This World We Live in by Susan Beth Pfeffer

The third and final book in Susan Beth Pfeffer’s trilogy, this world we live in brilliantly pulls everything from the first two books together.  In Life As We Knew It, Miranda and her family struggle to survive after the moon is knocked closer to the earth, at the exact same time in The Dead And The Gone , Alex and his sisters in another part of the world fear for their parents well-being as they battle to find food and turn to unthinkable deeds to stay together and stay alive.

Now, it has been a year since the meteor collided with the moon and destroyed the earths sense of climate balance.  Miranda and her brothers now search abandoned homes for any items that could be useful… batteries, blankets, clothing, tools, and if they are lucky… a little food. 

And things only escalate when Miranda’s dad shows up the scene with his new wife and baby as well as three strangers.  Now there are that many more mouths to feed… and that many more personalities all residing under the same roof with nowhere to go to get a little space from one another.  And the mysterious teenage boy that arrived with Miranda’s dad is stirring some feelings within her that she can not believe she is capable of under these dire circumstances.

Thanks to a comment from Angie on my The Dead And The Gone post, I suddenly realized I never wrote or posted a review for this third book in the series.  A quick blog search confirmed that.  I had listened to the audio in December and somehow…. just… well…

forgot to review it. 

While I LOVE LOVED the first book in this trilogy, and LOVED the second book, this one seemed to have lost its steam along the way of two story lines coming together.  While it was still an enjoyable read listen, I found myself not as engaged as the plot unfolded… 

Let me try to explain… what was exciting and scary in the first two books, was not so much in the third.  At this point it just felt like every day living in this new life of little food, irritations with one another, and the occasional adventure outside the walls of the fort like house.  I really found myself wondering where it was all going to go and then it just never seemed to get there.  In fact the way it did all end was open enough for me to wonder – was this a trilogy?  Or is there going to be a fourth book to tie this up better?

Obviously its hard to find a happy ending to a post apocalyptic world, but I did expect something to ignite an emotion in me other than confusion.  On the other hand, I was invested enough in the story from the two previous reads that if Susan Beth Pfeffer did come up with a fourth book, I would probably pick it up as I am still curious as to where this is all going.  In that way, I guess I hope where the book left off is not the end, not because it was so incredible I want more, but because it is so open I feel the story is unfinished. 

Susan Beth Pfeffer writes interesting and real characters and has a knack for creating a world that feels real enough to have me thinking of the “what if’s”.

Amazon Rating

Goodreads Review

I rented this audio from my local library

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