written by teenager but it is as dark disturbing and thought provoking ( )

Loved this book as an 11 year old, and decided to give it a revisit. Definitely did not remember how dark this book was, jeez.. Pretty sure the main character is already suffering from PTSD prior to the apocalyptic plague which wipes out most of the world's population, allowing him the emotional disconnect to deal with the unfolding shitstorm, (really, this poor kid does not get a break..) Meanwhile, my 11 year old self spent a great deal of time happily dreaming about how awesome it would be to be able to live in a giant bookshop, (Waterstones @ Piccadilly was my preferred choice), and never be bothered by anyone ever again. ( )

YA apocalyptic fiction. So-so. I had some trouble believing that the mortality rate would be so high, but can accept it as a quirk of the genre. It was the last quarter of the book that brought it down for me. Lucy simply had no personality at all. Not that Neil had a whole lot either, but Lucy seemed like no more than a conveniently placed plot point. The book wasn't bad, but I expected better of John Christopher. ( )

Empty World by John Christopher revolves around the story of Neil Miller, a teenager who was living a normal life until a car accident killed the rest of his family. He is sent to live in a quiet retirement village on the coast of England with his grandparents, and one of his first nights there the news reports the story of a plague sweeping through India. The plague mutates and rapidly spreads around the world, killing almost everyone, starting with older people. Neil is one of the few who survives, in part because he has learned to handle grief and loneliness. He teaches himself to drive and goes to London in search of other people.

This story is beautifully written, and affected me more than John Christopher's more famous post-apocalyptic novel "No Blade of Grass". This story is told from the perspective of a teenager, and the end of the world as we know it is particularly sad as seen though the eyes of an innocent. Highly recommended. ( )

A junior (Puffin) version of Survivors, but if anything this is even more downbeat, until the very end, with only a total of 4 or 5 survivors (all teenagers) after the plague (here a form of super-acclerated progeria) and the hero on his own for much of it. Chilling and compulsive, as the blurb on the back says. ( )