Justine's Thoughts: The Last Days by Scott Westerfeld

The Last Days
By Scott Westerfeld

Pages:

286

A quote:

When the last days come, they will come quickly.

Any thoughts:

• I searched for this book in Scott Westerfeld’s website...but I can’t find it anywhere! I mean, it’s a sequel to Peeps, so it would only make sense if The Last Days was on that same page. I don’t know, I just don’t get it.

• Now, I understand. This is taken from Scott Westerfeld’s site: “Just to remind you, The Last Days is my not-really-a-sequel to Peeps. It’s set in the same parasite-afflicted New York City, but instead of the Night Watch, it follows a bunch of kids trying to start a band and get famous.” Anyway, I won’t give the rest away because it may spoil some things.

• There is some “fact goodness” before each chapter in the novel, which had sparked my interest as always. I love me some pieces of information.

• One more thing I love is how it’s written in different points of view. Five, to be exact. They’re all in first-person. And the thing is: each character has a different style, so you instantly recognize who is narrating. It’s the same in Peeps: Luce always says “dude” a lot, and she’s fierce, in my opinion. In The Last Days, a new character - Zahler - says “fawesome” and “fool” instead of “cool”, Pearl says “nine/all kinds of...”, and etc. You get the point. It’s just really interesting how Scott Westerfeld gives each character a signature.

• Music in The Last Days is described so beautifully, that I found myself rereading the same paragraph more than twice. Of course, it helps too that one of the characters hallucinates sometimes. Still, it’s like you can picture the music notes floating in the air, reaching out and affecting the audience. Music really is a big part of the story, but I can’t say why since that’s a spoiler.

• One thing I was excited to read about was the characters from Peeps coming back! That’s right; two characters appear in the novel towards the end and I was trying to read slowly to...capture that moment, haha. I just love them, that’s all.

• Overall, I really enjoyed Peeps and The Last Days. They don’t really seem like the typical vampire books you read about these days. But that’s okay, originality is a good thing. Plus, you can learn a lot about parasites and evolution.

Justine's Thoughts: Peeps by Scott Westerfeld

Peeps

By Scott Westerfeld

Pages:

304

Book Description:

Okay let’s clear up some myths about vampires. First of all, you won’t see me using the V-word much. In the night watch, we prefer the term parasite positives, or peeps for short.

The main thing to remember is that there’s no magic involved. No flying. No transforming into bats or rats either. We’re talking about a disease.

---

After a chance encounter with a mysterious woman one night, Cal Thompson’s life is changed forever. He’s been infected with an insidious parasite. The good news: he’s only a carrier -- still sane, without the worst of the symptoms. The bad news: he’s infected all his former girlfriends -- and now they’ve turned into what Cal calls peeps. The rest of us call them vampires. And it’s Cal’s job to hunt hem down before they create even more of their kind. . . .

A quote:

Welcome to the wonderful world of parasites.
This is where I live.

Any thoughts:

• A wonderful novel. It reminds me of Uglies, Scott Westerfeld’s series of novels, which I’ve read ages ago and now I don’t remember anything about it other than it was a Sci-Fi novel. So is Peeps. But it’s written differently. Every other chapter it goes on to explain a few facts and it is quite interesting to know all about parasites, really. I cringed at least once because I don’t know anything about parasites and reading about how they function, where they’re found, what they do, the effects they cause...well, let’s just say that I’ve never thought about that.

• I love the plot of this story even though the end will make you feel like it is unfinished. That’s why a sequel to Peeps was created. It begins with how Peeps was finished...so it makes sense, but it’s focused on other people.

• While reading the novel, I realized how much I missed the action. There’s action in this story, which I really love, and it’s just been so long since I started reading novels with action in it. It’s awesome, just to let you know. Scott Westerfeld knows how to brilliantly describe super cool moves.

• And the characters. They’re great. Cal is the one telling the story and also the one to explain the cool facts about parasites and evolution. The others - Lace, Dr. Rat, Manny, Sarah, Morgan (and there’s a bit more you get to read about) - are interesting, but I just wish the novel was longer so I got to know them better. I felt that the time sped by (in the novel) when he talked to the characters. But anyway, all in all, the characters are amazing. I love Lace ;)

• That’s about it. Coming up next is The Last Days, the sequel. Oooh. I’m on it.