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The Last Trilogy #1
The Last Girl
The end of the world happened quickly. The sun still shone, there was no explosion - just a tsunami-sized wave of human thought drowning the world in telepathic noise as everyone's inner-most secrets became audible. Everyone's thoughts, that is, except sixteen-year-old Danby.
Everyone looked like bad actors in a poorly dubbed movie. Their expressions didn't match their emotions and their lips didn't sync with what they were saying. But they were all so loud.
God-he-looks-hot-Can't-she's-my-best-friend-How'd-she-lose-that-weight-No-don't-you-dare-Oh-no-please-
The end of the world happens in the blink of an eye.
When The Snap sweeps the globe, everyone can instantly hear everything that everyone else is thinking. As secrets and lies are laid bare, suburbs and cities explode into insanity and violence. What might have been an evolutionary leap instead initiates the apocalypse.
Sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong's telepathy works very differently. She can tune into other people but they can't tune into her. With only this slender defence, Danby must protect her little brother and reach the safety of her mother's mountain retreat. But it's 100 kilometres away and the highways are blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams.
Danby's escape is made even more dangerous by another cataclysm that threatens humanity's extinction. And her ability to survive this new world will be tested by a charismatic young man whose power to save lives may be worse than death itself.
Everyone looked like bad actors in a poorly dubbed movie. Their expressions didn't match their emotions and their lips didn't sync with what they were saying. But they were all so loud.
God-he-looks-hot-Can't-she's-my-best-friend-How'd-she-lose-that-weight-No-don't-you-dare-Oh-no-please-
The end of the world happens in the blink of an eye.
When The Snap sweeps the globe, everyone can instantly hear everything that everyone else is thinking. As secrets and lies are laid bare, suburbs and cities explode into insanity and violence. What might have been an evolutionary leap instead initiates the apocalypse.
Sixteen-year-old Danby Armstrong's telepathy works very differently. She can tune into other people but they can't tune into her. With only this slender defence, Danby must protect her little brother and reach the safety of her mother's mountain retreat. But it's 100 kilometres away and the highways are blocked by thousands of cars and surrounded by millions of people coming apart at the psychic seams.
Danby's escape is made even more dangerous by another cataclysm that threatens humanity's extinction. And her ability to survive this new world will be tested by a charismatic young man whose power to save lives may be worse than death itself.
400 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2013
15 people are currently reading
1193 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
December 15, 2013
Adams has written a total psychopath, and sometimes I’m kind of worried because he doesn’t seem to think this character is necessarily a psychopath. Or maybe he’s fooling us. See, I interviewed him about this terrifying character and this was his response:
“I loved writing X because he doesn’t see himself as a bad guy at all. And maybe he’s not. What he has is a plan to save the world and the power to put it into action even though his means seem ruthless. But, like he tells Danby, God didn’t say to Noah, “Hey, beardy, get all the animals” – he said get two of each. X thinks it’s important to save people with skills to rebuild the world rather than try to save everyone. I think if you got access to government emergency plans, they’d have similar sort of ideas on the books. If you’re an author, sucked in. If you’re an engineer, we’ve got your Ark berth all made up. X’s point is also that circumstances have allowed him and Danby to create a new world from the ground
up. There are no billionaires or politicians or celebrities to get preference over ordinary folk. Being able to explore his complexity – and Danby having to admit that he makes sense – made him feel very real and their relationship a joy to write. Those themes are picked up in the second book. Danby might not be as all-knowing as she can think she is. Or is she? Whaaaaaaaat?”
No, Adams. You’re a tops guy and I can’t wait to chug back beers with you one day (Editors note: OMG. We are so goddamn Australian it hurts), but no. He is eviller than someone who doesn’t like My Little Pony (the worst kind of evil).
I say this because The Last Girl is the best kind of Apocalypse book around. Not only original, but an actual apocalypse. With a lot of apocalypse books, you tend to see things just after the world has gone to shit. The story starts with a survivor, just after most of humanity is lost. The Lost Girl doesn’t shy away from all that, and Danby is in a situation where she has to choose who dies and who lives. Who she can save and who she has to abandon. That’s pretty intense. And that’s also hard work for a writer, thus why a lot skip it over in preference for getting down to the fun carnage bits. Believe it or not, it’s kind of hard to orchestrate a believable end of the world, from a writerly point of view.
Doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Mainly, it’s biggest issue is me. Because I’ve read so many bloody apocalyptic novels that they all tend to blend into each other. However, for someone mostly new to the genre – this would be a good place to start. Think John Marsden meets Pyscho, though I’m not sure Adams meant it to be this way. The concept is original, Danby is cool, but the set up isn’t. Love triangle, psycho boyfriend, only one girl who can save them all. It’s pretty run-of-the-mill stuff in Young Adult Landia. Shatter Me did the psycho boyfriend better, but since The Last Girl doesn’t have the horrible purple prose, it wins on all other accounts. And the setting in Sydney is refreshing to the usual middle America. Writing is pretty good.
It took me a while to get into this book. The love-triangle thinggie didn’t help, but then things get full on scary and that’s when the book gets good. The first half of the book is a 2.5 star read for me, but the second half was a solid 5 star because it gets suspenseful as all hell. The narrative itself feels kind of critical of social media, and Adams seems to be aware of that. Is constant connectivity a good or bad thing? I feel like that’s what The Last Girl is really asking. And it’s answer is that we don’t really want to be connected to everyone at all times, we only think we do. We want everyone to know that we’re eating a cake in the shape of Steampunk Harley Quinn’s face for our birthday party, but not that we think anal beads would be a fun thing to try this weekend. And that’s an interesting distinction, one it pays to wonder if future generations will have to struggle with more than us. The line between our real selves and our online selves becomes increasingly blurred. And what if we stop knowing the difference? The implausibility of the story vehicle aside, The Last Girl asks a lot of questions. Ones I’d be happy to answer as soon as I’m finished looking up pictures of cats who like cheese burgers and can’t spell.
I have no complaints, people. I’m putting this on my Christmas List Recommendation Guide Thinggie for Teenagers. I guess I’m just waiting for book #2 to come out to see if it can really deviate into amazing territory, and if Adams can keep up the momentum from the second half of the book. It seems to me, his strength lies in the psychological thriller side, which the second book seems to promise a lot of.
Until then, peanut butter jelly time! (Because I’m shallow and all moral quandaries result in the celebration of useless memes.)
This book was provided to me for review purposes. Nobody paid me for it and I received no favours or gifts for it. This is a problem. Where's my goddamn pony?! I was promised a pony! Can someone get back to me asap with my pony?!
This review, and others like it of exceedingly poor quality, can be found on my blog, Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.
“I loved writing X because he doesn’t see himself as a bad guy at all. And maybe he’s not. What he has is a plan to save the world and the power to put it into action even though his means seem ruthless. But, like he tells Danby, God didn’t say to Noah, “Hey, beardy, get all the animals” – he said get two of each. X thinks it’s important to save people with skills to rebuild the world rather than try to save everyone. I think if you got access to government emergency plans, they’d have similar sort of ideas on the books. If you’re an author, sucked in. If you’re an engineer, we’ve got your Ark berth all made up. X’s point is also that circumstances have allowed him and Danby to create a new world from the ground
up. There are no billionaires or politicians or celebrities to get preference over ordinary folk. Being able to explore his complexity – and Danby having to admit that he makes sense – made him feel very real and their relationship a joy to write. Those themes are picked up in the second book. Danby might not be as all-knowing as she can think she is. Or is she? Whaaaaaaaat?”
No, Adams. You’re a tops guy and I can’t wait to chug back beers with you one day (Editors note: OMG. We are so goddamn Australian it hurts), but no. He is eviller than someone who doesn’t like My Little Pony (the worst kind of evil).
I say this because The Last Girl is the best kind of Apocalypse book around. Not only original, but an actual apocalypse. With a lot of apocalypse books, you tend to see things just after the world has gone to shit. The story starts with a survivor, just after most of humanity is lost. The Lost Girl doesn’t shy away from all that, and Danby is in a situation where she has to choose who dies and who lives. Who she can save and who she has to abandon. That’s pretty intense. And that’s also hard work for a writer, thus why a lot skip it over in preference for getting down to the fun carnage bits. Believe it or not, it’s kind of hard to orchestrate a believable end of the world, from a writerly point of view.
Doesn’t mean it’s perfect. Mainly, it’s biggest issue is me. Because I’ve read so many bloody apocalyptic novels that they all tend to blend into each other. However, for someone mostly new to the genre – this would be a good place to start. Think John Marsden meets Pyscho, though I’m not sure Adams meant it to be this way. The concept is original, Danby is cool, but the set up isn’t. Love triangle, psycho boyfriend, only one girl who can save them all. It’s pretty run-of-the-mill stuff in Young Adult Landia. Shatter Me did the psycho boyfriend better, but since The Last Girl doesn’t have the horrible purple prose, it wins on all other accounts. And the setting in Sydney is refreshing to the usual middle America. Writing is pretty good.
It took me a while to get into this book. The love-triangle thinggie didn’t help, but then things get full on scary and that’s when the book gets good. The first half of the book is a 2.5 star read for me, but the second half was a solid 5 star because it gets suspenseful as all hell. The narrative itself feels kind of critical of social media, and Adams seems to be aware of that. Is constant connectivity a good or bad thing? I feel like that’s what The Last Girl is really asking. And it’s answer is that we don’t really want to be connected to everyone at all times, we only think we do. We want everyone to know that we’re eating a cake in the shape of Steampunk Harley Quinn’s face for our birthday party, but not that we think anal beads would be a fun thing to try this weekend. And that’s an interesting distinction, one it pays to wonder if future generations will have to struggle with more than us. The line between our real selves and our online selves becomes increasingly blurred. And what if we stop knowing the difference? The implausibility of the story vehicle aside, The Last Girl asks a lot of questions. Ones I’d be happy to answer as soon as I’m finished looking up pictures of cats who like cheese burgers and can’t spell.
I have no complaints, people. I’m putting this on my Christmas List Recommendation Guide Thinggie for Teenagers. I guess I’m just waiting for book #2 to come out to see if it can really deviate into amazing territory, and if Adams can keep up the momentum from the second half of the book. It seems to me, his strength lies in the psychological thriller side, which the second book seems to promise a lot of.
Until then, peanut butter jelly time! (Because I’m shallow and all moral quandaries result in the celebration of useless memes.)
