by Susan Beth Pfeffer
Purchased
Genre: Sci-Fi/Post-Apocalyptic
Big Themes: Survival, Starvation, Death, Family, Love, Hope

Summary:
The third book in this series, the story of Miranda continues.  After a meteor hit the moon and knocked it closer to Earth, mankind struggles to survive an aftermath of tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanoes, and climate change.

What I Liked:
I flew through both Life As We Knew It and The Dead and The Gone when I read them, and this book was no different.  I read it in two days and could not put it down.  I think it’s the survival aspect that fascinates me.  I’m captivated by the idea of raiding abandoned houses for supplies and how the characters have managed to survive in such an altered world.

What I Didn’t Like:
In Life As We Knew It, Miranda began the book a shallow teenager and really grew as a character into someone who was self-sacrificing and wise.  (I wrote a whole 10 page paper on her transformation actually.)  But in This World We Live In, it’s like she reverted to her shallow self.  She was back to fighting with her mom and whining and wishing for a boyfriend.  That was my first disappointment.

I knew that this third book was going to connect the lives of Miranda (book 1) and Alex (book 2).  I was super excited at this premise.  But this was yet another disappointment for me.  Alex and his story in The Dead and The Gone were by far my favorite.  I love Alex’s character.  His story is so heart-breaking and he’s been through so much.  But he felt like a flat, lost character in this book.  He wasn’t the Alex I loved and his story didn’t play any role or add any depth to the third book.  I wanted more of his character and I never got it.  I kept waiting for him to reveal some of what he went through to Miranda, but he never did.

My Rating: 2 Stars
I was pretty disappointed in this book.
It did not add to the series for me.
But I’d highly recommend The Dead and The Gone (and even Life As We Knew It) if you want a great post-apocalyptic read.