The Shade of the Moon (Life As We Knew It Series) (Life As We Knew It Series, 4)

Susan Beth Pfeffer is a giant among authors. Her name might not be as well -known as J.K. Rowling, but she has such a powerful and versatile writing style that her books will stay with you long after you have finished them. When the third Life as We Know it series ended, I thought the series had ended with it. But here, years later both in the publishing world and in the setting of the story, we are lucky enough to find a fourth book in the series called The Shade of the Moon.Jon was always the little kid. He was the kid who had to be taken care of and kept safe. That was how he came to be a claver. Only people with passes were able to "slip" into the Enclaves, and Lisa, Jon's stepmother, had three passes. One for her, one for her son (Jon's half brother) and one for Jon. It was decided. The rest of his family wanted him to live in the Enclave and have as close to a normal life as possible with the state of the world as it has been. Years ago a meteor hit the moon, and since then, the world has been subject to severe shifts in weather patterns, geological disasters like earthquakes and volcanos where they shouldn't be, and mass extinctions caused by a host of catalysts. When the blended family couldn't survive any longer in Pennsylvania, they traveled to the Enclave, hoping for something better but not knowing what to expect.Now Jon is a claver and his mother, sister, brother, and their families all live outside the clave. Everyone outside the clave is known as a grub. If you weren't fortunate enough to be a claver, your life as a grub was determined by the people of the clave. If they needed a domestic, it didn't matter if you had a PhD, you were a grub who would work where they told you. If you defied the Enclave, you were sent to the mines where no one lasted very long. Life in and outside the clave wasn't ideal, but at least it was life. That was more than most people in the world had. Jon has grown into a virtual adult as a claver, and even though he has family outside the wall, he still carries the entitlement that comes with being a member of the clave, even though those who aren't "slips" (slipped inside with a pass), don't let him forget that he is only one step above a grub. Slowly, however, it becomes clear to Jon that there are some ugly and even scandalous things happening in the clave. When a soccer match turns ugly between the clave and the grubtown, everyone sees just how lopsided the power truly is, and the results get deadly.I was so ecstatic when I realized Pfeffer was writing another of the Moon books. Beside myself, even. I loved the original series that consisted of the first book about Jon and Miranda's family, the second about Alex (who became Miranda's husband) and his family, and the third brought everyone together. With this new book we really had an opportunity to see them outside survival mode and really trying to live their lives, which was much easier for the clavers who lived in relative comfort with an endless supply of domestic servants than it was outside the clave in White Birch with the grubs who were their domestics. This clash and clear caste system was so intriguing that it brought the series to a whole new level. I loved the turn it took the series, and that the story centered around Jon, who we didn't see much of int he other stories. While Jon should be happy as a claver, he is haunted by his life before he reached the Enclave as well as living a life where everyone he knows relishes in reminding him that he is no more than an unwanted guest inside the community. Even his family in White Birch are shocked by his lack of empathy for the grubs like themselves, but it is Jon's transformation that really makes this story brilliant. He becomes the man everyone hoped he would, even though it took him a while to find that man.This is a series that is not only great for young adults, but it is clean enough to be suitable for stronger middle readers. Some of the content is mature, so choose your reader wisely, but the story itself is clean and accessible enough for some middle readers. The characters are the heart of the story, and it is amazing to see all your familiar faces back again, but in a new capacity. Alex and Miranda are now supporting characters, which keeps the story from burning out or dragging on for too long. And Jon is a complex character, full of demons and haunted by his past, which makes him even more spectacular of a redemption. I really loved this whole series, but this story in particular. I am keeping my fingers crossed that in a few years, Pfeffer will announce a fifth book and will keep me in the Moon world. It might not be the best world to live in, but it is full of family, and love and hope, despite all the obstacles standing in the way.