This book was provided to me for review purposes. Nobody paid me for it and I received no favours or gifts for it. This is a problem. Where's my goddamn pony?! I was promised a pony! Can someone get back to me asap with my pony?!
This review, and others like it of exceedingly poor quality, can be found on my blog, Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.
September 3, 2013
The Last Girl is not for the squeamish. The apocalypse has come, it’s not nuclear, not climate change, not poverty and over population, not an invasion from outer space…it’s connectivity. Somehow and almost instantaneously humans have evolved to meet the increasing desire to be connected all the time resulting in simultaneous telepathy. Now there is no doubt if your partner thinks your fat, has cheated on you, is really gay. You know the deepest darkest secrets of your father-in-law, that you were adopted, that the son you’ve raised is not your own. You even know that the pilot flying your plane signed up as a suicide bomber 20 years ago. It can’t be turned off and chaos and violence become the default reaction.
Danby is a teenager who has battled with ‘voices’ all her life, yet for some reason she alone can keep her thoughts to herself effectively making her invisible in a world that can suddenly see and hear everything. In a desperate act of survival she must try to get from the recently ruined city to the hopeful safety mother’s off-the-grid hideaway in the Blue Mountains.
A page-turner that is set in a future that is only just around the corner. Danby is Australia’s answer the Katniss Everdeen, a kick-ass reluctant heroine that you just keep rooting for.
Danby is a teenager who has battled with ‘voices’ all her life, yet for some reason she alone can keep her thoughts to herself effectively making her invisible in a world that can suddenly see and hear everything. In a desperate act of survival she must try to get from the recently ruined city to the hopeful safety mother’s off-the-grid hideaway in the Blue Mountains.
A page-turner that is set in a future that is only just around the corner. Danby is Australia’s answer the Katniss Everdeen, a kick-ass reluctant heroine that you just keep rooting for.
October 15, 2014
Great concept, and a few parts are very gripping. What I can't get past is that this is categorised as children's fiction! The details, topics and gore I can barely tolerate. A lot of the violence seemed repetitive and had me skipping paragraphs at a time.
It was written well however and was one of the few books without spelling and punctuation errors.
Not going to bother with the other books.
It was written well however and was one of the few books without spelling and punctuation errors.
Not going to bother with the other books.
December 17, 2013
Did not finish. After forcing myself through eighty pages, I had to give up on this book. I thought the premise sounded fantastic but every character in the book came across as a shallow, cliched stereotype, which made it incredibly difficult to get into the story.
October 7, 2013
Wow. Everyone needs to run out and grab a copy of this epic book as soon as possible! Raid your libraries, your local bookstores, and if need be, online bookstores (Fishpond has international shipping).
The Last Girl is primarily concerned with an apocalyptic event: the Snap, which allows everyone to read each other's thoughts to a range of about 50 - 100 km. Everyone's secrets are out in the open - cheating spouses are caught out, adopted children find out the truth the hard way, parents can read the secrets of their children. The innate selfishness of humanity comes into the spotlight, and most of the population can't take it. Murders and suicides occur at a terrifying rate.
In the middle of it all is Danby, who can hear everyone's thoughts but miraculously no one can hear hers. It's a slim defence against all the madness, but it's all she's got, so she sets off with her younger brother Evan to the refuge of her mother's house in the remote mountains.
I love this novel primarily because it's set in Sydney. I've read many books set in places where I've never been, or have been as a tourist, but I know Western Sydney like the back of my hand. I grew up in Blacktown, I went to school in Penrith, I lived in Parramatta for a few years. I could imagine every step of Danby's journey vividly, which is a refreshing change. It totally changed the way I read the story: I've read other novels that do a great job of describing the landscape of other countries and cities, but I'd never realised how much it impacts my reading when I can imagine everything because I've been there before.
There are very few YA books out there that are told with the sophistication of The Last Girl; it's richly detailed, emotionally charged, and all the characters are amazing. I like Danby, she's pragmatic and tough, and doesn't have delusions of grandeur. She knows it's a quirk of fate that has spared her the horrors others have experienced, and doesn't take her survival for granted. I also really like Nathan (a believable person of colour!), his resilience and good sense.
The plot of this novel took me by surprise, because the author completely changes the rules on readers about half way through. It was actually kind of confusing and I kept wanting to go back to the other narrative, but Danby had ended up in a totally different situation to previously and it obvious there was no going back. I hope the sequel, The Last Shot, allows readers to take up with the characters we were forced to leave. The second part of the narrative is interesting, but I felt a bit left out because I didn't like a lot of the characters. Things did get interesting again once they were in the Blue Mountains though!
I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I did The Last Girl for a while. The ending of the book is powerful, and although it's not a huge cliffhanger and there is a snippet of the next novel included, it's still left me hanging for The Last Shot. I strongly recommend this book to all fans of YA or apocalyptic literature! Go now, shoo! Grab it as soon as you can :-)
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .
The Last Girl is primarily concerned with an apocalyptic event: the Snap, which allows everyone to read each other's thoughts to a range of about 50 - 100 km. Everyone's secrets are out in the open - cheating spouses are caught out, adopted children find out the truth the hard way, parents can read the secrets of their children. The innate selfishness of humanity comes into the spotlight, and most of the population can't take it. Murders and suicides occur at a terrifying rate.
In the middle of it all is Danby, who can hear everyone's thoughts but miraculously no one can hear hers. It's a slim defence against all the madness, but it's all she's got, so she sets off with her younger brother Evan to the refuge of her mother's house in the remote mountains.
I love this novel primarily because it's set in Sydney. I've read many books set in places where I've never been, or have been as a tourist, but I know Western Sydney like the back of my hand. I grew up in Blacktown, I went to school in Penrith, I lived in Parramatta for a few years. I could imagine every step of Danby's journey vividly, which is a refreshing change. It totally changed the way I read the story: I've read other novels that do a great job of describing the landscape of other countries and cities, but I'd never realised how much it impacts my reading when I can imagine everything because I've been there before.
There are very few YA books out there that are told with the sophistication of The Last Girl; it's richly detailed, emotionally charged, and all the characters are amazing. I like Danby, she's pragmatic and tough, and doesn't have delusions of grandeur. She knows it's a quirk of fate that has spared her the horrors others have experienced, and doesn't take her survival for granted. I also really like Nathan (a believable person of colour!), his resilience and good sense.
The plot of this novel took me by surprise, because the author completely changes the rules on readers about half way through. It was actually kind of confusing and I kept wanting to go back to the other narrative, but Danby had ended up in a totally different situation to previously and it obvious there was no going back. I hope the sequel, The Last Shot, allows readers to take up with the characters we were forced to leave. The second part of the narrative is interesting, but I felt a bit left out because I didn't like a lot of the characters. Things did get interesting again once they were in the Blue Mountains though!
I haven't enjoyed a book as much as I did The Last Girl for a while. The ending of the book is powerful, and although it's not a huge cliffhanger and there is a snippet of the next novel included, it's still left me hanging for The Last Shot. I strongly recommend this book to all fans of YA or apocalyptic literature! Go now, shoo! Grab it as soon as you can :-)
A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic .
November 22, 2013
It's hard for me to put my finger on what I loved so much about The Last Girl.
It could be the colloquial style of writing, the ability to relate to the main character, the scary image of everyone being able to hear my thoughts, or the pace which kept me coming back for more whenever there was a break in my day. One thing is for sure, I kept managing to talk myself out of another hour of sleep, just so I could find out more about Danby and this new world she found herself in.
I had not heard about this book at all until I walked into one of the shops at the Airport recently. I didn't want to buy it book for $30, when I didn't recall seeing any advertising for it, and hadn't heard any feedback about it(and I was supposed to be using my money for holiday related things, not buying MORE books). I am incredibly glad, however, that I decided to have a look for it when I found myself in BigW, and that I took it with me on the plane home.
I get the feeling this will be one of those books that stays with me, and I will definitely be reading any subsequent books by this author.
Thanks for the amazing ride, Michael!
It could be the colloquial style of writing, the ability to relate to the main character, the scary image of everyone being able to hear my thoughts, or the pace which kept me coming back for more whenever there was a break in my day. One thing is for sure, I kept managing to talk myself out of another hour of sleep, just so I could find out more about Danby and this new world she found herself in.
I had not heard about this book at all until I walked into one of the shops at the Airport recently. I didn't want to buy it book for $30, when I didn't recall seeing any advertising for it, and hadn't heard any feedback about it(and I was supposed to be using my money for holiday related things, not buying MORE books). I am incredibly glad, however, that I decided to have a look for it when I found myself in BigW, and that I took it with me on the plane home.
I get the feeling this will be one of those books that stays with me, and I will definitely be reading any subsequent books by this author.
Thanks for the amazing ride, Michael!
November 9, 2016
The characters were relatable to me, with a real Australian feel about them that I could appreciate. Sometimes I had to remind myself that Danby is only 16 years old, because as smart and wise as she is for her age, sometimes she just made some silly decisions, like trusting people that maybe she shouldn’t be trusting or leaving her brother alone at times.
Read Full Review Here
Read Full Review Here
March 26, 2014
This review appears on Happy Indulgence. Check it out for more reviews!
The Last Girl wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a unique, thoughtful entry into the Aussie YA market as a dystopian that happens in the very near future.
The concept of the book is based on danger of technology and social media binging today – The Snap happens and everyone begins contracting telepathy in their heads. Secrets, affairs, cheating and stealing are all broadcasted to everyone else and violence, death and arguments start breaking out all over Sydney. Danby is the only one whose thoughts aren’t exposed, and as the world begins shutting down with people’s minds short circuiting, she seemingly ends up as the last girl in existence.
The start of the book was difficult to get through, with many jilted sentences and skipping of events that makes it difficult to follow. I’m glad I stuck through it however because there were some deep exploration of issues as to where our world is heading. It is told in three very distinct parts – the first were Danby experiences the demise of the world as she knows it, the second where she meets pre-med student and discovers hope, and the third where she meets an extremist with scary practicality hellbent on ruling the world – who scarily reminds me of The Governor from The Walking Dead. Just give him a few years.
More often than not, dystopians tell us of the post-apocalyptic world that has happened as a result of a ground zero event. The Last Girl takes us through the apocalypse as it is happening, planes crashing, people committing suicide and going insane - a fascinating and disturbing view of the world’s end. Instead of zombies consuming the world, aliens invading or a disaster, everyone’s minds simply shutting down was an interesting way to approach the apocalypse. The book offers a pretty morbid view of the world, that it’s not outside forces that will bring the end to mankind, but human nature who choose to react badly in obscene circumstances.
