The Young World

Chris Weitz

Jul 2014 · Sold by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

About this eBook

"Chris Weitz has made a beautiful transition from writing and directing films to novels. The Young World is populated with characters you won't forget and a story as fresh and urgent as Divergent."--James Patterson, #1 NY Times bestselling author of Maximum Ride.
Welcome to New York, a city ruled by teens.
After a mysterious Sickness wipes out the rest of the population, the young survivors assemble into tightly run tribes. Jefferson, the reluctant leader of the Washington Square tribe, and Donna, the girl he's secretly in love with, have carved out a precarious existence among the chaos.
But when a fellow tribe member discovers a clue that may hold the cure for the Sickness, five teens set out on a life-altering road trip, exchanging gunfire with enemy gangs, escaping cults and militias, braving the wilds of the subway--all in order to save humankind.
This first novel from acclaimed film writer/director Chris Weitz is the heart-stopping debut of an action-packed trilogy.

Ratings and reviews

Chris Weitz has created a fascinating, frightening, absolutely believable new world that reveals the end through the eyes of once idealistic teenagers. The detail in the book is astounding, and told through the jaded voices of Jeff and Donna, it’s eerily real, which makes even the calm moments terribly frightening. They live among constant reminders of a civilization that thrived on excess, and they are surrounded by one-time necessities that are now useless — like an unending supply of iPhone cases when what they need is food and batteries and some way of protecting themselves. I can’t imagine a young adult story more suited to both book and screen, and I know The Young World Trilogy will be one of those odd sets of modern fiction that finds itself in hardback form among my forever classics so I can read it over and over again. *Received for free in exchange for an honest review.

I like how two different narrators tell the story. It keeps things more interesting. He’s serious, and she’s more high energy. Staying with either for the entire story would have been too much. In their world everyone dies from a disease they call the sickness when they become an adult so there is no adult supervision. The kids and teens that survived the fall of society have come together like clans. They help each other with daily living, but they also sometimes have to trade and war with other groups. I thought this book was pretty entertaining, but I think teens will probably like it better than adults.

The plot wasn't bad but the writer left me hanging at the end I wish there was more detail about how the world came back from this horrible disease I want my money back I don't think I will ever read another book from this author.

About the author

Chris Weitz is an Oscar-nominated writer and director. His films include Twilight: New Moon, A Better Life, About a Boy, The Golden Compass, American Pie, Cinderella, and the upcoming Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The Young World is his first YA trilogy.