Book Title: The Shade of the Moon
Author: Susan Beth Pfeffer
Genre: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopian
My Rating: 3.5 out of 5
What's it about? Four years ago, Jon Evans and his family were living in suburban Pennsylvania when the moon was hit by a meteor. This cosmic event wreaked havoc across the entire world, creating incessant tsunamis, earthquakes, tornados and sunless skies. Now, Jon, his stepmother Lisa and half-brother Gabe live in an enclave/safe-town in Sexton, TN. His entire family was split up and only he, Lisa, and Gabe live normal, healthy lives as "clavers". The rest of his family are "grubs" that live outside the enclave and are forced to do all of the clavers' dirty work. A riot ensues between the clavers and grubs, which leaves Jon in a tough spot. Does he side with the clavers to protect the life he knows any grub would die for? Or does he side with the grubs to protect his mother, sister, and new girlfriend Sarah?
What type of reader is it for? A reader who enjoys: books written in a diary/journal format, movies like "2012" or "The Day after Tomorrow", or books written from a young male perspective.
Should you read it? Yes and no. If you get hooked on the first two books like I did, it's definitely worth finishing the series. But it's not a stand-alone book and shouldn't be read as one.
The first book, "Life as We Knew It", is written from Jon's sister Miranda's perspective. The second book, "The Dead and the Gone", is written from another young male perspective (Alex's). And the third book, "This World We Live In", is how Miranda meets Alex.
Going into the last book, it surprised me that it would be written in Jon's perspective- but I decided to finish the series. I loved the concept of the moon/meteor/end-of-the-world at first, but I felt like the series became repetitive by the last book. I was sort of sick of hearing about the lack of food and comfort in the post-apocalyptic world. Yes, we already know it sucks. But, Jon, what are you going to do about it!?
Pfeffer added in some interesting elements with the new "clavers" and "grubs", but Jon and his girlfriend Sarah just weren't characters I was really rooting for. I wanted to see what happened to Jon's mom and stepmom. I wanted to find out what happened to Miranda (Jon's sister). And you do find out all of these things, but the ending is really vague. It leaves you guessing a bit too much and wishing there was one final chapter to clear up some details about their future.
Have you read this book? What were your opinions on it? Leave a comment below and I'll be sure to respond with my thoughts!