Even when Danby and med student Nathan find a way to revive fallen humans, with a view to them passing on the cure and saving each other, most of these humans choose the selfish route to focus on their own needs and revive family and friends. Even worse, some of these humans waste time that could be spent saving people to indulge in drugs, alcohol and violence. It seems Michael Adams isn’t terribly optimistic in people’s altruistic abilities, with only 3 people who seemed to want to revive everyone else.
Another interesting topic explored within the book is the downside of the connectiveness of social media and technology. Instead of using it to benefit others and solve the world’s problems, the majority of us use it for frivolous activity such as porn, online shopping and entertainment. When you think about it, we’re constantly absorbed in an interconnected world of other people’s thoughts, secrets, and emotions, only in The Last Girl, it’s literally in our heads. It’s a wonder we haven’t gone crazy yet, which is what The Last Girl demonstrates to us.
I quite enjoyed the thought provoking experience offered by The Last Girl, and am proud of our homegrown talent in Aussie YA. While it takes off to a slow start and wonky sentence structure, I enjoyed the deep experience and look forward to reading the next book (cliffhanger alert).
Thank you to Allen & Unwin Australia for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
The Last Girl wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was a unique, thoughtful entry into the Aussie YA market as a dystopian that happens in the very near future.
The concept of the book is based on danger of technology and social media binging today – The Snap happens and everyone begins contracting telepathy in their heads. Secrets, affairs, cheating and stealing are all broadcasted to everyone else and violence, death and arguments start breaking out all over Sydney. Danby is the only one whose thoughts aren’t exposed, and as the world begins shutting down with people’s minds short circuiting, she seemingly ends up as the last girl in existence.
The start of the book was difficult to get through, with many jilted sentences and skipping of events that makes it difficult to follow. I’m glad I stuck through it however because there were some deep exploration of issues as to where our world is heading. It is told in three very distinct parts – the first were Danby experiences the demise of the world as she knows it, the second where she meets pre-med student and discovers hope, and the third where she meets an extremist with scary practicality hellbent on ruling the world – who scarily reminds me of The Governor from The Walking Dead. Just give him a few years.
More often than not, dystopians tell us of the post-apocalyptic world that has happened as a result of a ground zero event. The Last Girl takes us through the apocalypse as it is happening, planes crashing, people committing suicide and going insane - a fascinating and disturbing view of the world’s end. Instead of zombies consuming the world, aliens invading or a disaster, everyone’s minds simply shutting down was an interesting way to approach the apocalypse. The book offers a pretty morbid view of the world, that it’s not outside forces that will bring the end to mankind, but human nature who choose to react badly in obscene circumstances.
Even when Danby and med student Nathan find a way to revive fallen humans, with a view to them passing on the cure and saving each other, most of these humans choose the selfish route to focus on their own needs and revive family and friends. Even worse, some of these humans waste time that could be spent saving people to indulge in drugs, alcohol and violence. It seems Michael Adams isn’t terribly optimistic in people’s altruistic abilities, with only 3 people who seemed to want to revive everyone else.
Another interesting topic explored within the book is the downside of the connectiveness of social media and technology. Instead of using it to benefit others and solve the world’s problems, the majority of us use it for frivolous activity such as porn, online shopping and entertainment. When you think about it, we’re constantly absorbed in an interconnected world of other people’s thoughts, secrets, and emotions, only in The Last Girl, it’s literally in our heads. It’s a wonder we haven’t gone crazy yet, which is what The Last Girl demonstrates to us.
I quite enjoyed the thought provoking experience offered by The Last Girl, and am proud of our homegrown talent in Aussie YA. While it takes off to a slow start and wonky sentence structure, I enjoyed the deep experience and look forward to reading the next book (cliffhanger alert).
Thank you to Allen & Unwin Australia for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.
September 7, 2013
I loved this book. It's the story of Danby, a teenager living in Sydney thrust into in instant disaster when the walls of privacy break down and everyone can read the minds of each other. Danby has the amazing gift of being able to read others minds but having the defense against her own, keeping it safe and her only protection against the dangers of a now damaged society.
The first part of the book, was hard for me to read, not because it was poorly written but because the intensity and gritty honesty of the writing got me so invested in Danby's story that when her life turned extremely sour I felt like I was watching a friend suffer and I wasn't able to help.
As the book went on we uncover secrets and theories about what has happened and others with special abilities. Nathan was an instant excitement and I was cheering when he shot the crazy party dude. Can't wait for the sequel to see whether he makes it! Maybe a love interest with Danby? Jack was a classic antagonist, assumed bad guy, was bad then good then bad again. Hope he has met his match in Danby.
I just want to give a special nod to Evan, Danby's little brother, who has a disability, as someone with a disability myself I love seeing characters represented that are relatable on even a small level.
The ending although I was heartbroken for the loss of Danby's mother, I cannot wait for the sequel to see how Danby gets her revenge on Jack and hopefully reconnects with Nathan to set this small part of the world back in order.
This book is not for the faint of heart but it's realism is refreshing and the lack of "Disney" sugar coating was of great appeal to me, not all YA novels are solved by a romance and thats what will help this novel stand out from the pack.
The first part of the book, was hard for me to read, not because it was poorly written but because the intensity and gritty honesty of the writing got me so invested in Danby's story that when her life turned extremely sour I felt like I was watching a friend suffer and I wasn't able to help.
As the book went on we uncover secrets and theories about what has happened and others with special abilities. Nathan was an instant excitement and I was cheering when he shot the crazy party dude. Can't wait for the sequel to see whether he makes it! Maybe a love interest with Danby? Jack was a classic antagonist, assumed bad guy, was bad then good then bad again. Hope he has met his match in Danby.
I just want to give a special nod to Evan, Danby's little brother, who has a disability, as someone with a disability myself I love seeing characters represented that are relatable on even a small level.
The ending although I was heartbroken for the loss of Danby's mother, I cannot wait for the sequel to see how Danby gets her revenge on Jack and hopefully reconnects with Nathan to set this small part of the world back in order.
This book is not for the faint of heart but it's realism is refreshing and the lack of "Disney" sugar coating was of great appeal to me, not all YA novels are solved by a romance and thats what will help this novel stand out from the pack.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 8, 2013
So I went to bed with two books last night; about 60 pages left in "Weekends with Daisy" and the plan to start this one if I wasn't too tired. Well, I wasn't tired so I started reading. Then I couldn't stop! Thankfully I didn't have to work today, because if I had to put the book down last night I don't know what I would have done!
Now this book isn't for the fainthearted. There's death and gruesome scenes all through the book, as well as loss of characters you don't expect. The writing is intense, the story full of suspense and mystery. There is nothing I can fault, except that I want to know more! This book was only published a week ago, but if you can, grab a copy. You won't regret it!
Now this book isn't for the fainthearted. There's death and gruesome scenes all through the book, as well as loss of characters you don't expect. The writing is intense, the story full of suspense and mystery. There is nothing I can fault, except that I want to know more! This book was only published a week ago, but if you can, grab a copy. You won't regret it!
June 6, 2015
I gave up! Got half way through and couldn't read anymore. I have to admit it is not my fav genre but I found it tough going. I tried to get into it over several sessions but it was too weird for me. It seems readers of dystopia really like this hut not me.
June 9, 2018
I hadn’t read any YA in ages, having moved on from the repetitive tropes, angst, and love triangles, several years ago. One of my friends brought this to book club and said she quite enjoyed this, and I liked the premise (and generally do like end-of-the-world stories), so figured it would make a change.
Set in near-future Sydney, this features 16 year old Danby, who suddenly discovers that she, and everyone else, has acquired a kind of mass telepathy. She alone has a natural shield protecting her own thoughts, so when everyone goes crazy, overwhelmed by the babble of voices in their heads and the secrets that are revealed, and people start killing themselves or each other, she is partly protected. When her father and stepmother are killed, she flees with her little brother, who is autistic (or something) aiming for her mother’s house in the Blue Mountains, 100km away. Meeting another shielded person, medical student Nathan, they team up to try and revive as many of the people left catatonic by “The Snap” as she can, but not everybody shares her ideals...
I enjoyed this. The plot was an original take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and while Danby is deluded and idealistic like a Green politician wanting to save everyone, never mind the consequences, she’s a feisty and resourceful heroine. What threatened to become a love triangle was definitely not, and the ending leads one waiting for the next in the trilogy, without being an annoying cliffhanger. I was amused by people complaining that there was no explanation of the cause of the Snap, or that it didn’t make sense. After all, zombie books aren’t exactly logical either, but that doesn’t stop people enjoying them either!
Set in near-future Sydney, this features 16 year old Danby, who suddenly discovers that she, and everyone else, has acquired a kind of mass telepathy. She alone has a natural shield protecting her own thoughts, so when everyone goes crazy, overwhelmed by the babble of voices in their heads and the secrets that are revealed, and people start killing themselves or each other, she is partly protected. When her father and stepmother are killed, she flees with her little brother, who is autistic (or something) aiming for her mother’s house in the Blue Mountains, 100km away. Meeting another shielded person, medical student Nathan, they team up to try and revive as many of the people left catatonic by “The Snap” as she can, but not everybody shares her ideals...
I enjoyed this. The plot was an original take on the post-apocalyptic genre, and while Danby is deluded and idealistic like a Green politician wanting to save everyone, never mind the consequences, she’s a feisty and resourceful heroine. What threatened to become a love triangle was definitely not, and the ending leads one waiting for the next in the trilogy, without being an annoying cliffhanger. I was amused by people complaining that there was no explanation of the cause of the Snap, or that it didn’t make sense. After all, zombie books aren’t exactly logical either, but that doesn’t stop people enjoying them either!
July 7, 2024
What a plot twist 🤠 kms
April 19, 2016
I'm about 30 pages from the end but have no desire to finish, especially considering I currently have a whole pile of new books from the library waiting to be read (which to be frank, are a lot more appealing than this one).
Truthfully I don't know how I managed to get as far as I did with The Last Girl, seeing that only 24 pages in I came across this:
'So for shits and giggle I decided to see if I could last one week without logging back on.'
Alrighty, so Danby, the main character, justifies herself dropping technology for a week in saying that its simply for 'shits and giggles.' REALLY? Is that the best reason you could come up with?
