loose ends. When I finished reading, I wasn't left with a whole bunch of questions, other than the obvious one which was - Who or what made the electrical devices all stop working in the first place. That never does get explained, and really, it doesn't matter in order for a reader to enjoy the story.
There are some very violent, shocking things that happen in book 3, but they are not described too graphically so I think middle school readers will easily be able to handle the content. I love that the setting is quite close to our school, and I think this final installation will just fly off the middle school shelves. ( )