Is there something wrong with me? Have I become cynical and too critical? Did becoming a writer mean death to my unadulterated enjoyment of fiction?Yes, I'm being overly dramatic, but I have a reason. Really. You see, eight years ago I decided to become a writer. I did this mostly in a vacuum, writing and editing with no outside input and no effort into studying my craft. Consequently, when reading other's published books, I could concentrate on the story, the characters, the way it made me feel.Fast forward several years and we get to the point in my life where I started interacting with other writers, receiving and giving critique, reading books, articles, and blog posts on writing, and <em>reading</em> critically. It wasn't overnight, but I learned.Which brings me to now, and my difficulty enjoying said stories without thinking about how the author could have written it better. Don't jump to conclusions and think I'm saying that I am a better writer. What I'm saying is, I recognize good writing now, where I didn't before. My ability to create it is still in question.So what does that have to do with <em>The Shade of the Moon</em>? Well, when I read the first three novels in the series several years ago, I <em>loved</em> them. Absolutely <em>loved</em> them. The characters, the plot, the utter dismal outlook and unabashed look at how life would be if Pfeffer's world came true. Yet, they were still written for a teen audience. Pfeffer didn't shy away from the horrors of a post-apocalyptic world, she just didn't revel unnecessarily in the details. It worked for me. Tell me there's mud, but don't make me wallow in it. I come equipped with my own imagination and I love an author who lets me use it.Needless to say I was looking forward to reading this fourth, and sounds like final, installment in the series, so imagine my disappointment when the writing didn't measure up to my memories of the past novels. I think I can explain some of this without saying Pfeffer is a bad writer. Because she's not. She's older, in fact after this book she decided to retire after thirty years and 78 books. 78 books! Can you imagine that? But Pfeffer is from a different time, a different era, where books for teens and children were written in a more simplistic manner. And she continued that style through out her career. There is a natural simplicity to her work that although it can be called <em>telling</em>, not <em>showing</em>, it's <em>good</em> telling. **deep breath** I'm afraid I will be critical of Pfeffer's writing in this review, but keep all that I've already said in mind as you read.This book started out a little slow for me. Combined with the conflicts I felt about the writing style made it difficult to fully invest in the story and the characters. We are introduced to Jon's point of view, which is something I enjoyed about Pfeffer's previous novels. They are not all from the same person's POV. But there was a lot to catch up on. It's been two years since the characters left Pennsylvania in hopes of finding a safe enclave with the three passes they have. This is where the book gets a little sticky. Some characters have died. Some have married. Some are pregnant. And there's a whole list of new characters and terms to learn and get used to. Suffice it to say there's a lot to remember. Which was another problem, albeit something I can live with.One interesting difference between this book and the previous three is that it is not just post-apocalyptic. It borders on dystopia. Or at least it gives some insight into how a dystopian society could start. It's actually quite chilling how Pfeffer slowly brings you into the scary world Jon lives in. I never really liked Jon the entire story, but you could sympathize with him and understand why he did the things he did. Pfeffer shows us how one could be seduced by a sense of entitlement combined with the fear of losing it, justifying all kinds of atrocities to yourself. The slow build intensifying the fear and uncertainty as you progressed through the story was done well.Another thing she does well is the bad guys. Through bits of dialog and many actions Pfeffer demonstrates the psyche, however twisted, behind the mindset of these people. It's truly sickening, but unfortunately realistic. I could imagine these people existing. Who they were before the PA event and who they are after. They're in control of this country now, and God help us if they ever get unlimited control. I'm sure we'd all be <em>grubs</em>, assuming we survived in the first place.The dialog, unfortunately was very unnatural. It took me out of the story too often. And Jon's love interest was a poorly developed character. Plus, Jon meets her maybe twice and the next thing we know they're kissing. I needed more to justify his attraction and sacrifice for a girl who he was told by powerful friends to stay away from. Considering everything he does to ensure his and his family's security, you'd think blowing off a girl you've had two conversations with would be no big deal. I guess not.I was literally 46% into the book before I was so caught up in the story I barely noticed the problems I had with the writing style. I know, because my Kindle told me. Though I prefer a hardcover, there are some good things about e-readers. But 46% is pretty far in to hook your reader. Not everyone is as stubborn as me. Some people will just give up. But I digress. So at that point, about Part Two, I was hooked. Even though I didn't much like Jon or Sarah (his one-dimensional love interest), I still cared about what happened to him (not so much her) and all of Jon's family. The big plot twist I saw coming, though not very quickly, so I wasn't surprised, but it was still interesting. And based on Pfeffer's previous books there was no guarantee these characters were going to make it out alive. Of course, some of them don't, but I won't ruin anything for you.So I think I've droned on enough for one book review. In summary the writing was simplistic. Pfeffer tells instead of showing. The dialogue is stilted and unnatural and she moves too quickly through parts of the story and lingers over others she could have skipped. But if you read and enjoyed the previous books then you have to finish off the series. And if you don't have my neurotic issues with writing styles then read the whole series. It's actually very good. An asteroid hits the moon, knocking it of course and changing the gravitation of the earth which wreacks havoc on the tides, causes earthquakes and volcanoes erupt everywhere, even places they never existed before. Add on characters who are exactly like all of us: selfish, self serving, narcissistic. Throw them into previously described apocalypse and what's not to love?My review: 3/5 stars (I took away points for the writing, but added for the fact that I loved the <em>story</em> when you take the whole series into account)For more reviews check my blog: [...]