That is the sort of phrase I would expect to find in a 12 year old's Instagram caption, definitely not a novel.
Let's hope Mr Adams meant the line ironically. Either way, it's definitely not 'novel-worthy.'
Another specific line in the book I would like to reference is this one (pg. 299):
'I wanna thank you,' Tina said.... 'for saving my Joel.'
[Danby] looked from the woman to Jack. 'I didn't do anything.'
Now, I'm not usually against cliches, but let's be real, is that not just one of the most cliche things ever? Essentially, generic and grateful citizen praises and thanks main character for saving them-self / another, whilst main character plays all humble claiming they really 'didn't do anything'.
This probably shouldn't have pissed me off as much as it should, but boy it did.
Seeing as I've pointed out two quotes in the book that make my blood boil, here are some I really enjoyed:
'... but I didn't want to make things more complicated by thinking about it too much right then.' (pg. 290)
Ha. I do realize that the author had no intention of making this line funny at all, and that in context it isn't really, but it certainly encapsulates my thoughts accurately while sitting in a maths classroom.
The second quote, and definitely my favourite of the book, is this one:
'This is a flare.' he said.
'Haven't used one,' I said. 'Enlighten me.' (pg. 338)
a FLARE. ENLIGHTEN. HAHAHAH good one Mr Adams. Although, once again, I'm unsure as to whether the author really was intending to create a pun (probably not), this was nonetheless probably the best part about the entire book (I mean, it IS a pretty good pun).
Though not just because it's a good pun, more the fact that I believe the entire book was a good idea badly executed.
I would also like to state how EMOTIONLESS the main character is. Besides that, I feel no connection whatsoever to any of the characters, nor do I particularly LIKE any of them.
I think Michael Adams had a great idea, but I think it could have definitely been a better story.
Maybe (clearly) this book just wasn't for me.
Truthfully I don't know how I managed to get as far as I did with The Last Girl, seeing that only 24 pages in I came across this:
'So for shits and giggle I decided to see if I could last one week without logging back on.'
Alrighty, so Danby, the main character, justifies herself dropping technology for a week in saying that its simply for 'shits and giggles.' REALLY? Is that the best reason you could come up with?
That is the sort of phrase I would expect to find in a 12 year old's Instagram caption, definitely not a novel.
Let's hope Mr Adams meant the line ironically. Either way, it's definitely not 'novel-worthy.'
Another specific line in the book I would like to reference is this one (pg. 299):
'I wanna thank you,' Tina said.... 'for saving my Joel.'
[Danby] looked from the woman to Jack. 'I didn't do anything.'
Now, I'm not usually against cliches, but let's be real, is that not just one of the most cliche things ever? Essentially, generic and grateful citizen praises and thanks main character for saving them-self / another, whilst main character plays all humble claiming they really 'didn't do anything'.
This probably shouldn't have pissed me off as much as it should, but boy it did.
Seeing as I've pointed out two quotes in the book that make my blood boil, here are some I really enjoyed:
'... but I didn't want to make things more complicated by thinking about it too much right then.' (pg. 290)
Ha. I do realize that the author had no intention of making this line funny at all, and that in context it isn't really, but it certainly encapsulates my thoughts accurately while sitting in a maths classroom.
The second quote, and definitely my favourite of the book, is this one:
'This is a flare.' he said.
'Haven't used one,' I said. 'Enlighten me.' (pg. 338)
a FLARE. ENLIGHTEN. HAHAHAH good one Mr Adams. Although, once again, I'm unsure as to whether the author really was intending to create a pun (probably not), this was nonetheless probably the best part about the entire book (I mean, it IS a pretty good pun).
Though not just because it's a good pun, more the fact that I believe the entire book was a good idea badly executed.
I would also like to state how EMOTIONLESS the main character is. Besides that, I feel no connection whatsoever to any of the characters, nor do I particularly LIKE any of them.
I think Michael Adams had a great idea, but I think it could have definitely been a better story.
Maybe (clearly) this book just wasn't for me.
June 6, 2014
Read reviews, see awesome GIFS and see my rambling thoughts at my blog, The Loony Teen Writer
What a cool concept, right?
Plus, this book is set VERY close to where I live. I really enjoyed that – I didn’t have to visualise some of the places because I actually knew what they looked like. I mean, they’re kind of different since this book uses an apocalyptic setting in the near-future, but still! STRAYA.
Have a random gif of a koala, because I felt like putting one there.
What I also liked about this book was the fact that it was in the very near future – there are references to Disney movies and other items from today’s popular culture. This is a terrifying and well-written projection of a world that seems all too possible. I mean, maybe not from being able to hear each other’s thoughts. But the importance of the media is emphasised in The Last Girl, and I can imagine that its importance will only grow in years to come.
The writing was also really smart. I don’t know how else to describe it, really, except to say that the details in the description were crisp and economical and so visual. It’s so easy to picture everything.
Oh, and also? It’s not a black-and-white, “these people are bad and these people are good” thing. No. Because reality is not that simple – everyone in this story thinks they’re good people, and that’s what makes it even scarier.
Danby is also a fantastic protagonist. She’s not “kickass” as such, but she knows what she wants, and she cares for her brother, and she gets on with things. She’s scared like anyone would be in this situation, and trying to figure things out. A very realistic lead.
This is one of the best examples of Aussie dystopian that you’ll find. Or at least that I’ve found.
What a cool concept, right?
Plus, this book is set VERY close to where I live. I really enjoyed that – I didn’t have to visualise some of the places because I actually knew what they looked like. I mean, they’re kind of different since this book uses an apocalyptic setting in the near-future, but still! STRAYA.
Have a random gif of a koala, because I felt like putting one there.
What I also liked about this book was the fact that it was in the very near future – there are references to Disney movies and other items from today’s popular culture. This is a terrifying and well-written projection of a world that seems all too possible. I mean, maybe not from being able to hear each other’s thoughts. But the importance of the media is emphasised in The Last Girl, and I can imagine that its importance will only grow in years to come.
The writing was also really smart. I don’t know how else to describe it, really, except to say that the details in the description were crisp and economical and so visual. It’s so easy to picture everything.
Oh, and also? It’s not a black-and-white, “these people are bad and these people are good” thing. No. Because reality is not that simple – everyone in this story thinks they’re good people, and that’s what makes it even scarier.
Danby is also a fantastic protagonist. She’s not “kickass” as such, but she knows what she wants, and she cares for her brother, and she gets on with things. She’s scared like anyone would be in this situation, and trying to figure things out. A very realistic lead.
This is one of the best examples of Aussie dystopian that you’ll find. Or at least that I’ve found.
April 17, 2014
The Last Girl...
Its about the end of the world- the next stage of evolution has "snapped" into existence, and everyone can hear everyone elses' thoughts, except for Danby's. The population is overwhelmed, unable to trust each other or work together, causing havoc, chaos, destruction and death for thousands. Eventually, the entire population become catatonic, forced into a coma-like state which is their body's only defence against becoming insane. Everyone, that is, except for Danby and Nathan, and a few others. I can't say much more without giving away the plot, but I can say the blurb is an understatement; so much more happens!
Well, I read it in just over a day. I couldn't put it down! It's a great book, a great plot, a little bit scary at times.
The only thing that let it down had nothing to do with the plot- like Mandee said sometimes it jumped a bit and you didn't know what had happened. It is always explained, though, nothing is left out!
This is a great book which I would recommend to EVERYONE even if they are not interested because i like it so much. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which is supposed to be coming out in March 2014. Three months to go!
Its about the end of the world- the next stage of evolution has "snapped" into existence, and everyone can hear everyone elses' thoughts, except for Danby's. The population is overwhelmed, unable to trust each other or work together, causing havoc, chaos, destruction and death for thousands. Eventually, the entire population become catatonic, forced into a coma-like state which is their body's only defence against becoming insane. Everyone, that is, except for Danby and Nathan, and a few others. I can't say much more without giving away the plot, but I can say the blurb is an understatement; so much more happens!
Well, I read it in just over a day. I couldn't put it down! It's a great book, a great plot, a little bit scary at times.
The only thing that let it down had nothing to do with the plot- like Mandee said sometimes it jumped a bit and you didn't know what had happened. It is always explained, though, nothing is left out!
This is a great book which I would recommend to EVERYONE even if they are not interested because i like it so much. I'm looking forward to the sequel, which is supposed to be coming out in March 2014. Three months to go!
December 15, 2014
Shit sticks bricks, this book was good. Definitely for mature readers, this book examines a possible beginning for the end of the world, and it does so with such developed concepts and fast paced, terrifying plot. The gore and violence was the perfect amount, enough to make the whole situation seem truly real, and the characters responses to having all their inner thoughts violated is so raw and real. Also, I know it sounds strange, but this book did Australia good. Far too often, books set in Australia, be they written by Australian's or otherwise, can sound really strange, like they want to focus on the "bush" parts and how "Australian" it all is, but this didn't overplay any of that, and it seemed much more realistic. Such a great apocalyptic novel. So excited to continue reading this series!
January 11, 2015
I started reading this book while I was staying at my aunties, it was my younger cousins book. At first it was a little hard to read using acronyms that I didn't quite get, but it quickly raced through that to be a book that I could not put down. The whole idea of how the world could end has never been thought of like this before.
Danby is a character that is easily to identify with and fun to ride along by her side as she figures out her steps. The attention to detail and descriptions never stops painting a vivid picture inside my mind of the utter confusion, angst and terror that unwinds after the snap. This book is a page turner and I literally went out to find the next book in the series as soon as I finished it.
Danby is a character that is easily to identify with and fun to ride along by her side as she figures out her steps. The attention to detail and descriptions never stops painting a vivid picture inside my mind of the utter confusion, angst and terror that unwinds after the snap. This book is a page turner and I literally went out to find the next book in the series as soon as I finished it.
December 7, 2014
Not for the squeamish. Another end of the world piece with its background set in the Sydney-Blue Mountains region. The premise of being able to hear/see everyone's inner dialogue and their skeletons in the closet and the worldwide destruction both physical and emotional that this causes sets the opening of the book. How Danby and the select few who were able to "reset" and become immune and their methods and reasoning to wake those who have remained shutdown - who do you pick, how do you pick them, the risks involved with strangers are all asked.
September 30, 2014
I didn't really find this book gruesome...I guess I've read too many psycho-killer crime books, but it doesn't shy away from depicting the carnage of an apocalypse. Loved the fact it is set in Sydney and asks pretty relevant questions about our/my addiction to social media. Downers were that it was a little slow at the start and then finished abruptly to make you want to read the 2nd book.
