Book Review: The Young World by Chris Weitz

The Young World by Chris Weitz

Some time ago I saw this book’s cover (the one shown above) somewhere on Instagram and thought, “Whoa, this looks cool.” Then I went to Goodreads and looked it up. I wasn’t letdown by this story at all. Think, The Hunger Games meets The Maze Runner meets The Darkest Minds, although there is no prominent corrupt leader or superpowers.

The Young World focuses on Jefferson and Donna, two teens living in post-apocalyptic New York. The city, USA and possibly the world even, had been hit over a year ago with a sickness that wiped out all children and adults, leaving only the teenagers to fend for themselves. After the death of Jefferson’s brother, he and a group of friends go on a hunt for a journal that may have information that could lead them to finding out what this disease is and may just lead them to finding a cure. It’s a long-shot and they are never sure the book really exists. Along the way they run into some obstacles, including finding love, being hunted by the stuck up, rich, teenage, mafia, and trying to figure out the possibility of having a future beyond dying when you turn eighteen. The group of teens is diverse and funny at times, which I liked. Donna is a sassy girl who is pretty normal, I’d say. Jefferson is your typical lead teen protagonist, who knows loss and battles within himself with love, hope and the pressure of leadership. He is cute and kind! Then there is the odd Brain Box who is mysterious and kind of displays autistic behavior in that he is anti-social and extremely smart, but he isn't the oddity of the group because then we have Peter. The gay, Christian…how that happened, I don’t know seeing as how biblically speaking that lifestyle is an “abomination.” But with that aside Peter was one of the better written characters. Over all I really enjoyed this book, which I listened to on audio so that I could multitask. Lol. The ending was, for me, really epic. I caught myself saying, “ooo! That was good!”

Recommended age:

15+ (due to profane language)

On to the ratings!

Stars..

0 = None 10 = Tons

THE FEELS:

I’ll be honest here and say that lately I haven’t been able to get into any book and really feel the feels. But there were some potentially feely moments. Donna talks about her dead baby brother a lot which was sad. The way she described him and their inter actions were really sweet. There is a bit of a love triangle going on for some of the book and I quickly found myself shipping Donna and Jeff early on!

4/10  

Violence:

There is always violence in Dystopian YA. Always. This book has your typical bloody fights, chase scenes and creepy captors.

6.5/10

Sexual content:

Some kissing. Mild talk about sex and “messing around” one girl provocatively strips and skinny dips in front of guys.

5/10

Crude language:

There are more than one of every profane word used throughout. Including three uses of the religious slur, GD, and multiple uses of the F word.

9/10

Other elements/comments:

*DISCLAIMER: PERSONAL VIEWS AND BIBLICAL VIEWS ARE STATED BELOW AND SHOULD IN NO WAY BE MISCONSTRUED AS HATE OF ANY KIND!!!*

For me, as a follower of Christ, it was slightly difficult for me to take the character Peter seriously. Although he was well written and really funny at times he just threw me off. Being gay and identifying as Christian at the same time is very controversial. Biblically speaking that lifestyle isn't accepted into the Christian religion. But then again it’s fiction and the author probably either just doesn’t know about the conflict between the gay lifestyle choice and Christianity or wanted his book talked about. (Probably the latter.) This is part of the reason I don’t say that I am “Christian” I identify as a follower of Christ because the term “Christian” is used too loosely and diluted by people who don’t know a lot about Christianity or just choose to follow and believe certain things from the religion. Also there is underage drinking and smoking, but there were no adults around to tell them otherwise, so what do you expect? Lol!

Overall:

I really enjoyed the book. I in NO WAY want you as the reader to feel offended by my above statements//comments. I don’t believe in hate and don’t want anyone to take my comments here as such or as anything other than stating a conflicting plot choice, I must say that I found Peter the most interesting of all of the characters. The book was funny and interesting and I really want to read book 2!

6/10

Xoxo

- Sarah