I was initially put off reading this book because of earlier reviews, but I wanted to know what happened to Miranda and her family, so decided to read it despite the reviews and I was pleased that I did. The book mostly concentrates on Jon's story who is living as a "claver" as in enclaver - a person with a pass to one of the safe towns, where people still have access to food, water and power. Other members of the family didn't have passes so now live as grubs - basically menial workers living an unvalued existence. Jon takes a lot of his privileges for granted and has no idea how hard the live of a grub is - this makes him quite an unpleasant character.It is sad to think that after all the trials people had been through to survive after the moon moved, the remaining survivors were not all pulling together to make life better for all people but instead had turned into a society of haves and have nots (slaves). However this is all actually fairly plausible, although the claver society with all its rules and structures seems to have all developed very quickly. The book deals with Jon's development from a selfish teenager who is quite happy to wake the domestic grubs to make snacks for him in the middle of the night, to someone who actually starts questioning the claver's treatment of grubs. A lot of this started when Jon meets Sarah who has moved from another enclave. The relationships between Jon and Sarah, and later between Jon and Ruby are not very well developed and this lets the book down a bit but doesn't spoil the general story.I hope that Susan Pfeffer writes a 5th instalment leading on from the end of this book.

Everything is as expected

Ich habe lange hin und her überlegt ob ich den letzten Teil dieser Reihe nun lesen soll oder nicht. Auf amazon.de gibt es ja leider erst drei Bewertungen und zwei davon sind sehr sehr schlecht ausgefallen. Andererseits habe ich mir auch die Bewertungen auf amazon.com angesehen - wo das Buch bei den Lesern offensichtlich besser angekommen ist.Nun gut, ich habe mich dann doch dazu entschlossen, das ebook zu bestellen und ich kann sagen - ich bin nicht enttäuscht worden. Zumindest nicht wirklich.Zu Beginn hatte ich etwas Mühe in das Buch "hinein" zukommen. Aber das hatte drei Gründe:1. Wurde ich von zwei deutschen Rezensionen sehr gespoilert (zum Glück habe ich sie nicht vor dem Kauf komplett durchgelesen, sonst hätte ich das Buch wohl relativ schnell in eine Ecke geworfen).2. Ist in diesem Buch Jon unser Hauptcharakter. Wir begleiten ihn auf seinem Weg, so wie wir in den ersten 3 Bänden Miranda bzw Alex begleitet haben. Und ich muss leider sagen: Ich kam mit Jon am Anfang nicht klar. Ich mochte seine Art nicht. Ich mochte seine Denkweise nicht. Ich mochte nicht was er so tat, wie er seine Tage verbrachte und mit wem er befreundet war. Und ich war wohl auch etwas enttäuscht, denn mir waren bereits in den vorherigen Bänden Matt und Miranda oder auch Alex und Laura viel sympathischer als Jon.3. Ich hatte mir nach dem dritten Band eine vollkommen andere Fortsetzung in meinem Kopf zusammen gesponnen. Und diese Geschichte, die uns im 4. und letzten Band erzählt wird, ist total anders als ich es mir erwartet hatte. Daher war ich wohl etwas irritiert und auf den ersten paar Seiten vielleicht sogar etwas enttäuscht.Aber nichts desto trotz hielt ich diese zähen Seiten durch und siehe da - es wurde besser. Ich konnte mich mit Jon langsam aber sicher anfreunden, die Story begann Fahrt aufzunehmen und der gewohnt tolle Schreibstil von Susan Beth Pfeffer zog mich in das Buch hinein. Bis ich es nach relativ kurzer Zeit mehr oder weniger zufrieden beenden konnte.Rückblickend fand ich die Story gut und Jon hat eine sehr gute Entwicklung durchgemacht, die ich persönlich auch als glaubhaft empfunden habe. --- Im Übrigen - um kurz auf einen bestimmten Kritikpunkt einer Vorgänger-Rezension einzugehen - konnte ich zwar zu Beginn nichts mit seiner Art anfangen, was aber nicht heißen soll, dass ich die Art und Weise wie er sich verhielt nicht glaubhaft fand. Er ist nunmal ein Teenager und nicht Mitte/Ende 20... Teenager sind leicht zu beeinflussen und machen Dinge die offensichtlich falsch sind, weil sie zu wenig nachdenken.Die anderen Charaktere sind zwar in den Hintergrund gerückt worden aber nun gut - es ist leider nicht möglich, auf alles und jeden immer 100% einzugehen. Und - um wieder auf eine andere Rezension einzugehend - das manche Charaktere den Mut verlieren oder ihre Denkweise mit der Zeit in eine bestimmte Richtung ändern, gerade in einer solchen Welt, ist aus meiner Sicht nicht verwunderlich und empfand ich auch als glaubhaft.Weiters hat Susan Beth Pfeffer hier eine sehr erschreckende Welt "erschaffen", die mich sehr zum Nachdenken angeregt hat. Natürlich hat sie mit dieser Geschichte das Rad nicht neu erfunden aber das habe ich mir auch nicht erwartet. Für mich als Neuling in Sachen Endzeit-Geschichten war es aber auch ehrlich gesagt nicht möglich, die Ideen mit den Ideen anderer Endzeit-Geschichten zu vergleichen - also, ehrlicherweise: keine Ahnung ob ihre Ideen sehr stark an die Handlung anderer Geschichten erinnern. Auf jeden Fall gibt es hier keine Kritik meinerseits.Fazit: Ein gutes Buch wenn man keine zu hohen Erwartungen hat, sich einfach hineinfallen und überraschen lässt. Aber wenn man zu sehr an den ersten drei Bänden gehangen hat und sich nicht vorstellen kann, ein vollkommen anderes Szenario genauso spannend zu finden in dem sich die Charaktere eventuell in eine andere Richtung als gedacht weiter entwickelt haben, sollte man wohl besser auf diesen 4. Band verzichten und den 3. Band als Letzten betrachten.