September 25, 2014
I found that if you pushed through the "teen speak" and slang at the beginning, the rewards were great. Some themes that I'd recommend for perhaps 15+ crowd (particularly what Danby hears at the beginning). Great book and not as depressing as The Sky So Heavy by Claire Zorn, which is also set in Sydney/blue mins
August 5, 2014
Wow. This was crazy intense.
Excellent read, gets you to think hard about what makes us who we are and what events need to happen to change that.
Just wow. This was fabulous!!!!
Excellent read, gets you to think hard about what makes us who we are and what events need to happen to change that.
Just wow. This was fabulous!!!!
August 25, 2014
Surprisingly awesome, a real find.
December 6, 2014
A great premise - telepathy leading to the apocalypse - written with wit and grit. The timeline at the start is a little confusing but after that it acquires real pace. On to Book 2...
June 6, 2015
I couldn't continue. Got to half way and gave up. Too weird for me. It just didn't capture me and I really tried to get into it. Oh well, on to something new...
November 13, 2016
This book was great
Epic ending and plot twist
Did not see that coming
Epic ending and plot twist
Did not see that coming
November 22, 2013
This review and interview is kindly brought to you by Wild Colonial Girl blog:
http://wildcolonialgirl.wordpress.com...
I must confess I didn’t know too much about YA until quite recently. I always had in my head that it was a closed genre, featuring vampires and werewolves and girls with ballgowns and insipid romance. But everyone makes mistakes. Reading more widely this year — and the YA community’s quick embrace of just_a_girl led me down this path — I realised that it’s an enormously diverse market with exactly the kind of narratives that excite me, a genre often caught in between the adult and teen worlds.
I’m always a sucker for coming-of-age-girl-as-outsider-awkward-moments-until-she-realises-everybody-is-like-that narratives. Blame the 80s and Molly Ringwald. When I was an adolescent, the idea of books for teens was just gaining ground. I devoured SE Hinton, Paul Zindel, Judy Blume, Robert Cormier. These writers tackled dark subjects, spoke of sex and drugs and religion (and all those things I’m still writing about), and empowered teens to fight for themselves.
Michael Adams’ The Last Girl is a strong addition to the genre, that also fights to be let out into literary fiction. Highlighted in the September edition of FRIDAY NIGHT FICTIONS, it demands close reading. While lead girl Danby confronts an apocalyptic vision of Sydney, where most of the inhabitants can read each other’s minds, it’s also about communities separated by high-density living, soaring property prices, environmental catastrophe, the legacy of stealing someone else’s land, and addiction to personal-technologies.
Michael knows how to cram in big ideas. His background as a film critic (editor for Empire — where he employed me to write on Bergman [bliss] — and even appearing on The Movie Show on SBS) serves him well here. The fiction is full of pop-culture references, sly humour, out-of-the-blue violence, and challenges to narrative conventions.
Danby is a memorable figure through the death and destruction around her, intuitive, strong, countering expectations to be led astray by wayward boys, dealing with challenges effectively with humour and courage. I’d like to meet her one day. Let’s hope she makes it to the end of the trilogy (The Last Girl is the first in a series). Knowing Michael, this isn’t entirely certain.
Here I talk to him about Stephen King, Sydney and the Blue Mountains on fire, and heroines that break free of conventions…
Do you remember the moment when you decided you wanted to be a writer?
Not the precise moment but it goes back as far as I can remember. As a six-year-old I’d write and illustrate little stapled books about soldiers and sharks and dinosaurs — sometimes all in the same story. By the time I was in my early teens I was trying to write novels. Then I got into journalism and creative writing took a backseat. It wasn’t until I’d tried my hand at screenwriting and non-fiction that I finally, finally, achieved the goal I’d set for myself when I was about 13. Oddly — or maybe not oddly — The Last Girl contains echoes of those adolescent efforts.
What inspired you?
The Last Girl came as a bit of a flash — at least in concept. In 2008 I was in New York and at dinner at a restaurant with my partner. We were having a great time talking to another couple who’d survived Hurricane Katrina. But at another table there was a couple who didn’t say a word to each other all night. At some point I wondered: what if they could read each other’s thoughts, hear everything that wasn’t being said. Then I wondered what it’d be like if the phenomenon spiralled out to encompass the city, the country, the world.
My book and yours share some common themes: teenage girls on the edge; a narrative that swings between Sydney and the Blue Mountains (on the train tracks); the questioning of digital cultures and their effects on psychology and relationships. Why did you decide to pursue these ideas in a YA novel?
Initially I thought I was writing an adult book about a young adult character. It wasn’t until I’d sent the book to Allen & Unwin that it was explained it was a YA. The definition was that YA focuses on young characters who have to make their own decisions in the absence of adult authority. That pretty much summed up Danby’s situation in The Last Girl. But I’m not sure about the YA label because it wasn’t used to describe similar books when I was growing up. The Catcher In The Rye and Lord Of The Flies spring to mind. Back then they were literature — now they’re YA. And then there’s the US statistic that says 84 per cent of YA is purchased by people over 18. I guess what’s important is that it’s a good story well told and in a voice authentic to the age of the character.
You’ve written extensively on film (as a reviewer and non-fiction writer). To what extent did cinema, and in particular B-grade films, influence your narrative?
I wanted the story to grab readers by the throat, take them to a cliffhanger and then tease them with backstory that’d become important throughout the trilogy before plunging back into an ever-escalating series of disasters for poor Danby. But I wanted to throw her and readers constant curveballs so it’d be difficult to predict where the story was heading. So the movies I kinda had in mind were those that’ve had that effect on me: Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Psycho, The Usual Suspects, Night Of The Living Dead are a few that spring to mind. I also put as much black humour into the book as possible and in that the touchstones are films like Dr Strangelove, Bride Of Frankenstein and Repo Man.
But the biggest influence wasn’t film — it was Breaking Bad. I watched the entire series twice and really tried to understand how Vince Gilligan created an emotionally charged character-driven suspense thriller that was so dense, complex and funny — while also layering in all of his narrative callbacks, in-jokes and Easter Eggs. There’s a lot of that kind of thinking in The Last Girl. Seemingly throwaway details become pivotal to survival. References to pop culture echo the themes. There’s a reason Danby’s dad orders a plate of shrimp and a Miller. Google it and you’ll see why.
The Last Girl is the first in a series. Did the publisher commission a number of books at once? How hard is it as a writer to plan out a series?
Yes, A&U bought the trilogy. By that stage I had a solid first draft of The Last Girl and about 20,000 words of the sequel. Now book two, The Last Shot, is at the final proofreading stages and I’ve got three months to finish the first draft of The Last Place, which will wrap things up. When I started The Last Girl, I was pretty much making it up as I went along. The ending I eventually decided on and worked towards would’ve left a lot unresolved. I wanted to know what came next. The fun — and tough — thing is to ensure continuity while you juggle drafts. But I’ve really enjoyed playing with the world — or end of the world — and seeing how the puzzle pieces actually do fit together. Mostly it’s been an organic process. But I’ve also worked to ensure the books don’t repeat scenes or scenarios. I hate sequels that’re just a reheat. So I see the series as one story, which also means that I need the end of book three to be bigger and more powerful than what’s come before. I want it to be my Toy Story 3 and not The Godfather Part III.
Your novel is playful and toys with genre conventions: the romantic lead; the heroine as victim/survivor; futuristic horror; the quest. Was this always something you had in mind when you started writing, or did it evolve as you went? How did this go when you were trying to get the book published? Was there pressure to make it one thing or another?
There was a lot I didn’t want my book to be. Passive heroine? Fuck that. Instant love between characters? No thanks. Scared suburban types who suddenly become fearless warriors? Uh-uh. I hate reading or watching stories in which you spend your time shaking your head at bad character decisions and/or illogical scenarios. So as much as possible I wanted Danby’s nightmare to feel real, to be blow-by-blow. Yay, she’s made it to the car! But can she drive? Can you feasibly escape a burning city on clogged roads? And if not, then what? I wanted characters who haven’t got all the answers. I tried to imagine myself in her shoes and in doing that painted Danby into some seemingly inescapable corners. A few of these took months to figure out. And that meant walking the actual locations until the “A-ha!” moment struck. Writing like that intrinsically bends genre expectations because we’re so often fed the same-old people and situations. Tough guys walk in slow-motion from the explosion without looking around? Stupid. How about sensibly shit-scared guys run but one can’t help looking back and gets flash-blinded while another’s cut in half by shrapnel and they all end up concussed by the shock wave that shatters every window for five blocks? By doing the latter you’re being logical and realistic but it’s also bleakly funny and subversive because it’s not what we’re used to seeing. As for how A&U reacted, they were brilliant. I was never asked to make it anything other than what I’d envisaged. The cuts and changes suggested were more to do with me overwriting, paying too much attention to secondary scenes or wandering away from the character voice.
You live in the Blue Mountains (I used to as well). Your book deals with catastrophic events, including, it seems, a whole city and mountain on fire. How did it feel when the recent Springwood fires were happening (after the book had been published)? Did it feel like life imitating art in some hellish way?
It was freaky because a few scenes, particularly smoke blanketing Parramatta and Silverwater, were exactly as I’d imagined them. I got a few messages from people saying, “Whoa, dude, that’s spooky.” But we were too busy packing up our and getting out of Katoomba to think about it too much. I did get asked by a big newspaper if I’d comment on the book’s similarities to the events but I declined because I thought it disrespectful to trivialise an ongoing situation threatening people’s lives and homes. Writer turns down publicity: film at 11!
Is there a writer community in the Blue Mountains? Can you survive being a writer up there, or do you still commute to Sydney for a day job?
There are a lot of writers in the Blue Mountains but I work a day job in Sydney so I haven’t had much time to explore the community. Couldn’t even go to the SFF events they had last year. Sad face. But the dream is to do exactly that: hang out up there and write. But for the foreseeable future I’ll be commuting to the office gig — and freelancing my butt off to supplement those wages. It’s all freaking glamour, me tells ya.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the process of writing your first novel, that you wish you knew at the beginning?
I guess it’s something you learn and re-learn every time you pick up a pen or sit at the keyboard: you’ll think your first jottings are amazing and you’ll be so very wrong. But they’re a start. And the next draft will be better … and then the next … and the next … and so on. But what’s equally important is to be ruthless, murder darlings in the nest before you get too attached. The first submitted draft ran to 111,000. The final book’s about 87,000. The 25,000 words or so that were cut were words I’d spent a long time writing and polishing. There was a lot in there that didn’t need to be but I was too close to it. By contrast, the first draft of The Last Shot was 80,000 — and it’s ended up at 93,000. So maybe I swung too far the other way. Perhaps the third book will be just right — but I doubt it!
What were your favourite books to read when you were a teenager?
I am indebted to Stephen King. I loved that supernatural events were happening in our very ordinary world and to ordinary people. The Stand and The Dead Zone were hugely influential. Later, at school, we did Lord Of The Flies, The Loved One, Nineteen Eighty Four, Shakespeare: and I loved all of them too. So a mixture of the high and lowbrow — but, like YA, I’m never sure exactly where the border lies.
Of course, the book screams film rights. If you could choose anyone (director, actors) to adapt and star in your film, who would they be?
David Fincher [Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Social Network]. I love his obsessive attention to detail, the mood he creates. As for actors, I’m going home-grown. Eva Lazzaro as Danby. She’s the right age, she looks the part and she’s really talented. I thought she was the best thing about Tangle. Alex Russell as Jack. He was funny and charismatic in Chronicle and he had an edge to him. Nathan’s young and from Sri Lankan parents. I wonder if cricketer Ashton Agar can act?
http://wildcolonialgirl.wordpress.com...
I must confess I didn’t know too much about YA until quite recently. I always had in my head that it was a closed genre, featuring vampires and werewolves and girls with ballgowns and insipid romance. But everyone makes mistakes. Reading more widely this year — and the YA community’s quick embrace of just_a_girl led me down this path — I realised that it’s an enormously diverse market with exactly the kind of narratives that excite me, a genre often caught in between the adult and teen worlds.
I’m always a sucker for coming-of-age-girl-as-outsider-awkward-moments-until-she-realises-everybody-is-like-that narratives. Blame the 80s and Molly Ringwald. When I was an adolescent, the idea of books for teens was just gaining ground. I devoured SE Hinton, Paul Zindel, Judy Blume, Robert Cormier. These writers tackled dark subjects, spoke of sex and drugs and religion (and all those things I’m still writing about), and empowered teens to fight for themselves.
Michael Adams’ The Last Girl is a strong addition to the genre, that also fights to be let out into literary fiction. Highlighted in the September edition of FRIDAY NIGHT FICTIONS, it demands close reading. While lead girl Danby confronts an apocalyptic vision of Sydney, where most of the inhabitants can read each other’s minds, it’s also about communities separated by high-density living, soaring property prices, environmental catastrophe, the legacy of stealing someone else’s land, and addiction to personal-technologies.
Michael knows how to cram in big ideas. His background as a film critic (editor for Empire — where he employed me to write on Bergman [bliss] — and even appearing on The Movie Show on SBS) serves him well here. The fiction is full of pop-culture references, sly humour, out-of-the-blue violence, and challenges to narrative conventions.
Danby is a memorable figure through the death and destruction around her, intuitive, strong, countering expectations to be led astray by wayward boys, dealing with challenges effectively with humour and courage. I’d like to meet her one day. Let’s hope she makes it to the end of the trilogy (The Last Girl is the first in a series). Knowing Michael, this isn’t entirely certain.
Here I talk to him about Stephen King, Sydney and the Blue Mountains on fire, and heroines that break free of conventions…
Do you remember the moment when you decided you wanted to be a writer?
Not the precise moment but it goes back as far as I can remember. As a six-year-old I’d write and illustrate little stapled books about soldiers and sharks and dinosaurs — sometimes all in the same story. By the time I was in my early teens I was trying to write novels. Then I got into journalism and creative writing took a backseat. It wasn’t until I’d tried my hand at screenwriting and non-fiction that I finally, finally, achieved the goal I’d set for myself when I was about 13. Oddly — or maybe not oddly — The Last Girl contains echoes of those adolescent efforts.
What inspired you?
The Last Girl came as a bit of a flash — at least in concept. In 2008 I was in New York and at dinner at a restaurant with my partner. We were having a great time talking to another couple who’d survived Hurricane Katrina. But at another table there was a couple who didn’t say a word to each other all night. At some point I wondered: what if they could read each other’s thoughts, hear everything that wasn’t being said. Then I wondered what it’d be like if the phenomenon spiralled out to encompass the city, the country, the world.
My book and yours share some common themes: teenage girls on the edge; a narrative that swings between Sydney and the Blue Mountains (on the train tracks); the questioning of digital cultures and their effects on psychology and relationships. Why did you decide to pursue these ideas in a YA novel?
Initially I thought I was writing an adult book about a young adult character. It wasn’t until I’d sent the book to Allen & Unwin that it was explained it was a YA. The definition was that YA focuses on young characters who have to make their own decisions in the absence of adult authority. That pretty much summed up Danby’s situation in The Last Girl. But I’m not sure about the YA label because it wasn’t used to describe similar books when I was growing up. The Catcher In The Rye and Lord Of The Flies spring to mind. Back then they were literature — now they’re YA. And then there’s the US statistic that says 84 per cent of YA is purchased by people over 18. I guess what’s important is that it’s a good story well told and in a voice authentic to the age of the character.
You’ve written extensively on film (as a reviewer and non-fiction writer). To what extent did cinema, and in particular B-grade films, influence your narrative?
I wanted the story to grab readers by the throat, take them to a cliffhanger and then tease them with backstory that’d become important throughout the trilogy before plunging back into an ever-escalating series of disasters for poor Danby. But I wanted to throw her and readers constant curveballs so it’d be difficult to predict where the story was heading. So the movies I kinda had in mind were those that’ve had that effect on me: Se7en, Fight Club, Zodiac, Psycho, The Usual Suspects, Night Of The Living Dead are a few that spring to mind. I also put as much black humour into the book as possible and in that the touchstones are films like Dr Strangelove, Bride Of Frankenstein and Repo Man.
But the biggest influence wasn’t film — it was Breaking Bad. I watched the entire series twice and really tried to understand how Vince Gilligan created an emotionally charged character-driven suspense thriller that was so dense, complex and funny — while also layering in all of his narrative callbacks, in-jokes and Easter Eggs. There’s a lot of that kind of thinking in The Last Girl. Seemingly throwaway details become pivotal to survival. References to pop culture echo the themes. There’s a reason Danby’s dad orders a plate of shrimp and a Miller. Google it and you’ll see why.
The Last Girl is the first in a series. Did the publisher commission a number of books at once? How hard is it as a writer to plan out a series?
Yes, A&U bought the trilogy. By that stage I had a solid first draft of The Last Girl and about 20,000 words of the sequel. Now book two, The Last Shot, is at the final proofreading stages and I’ve got three months to finish the first draft of The Last Place, which will wrap things up. When I started The Last Girl, I was pretty much making it up as I went along. The ending I eventually decided on and worked towards would’ve left a lot unresolved. I wanted to know what came next. The fun — and tough — thing is to ensure continuity while you juggle drafts. But I’ve really enjoyed playing with the world — or end of the world — and seeing how the puzzle pieces actually do fit together. Mostly it’s been an organic process. But I’ve also worked to ensure the books don’t repeat scenes or scenarios. I hate sequels that’re just a reheat. So I see the series as one story, which also means that I need the end of book three to be bigger and more powerful than what’s come before. I want it to be my Toy Story 3 and not The Godfather Part III.
Your novel is playful and toys with genre conventions: the romantic lead; the heroine as victim/survivor; futuristic horror; the quest. Was this always something you had in mind when you started writing, or did it evolve as you went? How did this go when you were trying to get the book published? Was there pressure to make it one thing or another?
There was a lot I didn’t want my book to be. Passive heroine? Fuck that. Instant love between characters? No thanks. Scared suburban types who suddenly become fearless warriors? Uh-uh. I hate reading or watching stories in which you spend your time shaking your head at bad character decisions and/or illogical scenarios. So as much as possible I wanted Danby’s nightmare to feel real, to be blow-by-blow. Yay, she’s made it to the car! But can she drive? Can you feasibly escape a burning city on clogged roads? And if not, then what? I wanted characters who haven’t got all the answers. I tried to imagine myself in her shoes and in doing that painted Danby into some seemingly inescapable corners. A few of these took months to figure out. And that meant walking the actual locations until the “A-ha!” moment struck. Writing like that intrinsically bends genre expectations because we’re so often fed the same-old people and situations. Tough guys walk in slow-motion from the explosion without looking around? Stupid. How about sensibly shit-scared guys run but one can’t help looking back and gets flash-blinded while another’s cut in half by shrapnel and they all end up concussed by the shock wave that shatters every window for five blocks? By doing the latter you’re being logical and realistic but it’s also bleakly funny and subversive because it’s not what we’re used to seeing. As for how A&U reacted, they were brilliant. I was never asked to make it anything other than what I’d envisaged. The cuts and changes suggested were more to do with me overwriting, paying too much attention to secondary scenes or wandering away from the character voice.
You live in the Blue Mountains (I used to as well). Your book deals with catastrophic events, including, it seems, a whole city and mountain on fire. How did it feel when the recent Springwood fires were happening (after the book had been published)? Did it feel like life imitating art in some hellish way?
It was freaky because a few scenes, particularly smoke blanketing Parramatta and Silverwater, were exactly as I’d imagined them. I got a few messages from people saying, “Whoa, dude, that’s spooky.” But we were too busy packing up our and getting out of Katoomba to think about it too much. I did get asked by a big newspaper if I’d comment on the book’s similarities to the events but I declined because I thought it disrespectful to trivialise an ongoing situation threatening people’s lives and homes. Writer turns down publicity: film at 11!
Is there a writer community in the Blue Mountains? Can you survive being a writer up there, or do you still commute to Sydney for a day job?
There are a lot of writers in the Blue Mountains but I work a day job in Sydney so I haven’t had much time to explore the community. Couldn’t even go to the SFF events they had last year. Sad face. But the dream is to do exactly that: hang out up there and write. But for the foreseeable future I’ll be commuting to the office gig — and freelancing my butt off to supplement those wages. It’s all freaking glamour, me tells ya.
What is the most important thing you’ve learned in the process of writing your first novel, that you wish you knew at the beginning?