Pfeffer's pleasingly grim apocalyptic tale takes a largely interesting turn with a fresh focus on Jon Evans' travails in the "safe town" of Sexton. The problem, however, is that Jon isn't quite as compelling a character as either Miranda or Alex, and here he's more chump than hero. Pfeffer moves things briskly along, however, and there's no denying the strength of her writing and dramatic characterizations even when things take a turn southward during an ill-advised semi-comic road adventure in the last third of the book that's a tonal mismatch with the rest of the novel. Let's all hope that Pfeffer returns to Miranda and Alex if she decides to write another installment of this generally enjoyable series.

Ich habe die Trilogie geschenkt bekommen, und nachdem ich diese in kürzester Zeit verschlungen hatte musste ich umbedingt auch das nächste Buch haben. Ich hatte bei Amazon bereits gesehen, dass es einige schlechte Bewertungen gegeben hat, aber dank der obersten Rezension wurde ich gewarnt diese nicht zu lesen, da eine der schlechten Rezensionen den kompletten Inhalt des Buches spoilert.Im Gegensatz zu den Kritikern finde ich das Buch nicht schlechter als die anderen. Es ist aus der Sicht von Jon geschrieben, was in Anbetracht der Tatsache, dass es sich um eine Reihe handelt, die im Mittelpunkt immer ein Teenager hatte, absolut nachvollziehbar ist. Es beschreibt die Welt knapp 4 Jahre nach der Katastrophe, wodurch die ursprünglichen Protagonisten Alex und Miranda nun einfach keine Teenager mehr sind. Genau wie einige andere, hatte auch ich Probleme mit Jon, seiner Denkweise, seiner Art, ihm im Gesamten. Aber auch wenn ich ihm zu Beginn wirklich nichts positives abgewinnen konnte, habe ich im Laufe der Geschichte seine Denkweise, wie er wurde was er ist, und auch seine Veränderungen im Buch immer mehr nachvollziehen können.Auf die Story möchte ich hier nicht genauer eingehen, da ich den Inhalt nicht vorweg nehmen möchte.Zusammenfassend finde ich das Buch durchaus gelungen, wem es nur um Miranda und Alex geht, oder wer sich schon recht intensive Gedanken gemacht hat wie die Welt aussehen könnte, der sollte vielleicht die Finger von dem Buch lassen. Ich war sehr zufrieden und habe es genauso wie die ersten Bücher in kürzester Zeit verschlungen!