I guess it’s something you learn and re-learn every time you pick up a pen or sit at the keyboard: you’ll think your first jottings are amazing and you’ll be so very wrong. But they’re a start. And the next draft will be better … and then the next … and the next … and so on. But what’s equally important is to be ruthless, murder darlings in the nest before you get too attached. The first submitted draft ran to 111,000. The final book’s about 87,000. The 25,000 words or so that were cut were words I’d spent a long time writing and polishing. There was a lot in there that didn’t need to be but I was too close to it. By contrast, the first draft of The Last Shot was 80,000 — and it’s ended up at 93,000. So maybe I swung too far the other way. Perhaps the third book will be just right — but I doubt it!
What were your favourite books to read when you were a teenager?
I am indebted to Stephen King. I loved that supernatural events were happening in our very ordinary world and to ordinary people. The Stand and The Dead Zone were hugely influential. Later, at school, we did Lord Of The Flies, The Loved One, Nineteen Eighty Four, Shakespeare: and I loved all of them too. So a mixture of the high and lowbrow — but, like YA, I’m never sure exactly where the border lies.
Of course, the book screams film rights. If you could choose anyone (director, actors) to adapt and star in your film, who would they be?
David Fincher [Fight Club, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Social Network]. I love his obsessive attention to detail, the mood he creates. As for actors, I’m going home-grown. Eva Lazzaro as Danby. She’s the right age, she looks the part and she’s really talented. I thought she was the best thing about Tangle. Alex Russell as Jack. He was funny and charismatic in Chronicle and he had an edge to him. Nathan’s young and from Sri Lankan parents. I wonder if cricketer Ashton Agar can act?
January 9, 2018
This was definitely a page-turner. I found the premise – that the apocalypse comes about because everyone suddenly develops telepathy and can read each other’s minds – at once fascinating and problematic. Despite these contradictory feelings, I whizzed through, so this is an author who is doing something right.
First, it’s set in Sydney in a near-ish future, with a lot of hip hyper-connected teen jargon, which sets the scene for the apocalypse to come while also being really quite clever. Then the “Snap” happens – on Christmas Day, perfect, always a time of goodwill and low stress-levels – and mayhem and mega-death ensues. Our tough and down to earth heroine Danby, who has been mis-diagnosed as kooky because she already tuned into these telepathic waves, is invisible to the crazed majority who feel like ten thousand people are screaming in their heads. Her mission becomes, to get herself and her little brother to hippy mum’s hideaway in the Blue Mountains. She also meets a young med student, Nathan, who is similarly “immune”: ie he can hear others’ thoughts but they can’t hear his.
Their attempts to save themselves, plus assisting and reviving other people, seem to only just be starting, and a good start it is, when the narrative changes and the story becomes a novel of two halves. I won’t say too much because it would be spoiler-y, but the second half introduces a new set of characters. One in particular has unusual talents and the thrust of the story shifts to Danby’s uncertain, ambivalent relationship with this guy.
The premise is interesting: that our brains are being re-wired for connectivity through social media, and that this is the natural evolutionary next step. It kind of introduces that idea without fully exploring its implications: 7 billion minds on the planet – and like the internet, 99% plus of each mind is probably stuffed with rubbish no one needs to know. I know mine is.
Connectivity is a buzzword (very big in education: we teachers are meant to be embracing the connectivity of our students as 21st Century learners) but no one seems to ask the basic question: why? Connectivity is good for Connectivity’s sake, goes the C21st educators’ mantra. But I do wonder. Deeply unfashionable view: what good does it do? If you look at it with a cold and cynical eye, the vast vast majority of this sharing and connecting is on the one hand self-promoting, and on the other desperately trivial.
So… my reasons for contradictory reaction: it is a fascinating premise for an apocalypse, but this happening overnight as an evolutionary response is not possible. Natural selection, selfish genes and all that – no great genetic changes can happen to everyone on the planet outside of several generations (or at the very least one, if there’s a plague say that wipes out everyone but people who… can roll their tongues. Then, in one generation, the vast majority of the people in the world would be people who can roll their tongues… boring old evolutionary theory, so widely misunderstood).
So the mechanism by which this occurs is at present not plausible, although it might come clear in later books. But that didn’t affect my reading pleasure anyway.
Secondly, and maybe more importantly, people all of a sudden murdering each other and crashing their cars and fires all over the city – basically, Christmas Armageddon – why? So, your hubby thinks your bum really does look fat in those pants – do you charge outside and drive like a maniac ramming your car into every other vehicle you see? Even if you do drive off in a huff, you wouldn’t want to kill yourself through reckless driving. But they all do.
I think the madness could conceivably have been explained as a stress reaction – people literally going mad with the noise in their minds… I don’t know, maybe it was there but if it was, it’s not very focused or explicit, and the rationale for the madness seemed a little lacking.
In any case, nitpicks aside, I still roared through the story – interesting, gripping read, and lots of potential to explore answers in the follow-ups.
Because it is the first in a trilogy. The story resolves enough for satisfaction, but is clearly primed for instalment #2.
For more of Brin's reviews go to:
http://www.brinmurray.com/
First, it’s set in Sydney in a near-ish future, with a lot of hip hyper-connected teen jargon, which sets the scene for the apocalypse to come while also being really quite clever. Then the “Snap” happens – on Christmas Day, perfect, always a time of goodwill and low stress-levels – and mayhem and mega-death ensues. Our tough and down to earth heroine Danby, who has been mis-diagnosed as kooky because she already tuned into these telepathic waves, is invisible to the crazed majority who feel like ten thousand people are screaming in their heads. Her mission becomes, to get herself and her little brother to hippy mum’s hideaway in the Blue Mountains. She also meets a young med student, Nathan, who is similarly “immune”: ie he can hear others’ thoughts but they can’t hear his.
Their attempts to save themselves, plus assisting and reviving other people, seem to only just be starting, and a good start it is, when the narrative changes and the story becomes a novel of two halves. I won’t say too much because it would be spoiler-y, but the second half introduces a new set of characters. One in particular has unusual talents and the thrust of the story shifts to Danby’s uncertain, ambivalent relationship with this guy.
The premise is interesting: that our brains are being re-wired for connectivity through social media, and that this is the natural evolutionary next step. It kind of introduces that idea without fully exploring its implications: 7 billion minds on the planet – and like the internet, 99% plus of each mind is probably stuffed with rubbish no one needs to know. I know mine is.
Connectivity is a buzzword (very big in education: we teachers are meant to be embracing the connectivity of our students as 21st Century learners) but no one seems to ask the basic question: why? Connectivity is good for Connectivity’s sake, goes the C21st educators’ mantra. But I do wonder. Deeply unfashionable view: what good does it do? If you look at it with a cold and cynical eye, the vast vast majority of this sharing and connecting is on the one hand self-promoting, and on the other desperately trivial.
So… my reasons for contradictory reaction: it is a fascinating premise for an apocalypse, but this happening overnight as an evolutionary response is not possible. Natural selection, selfish genes and all that – no great genetic changes can happen to everyone on the planet outside of several generations (or at the very least one, if there’s a plague say that wipes out everyone but people who… can roll their tongues. Then, in one generation, the vast majority of the people in the world would be people who can roll their tongues… boring old evolutionary theory, so widely misunderstood).
So the mechanism by which this occurs is at present not plausible, although it might come clear in later books. But that didn’t affect my reading pleasure anyway.
Secondly, and maybe more importantly, people all of a sudden murdering each other and crashing their cars and fires all over the city – basically, Christmas Armageddon – why? So, your hubby thinks your bum really does look fat in those pants – do you charge outside and drive like a maniac ramming your car into every other vehicle you see? Even if you do drive off in a huff, you wouldn’t want to kill yourself through reckless driving. But they all do.
I think the madness could conceivably have been explained as a stress reaction – people literally going mad with the noise in their minds… I don’t know, maybe it was there but if it was, it’s not very focused or explicit, and the rationale for the madness seemed a little lacking.
In any case, nitpicks aside, I still roared through the story – interesting, gripping read, and lots of potential to explore answers in the follow-ups.
Because it is the first in a trilogy. The story resolves enough for satisfaction, but is clearly primed for instalment #2.
For more of Brin's reviews go to:
http://www.brinmurray.com/
June 12, 2019
There are very few YA books that are as truly unique as The Last Girl, with detailed world building, great writing and distinctive characters it truly is a fantastic read.
The Last Girl is primarily concerned with an apocalyptic event: the Snap, which instantly allows everyone to read each other's thoughts to a certain distance. Everyone's secrets are out in the open – cheating spouses are caught out, peoples desires are revealed, lies both big and small are laid bare for all to see. The true nature of humanity comes into the spotlight, and what could have civilization's next step turns into its downfall. Violence and brutality become commonplace.
Surrounded by the chaos is Danby, who can hear everyone's thoughts but incredibly no one can hear hers. It's a small miracle amongst all the madness, but it's all she has, so she sets off with her younger brother Evan to the refuge of her mother's house in the sparsely populated mountains.
The character of Jack is for me a standout; what I love so much about this character is how in many other stories he has all the traits of being the love interest. At first glance, Jack comes access as charming, passionate and a tad protective of our leading lady. In these ways, he fills a mold used often in the YA genre. However as time goes on we see how the traits can tip towards the sinister, charming and protective becoming manipulative and obsessive.
It is here where Adams writing skills are highlighted, Jack is never seen to do anything particularly wrong or malevolent. It is Danby’s emotional intelligence and inherit strength that allows her to see him truthfully. It is interesting watching the balancing act as she deliberates on whether Jack is either a villain or a hero.
Despite the presence of two major male characters, there is refreshingly a lack of “insta love”. While there are two major male characters, we do not see Danby fall madly and irrevocably in love with either. It is so rare to such a subtle (or lack of) a romance driven plot that I could not help but root for Danby all the more.
It is not just the fantastic writing or engaging characters that make this book such a great read but also the underlying topics explored. Society’s level of connection and the reality of what it is to have every detail of your life laid bare will have you questioning your social media usage for days. It is interesting to think of both the immense good that the world's connectivity can do and the immense bad. I thoroughly enjoyed this captivating and through provoking read offered by The Last Girl by Michael Adams. I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a binge read!
The Last Girl is primarily concerned with an apocalyptic event: the Snap, which instantly allows everyone to read each other's thoughts to a certain distance. Everyone's secrets are out in the open – cheating spouses are caught out, peoples desires are revealed, lies both big and small are laid bare for all to see. The true nature of humanity comes into the spotlight, and what could have civilization's next step turns into its downfall. Violence and brutality become commonplace.
Surrounded by the chaos is Danby, who can hear everyone's thoughts but incredibly no one can hear hers. It's a small miracle amongst all the madness, but it's all she has, so she sets off with her younger brother Evan to the refuge of her mother's house in the sparsely populated mountains.
The character of Jack is for me a standout; what I love so much about this character is how in many other stories he has all the traits of being the love interest. At first glance, Jack comes access as charming, passionate and a tad protective of our leading lady. In these ways, he fills a mold used often in the YA genre. However as time goes on we see how the traits can tip towards the sinister, charming and protective becoming manipulative and obsessive.
It is here where Adams writing skills are highlighted, Jack is never seen to do anything particularly wrong or malevolent. It is Danby’s emotional intelligence and inherit strength that allows her to see him truthfully. It is interesting watching the balancing act as she deliberates on whether Jack is either a villain or a hero.
Despite the presence of two major male characters, there is refreshingly a lack of “insta love”. While there are two major male characters, we do not see Danby fall madly and irrevocably in love with either. It is so rare to such a subtle (or lack of) a romance driven plot that I could not help but root for Danby all the more.
It is not just the fantastic writing or engaging characters that make this book such a great read but also the underlying topics explored. Society’s level of connection and the reality of what it is to have every detail of your life laid bare will have you questioning your social media usage for days. It is interesting to think of both the immense good that the world's connectivity can do and the immense bad. I thoroughly enjoyed this captivating and through provoking read offered by The Last Girl by Michael Adams. I would definitely recommend to anyone looking for a binge read!
October 17, 2013
BOOK REVIEW by Michelle 6th October 2013:
RATING : 3.75 JACK STARS!
This was a great start to Australian author Michael Adams’s debut YA apocalyptic thriller, set in and around Sydney Australia. I have lived in Sydney for a few years, it brought home the whole apocalyptic feel , even more for me.
I have read quite a few apocalyptic reads and there is something about being in the head of the few survivors as they work towards a common goal. It can feel quite real.
That is something I loved about The Last Girl, Danby’s character was very real and made very real choices for her age. This apocalypse felt very real with all the fall out. I can tell how much work and thought Michael put into his world.
Danby Armstrong is only sixteen years old, she is a survivor. She has a good heart. She finds herself alone after The Snap has helped to kill off a large portion of the world’s population.
Michael has thought up a very unique idea.
A clever idea.
I have read a lot of zombie apocalyptic stories and even watched movies made about them. I have read about alien apocalyptic stories and we have seen movies made, most notably War of The Worlds. Who can forget that one?
What is The Snap?
Michael brought a refreshing take using instant global telepathy.
You can go to my interview chat I had with Michael and read about his idea. He explains it well.
http://novelsontherun.blogspot.com.au...
Michael’s world he has built for the reader has humans being exterminated via, suicide, murder, being in the wrong place at the wrong time because they can hear each other’s thoughts. Imagine hearing what somebody thinks of you, multiplied by many voices. Enough to make you go crazy, jump off a building, turn murderous and kill. Michael will give you many examples and prove his apocalyptic idea, convince you of its deadly outcome.
This I thought was fantastic. Not been done before. We have all read about a character in a paranormal read who is telepathic and can converse with somebody else. But what happens to humanity when everybody can hear every ones thoughts at once?
Some people go into shut down mode. Catatonic. But who wakes these people up before they starve to death, die of dehydration?
What happens when some survivors work out how to revive the catatonic, but you could be reviving a potential killer or a druggie, even a rapist?
Very few people are pure at heart and want to fight for the good guys. People have ulterior motives. People are frightened.
Danby finds herself fighting for her autistic brother’s life and her own life. She must learn to trust and get to her mother’s home, one hundred kilometres away.
Many obstacles lie in her path.
Many threats to her existence.
Michael can paint a visually frightening panoramic view of Danby’s surroundings. He uses what I call floating characters that are there to show the reader examples of why humanity is not safe when trying to wipe the slate clean and start a new world.
Nathan Kapur is a great character. He becomes somebody Danby is forced to trust, she needs his knowledge. But, is he totally trustworthy?
For me personally the book got real interesting when Jack’s character came into play. There is something that has you staying wary of him. It’s a natural reaction, he has power among the people.
‘I’m serious,’ he protested. ‘With great power comes great responsibility and all that.’
I felt the last section of the book was the liveliest for me.
Michael does take his time showing us around the streets of Sydney and its suburbs, cementing his world in our minds. This book is written from ground zero. We watch The Snap happen and that takes time.
This book is well written but for me personally I am looking forward to The Last Shot, book # 2, I want to feel a connection between myself and the main characters. I want more focus on them. The bigger picture is always massive in any apocalypse but can slow a book down.
Something Jack does at the end of this book, I felt like I needed more of a connection during his section of the book for it to be believable for me. It came out of the blue , I felt. I read a lot of books of all genres and age brackets and I kept looking for this connectivity. I think I needed more time spent with a couple characters. I’m trying not to do any spoiling. I want to say more, but I won’t.
All the questions I asked myself when reading this book, Michael eventually answered. This I liked. He really thought about consequences of things his characters did. They are intelligent characters.
I did feel the book couldn’t help but slow down in parts as Michael had to do the world building for the reader. This is a new type of apocalypse , it isn’t as self explanatory as an alien apocalypse or a zombie apocalypse.
It’s new, it needs time to be set up in the readers mind.
I am looking forward to the next book. I know Michael can write, he visually has me looking around his streets and the carnage left behind by The Snap in much description, but I want to see in book # 2 more dialogue and more connecting with characters so that I am rooting for their survival and having more page turning adventure and action. I want to care more about being betrayed and want to scream at Michael for being so hard on his characters.
Don’t get me wrong, Michael gave me a full viewing of humanity and how it can be quite vile towards others. He showed me tough choices have to be made, you can’t save everyone.
I want the fight for good to be explosive. I want to feel torn up at what the characters are doing. I want to see hurt in characters eyes, feel their pain, feel their outrage.
I recommend reading The Last Girl the first in a three book series.
Michelle
RATING : 3.75 JACK STARS!
This was a great start to Australian author Michael Adams’s debut YA apocalyptic thriller, set in and around Sydney Australia. I have lived in Sydney for a few years, it brought home the whole apocalyptic feel , even more for me.
I have read quite a few apocalyptic reads and there is something about being in the head of the few survivors as they work towards a common goal. It can feel quite real.
That is something I loved about The Last Girl, Danby’s character was very real and made very real choices for her age. This apocalypse felt very real with all the fall out. I can tell how much work and thought Michael put into his world.
Danby Armstrong is only sixteen years old, she is a survivor. She has a good heart. She finds herself alone after The Snap has helped to kill off a large portion of the world’s population.
Michael has thought up a very unique idea.
A clever idea.
I have read a lot of zombie apocalyptic stories and even watched movies made about them. I have read about alien apocalyptic stories and we have seen movies made, most notably War of The Worlds. Who can forget that one?
What is The Snap?
Michael brought a refreshing take using instant global telepathy.
You can go to my interview chat I had with Michael and read about his idea. He explains it well.
http://novelsontherun.blogspot.com.au...
Michael’s world he has built for the reader has humans being exterminated via, suicide, murder, being in the wrong place at the wrong time because they can hear each other’s thoughts. Imagine hearing what somebody thinks of you, multiplied by many voices. Enough to make you go crazy, jump off a building, turn murderous and kill. Michael will give you many examples and prove his apocalyptic idea, convince you of its deadly outcome.
This I thought was fantastic. Not been done before. We have all read about a character in a paranormal read who is telepathic and can converse with somebody else. But what happens to humanity when everybody can hear every ones thoughts at once?
Some people go into shut down mode. Catatonic. But who wakes these people up before they starve to death, die of dehydration?
What happens when some survivors work out how to revive the catatonic, but you could be reviving a potential killer or a druggie, even a rapist?
Very few people are pure at heart and want to fight for the good guys. People have ulterior motives. People are frightened.
Danby finds herself fighting for her autistic brother’s life and her own life. She must learn to trust and get to her mother’s home, one hundred kilometres away.
Many obstacles lie in her path.
Many threats to her existence.
Michael can paint a visually frightening panoramic view of Danby’s surroundings. He uses what I call floating characters that are there to show the reader examples of why humanity is not safe when trying to wipe the slate clean and start a new world.
Nathan Kapur is a great character. He becomes somebody Danby is forced to trust, she needs his knowledge. But, is he totally trustworthy?
For me personally the book got real interesting when Jack’s character came into play. There is something that has you staying wary of him. It’s a natural reaction, he has power among the people.
‘I’m serious,’ he protested. ‘With great power comes great responsibility and all that.’
I felt the last section of the book was the liveliest for me.
Michael does take his time showing us around the streets of Sydney and its suburbs, cementing his world in our minds. This book is written from ground zero. We watch The Snap happen and that takes time.
This book is well written but for me personally I am looking forward to The Last Shot, book # 2, I want to feel a connection between myself and the main characters. I want more focus on them. The bigger picture is always massive in any apocalypse but can slow a book down.
Something Jack does at the end of this book, I felt like I needed more of a connection during his section of the book for it to be believable for me. It came out of the blue , I felt. I read a lot of books of all genres and age brackets and I kept looking for this connectivity. I think I needed more time spent with a couple characters. I’m trying not to do any spoiling. I want to say more, but I won’t.
All the questions I asked myself when reading this book, Michael eventually answered. This I liked. He really thought about consequences of things his characters did. They are intelligent characters.
I did feel the book couldn’t help but slow down in parts as Michael had to do the world building for the reader. This is a new type of apocalypse , it isn’t as self explanatory as an alien apocalypse or a zombie apocalypse.
It’s new, it needs time to be set up in the readers mind.
I am looking forward to the next book. I know Michael can write, he visually has me looking around his streets and the carnage left behind by The Snap in much description, but I want to see in book # 2 more dialogue and more connecting with characters so that I am rooting for their survival and having more page turning adventure and action. I want to care more about being betrayed and want to scream at Michael for being so hard on his characters.
Don’t get me wrong, Michael gave me a full viewing of humanity and how it can be quite vile towards others. He showed me tough choices have to be made, you can’t save everyone.
I want the fight for good to be explosive. I want to feel torn up at what the characters are doing. I want to see hurt in characters eyes, feel their pain, feel their outrage.
I recommend reading The Last Girl the first in a three book series.
Michelle
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